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Charles Vess

Charles Vess (born June 10, 1951)[1] is an American fantasy artist and comics artist who has specialized in the illustration of myths and fairy tales. His influences include British "Golden Age" book illustrator Arthur Rackham, Czech Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha, and comic-strip artist Hal Foster, among others. Vess has won several awards for his illustrations. Vess' studio, Green Man Press, is located in Abingdon, VA.

Charles Vess

(1951-06-10) June 10, 1951

American

Artist

He has received numerous awards and honors for his work including the 2019, and 2023 Locus Award for Best Artist, and the 2019 Hugo Awards for Best Professional Artist and Best Art Book for The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition.[2]


In 1991, his work with Neil Gaiman on the Sandman comic short story "A Midsummer Night's Dream" became the first comic to win the World Fantasy Award.[3]

Biography[edit]

Early life and career[edit]

Charles Vess began drawing comic art as a child. He graduated with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 1974. While at VCU, Vess' comics appeared in the Fan Free Funnies, a comic tabloid published by the student newspaper.[4] His first professional position was as a commercial animator for Candy Apple Productions in Richmond, Virginia, which he held for approximately two years.


In 1976 he moved to New York City and became a freelance illustrator. He contributed illustrations to publications including Heavy Metal, Klutz Press (now an imprint of Scholastic Press), and National Lampoon. One notable publication from this early period was The Horns of Elfland (ISBN 0-915822-25-3) published by Archival Press in 1979, which Vess wrote and illustrated.[5]


From 1980 to 1982 Vess worked as an art instructor at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. During that period, his work appeared in one of the first major museum exhibitions of science fiction and fantasy art, held at the New Britain Museum of American Art in 1980.

"The Tempest" Spring 1996. Four Color Images Gallery, New York City

"Stardust" Spring - Summer 1998 , San Francisco.

Cartoon Art Museum

"Good Goddess Arts Exhibition", Johnson City, and Abingdon, USA, March 1998, 1999, and 2000.

"Into the Light," Comic Art Symposium, Avilles, Spain, Fall 2000.

"Fantasy, Visionaries of the Fantastic" Turin, Italy, Spring 2002.

"A Circle of Cats," 153W Bookstore & Gallery, Abingdon, Summer 2003

"Ancient Spirit, Modern Voice," (Co-curator and participating artist) The DeFoor Centre, Atlanta, Spring 2004. The Defoor Centre is known as "" since July, 2021

The West Venue

" Imagined" Massillon Museum, Massillon, Ohio, Spring 2018.[24]

Earthsea

Starting in 1989 with "The Art of Fantasy and Science Fiction" at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware, a series of gallery exhibitions have featured Vess's artwork. The gallery show "Storyteller" appeared in 1992 at Frameworks Gallery in Bristol, Virginia. The following year he showed work under the title "The Mythic Garden" at the Open Air Birch Garden in Devon, England, and "The Magic" at Repartee Gallery in Park City, Utah.


In 1994, after he moved to southwestern Virginia, a local museum asked Vess to organize a show which became The DreamWeavers: a travelling exhibition of 15 fantasy artists from a variety of fields including children's book illustrators Jerry Pinkney, Dennis Nolan, Gennady Spirin, Ruth Sanderson and David Wisnieski; comic book illustrators Michael Kaluta, and Vess himself; science fiction/fantasy book jacket artists Dawn Wilson and James Gurney; commercial book illustrators Scott Gustafson, Brian Froud, Alan Lee and Alicia Austin, and fine artist Terri Windling. The show ran from fall 1994 through summer 1995.


Since that time Vess's work has appeared in gallery showings and museum exhibitions including:

: For excellence in comic art, 1990.[25]

Inkpot Award

: Best short story, 1991 for Sandman #19, by Neil Gaiman and Vess.[26][27]

World Fantasy Award

: Best Single Issue, 1991 for Concrete Celebrates Earth Day, by Paul Chadwick, Vess, and Jean "Moebius" Giraud.[28]

Eisner Award

: 1993 Best Cover (Dark Horse Presents #75).[29]

Comic Creators' Guild

Silver Award (Comics) 1995, Spectrum Annual of Imaginative Art.

[30]

Eisner Award: Best Penciler/Inker, 1996 for The Book of Ballads and Sagas and Sandman #75.

[28]

World Fantasy Award: Best Artist, 1998 for Stardust, written by Neil Gaiman.

[26]

Eisner Award: Best Painter/Multimedia Artist, 2002 for Rose, written by

Jeff Smith

World Fantasy Award: Best Artist, 2010.[31]

[26]

: Best Professional Artist, 2019 [20]

The Hugo Awards

The Hugo Awards: Best Art Book, 2019 for The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga Press /Gollancz)

[20]

Locus Awards: Best Artist, 2019

[19]

Locus Awards: Best Art Book, 2019 for The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga Press /Gollancz)

[19]

Locus Awards: Best Artist, 2023 Winner.

[32]

#196 (1995)

Cerebus

Official website

An autobiographical essay

at the Comic Book Database

Charles Vess

at Library of Congress, with 23 library catalog records

Charles Vess

at Mike's Amazing World of Comics

Charles Vess

at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators

Charles Vess