It’s that time again! Time to highlight some of my favorite fantasy covers!
Last week I focused on recent fantasy covers which blew my mind. Well, this week I’m going back in time to take a look at some of the artists who captivated my mind in the past!
DARRELL K. SWEET
For much of the 1980s I honestly believed every fantasy worth reading had to have Sweet cover art. The guy’s work was just that prevalent when a reader looked over the bookshelves. And while my tastes have changed as I’ve matured, I still appreciate this talented artist’s work and am so glad his images helped draw me into reading fantasy so many decades ago. Below are a few of my favorites.
MICHAEL WHELAN
For many, many years, this artist was my absolute favorite fantasy cover artist. Honestly, if a publisher wanted me to pick up their newest release, all they had to do was put Whelan’s art on the front and I was instantly picking up the book . . . and probably buying it. I really was that shallow. Here a few of my favorites.
LARRY ELMORE
I loved Larry Elmore before I even knew who he was. What I mean by that is his stunning artwork played a huge role in convincing me to buy my first Dungeon & Dragons Starter Set when I was in middle school. Many more D&D products followed. But I never realized who was the artist behind many of those amazing paintings until I bought Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Today, I have a reprint of that very cover hanging over my desk at home. Here are a few of Elmore’s memorable (at least to me) covers. And, yeah, several of them are game related covers, but it is my list, so I stretched the rules to include them here.
ROBERT GOULD
Robert Gould’s ethereal and creepy artwork on Michael Moorcock’s books back in the 1980s is what first got me to pick up the Tales of the Eternal Champion. Without those stunning covers, I might never have discovered them as soon as I did. And those were just the first of many fantasy stories which Gould’s covers introduced me to.
FRANK FRAZETTA
What can you say about this artist which hasn’t been said thousands of times. He is a legend who doesn’t need any introduction. Here are a few of my favorite covers.
Well, that is it for this week. Hopefully, you discovered a few books you had never heard of before, or an artist or two that have now become one of your favorites. Until next time, keep judging books by their covers!
bookwraiths.com 
Reblogged this on Archer's Aim and commented:
Love seeing all these old fantasy covers!
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Glad you enjoyed it!
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Brings back memories!
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Good ones I hope. 🙂
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Certainly!
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A splendid post. I really enjoyed seeing these covers from the past.
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It was a fine trip down memory lane for me. 🙂
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I love these kinds of posts, thank you for putting this together! It makes me sad that I can’t ever seem to find any of the old Moorcock novels
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I know. I was lucky enough to get a few when I was a kid back the 1980s, but I haven’t seen one in my part of the world since then.
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I hopped over from P.H. Solomon’s blog. Boy did this bring back memories, especially the covers by Darrel K. Sweet and Michael Whelan. I think I read most every book you showcased, I even had a few of Whelan’s Elric prints framed. Gould and Frazetta also did excellent work, and I read a fair amount of those displayed as well. Thanks for an enchanting stroll down memory lane!
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Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did. 🙂
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These older-style covers brought back many fond memories of books I read long-ago, whose covers were very similar… 🙂
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What I found especially interesting was the different styles of the covers, even when created by the same artist later in his career.
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Aw this has brought back fond memories – my dad has a copy of The Elfstones of Shannara with that cover 🙂
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Old school. 🙂
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Reblogged this on AJ Flowers Author Site & Blog and commented:
The collector in me really enjoyed these fantasy covers.
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Glad you enjoyed!
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