Invitation to enter fantasy world

Geoff Taylor's drawings grace top science fiction and fantasy books

A sci-fi and fantasy artist, whose drawings grace the covers of best-selling books and records, stages his first major exhibition in Cumbria.

Lancaster-born Geoff Taylor has produced covers for most of the major science fiction and fantasy writers.

They include an edition of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Michelle Paver's Wolf Brother, and Jeff Wayne's legendary The War of the Worlds album.

An exhibition of Taylor's work opens at the Dock Museum, Barrow, on Friday.

The free exhibition, entitled Wolves, Princesses and Dragons, runs until 16 October.

It will showcase about 50 pieces of artwork from the three different styles - wildlife paintings of wolves, fantasy artwork for book covers, and illustrations for Games Workshop, the largest role playing sci-fantasy gaming company in the world.

"Dead London" used on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds album

Some of Taylor's works have become collectors' items and can fetch up to £12,000 each.

Taylor, who now lives in Arnside, Cumbria, said of his works: "I have a brief to work from and a manuscript and I try to crystallise some of the thoughts... and produce something that I feel is visually satisfying."

He produced the covers for a recent edition of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy although they were overtaken by events in the movie world.

He said: "I got a commission to do the job, then within a few months of them being on the books, the film began so they had all this film imagery which they obviously preferred to have on the books, so these had a very short time on the covers."