John Avon (born 1961) is a Welsh

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

and

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 An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

. His work has been compiled in the book ''Journeys to Somewhere Else'' and used for book covers, CD covers, games, toys and advertising campaigns.Avon, John.
John Avon – Fantasy Art – Biography
". Retrieved September 22, 2010. Avon is best known for his artworks for the

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards. The genre was introduced with ''Magic: The G ...

'' Magic: The Gathering'', for which he has produced over 200 paintings.Magic: The Gathering card search for John Avon

Life and work

Avon was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He completed an art foundation course near to where he grew up in Cardiff, and gained a BA in

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. The quintessential land man: Behind the Canvas: John Avon
,

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...

. Accessed 28 June 2014. He began his art career in 1983 with commercial advertising. He has painted book covers for authors

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

Arthur C. Clark Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A ...

and Harry Harrison. Avon is one of the most prolific '' Magic: The Gathering'' artists, having painted over 280 unique cards, mostly landscapes on Basic Land cards. For the ''

World of Warcraft Trading Card Game The ''World of Warcraft Trading Card Game'' (''WoW TCG'') is an out-of-print collectible card game based on Blizzard Entertainment's MMORPG, ''World of Warcraft''. The game was announced by Upper Deck Entertainment on August 18, 2005 and release ...

'', he created the image for the ''Water Elemental'' card which is used in ''

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a 2014 Online game, online digital collectible card game, digital collectible card video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment, released under the free-to-play model. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthsto ...

''. In 2014 he successfully used the

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

crowd funding website to raise funds for an illustrated book of his work, ''The Art of John Avon: Journeys to Somewhere Else'' (2015). Avon is married to the illustrator Patricia MacCarthy, with whom he has two sons, Laurie and James , and lives in

Saltdean Saltdean is a coastal village in the city of Brighton and Hove, with part (known as East Saltdean) outside the city boundary in Lewes (district), Lewes district. Saltdean is approximately east of central Brighton, west of Newhaven, and south ...

, near Brighton and Hove, England. He also composes, plays and records music on the guitar and piano.

Publications

*''The Art of John Avon: Journeys to Somewhere Else.'' Self-published / John Avon Art, 2015. Illustrations by Avon. Compiled and with text by Avon and Guy Coulson. Hardback, . Deluxe edition of 500 copies, .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Avon, John British science fiction artists 1961 births Artists from Cardiff Living people Game artists Welsh illustrators British fantasy artists British horror artists People from Saltdean