Illustrators 48

lllustrators 48 is out and it has loads of great work from all of the best contemporary illustrators. I’m proud to say that Tor did very well in this edition, so, I will brag....

IMAGES: TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT

Michael Deas got a gold medal for his cover to Richard Matheson’s Earthbound. The painting is drop-dead gorgeous...but when it came time to design the cover, it just seemed to beg to be zoomed in on. I was a bit nervous to show Michael that I cropped out more than half the painting. He didn't seem to mind and, in fact, took a saw to the actual painting. SF/F peoples might not know MIchael by name but everyone has seen his Columbia Pictures painting and a number of portraits he did for postage stamps -- Stephen Vincent Benet , Cary Grant, (both of which I have in small frames on my office door) Audrey Hepburn, Lewis and Clark, and many others. Earthbound also won an award in Spectrum 13.

Craig Mullins did a series of George Alex Effinger books for us last year. I entered the first one, The Exile, and was afraid it might get overlooked since it was digital. The Society has a reputation, wether or not it's deserved, for passing up digital work. Sure enough, it got in. Craig is a rock start in the film industry, I was very grateful we were able to work on these books together. Our Sales force responded really well to this cover. I was surprised, I didn’t think they take much notice of a reprint of an older book but many of them raved about it.

Dan Dos Santos got the first two Christopher Pike Alosha books in, Alosha and Shaktra. This is one of my favorite looking series...and the third book, Yanti, is even cooler looking. Dan used himself as the model for Shaktra and has dubbed the painting, "Portrait of the Artist as a Thirteen Year Old Girl."

Red Nose Studio and the third “Borribles” book, Across the Dark Metropolis. I am such a Red Nose groupie, and he's a dream to work with. I just wish we had more call for his sweet and spooky dolls.

Greg Manchess’ painting for Gene Wolfe’s The Knight. It was fun to do a cover meant to read as an icon. Greg also did a series of black and white drawings for this book and its sequel, The Wizard. It has started off a nice trend in doing that kind of thing more often at Tor.

James Jean’s cover for William Sleator’s Amongst the Dolls. Cute and creepy. The wonderful thing about working with James is that you hand over a project and you never once worry about it -- you just know it’ll be fabulous and on time.

Robert McGinnis for Elmer Kelton’s Six Bits a Day. What can I say, the man is a legend. The first time I saw him at the Society of Illustrators I was trying to avoid an introduction, knowing I’d say something silly or, more likely, not know what to say at all. Turns out, he is extremely unassuming and once one of the other of us mentioned Andrew Wyeth, that was it. We talked for hours about how great Andy is. (Funny, Michael Deas and I have had that exact same conversation.)

John Jude Palencar’s cover for Cherie Priests’ Four and Twenty Blackbirds. This and it’s sequel, Wings to the Kingdom, are some of my very favorites that JJ has done for Tor....and he’s done a lot of great work for us.

Jon Foster has his Skyborn painting in. It’s also used as the cover to his art book Revolution. One of my favorites from Jon. Stupidly I did not buy it when it was displayed at ComicCon. Arnie Fenner was smarter than I and grabbed it. I’m alternately grateful that it went to a friend and seething with jealousy! (I shake my fist westward!)

Donato Giancola's epic painting for Sara Douglass’ Crippled Angel. This monster is, what, eight or nine feet long, and features about two dozen figures? Since I only needed the right hand side of the painting for our book cover he hung the piece unfinished. It was a wonderful and rare opportunity for people to see an artists process on display.

Congrats guys! Thanks for making us look good.