Friday, November 1, 2024

Tribute to Greg Hildebrandt

Greg Hildebrandt has died and his artwork leaves an eternal vision of fantasy and science fiction. The artist with his twin brother, Tim, formed the Brothers Hildebrandt that painted the iconic Star Wars (1977) poster. The image was used on many t-shirts and other merch. It was symbolic to me of Star Wars, fantastic, lush colors that gave me an early idea that people made art. Greg Hildebrandt and his brother contributed to magazines like Heavy Metal and album covers for Trans Siberian Orchestra and others. 

The brothers produced artwork for Lord of the Rings calendars starting in 1976 to 1978. In 1977, they illustrated the Sword Of Shannara novel by Terry Brooks. This is one of the first books I read so was really pivotal in my interest in fantasy. It was finally in 2016 that the fantasy vision was put on film with the series, The Shannara Chronicles. The Brothers Hildebrandt worked with Jerry Nichols on an illustrated novel, Urshurak (1979), which had all of their fantasy and sci fi concepts merged into an incredible world. 


Also in 1979, The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt was published. Then, the brothers painted the poster for Clash of the Titans (1981), the last Ray Harryhausen film, another important figure for me, it had the vibrancy of the Star Wars poster. Greg Hildebrandt worked on his own, producing a Mary Stewart’s Merlin calendar in 1984. He later painted in 2004 the book cover for the Merlin Trilogy collecting Mary Stewart’s novels. The first novel was adapted into a BBC film, Merlin of the Crystal Cave (1991).


In 1984, Hildebrandt began illustrating a series of books; Greg Hildebrandt’s Favorite Fairy Tales, and some of the other novels were Dracula (1985), Wizard of Oz (1985), Robin Hood (1989), and Alice in Wonderland (1990). From Tolkien To Oz: The Art Of Greg Hildebrandt was published in 1986. In 1990, Hildebrandt painted a series of calendars, American Beauties, in the pin up style. Greg and Tim Hildebrandt returned to paint a series of trading cards for Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire adapting the novel, comics, and video game! 



The trading cards, Marvel Masterpieces Series III (1994), was illustrated by Greg and Tim Hildenbrandt. Also in 1994, Tim and Greg painted the cover and a story in the independent comic, Xenya #1. The brothers had painted the cover for Spider-Man 2099 Special #1 (1995). In 1996, Greg and Tim Hildebrandt painted the graphic novel, X-Men 2099: OasisThe book, Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt was published. (1997). The New Adventures of Terry and the Pirates (1999) comics featured artwork by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. Their paintings were found in over 150 Magic: The Gathering cards. In 2006, Tim Hildebrandt died. 


Hildebrand illustrated the covers for the Marvel Illustrated: Treasure Island (2007) comics. Greg and Tim Hildebrandt: The Tolkien Years was published in 2001. The variant cover of Captain Phasma #2 (2017) was painted by Greg Hildebrandt. In 2019, he painted for the first time, Star Trek with the cover of the conic, Star Trek: Year Five #1. He painted a variant cover for Marvel Comics #1000. Hildebrandt contributed to the 2022 benefit comic anthology, Comics For Ukraine. He posted on Facebook, "OREO just announced their new Star Wars cookies with my art on the packaging!” There is an upcoming documentary on Greg Hildebrandt. The artwork of Greg Hildebrandt gives us the beauty of fantasy and other worlds that allows everyone to dream their own worlds. 


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#RobinHood, #AliceInWonderland, #FromTolkienToOzTheArtOfGregHildebrandt


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