Peter Andrew Jones
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Peter Andrew Jones (born 14 December 1951) is a British artist and illustrator who has produced a large number of fantasy and science fiction genre illustrations. During a professional career of over 43 years he has worked on book jacket covers, film posters, advertising, and games, as well as contributing to many BBC TV and commercial TV programs and projects.


Early life

Peter Andrew Jones was born on 14 December 1951, into the relative poverty of post-war Britain in Islington, north London, the son of Reginald and Catherine Jones, his father an engineer. Showing interest in the visual arts from an early age, he describes the London of his early boyhood as 'smog-ridden and grey' with little for children to do, and took to painting to fill time and "colour his world". He also began to develop a lifelong love of aviation and space technology encouraged by commercial Airfix kits and drawing fighter aircraft at RAF Leuchars when visiting his mother's relatives in Fife, Scotland. At school he continued to pursue his interest in art, and won numerous school prizes for his work. Many Sunday visits with his parents to London's
National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
and
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...
Galleries even before the age of twelve further fixed his interest in a future career in the field. With the encouragement of his art tutor, Bob Spearman, Jones attended
Saint Martins 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 in 1970, where he studied graphic design, graduating in 1974. At the college, a visiting lecturer suggested Jones combine his interest in realism with imaginative skills, drawing Jones into the Fantasy and Science Fiction fields. Whilst at St. Martins Jones took the decision to "become an illustrator". Within a month he was producing his first commercial work for
Puffin Books Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs to ...
, the cover for
Penelope Farmer Penelope Jane Farmer (born 1939) is an English fiction writer well known for children's fantasy novels. Her best-known novel is '' Charlotte Sometimes'' (1969), a boarding-school story that features a multiple time slip. Life Farmer was born a f ...
's ''A Castle of Bone''.


Career

He commenced several decades of producing cover art for science fiction and fantasy publications. During his career he has provided book covers for science fiction and fantasy authors including
Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ;  – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
,
Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...
,
Arthur C. Clarke 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 ...
,
Greg Bear Gregory Dale Bear (August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American science fiction writer. His work covered themes of Interstellar_war, galactic conflict (''The Forge of God, Forge of God'' books), parallel universes (''The Way (Greg Bear ...
,
Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His 1970 novel ''Ringworld'' won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus, Ditmar Award, Ditmar, and Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula award ...
, Philip K. Dick,
Marion Zimmer Bradley Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley (June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999) was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels and is best known for the Arthurian fiction novel '' The Mists of Avalon'' and ...
and Harry Harrison. An anthology of Jones' work was published under the title ''Peter Jones: Solar Wind'' by
Paper Tiger "Paper tiger" is a calque of the Chinese phrase ''zhǐlǎohǔ'' ( zh, s=纸老虎, t=紙老虎). The term refers to something or someone that claims or appears to be powerful or threatening but is actually ineffectual and unable to withstand ch ...
in 1980, covering his science fiction and fantasy illustrations up to the year 1980. Since 1999 he has been publishing the book himself through his current company along with several other editions including further volumes of the book. He also produced images for film publicity, creating the movie posters for ''The Sword and The Sorcerer'' and ''Alligator'', contributed during the early 1980s to television shows including BBC comedy ''The Two Ronnies Show'' and the BBC's '80s sci-fi adaptation of ''
The Tripods ''The Tripods'' is a series of young adult science fiction novels by John Christopher. The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is enslaved by "Tripods"—gigantic three-legged walking machines piloted by an alien rac ...
'', and has produced cover illustrations for video game publishers such as US Gold,
Psygnosis Psygnosis Limited (; known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Het ...
and
Virgin Interactive Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...
. Jones has worked for the ''
Fighting Fantasy ''Fighting Fantasy'' is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982. The series distinguished itself by mixing Choo ...
'' game books originated by Steve Jackson and
Ian Livingstone Sir Ian Livingstone (born 29 December 1949) is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of the '' Fighting Fantasy'' series of role-playing gamebooks, and the author of many books within that ...
in the 1980s, in particular providing the original cover for the first title in the series in 1982. It is often stated on the internet that the book's publishers were distressed at Jones' illustration for the cover of ''
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain ''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson (UK game designer), Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1982, the titl ...
'' as he designed it with space for the title in the centre of the front cover, eschewing the publishing tradition of placing titles at the top of the page; however, it was something he did after being called in to rescue the book's launch, being told by the publisher "we've no idea how to do this, we don't understand this new type of book" and was asked to "go away, and come back with something revolutionary". Inspired by the layouts of many American romance titles at the time, given to him by a Dutch editor in Rotterdam while en route to the Frankfurt Book Fair, he decided to break tradition in the UK market and use a similar layout. He provided several further pieces for the Puffin FF series, including covers for '' Starship Traveller'', ''Talisman of Death'', and ''The Riddling Reaver'', as well as over twenty cover illustrations for
Joe Dever Joseph Robert Dever, also known as Joe Dever (12 February 1956 – 29 November 2016) was an English fantasy author and game designer. Originally a musician, Dever became the first British winner of the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' Championship ...
's '' Lone Wolf'' game books and a number of covers for Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson's ''Falcon'' series. Also during this time, a number of Jones' fantasy images appeared on the covers of
Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer (game), Warhammer'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake ...
's ''
White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...
'' magazine. From covers for the magazine, Jones went on to produce game art for GW's boardgame adaptation of the first Fighting Fantasy title
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain ''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson (UK game designer), Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1982, the titl ...
; cover art for GW's edition of
Chaosium Chaosium Inc. ( ) is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford (game designer), Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include ''Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game), Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fic ...
's Stormbringer RPG followed. The processes involved in Jones' production of the cover for Stormbringer were detailed in an ''Illuminations'' exposé in ''White Dwarf'' issue 90. During the 1990s Jones further pursued his interest in aviation-related art, becoming involved with the RAF Benevolent Fund, and a number of World War II pilots. His illustrations of aircraft and aerial combat can be found in a variety of books on the subject, and his work in the field has been commended by pilots, including one-time World War II pilot
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
. During the late 1970s Jones set up his own design studio and licensing company, Solar Wind Ltd, based in London's Fulham Road then Wimbledon in 1980, London, to facilitate his ongoing illustration work and manage the licensing of his images. Solar Wind was closed down in the late 1990s, when he decided to develop the name for a wider remit, bringing together work in various fields. Solar Wind was transferred to Shropshire in late 1999 with Jones, from where he now operates his current company. Jones' current work includes ongoing genre and wildlife illustration, the production of handmade and self-published books, cards and prints, and occasional private commissions. He is also working on further self-published collections of his work, including ''Affetti'', ''Rural Dreams'', ''Simulacra'', ''Tales from the wood'', about the Faeries who inhabit his studio's garden, and an illustrated dark fantasy novel series titled ''Crux Millennium''.


