Geoff Taylor was born in Lancaster, England in 1946. Educated at Eckington Westfield School in Sheffield. Followed by a 3 year Graphic design course at Chesterfield College of Art. After Five years or so of working in Advertising agencies in Nottingham Geoff turned to illustration and book cover art.
He has illustrated covers for most of the top Science Fiction/Fantasy writers of our time, including JRR Tolkien, Raymond E. Feist, David & Leigh Eddings, Roger Zelazny, Katharine Kerr, David Zindel. Also childrens books, authors include Nina Bawden, Rosemary Sutcliff, Cliff McNish and Marcus Sedgewick, also illustrations for Michelle Paver, plus, many more authors for several publishing companies around the world. Geoff was also one of the illustrators for Jeff Wayne's legendary "The War of the Worlds" album. Since 1994 he has added to some of the rich imagery of Games Workshop and the unique Warhammer world and has painted covers for the Black Library, and gaming cards for Sabertooth Games.
Perhaps his true passions are best reflected in his wildlife paintings (Geoff has been inspired by the local story of "The Last Wolf" in England, reputedly killed at Humphrey Head, Cumbria in the 14th Century and has produced a piece of artwork and a print to illustrate the event) & his burgeoning photographic record of the deer in Cumbria, where he now lives with his wife.
In 2005 Geoff displayed several of his paintings at his latest exhibtion called Wolves, Princesses and Dragons, held at the Dock Museum in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK.
Back in 2001, at the request of Crydee, Geoff graciously took photographs of Murder In LaMut during the progress of its creation. Today we are proud to present them here for you to see, a behind the scenes view of cover art. Maybe you will gain an insight into the skills and imagination Geoff possess, enabling him to create images of such complexity, an image that readers will first see when they pick up a book. This is just one of the many covers Geoff has created for the UK/Australian editions of Raymond E Feists books.
After conversations with Geoff and his wife, for permission to uses items on this page, they further surprised us with some early concept visuals, for Murder In LaMut, Jimmy the Hand, Magician 2002 Limited Edition, and an unused concept produced for Magician (2003), which we are pleased to present for you to appreciate. You will also see amongst these, a picture of Geoff himself posing as the warrior for Murder In LaMut.
Here is a complete list of the Raymond E. Feist Covers to date, with a sample Geoff Taylor cover from each series:-
| Magician Magician 1992 Silverthorn A Darkness at Sethanon |
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Daughter of the Empire Daughter of the Empire (New) Servant of the Empire Servant of the Empire (New) Mistress of the Empire Mistress of the Empire (New) |
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| Prince of the Blood The Kings Buccaneer |
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Shadow of a Dark Queen Rise of a Merchant Prince Rage of a Demon King Shards of a Broken Crown |
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| Krondor the Betrayal Krondor the Assassins Krondor Tear of the Gods |
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Honoured Enemy Murder in LaMut Jimmy the Hand |
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| Faerie Tale |
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If you would like to see some of Geoff's art without the publishers text, then check out Geoff's page in the Art Gallery. A wide range of prints of Geoff's pictures are available from his website. Prices vary around 30.00-50.00 GBP depending if the print is, un-signed, signed or limited editions. Paypal is accepted as a form of payment. Geoff also takes the occasional Pet Portrait commisions.
To find out more please
Visit Geoff Taylors offical website
