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Stephen Hickman, an award-winning artist whose illustrations covered hundreds of science fiction and fantasy novels, passed away on Friday at age 72.
Stephen Hickman, an award-winning illustrator, sculptor and writer, whose work graced the covers of hundreds of science fiction and fantasy novels since the early 1970s, has passed away at the age of 72.
Hickman’s career is a testament to the power of industry conventions, as in 1967, when he was 18 years old, Hickman attended one of the very first comic book conventions ever held, the 1967 Comic Con by the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors (which was formed a few years earlier by Jerry Bails). There, Hickman met legendary fantasy illustrators, Frank Frazetta and Roy G. Krenkel, who gave him artistic advice but also inspired him to try to pursue art as a career.
In an interview with Baen Books, Hickman recalled how he first came to do cover artwork, “While I was doing T-shirt designs for a firm in Maryland, The Shirt Explosion, I was doing up some paintings to use as portfolio pieces. I took these around for awhile, until Neal Adams, a well-known Marvel Comics artist, was good enough to take the time to look through the work I had then, and recommend me to Charles Volpe at Ace Books, the outfit that published the Burroughs books with the outstanding covers by Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta. Charles bought the rights to one painting which was used on the cover of… Lady of the Bees by Thomas Burnett Swann. Then [there was] was a second one which had some green in it which was used on The Green Millennium. But my big break was an actual reprint which I got to read and do a cover for specially — The Brain Stealers, by Murray Leinster. I must have worked on that for months.”
Since that point, Hickman has drawn over 300 covers for science fiction and fantasy novels for companies like Ace, Baen, Ballantine, Bantam, Berkeley, Dell, Del Rey, Doubleday, Phage Press, Tor and Warren Publications.
He also did some comic book cover work, like this brilliant Savage Sword of Conan cover…
In 1988, Hickman wrote his own fantasy novel for Ace Books called The Lemurian Stone…
His work has been collected in a gorgeous collection, The Art of Stephen Hickman…
Hickman has won six Chesley Awards, given out by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists.
His sculpture of Cthulhu for Flights of Imagination is probably the most famous sculpture of the Lovecraft monster…
Hickman’s most famous painting, though, is likely the 1993 United States Postal Service series of stamps that he painted, the very first stamps celebrating the world of science fiction and fantasy…
Hickman was awarded a special Hugo Award by the World Science Fiction Convention for the piece.
Hickman’s official website is a wonderful resource to see the works of this iconic artist.
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