Great cover artists

**Roquefort Raider** · 01-07-2007, 10:15 AM

There are the often unsung heroes of book publishing... Those great artists who manage to attract our eye and entice us to give an unknown book a chance.

Here's our chance to talk about the cover artists whose work we admire. I'll start with a man whose art is probably very little known (if at all!) in the United States: a Belgian painter named Henri Lievens.

Mr. Lievens, who was mostly active in the mid-20th century, became known to an entire generation of fantastic and SF literature thanks to the numerous covers he produced for the Marabout imprint. His art was usually very moody, often featuring eerie views of cities or old houses.

Here is one of my favorite Lievens pieces, representing the (maybe) haunted town of Ingersham.

**Roquefort Raider** · 01-07-2007, 10:16 AM

Another lovely Lievens cover, where one can appreciate his skill at creating an atmosphere with a very subdued use of forms and a limited palette of colors.

**Roquefort Raider** · 01-07-2007, 10:18 AM

Lievens was also well known for the 100+ covers he provided for the adventure-action series Bob Morane. Here we have the first cover in the Ananké cycle, where Lievens blends architectural designs with a fantastic setting.

Man, I wish those Marabout books weren't so scarce now... I'd collect them just for the covers!!!

**Buzz Dixon** · 01-07-2007, 02:53 PM

James Bama works primarily in Western art now but did some great covers for Dock Savage, Star Trek, etc.

http://www.jamesbama.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bama

Robert McGinnis did great private eye covers, wonderful interior illos for women's mags, and James Bond movie posts.

http://www.mcginnispaintings.com/

Norm Saunders did pulps, slicks, books, comics, sweaties (a.k.a. men's adventure) and Mars Attacks bubble gum cards -- how friggin' cool was that?!?!?

http://www.normansaunders.com/index.html

**Roquefort Raider** · 01-07-2007, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by Buzz Dixon

James Bama works primarily in Western art now but did some great covers for Dock Savage, Star Trek, etc.

http://www.jamesbama.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bama

Robert McGinnis did great private eye covers, wonderful interior illos for women's mags, and James Bond movie posts.

http://www.mcginnispaintings.com/

Norm Saunders did pulps, slicks, books, comics, sweaties (a.k.a. men's adventure) and Mars Attacks bubble gum cards -- how friggin' cool was that?!?!?

http://www.normansaunders.com/index.html

Jim Bama's vision of Doc Savage was the real deal for me when I was a kid. That strange widow's peak was unlike anything any other hero ever sported, and Bama's photorealistic style was simply amazing.

The Saunders reference reminds me of the immortal Margaret Brundage, who drew (in pastels, no less) so many brilliant Weird Tales covers:

**Jonathan Bogart** · 01-07-2007, 07:21 PM

My favorite cover artist, about which even the Internet has failed to provide me with much information, is Marie Michal. You probably don't know the name, but you'd probably recognize the art: she did the cover illustrations to the wonderful 1970s edition of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, and the covers for a popular edition of E. F. Benson's Mapp & Lucia series. Her elegant Art Deco designs, though they remain very much in line with 70s illustration trends, brilliantly evoke the moneyed interbellum world that those novels inhabit.

I've been able to find very few examples online, but here's the cover that first captured my interest:

(Even though she gets Lord Peter's hair color wrong, it makes for a better composition that way.)

**Roquefort Raider** · 01-07-2007, 07:40 PM

Nice work. I'm a sucker for art deco.

(I love what the designers did in the TV version of Hercule Poirot's exploits starring David Suchet).

**berk** · 01-07-2007, 08:47 PM

I like a lot of the the popular ones, like the ERB covers from Frazetta and Krenkel, Bama's stuff ol Doc Savage covers, etc.

One guy I love is Tom Adams, who did a lot of Agatha Christie ppb covers in the 70s. Some Raymond Chandler, too. This is the only on-line gallery I could find, and unfortunately it doesn't have many of the covers I remember liking best back then.

edit: I also remember liking whoever did the hardcover editions of Flemings James Bond books. IIRC, they'd usually be a sort of still-life, often a gun and some other objects, no people, IIRC; couldn't find any examples after a quick google; I'll try again later.

**Karl J. Barnes** · 01-07-2007, 10:45 PM

I don't think that any discussion about great cover artists is complete without the mentioning of : http://www.michaelwhelan.com/

Just some the most intricate renderings ever!

**Joshua Pantalleresco** · 01-08-2007, 12:50 AM

Michael Whelan is amazing. I LOVE his Dark Tower covers and interiors. But he's probably one of the best I've seen. He'd be amazing in comics I think. I'd buy a graphic novel with his interiors. :D

Keith Parkinson was another amazing talent at this. His Terry Goodkind covers are just epic.

Larry Dixon and Janny Wurts are decent as well. They should do more of them in truth.

JP

**Roquefort Raider** · 01-08-2007, 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by priestvyrce

I don't think that any discussion about great cover artists is complete without the mentioning of : http://www.michaelwhelan.com/

Hear, hear!

Whelan will always be the one who did justice to Friday's breathtaking pulchritude.

**Roquefort Raider** · 03-04-2007, 10:00 AM

For many years, now, (even decades!) the character of Elric of Melniboné has been associated with the artwork of Robert Gould.

Mike Whelan and Frank Brunner also gave great renditions of Michael Moorcock's albino hero, but Gould's aesthetics fit the romantic aspects of the character so well that I'm not surprised he's been drawing Elric covers for so long.

Gould's "The white wolf" is the first limited-edition print I ever bought.