Jim Burns (born 10 April 1948) is a
Welsh artist born in
Cardiff,
Wales. He has been called one of the Grand Masters of the science fiction art world.
In 1966 he joined the
Royal Air Force, but soon thereafter he left and signed up at the
Newport School of Art for a year's foundation course.
After that, he went on to complete a 3-year Diploma in Art and Design at
Saint Martin's School of Art
Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...
in London. When he left Saint Martin's in 1972 he had already joined the recently established illustration agency Young Artists. He has been with this agency, later renamed Arena, ever since.
He is today a contemporary British
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
illustrator. His work mostly deals with science fiction with erotic overtones. His paintings are generally intricate photo-realistic works of beautiful women set against advanced machines and
spaceships. While his preparatory sketches are more erotically focused, his final works and published book covers have a more academic tone portraying far off and imaginary worlds.
Apart from book and game covers, Burns briefly worked with
Ridley Scott on ''
Blade Runner'', and his illustrations and paintings comprise much of the book ''Mechanismo'' by
Harry Harrison. He has also had books of his own works published, including ''
Lightship'', ''Planet Story'' (written by
Harry Harrison), ''Transluminal'', and ''Imago''.
Burns won the
Hugo award for best professional artist three times and has also been awarded 12
BSFA awards. Well regarded in
fandom, he was artist guest of honour at the 1987
Worldcon.
Portfolio
Work by the artist includes cover art for:
*
''Eye'' (short story collection) (1985) by Frank Herbert
* ''
The Fury of Dracula'' (1987) a boardgame by Stephen Hand
* Two books by
Daniel Keys Moran
** ''Armageddon Blues'' (1988)
** ''The Long Run'' (1989)
* ''Artificial Things'' (1989) for
Karen Joy Fowler
* Over thirty books by
Robert Silverberg including ''
The Face of the Waters'' (1991)
* ''
Aristoi'' (1992) by Walter Jon Williams
* ''
Upland Outlaws'' (1993) by Dave Duncan
* ''
Infinity's Shore'' (1996) by David Brin
* ''
The Stone Dance of the Chameleon'' series by Ricardo Pinto
** ''
The Chosen'' (1999)
** ''
The Standing Dead'' (2002)
** ''
The Third God'' (2009)
* The ''
Greg Mandel Trilogy'' by
Peter F. Hamilton
** ''
Mindstar Rising'' (1993)
** ''
A Quantum Murder'' (1994)
** ''
The Nano Flower'' (1995)
* The ''
Night's Dawn Trilogy'' by Peter F. Hamilton
** ''
The Reality Dysfunction'' (1996)
** ''
The Neutronium Alchemist'' (1997)
** ''
The Naked God'' (1999)
* ''
A Second Chance at Eden'' (1998) by Peter F. Hamilton
* ''
The Confederation Handbook'' (2000) by Peter F. Hamilton
* ''
Fallen Dragon'' (2001) by Peter F. Hamilton
* The ''
Commonwealth Saga'' by Peter F. Hamilton
** ''
Pandora's Star'' (2004)
** ''
Judas Unchained'' (2005)
* The ''
Void trilogy'' by Peter F. Hamilton
** ''
The Dreaming Void'' (2007)
** ''
The Temporal Void'' (2008)
In 2014, Titan Books published a collection of Burns's art throughout his career, ''The Art of Jim Burns: Hyperluminal''.
References
External links
*
*
*
Artwork from Lightship on a science fiction blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Jim
1948 births
Living people
Artists from Cardiff
Welsh illustrators
Welsh writers
British science fiction artists
Games Workshop artists
British erotic artists
Hugo Award–winning artists
Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art