David Grove passed away last week after a long struggle with emphysema. He was an immensely accomplished illustrator since the 1970s, having worked for just about every book publisher, magazine, movie studio, and major advertising firm over the past four decades. He was inducted into the Illustration Hall of Fame in 2007, and a retrospective of his work was mounted by the Society of Illustrators in the summer of 2012.
I’m sure most Tor.com readers remember the Something Wicked this Way Comes movie poster above. I had the honor of working with David on a number of SFF book projects—a few Gene Wolfe books (including interior drawings), David Keck’s novels, and The Eye of the World ebook cover, among other projects. David’s work was fluid and dream-like but, make no mistake about it, everything was thoughtful and planned. There was no aspect of his life where he did not strive for beauty and perfection. He will be deeply missed.
So many artists passed away this year :(
R.I.P.
Boy, that stuff is gorgeous.
Truly incredible and influential. Another giant who will be missed.
Reading Something Wicked now in honor of Ray Bradbury and the Month of October, “a rare month for boys”. I actually googled this picture last night while reading (I have a different cover on my book) wanting to see Dark with his outstretched hands. Beautiful creation. Thanks to Mr. Grove.
Surreal. Just an hour ago I bought David Keck’s In a Time of Treason, got to my computer to catalogue it on LibraryThing, and typed in “David Grove” as the cover artist. Then I pull up my Google Reader feed and see this. Kinda creepy.
I heard about David’s passing on Tuesday. Needless to say the rest of the day was a wash. I had spoken to David 2 weeks before he passed. I was coming into town on other business, and thought he and I could get together. He wasn’t well, but said to call when I got to town. I tried a number of times, and he never picked up his phone. I left the morning of the 25th disappointed that we had not connected. I had no idea he passed that day.
i will certainly miss him
David was a fraternity brother at Syracuse. He was very popular and immensely talented. He owned a 1954 Corvette #160 one of the first made!