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Multiple British Fantasy Award-winning artist of the fantastic, Les Edwards - who also creates under the nom de brosse Edward Miller - has just posted a big update of over 50 new images to his gallery websites at www.LesEdwards.com and www.EdwardMiller.co.uk.

To mark the update - and as an offering to the gods of British Summer Time (wherever the heck they might be hiding at the moment) - he's also holding a Summer Sale, with 20% off all art prints bought via the site.

We thought this might be an opportune moment to drop him a line with a few questions about his two artistic personae and the current state of the fantasy-art as book cover market.

UKSFBN: Congrats on a raft of long-list nominations for this year's British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Artist. Will you be exhibiting at this year's Fantasycon art show?

Les E: "I certainly intend for both Les and Edward to be represented. I'm currently waiting on the final details so I haven't decided which pieces to show yet, or how I'm going to get them to Nottingham.

"I'm really pleased that Fantasycon is attempting an Art Show again, they've had some excellent ones in the past and there's nothing quite like seeing paintings in the flesh. I know it's a horror to organise though, so someone at the BFS deserves a gold star. Apparently it's only going to be one day though, so that will be interesting."

UKSFBN: You've been asked to illustrate a number of high-profile book covers recently, by authors including Scott Lynch (Subterranean Press editions of The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies, China Miéville (UK editions of Perdido Street Station, The Scar and The Tain), Steven Erikson (PS novellas Blood Follows, The Healthy Dead and The Lees of Laughter's End) and Steph Swainston (first UK edition of The Year of Our War) and the like - not to mention Stephen King (the recent PS Publishing edition of The Colorado Kid)... what sort of factors do you think have contributed to your current success? have your recent BSF Award wins helped? And how about Your work for PS Publishing?

Les E: "I'm still a bit bemused regarding Ed's success, as you so kindly put it. I still see him as something of a fledgling and I'm still slightly surprised that people seem to have taken to him.

"The work I've done for PS is certainly a factor because it's allowed Ed's work to mature more quickly than it might have done, thanks, at least in part, to Pete Crowther's "hands off" attitude and his uncanny eye for good stories. It makes life a lot easier if you're illustrating a story that you actually like. Either Pete has unfailing taste or he just knows the sort of thing I like. You'll have to ask him which it is.

"Doing work for PS has also put me firmly in the arena of the independent press, which I was really only marginally aware of before, and other publishers are more likely to approach you if they know you're available for that kind of work and are enthusiastic about it.

"I'm never quite sure about the value of awards in terms of advancing an artist's career, whereas it's a clear advantage for an author. Winning is excellent for my fragile ego but it's not something a publisher can use. You can't have a book with a strap-line 'Cover by award winning artist Joe Bloggs', or could you? I'm very proud of my awards, mostly because they're voted for by the people at the coal face of the business, but I'm not sure they cut much ice with the major publishers. I have heard it said that the big publishers might take more notice of the 'grass roots' but I couldn't possibly comment..."

UKSFBN: Do you think the attitude towards book covers is swinging back to a preference for art-driven rather than graphic-design-driven imagery, or is that just among the small presses?

Les E: "I wouldn't be surprised if there was a reaction by the book-buying public. After all it's a bit dismaying when you walk into a bookshop and everything looks the same with that computer-processed look. That kind of thing is very seductive on an individual level because the sharp, over- rendered effect you get with digital imagery actually looks very good in the small space provided by a book cover and there are some very gifted people producing illustration digitally.

"The trouble is that when everything has that same look, it just sort of melts into one homogenous mass. You've only got to look at the crime shelves to see what I mean, many of the covers are virtually indistinguishable from one another, as if there is only one way to design a cover for a crime story.

"However, even if book buyers rebel against this I think it will be a long time before the major publishers take any notice. It's just too convenient for them to work this way. They have complete control, they don't have to commission eccentric and difficult 'outsiders' and it's cheaper, so why do it any other way? You pull a photo from a picture library, whizz it through a couple of Photoshop filters and 'Behold!'; a book cover. At the moment we have a generation of designers who think that way and I don't think it will change until the next wave arrives and rebels against what has gone before."

UKSFBN: Do you have a preference for working for small presses or corporate imprints? What are the main differences in approach and process between them?

Les E: "In spite of what I said above I do actually enjoy working for the major imprints because I have good relationships with various people there and that goes a long way to smoothing the process. They do like to do things by committee though and I don't think that's necessarily the best approach. I get less creative input than I do working for the independent companies.

"Then I'm afraid there's the matter of money; this is how I earn my living ad I have to keep it in mind. The simple truth is that it's my job to give clients what they want, not to winge on about my 'creative integrity', but the freedom the smaller presses give me is very attractive so there are advantages to working in either area."

UKSFBN: Your two artistic personae - Les Edwards and Edward Miller - produce work that's quite distinctive in character from one to the other. Do you adopt a different approach or attitude when creating a Miller as opposed to an Edwards, and do you have a marked preference for either style?

Les E: "The two approaches are quite separate and I try to keep it that way; different materials, different technique and a different outlook. Inevitably there's a certain amount of bleed from one style into the other but the two are sufficiently distinct that it doesn't matter too much.

"Generally I find the two ways of working complement each other in the sense that Les has learned a lot from Ed and Ed prevents Les from getting too stale. I think Edward Miller is still evolving and is not yet the finished article but I've stopped thinking of him as the junior partner.

"I'm happy working as either and I'm not likely to give up one in favour of the other, although I do have this vague idea that when I retire the two will meld into something new and wonderful. So I might have to invent a third name."

UKSFBN: And finally, what are you working on right now?

Les E: "Right now I'm half way through illustrating Red Seas under Red Skies for Subterranean Press. It's the sequel to Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora and I think it's even better than the first book, which was pretty darn fabulous, so I hope I can do it justice.

"I've recently completed a cover for Phantoms of Venice, edited by David Sutton which is a rather restrained painting but is something I'm extremely pleased with. Later on in the year I've got a large project which I'm very excited about; but I'm not going to tell you what it is..."

There are hundreds of absolutely stunning images for you to enjoy on both www.LesEdwards.com and www.EdwardMiller.co.uk and don't forget that 20% discount; running between now and the end of September.

Source: Les Edwards

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