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} }) </script> </div> </form> </fieldset> <article class="entryArticle content STeditorial"> <header class="entryHeader icon-art"> <h1 class="entryTitle">Elson, Peter </h1> </header><p class='tagLine'>Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Artist.</p><div class="browsingBtns"> <span> <input class="button PNI previous" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/next.php?id=p&entry=elson_peter'" value="Prev" /> </span> <span> <input class="button PNI next" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/next.php?&entry=elson_peter'" value="Next" /> </span> <span> <input class="button PNI incoming" type="button" onclick="window.location.href='/incoming.php?entry=elson_peter'" value="About This Entry" title="What links to the entry; contributor initials explained; how to cite; other information" /> </span> <span><input class="button PNI" type="button" value="Checklist" onclick="window.location.hash='chklst'" ></span> <span style="cursor: pointer;" onclick="window.open('/gallery.php?link=elson_peter');"> <img alt="Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com" style="margin: 0; position: relative; top:-2px;" src="/images/icon-gal.gif"></img></span> </div><p style='float:right; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:10px; position: relative; top: 3px;'> <a href='/gallery.php?id=RobinsonKS-GreenMars.jpg' target='_blank'> <img src='https://x.sf-encyclopedia.com/gal/thumbs/RobinsonKS-GreenMars.jpg' alt='pic'></a></p> <p>(1947-1998) UK illustrator active during the 1980s and 1990s painting <a href="/entry/hard_sf">Hard SF</a> covers depicting space hardware in the manner popularized by Chris <a href="/entry/foss_chris">Foss</a>. He received his formal art education at Ealing Art College, then spent several years as a jobbing artist before, in 1975, winning an art competition mounted by the UK's <a href="/entry/science_fiction_monthly">Science Fiction Monthly</a>. Thereafter, his sf cover art was very much in demand, his first cover probably being that for the 1976 Arrow paperback reprint of Philip K <a href="/entry/dick_philip_k">Dick</a>'s <i>Vulcan's Hammer</i> (<b>1960</b>); although, unlike such contemporary compatriots as Chris <a href="/entry/moore_chris">Moore</a> and Fred <a href="/entry/gambino_fred">Gambino</a>, he declined to adopt the new technologies that swept the field during the 1990s, preferring to stick to acrylics and airbrush, his output seems barely to have eased as a result – although he would never again match the year 1980, in which at least 14 of his covers appeared. He also provided many of the <a href="/entry/illustration">Illustrations</a>, often reprints of his cover artworks, for the four <b>Terran Trade Authority</b> books (<b>1978-80</b>) by Steven Caldwell (with, in one instance, Charles Herridge). His illustrations were acknowledged as a significant influence on the design of the <a href="/entry/videogame">Videogame</a> <i>Homeworld</i> (<i>1999</i>); one of the characters in that game is called Captain Elson, in tribute to the artist.</p> <p>During times when sf commissions lagged, Elson took on commissions to paint theatrical scenery and fairground attractions. It was while relaxing in the pub after a day's work painting a merry-go-round for the Butlins Resort at Skegness in the English Midlands that he died of a sudden heart attack, tragically young.</p> <p>A book of his work is <i>Parallel Lines</i> (graph <b>1981</b>), done jointly with Chris <a href="/entry/moore_chris">Moore</a>. [JGr]</p> <h3 id="chklst">Peter George Elson</h3> <p><b>born</b> Ealing, London: 13 January 1947</p> <p><b>died</b> Skegness, Lincolnshire: March 1998</p> <p><b>works</b></p> <ul class="x"> <li><em><a href="/sfeshop.php?field-keywords=Parallel+Lines+The+Science+Fiction+Masterpieces&field-author=Elson+Peter" class="link-amazon" target="_blank">Parallel Lines: The Science Fiction Masterpieces of Peter Elson & Chris Moore</a></em> (Limpsfield, Surrey: Dragon's Dream, <b>1981</b>) [nonfiction: chap: graph: pb/Peter Elson and Chris <a href="/entry/moore_chris">Moore</a>]</li> </ul> <p><b>links</b></p> <ul class="x"> <li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.peterelson.co.uk/">Peter Elson Science Fiction Illustrator</a> – contains biography and very extensive gallery</li> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?2125">Internet Speculative Fiction Database</a></li> <li><a target="_blank" href="https://sf-encyclopedia.com/gallery.php?link=elson_peter">Picture Gallery</a></li> </ul> <p><b>previous versions of this entry</b></p> <ul><li><a href='https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/elson_peter' target='_blank'>Internet Archive</a></li></ul><br /><br /></article></div> <div class="sideBarsWrapper"> <div class="sideBarsColsWrapper clearfix"> <div class="column sideBar12 clearfix"> <div class="columnForm"><aside id="blogFeed" class="widget"> <div class="content STeditorial clearfix"> <h2>Recently visited entries<span style="background:url(/images/thingSFE2.png) !important"></span></h2><ul style='width: 50%; 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