I recently learned of the passing of the much loved Fantasy artist Chris Achilleos last week. Chris died following the onset of a sudden illness.
Chris' work has always been a favourite of mine since the 70's and was a stalwart of the Fantasy/Sci-Fi literary and Game industries and produced much of the classic Game and Book artwork through the 70's, 80's and 90's and indeed many well known poster art for the Movies too.
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| Elven Warrior (Elric) - 1983 |
A lot of my Fantasy and Sci-Fi reading material was based on picking up the book cover which Chris had produced and introduced a few new writers to my reading material that otherwise I may of missed, much like the works of Ian Miller, Rodney Matthews, Chris Foss and John Blanche, all of which helped steer my gaming and creative directions.
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| Divine Plague Carrier - 1976 Cover for 'To die in Italbar' |
Chris is also reknowned for his fantasy glamour work and I have a couple of signed portfolio print runs of his Sirens and Amazon projects and most of his Art books to boot.
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| The Mercenary - 1977 |
His output was prolific and a quick tour of his website ( Chris.Achilleos.co.uk ) will produce much nostaga to those who remember all the GW 80's boxed games, Dr Who and Micheal Moorcock book covers and the Heavy Metal animated movie to name just a few.
A scan through his back catalogue will no doubt surprise and enthrall with a bit of healthy nostalga.
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| Kane's Stand - 1978 |
A favourite of mine which I post below adorned the cover of 'War of the Wingmen' by Poul Anderson and believe this eptomises Chris strengths in the attention to detail and textures that set him out from the pack and gave a generation of artists inspiration for all the good stuff that has since been produced by so many in the genre.
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| War of the Wingmen - 1976 |
An artist that will be sorely missed but who's work will continue to inspire and engage for years to come.
