When I stumble across an artist who slipped under my radar, and whose work blows me away, it’s like discovering treasure. Virgil Finlay is the latest in a long line talent that’s come to recent attention this way.
Virgil Finlay was a prolific horror and pulp illustrator who provided beautifully detailed pen-and-ink drawings with precise technique. These elaborate crosshatched pen-and-paper works can take hours or days to complete but Finlay somehow managed to create more than 2600 works of art throughout his career.
His talents weren’t secluded to art either, he was also a poet for most of his adult life, although only a few were published, and not until after his death.
His work has been featured in the most popular science fiction and pulp magazines back in the day including popular titles like Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. Finlay had a highly successful career and worked until he died of cancer at age 56 in 1971.
Winner of the Hugo Award, Finlay was also inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012.
