Artist Darrell K. Sweet was born on this date, August 15, in 1934. He passed away in 2011. When I was in junior high and high school, if book had cover he’d done, I always picked it up and gave it a look. I didn’t always buy the book, but based on positive experiences with some of the first books I read that he’d done the cover art for, I always gave it a look. I had the privilege of meeting him a couple of times, and I had the opportunity to tell him that at the 2006 WFC.
Rather than continue to blather, I’m going to post some examples of his art. Enjoy!
There is something about his art that always makes me want to buy the book and read it, and that is why he is a greater cover artist than many other, more technically proficient artists.
Agreed.
A friend of mine would always buy DKS covered books. When he was on – the two Hiero Desteen books – he was the best. There are few particular modern cover artists I can even name.
I don’t know that many contemporary artists, either.
As you say, his best work is pretty cool. I forgot he was at the 2006 WFC. Just another notable attendee whom I didn’t manage to meet during my brief 6hrs there.
I had met him him at an Armadillocon about a decade earlier. Great guy. I would have loved to get to know him better.
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Like a lot of other commenters, Mr. Sweet’s art is what made me read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant when I was a teen. I was heavily into Dungeons and Dragons and when I saw his covers, I felt he captured that world as good or better than anyone. I’ve been looking for the original paintings for the TC books – if anybody knows the whereabouts of any, please contact me! Even if they are not for sale, I would love to know they still exist! I own the one pictured here on the blog! antoniomarine@gmail.com
I love the one of the astronaut catching a shooting star. Was that the cover for a book, and of so which one?
I’m not sure. I’ve never seen a book with that cover, but it certainly looks like one.
This guy was my childhood I would look at a book and I would be interested just because of his covers but it was surprising I never realized that it was all the same guy until I was an adult and I looked up Robert Jordan’s work and some other books and realized they were all the same guy it didn’t matter whether it was barbarians Indians space age or fantasy he was everywhere in the ’80s and ’90s. I’ve made it my life’s goal in part to collect all of his images from all of his book covers and save them on my computer just because the art is that pretty unfortunately can’t find any physical or digital prints of his work in a collection I wish his estate would create that cuz I would love to own them both with and without the covers of the books lettering that they came with originally I would love to have a collection of all the art without the lettering as well.
Hi, Scott. I think there was at least one book that collected a number of his covers. If my fading memory is reliable, I saw it back int he 1990s.