Bruce Jensen (born 1962 in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, Indiana) is a US illustrator who has created

book cover A book cover is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older f ...

s for science fiction authors such as

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has ...

Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...

Charles Sheffield Charles Sheffield (25 June 1935 – 2 November 2002), was an English-born mathematician, physicist, and science-fiction writer who served as a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronautical ...

Joe Haldeman Joe William Haldeman (born June 9, 1943) is an American people, American science fiction author and former college professor. He is best known for his novel ''The Forever War'' (1974), which was inspired by his experiences as a combat soldier ...

Linda Nagata Linda Nagata (born November 7, 1960, in San Diego, California) is a Hawaii-based American author of speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories. Her novella ''Goddesses'' was the first online publication ...

Kelley Eskridge Kelley Eskridge (born September 21, 1960) is an American writer of fiction, non-fiction and screenplays. Her work is generally regarded as speculative fiction and is associated with the more literary edge of the category, as well as with the cat ...

, and Philip K. Dick. His covers were described by Nagata as "deftly illustrat ngthe mood, the ''

feeling According to the '' APA Dictionary of Psychology'', a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations, thoughts, or images evoking them". The term ''feeling'' is closel ...

'' of the book".How I Got to Know Bruce Jensen
by

He also drew the unfinished ''

Neuromancer ''Neuromancer'' is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian author William Gibson. Set in a near-future dystopia, the narrative follows Case, a computer hacker enlisted into a crew by a powerful artificial intelligence and a traumatis ...

'' graphic novel in 1989. He won the 1995

Jack Gaughan Award The Jack Gaughan Award for Best Emerging Artist is an American award honoring the memory of illustrator Jack Gaughan. Because the latter felt it was important to encourage and recognize new artists in the field, the New England Science Fiction Ass ...

for Best Emerging Artist.

Career overview

Bruce Jensen began drawing at an early age, drawing the typical childhood birds and dinosaurs. As he grew older he discovered science fiction. A book that heavily influenced his decision to become a science fiction cover artist was Jack Gaughn's cover to '' The Skylark of Valeron'' by

E. E. Smith Edward Elmer Smith (May 2, 1890 – August 31, 1965) was an American food engineer (specializing in doughnut and pastry mixes) and science-fiction author, best known for the '' Lensman'' and '' Skylark'' series. He is sometimes called the fath ...

. When Bruce was in high school he realized his dream to become an artist. He then went on to the ''

Columbus College of Art and Design Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) is a Private college, private art school in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1879 as the Columbus Art School and is one of the oldest private art and design colleges in the United States. Located in dow ...

'', receiving BFA in 1984; it is here that he developed his more abstract usage of color. In the summer of 1984 Jensen received his first cover assignment, which went well enough for him to receive others immediately after this. During the next six years after his first book cover he had produced twelve book covers; he also spent some time working in television. In 1990 Jensen was earning enough money from painting science fiction book covers that he considered it to be his full-time job.

External links

2006 brief interview
* *
Bruce Jensen entry
in Pen & Paper RPG Database

– Bruce Jensen's bibliography (archived
Bruce Jensen's blog ''Alien Menagerie''
* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Bruce American science fiction artists American illustrators 1962 births Living people Columbus College of Art and Design alumni