(Crowbot…cover to Progressions: The Art of Jon Foster)

Jon Foster is an amazing artist who first came to my attention with the above image because, let’s say it together now, “I like robots!”. In fact this is still one of my favorite robot images…I like crows too, big creepy birds that they are. I decided to feature Jon Foster today because a portion of his work fits in real nicely with one of the subjects of the last post: Star Wars.

(Cover to Star Wars comic #33)

Jon Foster has done a number of covers for Star Wars books as well as the Dark Horse line of Star Wars comics. His comic imagery has been very dark, focusing on storylines of characters who fall into the evil category.

(Cover to Star Wars comic #30)

(Cover to Star Wars comic #35)

Foster utilizes models, most notably his wife Melissa Ferreira as well as friend Lars Grant-West. In this article you can see how he used them both to form the reference for the image of bounty hunter Aurra Sing:

(Cover for Star Wars #28, The Hunt for Aurra Sing)

Jon Foster then uses the photo reference as a basis for his oil painting. After a painting is finished he occasionally uses digital media to tweak the colors. I suggest going to the above linked article to see some more dark jedi art and to read more about Jon Foster. One of the pictures in that article is of a Star Wars roleplaying book featuring Mara Jade…I love the way he paints her.

Jon Foster paints some excellent Star Wars art but in addition to that he has illustrations gracing book covers all over the local bookstore. One of my favorites is for the Young Adult Fiction book Orvis. It is a wonderful story that I was drawn to because of the cover (wonder why?):

(Cover to Orvis by H.M. Hoover)

If you look here you can better see how Foster altered the picture to make it fit the story.

(Cover to Books of Magic comic)

Jon Foster’s art is extremely kinetic. His characters are often long and lean and have such severe, abrupt movement to them. At time it feels as if the characters are being ripped off of the image.

(Cover to Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones)

It is as if he captures the action in a moment in time and can paint that energy of movement into each piece. Another cover that I really like is this one from Timothy Zahn’s Dragonback series:

(Cover to Dragon and Soldier by Timothy Zahn)

In fact all the covers from this series are excellent Foster works and I am tempted to buy the books just for the covers. Timothy Zahn is of course famous for his trilogy of novels set after the events of Return of the Jedi. These were some of the first post-trilogy novels to come out…see how this all comes together!

Whether he is painting gritty urban science fiction images like this

(Cover to The Earthborn by Paul Collins)

or the James Jean-esque images seen in the following two illustrations, his work is rich and vibrant and the colors practically glow.

(Cover to Snake Agent by Liz Williams)

(Cover to the forthcoming Demon and the City by Liz Williams)

Jon Foster is one of the first artists I gravitated to when I started buying the Spectrum art books and it should be easy to see why. His active illustrations draw the eye immediately when walking down the book aisle and they practically call out to one to purchase said book, regardless of the contents. Lucky for us it appears that Jon Foster has done the covers for some incredible authors on a number of books that I intend to pick up.

The combination of the subject matter, the rich oils, and the frenetic movement of Jon Foster’s illustrations will keep me coming back to his site to get more. I wish you a happy, wonderful Friday and a terrific weekend. I will be with the family in St. Louis checking out the sites and look forward to sharing thoughts and pictures upon my return. Talk it up out there this weekend as I won’t be around to keep the conversation going. As I go I’ll leave you with the obligatory robot picture. You know you want it.