The Fantastic Art of Rowena Morrill – horror art

The Fantastic Art of Rowena Morrill

Rowena Morrill is a sci-fi, fantasy, and horror artist whose illustrations graced the covers of paperbacks from the 1970’s till today. She was discovered by Ace Books, NY and created stunning book cover art for Lovecraft collections, illustrations for magazines; Heavy Metal, Omni and Playboy. She has several art books featuring her collected works including, The Fantastic Art of Rowena and Imagine. She continued illustrating sci-fi and fantasy for popular anthologies such as, Tomorrow and Beyond and Infinite Worlds. She received the British Fantasy Award in 1984 and after the fall of Saddam Hussein her original paintings, King Dragon and Shadows Out of Hell were found adorning the walls of his home. Here’s a look at some of her well-known work. Her use of vibrant color and glossy overtones makes her work stand out and instantly recognizable to her fans and fantasy art connoisseurs.

Gallery one: paperback cover art

 

Gallery 2: magazines and misc.

 

Horror Art – Magnificent Book Covers

  

Horror Art – Magnificent Book Covers

Michael Whelan “Lovecraft’s Nightmare Part 1 and 2” paintings became numerous covers to Lovecraft collections.

Aeron Alfrey creates unique imagery inspired by the macabre, grotesque and monstrous, infecting the covers of many Thomas Ligotti books.

Rowena has her artwork gracing the covers of many books from sci-fi, to swords and sorcery, to horror. Here are a few examples.

The 1980’s Stephen King covers had simple but effective design. I got used to seeing the silver and red, author and title.

And following those are some of my Clive Barker faves.

Frank Frazetta – I was quite disappointed when I learned the Frank Frazetta Museum in PA had closed. I always wanted to visit one day. Below, the first three are some samples of Frazetta book covers.

Boris Vallejo – It is easy for me to say that it was the Boris cover art (along with Frazetta) that first got me to read books by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard.

And here are the last of assorted book covers that catch my eye:

Horror Art – Heavy Metal Magazine – cover art

Heavy Metal Magazine cover art

Heavy Metal Magazine, the adult-themed illustrated publication started in 1977.  It became very successful and continues to this day. It is full-color inside and out and features illustrated dark sci-fi and fantasy, combined with some light erotica. Its name has nothing to do with the music style. Gracing the covers you can find fantastic artwork from famous artists like, Giger, Frazetta, Boris, Rowena, and Royo.

OK, this is the final post in this series. Hope you all enjoyed it. It was enjoyable to me, to revisit some of the underground literature, pulp, magazines and comics that I grew up with.
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Just a quick question, if you don’t mind. I set this one up as a Gallery. Do you prefer the single pics layout or the Gallery layout?