MAITZ, Don

(1953-)

   US illustrator. DM began his career in sf art in 1974 while still at art school (Paier School of Art), and since then has painted mainly book rather than magazine covers; among his best known ILLUSTRATIONS are the covers for the original editions of Gene WOLFE'sBook of the New Sun series (1980-83). He also does advertising work, notably the very popular "Captain Morgan" for a Seagram's rum label. Unlike many of his colleagues, DM departs a little from slickness byallowing the brushstrokes in his work to be seen. He was among the sf artists most popular with fans right through the 1980s, and had many HUGO nominations before, in 1990, winning the Hugo for Best Professional Artist, and in so doing becoming only the second artist, after Jim BURNS,to break the extraordinary run of 11 Hugos (to 1992) in that category by Michael WHELAN - indeed, these three between them were probably thedominant sf book-cover illustrators of the 1980s. DM also won first place in the new non-Hugo category at the Hugo ceremony in 1990 for Best Original Artwork with his cover for the Warner/Questar edition of C.J.CHERRYH's Rimrunners (1989). A collection of his interestingly ornate artwork is First Maitz: Selected Works by Don Maitz (1988).

   JG/PN