Josh Kirby
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Ronald William "Josh" Kirby (27 November 1928 – 23 October 2001) was a British commercial artist. Over a career spanning 60 years, he was the artist for the covers of many science fiction books including
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 ...
's ''
Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...
'' novels.


Personal life

He was born on 27 November 1928 at 58 Argo Road, Waterloo, Lancashire. His parents were Charles William and Ellen (née Marsh) Kirby who ran a grocery shop together, although his father was also a ship owner's freight clerk. They named him Ronald William Kirby. Kirby dreamed of a career in art from a young age. When he was seven, he made a trade sign that said "KIRBY – ARTIST". He was also attracted to science fiction and fantasy from images seen in films and magazines. At the beginning of the Second World War, his school was evacuated to
Abercraf Abercraf (also ; or Abercrave) is a village in Powys, Wales, in the community of Ystradgynlais and within the historic boundaries of the county of Brecknockshire. A distinct dialect of English is spoken in the village, as well as the Welsh lang ...
in South Wales. In 1943, he returned to Liverpool and attended the Junior then Senior Schools of the Liverpool City School of Art from the age of 14 until he was 20. He was trained in drawing, painting and lithography. While he was there, his
Old Master In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...
-style portraits earned him the nickname "Josh" when colleagues likened his work to that of the painter Sir
Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...
. The nickname stuck. He also met the model June Furlong in 1948 and they remained lifelong friends. He moved to London in 1950. In 1965, he married Dianne Kingston and moved to The Old Rectory, Shelfanger, near Diss in Norfolk. He lived and worked there, in a cramped studio, until his death. Kirby and Kingston divorced in 1982. He died of natural causes in his sleep at home in Shelfanger at the age of 72 on 23 October 2001 and was survived by his brother Len and two nephews. In 2024, his family were looking for a philanthropist to support the conservation and exhibition of his body of work, around 400 finished paintings and several hundred sketches.


Career

He worked as freelance all his career, having left his only employment after half a day. After leaving art school, Liverpool City Council commissioned him to paint the Lord Mayor, Alderman Joseph Jackson Cleary, in 1950. Kirby carried out the commission but decided against portraiture as a career and turned to illustration for film posters and books. In the early 1950s, Kirby illustrated film posters for studios in both London and
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and continued to do some film posters until the 1980s. In the 1970s, he undertook film poster art for publicity agency feref. Working alongside designer Eddie Paul, Kirby depicted the characters for
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
: ''
Return of the Jedi ''Return of the Jedi'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'' is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas. The sequel to '' The Empire ...
;'' films '' The Beastmaster'' and '' Krull'', among others. He also designed a poster for '' The Life of Brian'' inspired by Pieter Brueghel's Tower Of Babel, but it was not used. When the market for film poster illustration dried up in the mid 1980s, Kirby switched his attention to
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...
s. He provided cover art for ''Duelmasters'', ''
Tunnels & Trolls ''Tunnels & Trolls'' (abbreviated ''T&T'') is a fantasy role-playing game designed by Ken St. Andre and first published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo. The second modern role-playing game published, it was written by Ken St. Andre to be a more access ...
'' and '' Wizards & Warriors.'' However, Kirby's major output between the late 1950s to the 1980s was artwork for book covers for a very wide range of books including westerns, crime novels, science fiction and non-fiction, as well as covers and interior art for science fiction magazines. His first published book cover art was for the 1955 science fiction novel ''Cee-Tee Man'', by
Dan Morgan Daniel Thomas Morgan Jr. (born December 19, 1978) is an American professional football executive and former linebacker who is the president of football operations and general manager for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NF ...
. In 1956, he created a cover for
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...
's book ''Moonraker''. Working for publishers including Panther, Corgi, Four Square and NEL/Mayflower, he illustrated over 400 covers for authors including
Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for oc ...
,
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Stephen Briggs Stephen Briggs (born 1951) is a British writer of subsidiary works and merchandise surrounding Terry Pratchett's comic fantasy '' Discworld''. '' The Streets of Ankh-Morpork'', the first Discworld map, was co-designed by Briggs and Pratchett a ...
,
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Ursula Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...
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,
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 ...
,
Robert Rankin Robert Fleming Rankin (born 27 July 1949) is a prolific British author of fantasy comedy, comedic fantasy novels. Born in Parsons Green, London, he started writing in the late 1970s, and first entered the bestsellers lists with ''Snuff Fictio ...
, Jimmy Sangster,
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, and
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. Kirby's most significant work in the 1980s was the covers for the ''Discworld'' series, a commission that Kirby thought would be a "one-off". Starting with ''The Colour of Magic'', he eventually produced the covers for 26 of the series until his death in 2001. Upon his passing, his successor
Paul Kidby Paul Kidby (born 1964) is an English artist, best known for his art based on Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series of fantasy novels. Kidby has created the sleeve covers since Pratchett's original illustrator, Josh Kirby, died in 2001.Alison Floo ...
painted a portrait of Kirby into the cover art of the novel '' Night Watch'', in tribute to the artist.


Style

Throughout his career, Kirby used oils, acrylics,
gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...
, or
watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...
, often using more than one method on a single piece. Ultimately, he preferred oils as they would not dry too quickly and could be manipulated and applied in layers. This allowed them to be retouched or entirely painted over, whatever it took to achieve the result. When asked about influences, he most often named three past artists. The oldest was
Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (; ; born Jheronimus van Aken ;  – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter from Duchy of Brabant, Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, gene ...
, famous for his fantastic imagery, detailed landscapes and illustrations of religious concepts and narratives; next was Pieter Bruegel, whose religious and mythological depictions expanded the viewer's perspective of reality; and finally muralist Frank Brangwyn, an avant-garde artist-craftsman notable for his boldly coloured murals. Kirby worked slowly and meticulously. It would take him four to eight weeks to complete a single painting because his process included reading each novel before illustrating it. He would then draw a rough sketch in pencil to be approved by the art editor at the publisher. Unusually, he discussed the concept directly over the phone with Pratchett, rather than his publisher's art director.


Collections

Collections of his work include: * ''The Voyage of the Ayeguy'' (1981), a portfolio of six linked science-fantasy pictures published by Schanes & Schanes * ''The Josh Kirby Poster Book'' (1989), containing 13 posters inspired by Discworld * ''Faust Eric'' (1990), by Terry Pratchett with 15 Kirby illustrations * ''In the Garden of Unearthly Delights'' (1991), a collection of 159 Kirby paintings * ''The Josh Kirby Discworld Portfolio'' (1993)


Exhibitions

* 1986: Hammer Gallery, Berlin * 1988: Albert Dock, Liverpool * 1996: Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead * 2007: Retrospective at Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool


Awards

* Best SF Artist (Professional Class), World Science Fiction Convention (1979) * British Fantasy Award for Professional Artist (1996)


References


Further reading

* Review of ''In the Garden of Unearthly Delights''.


External links


Official Site





"Out of this world: the art of Josh Kirby' exhibition"
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Josh 1928 births Kirby Josh Alumni of Liverpool College of Art Artists from Liverpool British illustrators British poster artists British science fiction artists British fantasy artists People associated with the Discworld series People from Crosby, Merseyside People from South Norfolk (district) Role-playing game artists