David A. Cherry

David Alan Cherry (born December 14, 1949) is an American artist, author, and illustrator of science fiction and fantasy and has also done substantial work as a marketing artist, concept artist, and 3D modeler in the game production industry. Cherry served as Lecturer and Head of the Art Department as well as Head of the master's degree Program for artists at The Guildhall at SMU (Southern Methodist University), a graduate college dedicated to studies for people who want to work in the game production industry. Cherry was also an attorney, as well as a past president of the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (1988–1990). He has been nominated eleven times for Hugo Awards, and 18 times for Chesley Awards (with 8 wins).

Although at ease with oil painting and most other traditional media, Cherry usually works in acrylic paint. As an illustrator of literary works, Cherry has illustrated or done cover art for the works of such authors as Stephen R. Donaldson, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Lois McMaster Bujold, Terry Brooks, William Shatner, David Brin, L. Sprague de Camp, Poul Anderson, Piers Anthony, John Brunner, and his sister, C. J. Cherryh, among others. Publishers for whom Cherry has worked include DAW Books; New American Library; Ballantine Books; Del Rey Books; Ace Books; TOR Books; Friedlander Publishing Group; Pocket Books; Phantasia Press; Donald M. Grant Publishing; The Hamilton Collection; Skybox Press; The Science Fiction Book Club; Bits and Pieces; Precedence Publishing; Pegasus Publishing; Iron Crown Enterprises; The Bradford Exchange; The Donning Company Publishers; and many others.

David Alan Cherry was born in Lawton, Oklahoma to Basil Lafayette Cherry and Lois Ruth Cherry. Cherry's paternal grandfather, Robert Edward Cherry, was a cowboy punching cattle in the new state of Oklahoma when Basil was born. Cherry's parents are from Anadarko, Oklahoma. Cherry's only sibling is Carolyn Janice Cherry, better known as C. J. Cherryh, one of the top authors of fantasy and science fiction. C.J. was seven when David was born.

Cherry'’s mother home-schooled him for kindergarten with the result that when he entered first grade at B.C. Sweeney Elementary in Lawton, he could write and was reading at a fourth-grade level. When he was nine, Cherry’s family moved to Oklahoma City where he attended first Andrew Johnson Elementary then Ridgeview Elementary, Herbert Hoover Junior High School, and John Marshall High School. He learned art mostly from his sister, C.J. Cherryh, whom he credits with teaching him the basics of color theory and proportion. Cherry’s sister also graduated from John Marshall High School seven years ahead of him. In college, she majored in Classics at the University of Oklahoma. After graduation with Honors, C.J. received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship pursuant to which she obtained a Master’s degree in Classics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. All of this led C.J. back to Oklahoma City and John Marshall High School where she became a teacher and had Cherry as a student during his senior year for Latin and Ancient History.

When it was Cherry’s turn to go to college, he too attended the University of Oklahoma. He wanted to study art, but decided against it when he saw that the art schools available to him only taught modern art, which he described as "throwing paint at a board and then melting toy tanks over it in protest to the Vietnam War". Instead, he majored in Latin and took as many courses as possible in Greek, French, German, and Ancient History. He graduated in 1972 scholastically in the top ten percent of the nation with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Latin, General Honors, and admission to Phi Beta Kappa. Cherry then entered the University of Oklahoma School of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1975.

From 1975 through 1982 Cherry practiced law in Oklahoma City and Edmond, Oklahoma specializing in Transportation Law before the Interstate Commerce Commission. In 1976 two of C.J. Cherryh's novels were published by DAW Books and Cherry accompanied her to the 1976 World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City. There he met many writers, editors, and publishers as well as a number of the artists who were doing paintings for science fiction and fantasy book covers. Michael Whelan, in particular, stood out. Cherry already knew who he was since Michael had done the art for C.J.’s book covers as well as the art for the cover of the Marion Zimmer Bradley book Cherry happened to be reading at the time. The original painting was on display in an art show at the convention, and Cherry was able to buy it at auction. Later that evening Cherry was able to meet Michael at a dinner that C.J.’s publisher, Donald A. Wollheim of DAW Books, had invited them to. Cherry credits that meeting for inspiring him to make the transition from attorney to illustrator.

In 1981, C.J. Cherryh encouraged Cherry to do the cover and interior illustrations for Ealdwood, a fantasy novella C. J. was bringing out with Donald M. Grant Publishing. In 1982, Cherry closed the doors of his law firm and concentrated on increasing his skills with pencil and paint. His problem was that the work on Ealdwood was pretty much the only color work he had ever done. As a painter, he still had much to learn.

In 1987 Cherry took home two Chesley Awards, one for Best Cover Illustration and one for Best Color Work. The Chesley Awards are presented annually by ASFA, The Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists to honor excellence in the field. In the years to come, Cherry would be nominated for sixteen more Chesley Awards, six of which he would win. Cherry would win virtually every other award available for his art except the Hugo Award for Best Artist. He would be nominated for that award 10 times.