Virgil Finlay

Once upon a time I fancied myself an artist and my biggest influence was a man named Virgil Finlay. He was an American pulp illustrator in the 20's through the 40's. It's sort of an odd choice for a teenager in the 80's to be stuck on, but some older friends into such things introduced him to me and I was hooked. The amount of detail he put into his pen & ink illustrations was just unbelievable. He used every tool in his arsenal to make the illustrations, adeptly using stippling, crosshatching & scratchboard in the same illustration. Do yourself a favor and see if you can locate the fabulous Underwood Miller books that reproduce this stuff in glorious detail on nice glossy paper. I spent hours pouring over them, but alas I never carried the illustration flame forward. Feast your eyes on a master and seek him out for yourself.