Arty Farty Friday ~ Josh Kirby & Discworld

Some of us might be unfamiliar with the name Josh Kirby, but many of us - especially fans of the novels of the late Sir Terry Pratchett - will have seen many examples his artwork.

Ronald William "Josh" Kirby
(27 November 1928 – 23 October 2001) was a commercial artist born on the outskirts of Liverpool in the town of Waterloo, Lancashire. With a career spanning 60 years, he is known for being the original artist for Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, as well as some of science fiction's most acclaimed book cover illustrations.
See Wikipedia HERE.

Mr Kirby came by the nickname "Josh" at Liverpool City School of Art where colleagues likened his work to that of the great painter Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Kirby’s most significant milestone, in the 1980s, was teaming up with Sir Terry Pratchett.

From https://discworld.com/josh-kirby/

With the Discworld series, Josh found the perfect complement for the more fantastically humorous side of his talent, and his larger than life images exploded off the covers, inspiring many fans to dive into the Discworld.

Cover paintings for The Colour of Magic in 1983 and The Light Fantastic in 1986 quickly established Kirby as the illustrator for Discworld — at the time inseparable, like Tenniel for Alice or E.H. Shepard for Winnie-the-Pooh. Sir Terry himself said, “I only invented the Discworld, Josh created it.”

It should be noted, though, that the cognoscenti appreciated Kirby long before fame dug him in the ribs. He exhibited his paintings in London’s Portal Gallery, in ICA in Berlin, and in many provincial British galleries. Visitors to the huge art show at the 1979 World SF Convention in Brighton voted him Best SF Artist (Professional Class), when Discworld was still years away.............

After, in his own words, ‘many false starts’ he produced a pencil rough of the chosen image, to be approved by the publisher’s art editor, or, in the special case of Discworld, discussed over the phone with Sir Terry Pratchett. Although it seems like simple common sense, this artist/author contact and feedback was unusual in the publishing world, where illustrators normally dealt only with art editors. (Is it mere coincidence that authors are so frequently unhappy with their covers? Perish the thought.)

A slow worker, it took Kirby four weeks to complete a single illustration, or eight, counting the preliminary time taken to read the novel, select and visualize suitable images, and draw sketches to work out how they could be best presented.

When asked about influences, he most often named three past artists. The oldest was Hieronymus Bosch, famous for those teeming, surreally fantastic landscapes of heaven and hell. Next was Pieter Bruegel the Elder, with his hauntingly detailed groups of warts-and-all Flemish peasants, and finally muralist Frank Brangwyn, who made bold use of colour in his large scale, monumental compositions.

Josh Kirby Art is a website dedicated to this artist and the best place to see more of his work.

ASTROLOGY

For any stray passing astrology fan, I'll post a 12 noon natal chart for Josh Kirby, with a link to my archived post containing the natal chart of Sir Terry Pratchett. Notable points, for me are Kirby's Sun and Saturn in Sagittarius (see this quote from above linked extract: "Josh found the perfect complement for the more fantastically humorous side of his talent, and his larger than life images exploded off the covers...") How much more Sagittarius-like could an artist's style be? His Venus in Earthy Capricorn, though, linked to Capricorn's ruler Saturn in Sagittarius acts as a disciplinary factor, ensuring this artist is practical and careful too. (See above extract, again: "A slow worker, it took Kirby four weeks to complete a single illustration, or eight, counting the preliminary time taken to read the novel, select and visualize suitable images, and draw sketches to work out how they could be best presented.") Uranus in Aries, in harmonious trine to his natal Sun reflects his ease in coming up with the unusual and unexpected, sufficient to match Sir Terry's own wild imaginings.


A link between Josh Kirby's and Sir Terry Pratchett's natal charts exists via Kirby's Jupiter in Taurus, close enough to sir Terry's natal Sun/Mercury to be considered conjunct!

Josh Kirby born on 27 November 1928 in Waterloo, Lancashire, UK.