EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 21 © 2017 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

5 Rodney was born in 1945, in Paulton, North Somerset, and it was his father who first showed him how to draw. He studied commercial design at the West of England College of Art in Bristol, and on leaving college joined an advertising agency. By 1970 he decided to go it alone and began freelancing: and has since produced the fantastic artwork we all know and love, selling millions of posters of his artwork, and producing countless album covers for some of the most renowned musicians and bands in the rock industry. He has kept producing top-notch artwork for more than fifty years, in book covers, video games, animation, as well as movies. The fact that his original paintings are sought after by well-heeled collectors is added testimony to the power of his art. Rodney paints with coloured inks in an impressively smooth and efficient way—we don’t see any brush strokes —and with the colours (always bright) evenly FACING PAGE: The Heavy Metal Hero, 1985. Rodney created a ‘steampunk’ illustration before it first became a sci-fi genre. This image was later used as a cover for Diamond Head’s compilation album Am I Evil? released in 1987 by FM Revolver Records, and a second time in 1994 by Heavy Metal Records. Rodney had also done the cover for Borrowed Time , Diamond Head’s second studio album. ABOVE: Crazy Nights, 1981. Cover to the Tygers of Pan Tang third studio album of the same name.