IlluxCon, an annual science fiction and fantasy illustration showcase, was held this past weekend in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Among all the debuted paintings and drawings was a new series from Dave Palumbo inspired by some of his favorite books, painted straight on those books. According to the artist:
“This series, like most of my personal projects, began almost as an accident. […] Another artist had given me some drawings and I wanted to return the favor, but he said he’d be fine with just some books to read. That seemed unfair to me and ultimately I decided to paint on a book cover (a 1963 American edition of Planet of the Apes) and meet him in the middle. The piece was so much fun, I began thinking of other books I might enjoy working with and, before I knew it, I had a monster list which strangely just seems to get longer the more that I do.”
Dave tries to obtain as early a printing as possible at a reasonable price. The history of a vintage copy, even if it isn’t a first edition, adds something to the piece. He is, clearly, as much of fan of the literature as he is of genre painting and has developed a deeply personal way of exploring a love of both. Check out some of the book paintings below!
The original Mercury 7 in Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff:
Severian and his blacker-than-black fuligin cape in Gene Wolfe’s The Shadow of the Torturer:
Crawling out of a PoW camp in Paul Brickhill’s The Great Escape:
The Stars My Destination, AKA Tiger, Tiger by Alfred Bester:
Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle:
