John Avon (born 1961) is a Welsh

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

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 ...

. His work has been compiled in the book ''Journeys to Somewhere Else'' and used for book covers, CD covers, games, toys and advertising campaigns.Avon, John.
John Avon – Fantasy Art – Biography
". Retrieved September 22, 2010. Avon is best known for his artworks for the

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...

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 ...

'', for which he has produced over 200 paintings.Magic: The Gathering card search for John Avon

Life and work

Avon was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He completed an art foundation course near to where he grew up in Cardiff, and gained a BA in

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. The quintessential land man: Behind the Canvas: John Avon
,

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 ...

. Accessed 28 June 2014. He began his art career in 1983 with commercial advertising. He has painted book covers for authors

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nov ...

, Arthur C. Clark and Harry Harrison. Avon is one of the most prolific ''

'' artists, having painted over 280 unique cards, mostly landscapes on Basic Land cards. For the ''

World of Warcraft Trading Card Game The ''World of Warcraft Trading Card Game'' (''WoW TCG'') is an out-of-print collectible card game based on Blizzard Entertainment's MMORPG, ''World of Warcraft''. The game was announced by Upper Deck Entertainment on August 18, 2005 and released ...

'', he created the image for the ''Water Elemental'' card which is used in ''

Hearthstone ''Hearthstone'' is a free-to-play online digital collectible card game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthstone'' builds upon the existing lore of the ''Warcraft'' series by u ...

''. In 2014 he successfully used the

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

crowd funding website to raise funds for an illustrated book of his work, ''The Art of John Avon: Journeys to Somewhere Else'' (2015). Avon is married to the illustrator Patricia MacCarthy, with whom he has two sons and lives in

Saltdean Saltdean is a coastal village in the city of Brighton and Hove, with part (known as East Saltdean) outside the city boundary in Lewes district. Saltdean is approximately east of central Brighton, west of Newhaven, and south of Lewes. It is ...

, near Brighton and Hove, England. He also composes, plays and records music on the guitar and piano.

Publications

*''The Art of John Avon: Journeys to Somewhere Else.'' Self-published / John Avon Art, 2015. Illustrations by Avon. Compiled and with text by Avon and Guy Coulson. Hardback, . Deluxe edition of 500 copies, .

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Avon, John 1961 births Artists from Cardiff Living people Game artists Welsh illustrators British speculative fiction artists People from Saltdean