Tim White (1) (1952–2020)

This was a fun one.

I'm not as familiar with Tim White's work as I probably should be. Going through this book, I did discover a few book covers that I've always loved, and had no idea they were done by White.

In fact, I was pleasantly suprised to see the wraparound cover that he did for Alan Dean Foster's ICERIGGER, the first hardcover novel I ever bought with my own money (and started an expensive, space-devouring love of the hardcover format). And though I'd enjoyed Foster's writing show more previously (most notably from the STAR TREK LOG books he did for the animated series), it was absolutely and completely that Tim White cover that grabbed me and forced me to hand over the astronomical sum of $4.00 for the hardcover (when I could have waited and paid probably a $1.75 for the paperback...ah, the mid-1970s...where have your prices gone?).

I digress...

Overall, while there's times White's work reminded me a touch of Chris Foss, there were some interesting differences and, overall, I like White's work a bit better.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see some cover artwork for novels that I'd read, but they had different covers. Books from Asimov, Clarke, and Herbert that I'd love to now get my hands on, because White's artwork is far superior to the art on my current copies.

Cool introduction to this artist. show less

This one was all right. I don't mind White's art, but he's not my favourite. When he's doing landscapes and ships, he's very good.

But overall, I'm not a fan of his human figures, or his aliens/monsters. And honestly, while this may sound terrible, his art is far too clean and detailed for the Lovecraft work. I found that art to be a huge disappointment.

On the other hand, his work on Clive Barker's WEAVEWORLD was gorgeous.