Monday, November 20, 2017

Antique Darkover Program Cover


There are some grizzled, aged fantasy fans who remember this cover I did for DarkoverCon 1981. This was when Darkover was a big thing and Marion Zimmer Bradley was more than an author, she was a lifestyle. The image in the central block depicts a meeting between two characters on the Astral Plane, with a medieval cathedral in the background. I copied the lettering and the very elaborate border from the "Kelmscott Chaucer" illustrated book by William Morris, published in 1896. The border was printed on green paper and the image was on white paper which I trimmed and glued onto the green background. Then I colored it in to make an illustration. This was not the actual program; the real thing was printed on light grey paper. It was the most lavish program cover ever done for DarkoverCon. The pale successor to DarkoverCon, ChessieCon, will take place this Thanksgiving weekend. They have no art show.

Print and watercolor, 8 1/2" x 11", fall 1981. Click for a bit larger view.

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