David Palumbo, the artist behind the art of CD’s Salem’s Lot, has a very interesting piece about how he came to his amazing art.
Last year, I had the opportunity to work on several really fun properties/projects, but the just recently revealed special edition of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot by Cemetery Dance might take the prize.
To begin, I’ll say that the illustrated novel as a concept is possibly my favorite niche of the sprawling illustration world. It’s a tiny niche these days, but the old classics have always grabbed my attention. Mead Schaefer, Howard Pyle, and Frazetta made some of my favorites, but N.C. Wyeth’s Treasure Island is my pinnacle. I’ve looked at those paintings for inspiration and guidance time and again, and never more than when working on images in a series.
In modern publishing, you can count on one hand the number of imprints making illustrated novels with any consistency and they are generally created as limited collector’s editions. Which is to say, jobs like that don’t come along too often. This has been my second to date. In a strange coincidence, the offer came in within a week of my having finished reading The Shining (love love loved it) and MAN was I on their wavelength.