John Jude Palencar (born 1957) is a fantasy, science fiction, and horror artist. Over 100 book covers have been adorned by his art, including all four covers of the Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini. He graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 1980. He was a featured artist for IDEA Magazine in Japan. Many private and corporate collections throughout the United States and Europe include his paintings. Palencar has created covers for several novels by Stephen King, who also holds Palencar's work in his private collection. When Knopf published Eragon in 2003, they called on Palencar to illustrate the cover. He also illustrated the covers for Eldest, Braising, and Inheritance. Paolini said that he named Palancar Valley after him long before Palencar illustrated the cover of Eragon.
In 2010 Palencar was nominated in the World Fantasy Award Best Artist category.
In 2010 Palencar was nominated in the World Fantasy Award Best Artist category.
In this painting, you see a gnome type character, with a castle coming out of his head. The gnome looks tired and worn out, but then again he does have a castle on his head. You can see a fairy pour fairy dust down by the side. You can also see a windmill in the top corner. I notice that in this image the more you look at it the more things you spot.
I think this gnome represents a lot of humans who have a busy brain, who have a lot of thoughts going on. Having this can wear a lot of people down, a lot like this gnome seems to be.
Palencar uses soft colours such as browns, beige and blues. Its comforting, and wants you to relate to him.
I think this gnome represents a lot of humans who have a busy brain, who have a lot of thoughts going on. Having this can wear a lot of people down, a lot like this gnome seems to be.
Palencar uses soft colours such as browns, beige and blues. Its comforting, and wants you to relate to him.
Palencar also has done the covers for a series of books related to dragons.
He makes them look sinister and menacin, using dark tones and bold colours.
He makes them look sinister and menacin, using dark tones and bold colours.