Artist Profile: Rowena Morrill (1944– )

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Rowena Morrill is considered to be one of the first female artists to have an impact on paperback cover illustration. After receiving a BA from the University of Delaware in 1971, Morrill studied at the Tyler School Of Art. After a period spent working for an ad agency in New York, she designed her first horror cover in 1977. Morrill’s paintings have appeared on hundreds of paperback covers and in magazines like Omni, Playboy, Art Scene International, and Print Magazine.

A small sampling of her work can be found below.

Artist Profile: Ed Valigursky (1926 — 2009)

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

The son of Czech immigrants, Ed Valigursky was born in Pennsylvania and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago on the G.I. Bill and started doing freelance pulp work while he was still a student. Until his retirement in 1990, Valigursky painted hundreds of science fiction-themed images. He also produced several paintings that celebrated the history of aviation.

A small sampling of his work can be found below.

Artist Profile: Saul Bass (1920 — 1996)

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Saul Bass was born in the Bronx, New York and studied part-time at the Art Students League in Manhattan. Though he was best known for designing title sequences like the one for Psycho, he also designed several film posters. His minimalistic style continues to influential today.

The Walking Dead Season 4 Poster Unveiled

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Arleigh

Like the show or not the one thing that The Walking Dead tv series has always had have been some good marketing people. From the marketing leading up to the premiere season and now leading up to it’s upcoming fourth season the show continues to honor it’s comic book legacy.

For the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con spectacle AMC TV and the people behind The Walking Dead tv series have unveiled the SDCC-exclusive poster for the upcoming season. Season 1 saw noted comic book cover artist and illustrator Drew Struzan come up with the exclusive poster. For Season 2 we had another famous comic book illustrator in Tim Bradstreet with the honor. Last year’s Season 3 at SDCC saw Greg Capullo come up with the poster.

For the Season 4 poster that will be given out at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con one of the best cover and comic book illustrators in the business will do the honors. I speak of Alex Ross who has cemented his place in comic book fandom with his work on such comic books as Marvels and Kingdom Come.

While Alex Ross has been known more for his superhero illustrations the fact that he’s doing a horror-themed illustration just shows that the show still continues to remain strong and people continue to want to be involved with it in one fashion or another (or AMC just paid Alex Ross a nice chunk of change).

Below are the past SDCC-Exclusive posters for The Walking Dead.

Source: AMC TV

Artist Profile: Walter Popp (1920–2002)

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

The son of German muralist Gustave Gutgemon, Walter Popp was born in New York and studied art at the New York Phoenix School of Design. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Popp launched his career as a freelance illustrator. Popp began as an illustrator for pulp magazines before moving on to painting paperback covers in the 1950s. He remained active, designing the covers for gothic romance novels, into the 1990s.

A small sampling of his work can be found below.

Artist Profile: Harry Barton (1908 — 2001)

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Harry Barton was born in Seattle. After graduating from Broadway High, Barton got his first job as a commercial artist working in a sign shop. After studying with Art Students League in New York City, Barton painted covers for Argosy and Exciting Westerns. Through the 1950s and 1960s, Barton painted paperback book covers. From the 1970s until his death, Barton specialized in paintings of the Old West, which he sold through the Smith Gallery in New York.

A selection of his paperback work can be found below:

Artist Profile: Dave Johnson

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Arleigh

Dave Johnson has earned the reputation of being one of the comic industry’s preeminent cover illustrator. His work has graced the covers of such titles as Vertigo’s 100 Bullets (where he creates the covers to all one hundred issues and the 11 trade paperback collections) and Marvel Comics’ Punisher MAX series. Dave Johnson’s work as a cover illustrator has won him one of the top awards in the comics industry with his 2002 Eisner Award for “Best Cover Artist”.

Born on April 4, 1966, Dave Johnson continues to work as a cover artist for all the different publishers from DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and a slew of independent houses.

Artist Profile: Drew Struzan (1947– )

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Originally from Oregon City, Oregon, Drew Struzan studied at the Art Center College of Design. Struzan started out his career as an illustrator by designing album covers. He illustrated his first movie poster in 1975 and, since then, he has been responsible for over 150 posters. He has designed posters for everything from the Star Wars to Harry Potter.

Artist Profile: Hector Garrido

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

Hector Garrido was a paperback cover artist who was active from 1965 until 1996. Over the course of his career, he illustrated everything from the covers of the Baroness series of pulp novels to romance and horror to Nancy Drew. A selection of his work can be found below.

Artist Profile: Gerald Gregg (1907 — 1985)

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Dazzling Erin

From 1943 to 1950, Gerald Gregg painted 175 paperback cover for Dell Publishing. Gregg prepared almost all of his cover work by airbrush and was distinguished by a style that combined graphic design and stylized realism.