Style and technique

As a child Jones enjoyed the formative influence of popular media during the 1960s, including the ''Eagle's''
Dan Dare Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories. Dare appeared in the ''Eagle'' comic series ''Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future'' from 1950 to 1967 (and subsequently in ...
, DC's
Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
and
Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
comics, and television programmes like ''Thunderbirds'', ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
''and ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
''. Later he was exposed to the rash of alternative cultural phenomena of the decade, discovering underground artists like
Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American artist who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American c ...
, Mick English and
Martin Sharp Martin Ritchie Sharp (21 January 1942 – 1 December 2013) was an Australian artist, cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker. Career Sharp was born in Bellevue Hill, New South Wales in 1942, and educated at Cranbrook private school, where one ...
, and Pop art such as that of Peter Blake and
David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...
.
Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...
, who he considered 'science fantasy', was also a guiding influence during his early years. Whilst at college, Jones was introduced to American artists and illustrators like
Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...
,
Andrew Wyeth Andrew Newell Wyeth ( ; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was an American visual artist and one of the best-known American artists of the middle 20th century. Though he considered himself to be an "abstractionist," Wyeth was primarily a realis ...
and
James Bama James Elliott Bama (April 28, 1926 – April 24, 2022) was an American artist known for his realistic paintings and etchings of Western subjects. Life in Wyoming led to his comment, "Here an artist can trace the beginnings of Western history, see ...
, frequent illustrator of the
Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a polymathic scientist, explorer, detective, and warrior who "right ...
books. Bama in particular made a lasting impact, particularly his Western genre art, and Jones still considers him both a genius and the single most major influence on his work. Jones' science fiction and fantasy work tends to be predominated by images featuring central characters against the backdrop of other-worldly landscapes. Jones works primarily in hand-mixed oil paint and also acrylic, using a unique painting medium he invented that he calls "acryloil". In recent years he has also adopted the use of a Macintosh computer and drawing tablet, though primarily for editorial purposes and not the creation of paintings. Jones' handmade prints, sold via his website, are sometimes embellished with gold and rare pigments such as lapis lazuli. Cover illustrations such as that for the Stormbringer RPG are executed in alternating layers of oil and acrylic colour, including, at that time, the use of an airbrush, on an emulsion-primed hardboard support, in the case of Stormbringer, lightly dusted with plaster whilst wet and sealed with an oil wash. White Dwarf's art editor
John Blanche John Blanche (born 1948) is a British fantasy and science fiction illustrator and modeller who worked on Games Workshop's ''White Dwarf'' magazine, ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'', ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'', ''Warhammer 40,000'' and ''Warhamm ...
said of Jones' take on Elric, "Peter's strong design sense and dramatic choice of colours have combined to produce the definitive image of Elric, as the battle-crazed albino, dominated by his demon sword, Stormbringer. . ."


References


External links

*
A page on Jones
at Abandonart
A page on Jones
at Sci-fi-o-rama
A page on Jones' Fighting Fantasy contributions
at Gamebooks.org
A partial list of Jones' gaming credits
on pen-paper.net HWGA 5000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Peter Andrew 1951 births English illustrators British fantasy artists Fighting Fantasy Game artists Games Workshop artists Living people Role-playing game artists British science fiction artists