Richard Anderson (artist)

Richard Anderson is an American concept artist, illustrator, and painter. He won the Gold Spectrum Award in 2011, the Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film in 2015, and he was the final person to win the Gemmell Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art.

Richard Anderson
Known for
Awards
Websiteflaptrapsart.com

He has created artwork used on dozens of book covers, concept art used in the production of several films, and has worked both freelance and for specific companies in his career.

Biography

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Richard Anderson is a native of Montana, where he lived in a trailer house.[1][2][3] He began drawing when he was young, and had difficulty in school.[3] After graduating high school, he began attending The Art Institute of Seattle, where he graduated after focusing on his drawing.[4]

In 2003, he began working as an artist at NCSoft (specifically at ArenaNet), where he worked on the Guild Wars games.[4] After working at NCSoft for eight-and-a-half years, he moved to MPC, where he worked through 2011.[4] He won the 2011 Gold Spectrum Award in the Institutional category for Knight March, and he has since been included multiple times in Spectrum.[2][5] He then worked at Framestore until October 2013, after which he began working for Rocksteady Studios.[1][2][4][6]

He was nominated for the 2014 BSFA Award for Best Artwork for The Mirror Empire.[7] Along with other members of the art department, he won the Art Directors Guild Award for Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film in 2015 for his work as a senior concept artist on the film Guardians of the Galaxy.[2][8]

Anderson was nominated in 2016 for the Chesley Award for Best Cover Illustration – Hardcover for The Dinosaur Lords.[9] That same year, Anderson was also nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist.[10] In 2018, he was the final person to win the Gemmell Award for Best Fantasy Cover Art for Kings of the Wyld.[11]

He also does freelance work through is studio, Flaptraps Art.[2][3] He uses standard sketches on paper for some projects, but he also uses a Cintiq tablet so he can work directly in Photoshop from the beginning.[4] He also uses 3D tools like SketchUp, Maya, 3ds Max, and modo in his visualization work.[4]

Works

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Cover art

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Anderson created the cover art for the following:

Films

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Anderson worked as a concept artist on the following films:

He worked as a digital artist on The Kid Who Would Be King in 2019.

Reception

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Anderson's work has been described as "explosive, [with] energy to every line",[20] "raw, colourful" and "tense and mature...".[2] Sarah Gailey, the author of River of Teeth, stated "[h]is covers are dynamic and gorgeous...[rendering] a world in broad, luminous strokes."[2]

Awards and honors

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Year Organization Award title,
Category
Work Result Refs
2011 Spectrum Fantastic Art Spectrum Award,
Institutional
Knight March Gold [5]
2014 British Science Fiction Association BSFA Award,
Best Artwork
The Mirror Empire Nominated [7]
2015 Art Directors Guild Art Directors Guild Award,
Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film
Guardians of the Galaxy Won [8]
2016 Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists Chesley Award,
Best Cover Illustration – Hardcover
The Dinosaur Lords Nominated [9]
World Fantasy Convention World Fantasy Award,
Artist
- Nominated [10]
2018 Gemmell Awards Gemmell Award,
Best Fantasy Cover Art
Kings of the Wyld Won [11]

References

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  1. ^ a b Plunkett, Luke (3 October 2012). "The Place Where Guild Wars and Prometheus Meet". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Moher, Aidan (10 April 2017). "Art of SFF: Richard Anderson's Broad, Luminous Worlds". Tor.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Q&A with Richard Anderson, Flaptraps Art". Whitefox Publishing. 14 November 2018. Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hurst, Adriene. "Concept Artist Richard Anderson Brings Studios' Visions to the Screen". Digital Media World. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Spectrum Awards 2011". Science Fiction Awards Database. 10 August 2012. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  6. ^ Newitz, Annalee (2 December 2013). "Out of the multiverse and into the White". io9. Archived from the original on 3 October 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "2014 British Science Fiction Award". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Miller, Andrew C. (25 October 2019). "Marvel Studios: Guardians of the Galaxy 3D". Le Cinema Paradiso. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "2016 Chesley Award". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  10. ^ a b "2016 World Fantasy Award". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  11. ^ a b c "David Gemmel Legend Awards 2018". Science Fiction Awards Database. 22 July 2018. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  12. ^ "Title: A Grey Moon Over China". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Title: Ghosts of Ascalon". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  14. ^ "Title: The Iron Shirts". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Title: Ragnarok". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Title: Seven Princes". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Title: Among the Silvering Herd". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Title: The Forgetting Moon". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  19. ^ "Title: The Blackest Heart". Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  20. ^ Gallo, Irene (17 May 2017). "Judging SFF Books By Their Richard Anderson Covers". Tor.com. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
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