McKIE, Angus

(1951-)

   UK illustrator. AM studied at Newcastle-upon-Tyne College of Art. From the mid-1970s his sf work appeared often on book covers, in picture books like Alien Landscapes (1979) by Robert HOLDSTOCK and Malcolm EDWARDS, and also in his own The Flights of Icarus (1977). At first AMworked mostly in the Chris FOSS style which dominated UK paperback book covers of the 1970s, whether relevant to the content or not: usually air-brushed ILLUSTRATIONS featuring high-tech artefacts, often space hardware, rendered with great detail. As that particular stereotype began to fade, AM's work, among the most proficient of its kind, showed greater variety. AM has an exceptional feel for scale: when he paints an object supposed to be huge it really looks huge.

   PN/JG