Pennington s works have largely featured on the covers of novels of isaac asimov, clark ashton smith and robert a. In his career as a book cover artist bruce pennington produced over two hundred for many of the most famous authors in the fields of fantasy and science fiction. Just playing around with moviemaker and decided to create a filmic slideshow of my bruce pennington cover collection to celebrate my. Black gate articles the lost art of bruce pennington. Bruce pennington painted beautifully evocative covers for many books, principally in the scifi and fantasy genres. Bruce pennington is a british painter, perhaps best known for his science fiction and fantasy novel cover art. Fantasy book cover art by bruce pennington im a massive fan of old school scifi and fantasy book cover art, the kind of art that gives life to the wondrous tales of imagination. I do remember the taste for nostradamian prophecies in the 70s, and clearly pennington rode a bandwagon on that one, but the concept is great and he doesnt actually try to interpret the poetry. Bruce pennington desperate to find woman he saw in sevenoaks, kent. The tuskegee airmen national historical museum just ordered a canopy cover from bruce s custom covers for their north american at6g. Bruce penningtons classic cover art for dune by frank herbert. Pro book covers custom book cover design for over 10 years. Below is a small selection, beginning with some of his covers for a series of ray bradbury books in the late 1960s.
Science fiction cover art bruce pennington c p w stonehouse. Pennington s works have largely featured on the covers of novels of the likes of isaac asimov, clark ashton smith and robert a. Bruce pennington born 10 may 1944 in somerset is a british painter, perhaps best known for his science fiction and fantasy novel cover art. Bruce pennington art the sunset warrior by eric van lustbader book cover science fiction kunst science art fantasy comics fantasy rpg dungeons and dragons game book cover art book covers fantasy kunst types of art. Heinlein, adopting both science fiction and fantastical themes. See more ideas about science fiction art, sci fi art and cover art. Sadly i missed the bruce pennington exhibition, in the autumn of 20, in brighton. Dune book series, new english library fonts in use. A portrait of a master fantasy artist 2012 tales of the cthulhu mythos. These include two more wraparound illustrations for the. Sep 20, 2019 although bruce pennington is retired and no longer takes commissions, hes happy to continue licensing his work to metal and rock bands in need of spectacular covers.
The article is lavishly illustrated with examples of some of his most iconic book covers from the 60s to the 80s and beyond. The bruce pennington portfolio 1991 also appeared as. All covers scans are from the pulpcrush collection. The article is lavishly illustrated with examples of some of his most iconic book covers from the 60s to the 80s and beyond notably robert heinleins stranger in a strange land, frank herberts dune series and many covers for brian. Originally printed on a silver background, they reflected the obsession of the times with all things. See more ideas about science fiction art, sci fi art and 70s sci fi art. A lot has changed since the last edition of this book and pennington et al.
See more ideas about sci fi books, science fiction books and science fiction. Following the positive reaction to my brief post highlighting the career of the british illustrator bruce pennington notably his artwork for the 1980 book cover of gene wolfes classic sciencefantasy publication shadow of the torturer i thought id feature a few more of his best regarded images. The best book covers for fahrenheit 451, from 1953 to today. While chris fosss titanic ultrarealistic spaceships have had a massive influence on illustrators and film makers over the past 40 years, bruce pennington is less well known. The best ones, for me, are when figures are set against massive backdrops and lurid landscapes giving the viewer a great sense of scale and adventure. In autumn 2014 bruce pennington featured in the lead article of illustrators magazine issue 9, in which he tells the story of his artistic life in his own words. Unusual piece of work, previously unknown to me, by this artist whose work well all have seen on book covers throughout the 1970s. Penningtons works have largely featured on the covers of novels of isaac. Dec 30, 2016 bruce pennington desperate to find woman he saw in sevenoaks, kent. Jun 06, 2012 the best book covers for fahrenheit 451, from 1953 to today. Although his cover illustration for a princess of mars, the first book in the series, has two glaring errors green martians have four arms and banths have. Bruce pennington is the man when it comes to neurodevelopmental disordersand abnormal behavior in generalso this is a mustread. The book covers a broad range of issues that are of essential importance in effective practice pennington s delicate balance of covering a large number of topics and disorders with sufficient breadth and depth, with appeal to both researchers and practitioners, makes this one of the most valuable books available on the topic. Jun 16, 2015 bruce pennington is a wellknown british painter that made a name for himself with book covers.
Apr 22, 20 many british readers first encountered wolfes novels through the stunning cover artwork of bruce pennington. For over ten years, pro book covers has been designing custom ebook covers for selfpublished authors as well as traditional publishers. Good show sir only the worst scififantasy book covers. Five paperback covers with art by bruce pennington 31 march 2014 10 august 2016 rc more scans of books selected from the piles that continually rise and fall and fall and rise again around me here in our tiny home office.
