I am Kevin Ward, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, who fell in love with illustration early in life. I started drawing at age three (I’m told) because there were simply not enough pictures of dinosaurs at the local library to satisfy me. From elementary school onward I was encouraged by my teachers to pursue art.

However by the time I became a fine arts major in college I was discouraged from illustration as a career, “illustration” being a disparaging term in that academic environment. Nevertheless I was fascinated by the idea of suggesting stories through images, much in the same way program music may suggest a series of events. My ongoing love of science, music, fantasy, and genre fiction provided a melding of images with subject matter so that illustration became the natural outlet for my creativity.

By 1980 I had worked my way into the science fiction subculture. Well, actually I was pushed into it, and what a surprise it was! My first exhibit was a near sell out and provided the contacts for my first published work in Future Life Magazine. I have since provided many illustrations for publications in the US and in Europe. I have illustrated the covers of books by such authors as Anne McCaffrey, Piers Anthony, Norman Spinrad, and others. My clients have included the Doubleday Publishing Group, Grolier Science Encyclopedia, Funk and Wagnalls, TSR, Inc., and NASA, among others.

Still residing in Nashville, currently I am involved in working with other artists collaboratively and I find this creatively stimulating. I’m also attempting a comeback of sorts after a long and grueling hiatus from illustration. I have been commissioned to create a series of e-book covers and I feel this may be the way of the future for publishing.

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