Josh Kirby

Ronald William "Josh" Kirby (27 November 1928 – 23 October 2001) was a British commercial artist. Over a career spanning 60 years, he was the artist for the covers of many science fiction books including Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

Personal life

He was born on 27 November 1928 at 58 Argo Road, Waterloo, Liverpool, UK. His parents were Charles William and Ellen (née Marsh) Kirby who ran a grocery shop together, although his father was also a ship owner's freight clerk. They named him Ronald William Kirby.

Kirby dreamed of a career in art from a young age. When he was seven he made a trade sign that said "KIRBY – ARTIST". He was also attracted to science fiction and fantasy from images seen in films and magazines.

At the beginning of the Second World War his school was evacuated to Abercraf in South Wales. In 1943 he returned to Liverpool and attended the Junior then Senior Schools of the Liverpool City School of Art from the age of 14 until he was 20. He was trained in drawing, painting and lithography. While he was there, his Old Master-style portraits earned him the nickname "Josh" when colleagues likened his work to that of the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds. and the nickname stuck. He also met the model June Furlong in 1948 and they remained life-long friends.

He moved to London in 1950.

In 1965 he married Dianne Kingston and moved to The Old Rectory, Shelfanger, near Diss in Norfolk. They divorced in 1982. He died of natural causes in his sleep at home in Shelfanger at the age of 72 on 23 October 2001 and was survived by his partner Jackie Rigden.

Career

He worked as freelance all his career, having left his only employment after half a day.

After leaving art school, Liverpool City Council commissioned him to paint the Lord Mayor, Alderman Joseph Jackson Cleary, in 1950. Kirby carried out the commission but decided against portraiture as a career and turned to illustration for film posters and books.

In the early 50s Kirby illustrated film posters for studios in both London and Paris and continued to do some film posters until the 80s. In the 70s, he undertook film poster art for publicity agency feref. Working alongside designer Eddie Paul, Kirby depicted the characters for Star Wars: ''Return of the Jedi;'' films ''The Beastmaster'' and '' Krull'', among others. He also designed a poster for ''The Life of Brian'' inspired by Pieter Brueghel's Tower Of Babel, but it was not used.

When the market for film poster illustration dried up in the mid 80s, Kirby switched his attention to role-playing games. He provided cover art for ''Duelmasters'', ''Tunnels & Trolls'' and ''Wizards & Warriors.''

However, Kirby's major output from the late 50s – 80s was artwork for book covers for a very wide range of books including westerns, crime novels, science fiction and non-fiction, as well as covers and interior art for science fiction magazines. His first published book cover art was for the 1955 science fiction novel ''Cee-Tee Man'', by Dan Morgan. In 1956 he created a cover for Ian Fleming's book ''Moonraker''. Working for publishers including Panther, Corgi, Four Square and NEL/Mayflower, he illustrated over 400 covers for authors including Brian Aldiss, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Stephen Briggs, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Craig Shaw Gardner, Ron Goulart, Robert Heinlein, Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Kerouac, Ursula Le Guin, Richard Matheson, Guy de Maupassant, Terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin, Jimmy Sangster, Jules Verne, and H. G. Wells