Jon Foster is an American

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

penciler A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

, and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Biography

Foster is best known for his comic book covers (

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

) and other works featured in role-playing games such as ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' and ''

Alternity ''Alternity'' is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published by TSR in 1998. Following the acquisition of TSR by Wizards of the Coast, the game was discontinued in 2000 as part of a broader rationalisation of TSR's business holdings, b ...

''. Jon Foster studied illustration at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

and graduated in 1989. His paintings are oils on canvas and are known to have a dark or muted color palette. Typically, they incorporate subject matter like good vs. evil, anger, and adventure. Before a project is complete, Foster scans his paintings into a computer to add digital effects. Earlier in his career, Jon collaborated with artists such as Rick Berry and

Dave Dorman Dave Dorman (born 1958 in Michigan) is a science fiction, horror and fantasy illustrator best known for his ''Star Wars'' artwork. Early life Dorman's parents are Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jack N. Dorman and Phyllis Dorman. Both parents ar ...

(well known

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

artist). Foster has illustrated cards for the ''

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

'' collectible card game. Some of his achievements include multiple awards from the prestigious Spectrum sci-fi and fantasy art publications. Jon lives in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

Works

Books

* ''Progressions'' (February 2003) * ''Revolution: The Art of Jon Foster'' (November 2006)

Book covers

* ''Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic'' Trilogy by Sean Williams and

Shane Dix Shane Dix (born 1960 in Wales) is an Australian science fiction author best known for his collaborative work with Sean Williams in the '' Star Wars'': New Jedi Order series. In addition to his novels with Sean Williams, Dix has had short stories ...

(

Del Rey Books Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn, by Penguin Random House. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It ...

, 2003) * ''The Uninvited'' (May 2004) * ''Snake Agent'' by

Liz Williams Liz Williams (born 1965) is a British science fiction writer, historian and occultist. ''The Ghost Sister,'' her first novel, was published in 2001. Both this novel and her next, ''Empire of Bones'' (2002) were nominated for the Philip K. Dick ...

(

Night Shade Books Night Shade Books is an American, San Francisco–based imprint, formerly an independent publishing company, that specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Among its publications have been the U.S. edition of Iain M. Banks' novel ''T ...

, September 2005) * ''The Dragonback series'' by

Timothy Zahn Timothy Zahn (born September 1, 1951) is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. He is known best for his prolific collection of ''Star Wars'' List of Star Wars books, books, chiefly the Thrawn trilogy, ''Thrawn'' series, and has publis ...

(Starscape Books, 2005) * ''The Demon and the City'' by Liz Williams (Night Shade Books, August 2006) * '' Dark Harvest'' by Norman Partridge (Cemetery Dance, 2006) * '' Mistborn: The Final Empire'', '' Mistborn: The Well of Ascension'', and '' Mistborn: Hero of Ages'' by

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the ''Mistborn'' series and ''The ...

* '' The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox'' by

Barry Hughart Barry Hughart (March 13, 1934 – August 1, 2019) was an American author of fantasy novels. Background Hughart was born in Peoria, Illinois on March 13, 1934. His father, John Harding Page, served as a naval officer. His mother, Veronica ...

(

Subterranean Press Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Burton, Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. In addition to publishing novels, short stor ...

, 2008) * '' Fender Lizards'' by Joe R. Lansdale (

, 2015)

Comics

* '' Aliens vs. Predator vs. Terminator'' * '' Batman: the Ring, the Arrow and the Bat'' * ''Hunter'' * '' The Nightmare Factory - Volume 2'' * ''

Species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

'' * ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...

Other references

* ''Spectrum 6'' (December 1999) * ''Spectrum 8'' (November 2001) * ''Spectrum 9'' (December 2002) * ''Spectrum 10'' (October 2003) * ''Spectrum 11'' (November 2004)

References

External links

Jon Foster's official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Jon 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American painters 21st-century American male artists 21st-century American painters American illustrators American male painters American speculative fiction artists Fantasy artists Game artists Living people Rhode Island School of Design alumni Role-playing game artists Year of birth missing (living people)