He mostly draws for book covers, focusing on the imagination and speculation. Score a book s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. Bruce pennington 70s sci fi art, sci fi art, fantasy. For lovers of sciencefiction and fantasy book art from the 1970s and 80s the name of bruce pennington looms large. In 1974 bruce pennington achieved considerable fame when his cover design for lost worlds of 2001 was featured on the cover of the first issue of, the now legendary, science fiction monthly. Weve worked with authors who are just starting out, all the way up to new york times bestsellers. His artwork was used on the first hardcover and paperback editions of the book of the new sun, the island of dr death and other stories and other stories, gene wolfes book of days, the fifth head of cerberus and the devil in a forest. I dont think ive ever seen any bruce pennington covers in the u. Ive already briefly spoken about pennington as one of the iconic science fiction book artists of the era, working largely with new english library. Aug 04, 2011 the derleth cover is purloined from jovikes excellent flickr collection which includes several pennington covers. In his career as a book cover artist bruce pennington produced over two hundred for many of the most famous authors in the fields of. One of the hazards of discussing book cover art is that the covers dont always.
Over the next seven years his career took off, undertaking many more covers for new english library before being taken up by other publishing houses. Bruce pennington illustrator of book of the vampire. Bruce did the cover art to the dune novels in the 1960s and 70s. The fantastic and apocalyptic art of bruce pennington. Pennington s past of speculation and youthful wonderment lead to. Those paintings are mainly of what he called flying saucers but i also added is a portrait of aleister crowley and contain a lot of aliens and spaceships. Send us your terrible covers so we can document the carnage to our eyes. I have been an admirer of his work since reading the martian series by edgar rice burroughs, which were the very first science fiction books i ever read. The lost art of bruce pennington pingback by black gate blog archive the top 50 black gate posts in february march 31, 2014 1. Five paperback covers with art by bruce pennington. We also do full layouts for print, banners and promotional materials, as well as trailers.
From the new sun to dune, bruce pennington an sionnach fionn. Aliens and spaceships bruce penningtons retrofuturism. I love his colorful and often surreal looking environments. One of the strangest books to come out of the 1970s fantasy art imprint paper tiger had to be bruce penningtons eschatus 1976. The paintings of bruce pennington can still be bought used through amazon. We had a thread for him on the old board but sadly its little more than a nightmare of broken linksnow maybe ill salvage some comment from it later. See more ideas about cover art, art and science fiction art. An interview with artist bruce pennington ultans library. The amazingly colorful, beautifully bizarre, and strangely serene science fiction art of bruce pennington.
He is indelibly associated with some of the greatest writers of the era, his baroque images gracing the covers of such diverse publications as frank herberts dune or harry harrisons stainless steel rat. Laghima 1991 child of an ancient city 1992 the goblin mirror 1993 faery in shadow 1993 calibans hour 1994 also appeared as. In 1976, paper tiger books published an lpsized graphic album, eschatus, featuring penningtons paintings inspired by the prophecies of. Bruce pennington this interview was originally printed in cimmerian shadows issue 2. The work of british artist bruce pennington was very familiar to uk readers of sf, fantasy and horror paperbacks during the 1970s and 1980s, especially on titles from new english library. Jan 15, 2008 bruce pennington has been among my favorite sffantasy artists since the late 1980s. Bruce pennington the stainless steel rats revenge by harry harrison 1978 sphere books cover by isfdb print by sciencefictiongallery. Aug 03, 2011 the work of british artist bruce pennington was very familiar to uk readers of sf, fantasy and horror paperbacks during the 1970s and 1980s, especially on titles from new english library. Children of dune bruce pennington cover art frank herbert. A tribute to one of the finest pulp cover artists of the 1970s, bruce pennington. Were proud to protect this historical airplane with our customfit cover. Fantasy book cover art by bruce pennington the skull. Bruce pennington born 10 may 1944, in somerset, england is a british painter, perhaps best known for his science fiction and fantasy novel cover art.
Fantasy book coversbook cover artfantasy booksfantasy artpulp fiction. His art is a weird and wonderful portal into the motherfucking twilight zone. He mostly draws for book covers, focusing on the imagination and. Music is from the movie soundtrack of sunshine by john. Cover for gene wolfe, gene wolfes book of days, c bruce pennington. In the 1970s two cover artists stood out among the piles of books in the little science fiction corner at w.
101 877 559 1437 1538 1292 983 489 1034 1325 563 1095 1041 566 600 1038 1591 604 1341 375 1 578 355 69 1230 1419 1201 310 983 145 1470 249 1156 885 107 816