Boris Vallejo
Template:Short description Template:Infobox artist Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941)<ref name=CBG1650/><ref name=miller/> is a Peruvian-American painter<ref name=BB/> who works in the science fiction, fantasy, and erotica genres.<ref name=BB/> His hyper-representational paintings have appeared on the covers of numerous novels in the science fiction, sword and sorcery, and fantasy fiction genres, along with album covers for musical groups in addition to movie posters and other media. His art is also sold through a series of annual calendars.
Early biography
Born in 1941<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Lima, Peru, Vallejo began painting at the age of 13, in 1954, and obtained his first illustration job three years later in 1957 at the age of 16. He attended Escuela Nacional Superior Autónoma de Bellas Artes on a five-year scholarship, and was awarded a prize medal.<ref> Sackmann, Eckart. Great Masters of Fantasy Art. Taco Verlagsgesellschaft und Agentur mbH, 1986, Berlin, p.34 Template:ISBN</ref>
Career
After emigrating to the United States in 1964, at the age of 23, he quickly garnered a fan following from his illustrations of Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian, Doc Savage, and various other fantasy characters (often done for paperback-fiction works featuring the characters). This led to commissions for movie-poster illustration, advertisement illustration, and artwork for various collectibles, including Franklin Mint paraphernalia, trading cards, and sculpture. Along with his wife Julie Bell, Vallejo presents his artwork in an annual calendar and various books.
Vallejo's preferred artistic medium is oil on board, and he has previously used photographs to combine discrete images to form composite images.<ref>Boris Vallejo Fantasy Art Techniques</ref> Preparatory works are pencil or ink sketches, which have been displayed in the book Sketchbook. He and Julie Bell have worked on collaborative artworks together, in which they sign the artwork with both names.<ref>Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell Fantasy Workshop: A Practical Guide</ref>
Vallejo has produced film posters for numerous fantasy and action movies, including Knightriders (1981), Q (1982), and Barbarian Queen (1985). He has also illustrated posters for comedies, notably National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), European Vacation (1985), Nothing but Trouble (1991) and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007), co-created with Bell.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
He illustrated the 1978 Tarzan calendar.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His sea serpent paintings hang in the queue of Loch Ness Monster, a rollercoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
His art was also featured in the 1995 card game Hyborian Gates.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Awards
He received the Inkpot Award in 1978.<ref>Inkpot Award</ref> He received the British Fantasy Award for best artist in 1979<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> for his painting The Amazon Princess and her Pet.<ref>"Julie Bell & Boris Vallejo". Imaginstix.com. Retrieved from Template:Cite web.</ref> He won the 1979 Locus Award for Best Professional Artist.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Vallejo also won the 2011 Chesley Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the 2014 Chesley Award for Best Product Illustration.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Publications
Vallejo's published works include:
- The Fantastic Art of Boris Vallejo<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (1980)
- Mirage<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (1982, reprinted 1996 and 2001)
- Enchantment. Stories By Doris Vallejo, Illustrated by Boris Vallejo (1984)
- Fantasy Art Techniques (1985)
- Ladies: Retold Tales of Goddesses and Heroines. By Boris and Doris Vallejo (1992)
- Bodies: Boris Vallejo: Photographic Art (1998)
- Dreams: The Art of Boris Vallejo (1999)
- Titans: The Heroic Visions of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell (2000)
- Sketchbook (2001)
- Twin Visions<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (2002)
- Fantasy Workshop: A Practical Guide (with Julie Bell) (2003)
- Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell: The Ultimate Collection<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (2005)
- The Fabulous Women of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (2006)
- Imaginistix (2006)
A yearly calendar of 13 paintings by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell is produced by Workman Publishing.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
References
External links
- 1941 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American male artists
- 20th-century Peruvian male artists
- 21st-century American painters
- 21st-century Peruvian male artists
- 21st-century Peruvian painters
- Albums with cover art by Boris Vallejo
- American illustrators
- American male painters
- Artists from Allentown, Pennsylvania
- Artists from Lima
- Fantasy artists
- Inkpot Award winners
- Peruvian emigrants to the United States
- Peruvian male painters
- Peruvian speculative fiction artists
- Pin-up artists
- Role-playing game artists
- Science fiction artists
- National Superior Autonomous School of Fine Arts, Lima alumni