David Burroughs Mattingly
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David Burroughs Mattingly (born June 29, 1956, Fort Collins, Colorado) is an American illustrator and painter best known for his numerous book covers of science fiction and fantasy literature.
David began drawing and painting as a small child, influenced by comic books, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and a wide array of artists from Jim Steranko, to N.C. Wyeth, to Jackson Pollock. After high school, he attended the Colorado Institute of Art at Colorado State University and later transferred to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. After school, he worked at Walt Disney Studios, ultimately becoming head of the matte department. He worked on The Black Hole, Tron, Dick Tracy, Stephen King's The Stand and most recently I, Robot for Weta Digital in New Zealand.
While at Walt Disney Studios, David began doing freelance art. His first published piece was the album cover for "The Commodores Greatest Hits". His first sale of art for a book cover was for "A Wizard in Bedlam," by Christopher Stasheff, published by DAW Books. In 1983 he moved to New York City, and a year later across the Hudson River to Hoboken, New Jersey.
David has produced over five hundred covers for most major publishers of science fiction and fantasy, including Baen Books, Bantam Books, DAW Books, Del Rey Books, Dell, Marvel Comics, Omni, Playboy, Signet, and Tor Books. For Scholastic Press, David painted 54 covers for K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series, along with the last 5 covers for the Everworld series. He illustrated the popular Honor Harrington series for author David Weber. He painted the latest repackaging of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pellucidar books for Ballantine Books. Other clients include Michael Jackson, Lucasfilm, Universal Studios, Totco Oil, Galoob Toys, R/Greenberg Associates, Click 3X, and Spontaneous Combustion.
After twenty years of traditional painting, David bought a computer ten years ago and has mainly worked digitally since then, preferring the powerful new tools that working digitally offers the artist. Most of his work today combines digital painting, and elements generated in 3D programs.
David is married to Cathleen Cogswell, and they share their home with three cats, Annie, Jackson and Glinda. He is the son of John W. Mattingly, the inventor of the Water Pik.
[edit] Honors
Mattingly's work has been honored inside the science fiction field. His awards include:
- Two Magazine and Booksellers "Best Cover of the Year" award
- One Chesley Award from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (ASFA) in 1992
[edit] Art collections
Alternate Views, Alternate Universes, the Art of David B. Mattingly, (1996) ISBN 1-85028-340-0
