Debbie Hughes (born May 14, 1958 in
Lexington,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
)
is an American artist specializing in science fiction and fantasy illustration. Her work has appeared in over 150 publications.
Early career
Hughes is the granddaughter of Hildegarde Hamilton, an impressionist painter, well known in the U.S and Europe. Hughes received her BA from
Furman University
Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...
. Her first published cover was for Science Fiction Chronicle. Her next book covers appeared on
Baen Books
Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...
in 1989 which included covers for
Roger Zelazny
Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...
, Aline Boucher Kaplan and Don Wismer. This was followed by frontispiece work for
Easton Press
Easton Press, a division of MBI, Inc., based in Norwalk, Connecticut, is a publisher specializing in premium leather-bound books. In addition to canonical classics, religion, poetry and art books, they publish a selection of science fiction an ...
/MBI books which included illustration for such authors as
Alexei Panshin
Alexei Panshin (August 14, 1940 – August 21, 2022) was an American writer and science fiction critic. He wrote several critical works and several novels, including the 1968 Nebula Award–winning novel ''Rite of Passage''Nicholls 1979, p. 447 ...
, Sir
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...
,
Charles Pellegrino
Charles R. Pellegrino (born 1953) is an American writer, the author of several books related to science and archaeology, including ''Return to Sodom and Gomorrah'', ''Ghosts of the Titanic'', ''Unearthing Atlantis'', and ''Ghosts of Vesuvius.'' ...
,
Mike Resnick
Michael Diamond Resnick (; March 5, 1942 – January 9, 2020) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He won five Hugo awards and a Nebula award, and was the guest of honor at Chicon 7. He was the executive editor of the defunct ...
, Allen Steel,
Gentry Lee
Bert Gentry Lee (born 1942) is an American scientist, space engineer, and science fiction author. He is currently chief engineer for the Planetary Flight Systems Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Space career
Lee had engineering o ...
, Sheri S. Tepper, Spider Robinson, and
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt (born April 14, 1935) is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. Most of his books follow either superluminal pilot Pri ...
.
Hughes did interior color illustrations for ''
Amazing Stories Magazine
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...
'', ''Science Fiction Age Magazine'' and ''
Realms of Fantasy Magazine''. She created interior illustrations for
Ben Bova
Benjamin William Bova (November 8, 1932November 29, 2020) was an American writer and editor. During a writing career of 60 years, he was the author of more than 120 works of science fact and fiction, an editor of '' Analog Science Fiction and F ...
,
Martha Soukup
Martha Soukup (born 20 July 1959 in Aurora, Illinois) is a science fiction author and playwright for thMonday Night PlayGroundemerging playwrights group. In 2003, she won their annuaJune Anne Baker Prizecommission.
The 1994 short film Override, ...
, A.J. Austin, Vivian Vande Velde, Deborah Wheeler, Gary W. Herring, and Joyce K. Jensen.
In her work for a CD Rom Company: The Bookworm, Hughes illustrated the entire book ''
Little Women
''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888).
Alcott wrote the book, originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, at the request of her publisher. The story follows the lives ...
'' with over 45 illustrations. She illustrated the works of Edgar Allan Poe with 12 illustrations,
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
's ''
The Scarlet Letter
''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym ...
'' with seven illustrations and
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...
's ''
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...
'' with 10 illustrations. From 1992 to 1994, Hughes did illustration work for
Cyberflix, a local game company in Knoxville, TN. Cyberflix also signed on with Paramount Interactive and as a result Debbie worked for both companies. She worked on the CD Rom titles: Title JumpRaven, Viper and Dust. She went on to work for The Bookworm and The Learning Company. At the Learning Company she illustrated for numerous Language learning CD titles and she also worked on the Title: Reader Rabbit.
Games, cards and software
Hughes' work has been seen in the CD Rom games ''JumpRaven'' and ''Dust''. The Bookworm's ''Illustrated Classic Series'', The Learning Company's ''Learn to Speak Series'', and ''Reader Rabbit'' feature her artwork. She also created animation work for ''Dust'', ''Reader Rabbit'' and the Bookworm's ''Illustrated Classic Series''.
Her collectible game card work includes illustrations for
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...
, Thunder Castle Games, DragonStorm Games, Gatekeeper Press, Mayfair Games, Companion Games, Last Unicorn Games, Five Rings Publishing, Precedence Entertainment, and Iron Crown Enterprises.
Recent work
Debbie's work "Dark Streets" is featured in Neither Beginnings nor Endings, The JordanCon 2022 Anthology.
Debbie's work was featured in the 2020 December issue of Utopia Magazine where she was interviewed by the Editor Tristan Evarts. This is a very in depth interview with many of Debbie's published and unpublished works.
Debbie's work was featured in the 2019 Yandex - Museum of the Future (Russian Magazine)
Hughes' recent work includes 2011 ASFA Journal cover, the frontispiece illustration for Spider Robinson's newest novel, ''Very Hard Choices'', published by Easton Press; the frontispiece illustration for
Sheri S. Tepper's novel ''The Margarets'', published by Easton Press, a full color wrap around illustration for Nancy Farmer's ''Sea of Trolls'', published by Editorial Presenca, Portugal and a full color wrap around cover illustration for the Postscripts Cover, Spring issue 6, 2006, P & S Publishing, UK.
pspublishing.co.uk
The book ''Ruins Metropolis'' by Eric T. Reynolds (editor) is the third volume in the ''Ruins'' series from Hadley Rille Books. It is a collection of 35 fantasy and science fiction stories based on Hughes' art work.
Hughes has been the artist guest of honor at many conventions in the North and Southeast United States. She is listed in the 2009 edition of ''Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists of the Twentieth Century'' written by Jane Frank. Her work has been exhibited in galleries across the United States.
Honors
Debbie received The Bernadette Award for her work: "Impedance in Slumber" from The National Association of Women Artists 132nd Annual Exhibition. This was held at One Art Space, 23 Warren Street(Tribeca)NY. NY. Oct. 16-23 2021.
Debbie' work, "Seasons of Wither won an Honorable Mention with The National Association of Women Artists exhibit: "Grand Visions, we are here", September 2020. This was held at the Grand Central Library, NYPL, 135 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017.
Debbie received the Chesley Award from the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists (ASFA) October 2020. Unpublished Color Art work for her painting: "The Raven, the Wolf and the Maiden".
On November 14, 2019 Debbie was inducted into the National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
which is the oldest women's fine art organization in the country. Debbie joins a list of distinguished American women artists.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Debbie
1958 births
Living people
Artists from Lexington, Kentucky
People from Knoxville, Tennessee
American women illustrators
American illustrators
Science fiction artists
Kentucky women artists
21st-century American women