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| Cover by Adrian Chesterman, 1979 |
I've been brain-fogged for a couple of days, so I've spending a lot of time on Pinterest, sorting out...
...my numerous boards. It's a fairly mindless activity, it doesn't require much concentration or use up much energy, and, besides, I don't half enjoy it. The strange thing about Pinterest is that it reveals interests and enthusiasms of which one had previously been partly or totally unaware - I, for instance, find myself fascinated by film posters, paperback covers and the information roundels on old 45rpm records. Train-spottery, I know - but as I turn 65 later this month, I reckon it's time to embrace my Inner Nerd. Regular readers will by now be familiar with my penchant for old science-fiction paperback covers - I posted
this homage the British artist Peter Elson last year. (One of the illustrations was actually by John Harris, who I was going to eulogise today - but I've asked for a glossy book featuring his work as a birthday present, so I'll wait to see if I get it.)
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| Cover by David Pelham, 1974 |
All of the major British science fiction paperback publishers - Pan, Corgi, Fontana, NEL, Sphere, Coronet - enjoyed mini-Golden Ages when their covers were the most effective, startling and haunting on the market. Because of my background at one of the pulpier houses (NEL), and as I'm a sucker for space-ships, the sheer brilliance of Penguin covers has rather crept up on me - it was only yesterday that I realised just how striking they were. I've "pinned" a total of over 2000 pre-1985 British SF covers (the artwork is generally much better than that to be found on American covers), and, despite or because they're a bit artier, cleverer, and more consciously designy than the rest, Penguin's 1970 covers - especially those produced by artists such as David Pelham, Adrian Chesterman and Peter Lord - may be the best of the lot. You judge.
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| Cover by Adrian Chesterman, 1979 |
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| Cover by Philip Castle, 1976 |
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| Cover by David Pelham, 1974 |
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| Cover by Peter Lord, 1979 |
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| Cover by David Pelham, 1973 |
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| Cover by Adrian Chesterman, 1979 |
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| Cover by Peter Tybus, 1976 |
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| Cover by Peter Goodfellow, 1978 |
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| Cover by David Pelham, 1974 |
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| Cover by Peter Lord, 1979 |
Adrian Chesterman looks the most accomplished and innovative-doing to paperback book covers what Gil Kane did to comics compelling the reader if ever there was any doubt to take science fiction seriously.
ReplyDeletePelham by contrast dare one say it looks a bit hackneyed-a tad over zealous with the airbrush. But I'm guessing.
Makes one eager to know more such as mediums used, size of artwork, are the originals publicly traded or sitting in a gallery somewhere. Maybe impending Birthday Present will reveal all.
Pelham (I've just discovered) was Penguin's art director from 1968-1979 - so, apart from doing his own covers, he was responsible for commissioning all the rest of them! I think one problem when it comes to judging cover art is that it was designed to be seen in context - i.e. on bookshelves rather than galleries - and I remember Pelham's simple, clean, air-brushed SF covers really standing out in bookshops in the '70s. His most famous cover was the one for the 1972 edition of A Clockwork Orange. The designer he'd commissioned produced a really bad one at the last minute, so Pelham had to work through the night to produce a substitute for it.
DeleteThere's generally a dearth of information available about professional illustrators' techniques - perhaps they don't like giving away their secrets - but there might be some snippets available on the website, The Art of Penguin Science Fiction, which is here:
http://www.penguinsciencefiction.org/
One thing I have noticed is that when illustrators are released from the confines of book covers or film posters, the art they produce is often absolutely dire. I'm sure there's a moral in there somewhere.
Lovely stuff .
ReplyDeleteScience Fiction was the category that introduced Anthony Cheetham to publishing's upper echelons. He became editorial director of Sphere Books at the age of 24 thanks, in large part, to his extensive knowledge of SF.