Meet Chris McGrath | Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Cover Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris McGrath and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Like many artists and illustrators out there, I started drawing at a very young age, and just kept at it. It was around the age of 11 or 12 I got serious and decided that this was my future path. The catalyst for this was when I saw the art work of Frank Frazetta in an art book of his that my uncle had. I remember seeing the book out on my uncle’s living room table, picking it up and immediately being blown away by the cover…and the rest was history. Right then and there I decided this was what I wanted to do for a living and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. It wasn’t an easy road, but I knew I could do it for some reason.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It’s actually pretty hard for artists to self analytical…I’m not so sure what sets me apart because I’m sure people see my illustrations in a very different way than I do. But I think in my early part of my career in the early 2000’s it was the dark moodiness and stoic style I had that drew interest in my work. Quite often as an artist, you are unaware that you have a certain look or style until people start pointing out to you. For me, that started happening around 2004. The illustration that I did for “Dead Beat” by Jim Butcher defined me as an illustrator and my career really took off with that piece of cover art. I would say my “style” had arrived with that book cover. And thats the funny thing about style. If you go looking for one, you’ll never find it. You’ll just end up copying other people. If you just keep to what interests you and what important to you as an artist, you’re style will eventually just show up.
As for being able to continue working as an freelance artist, it’s been pretty good run for me. I would say breaking into the industry in the early years was the hardest and most trying time. It can get very uncertain and grim looking. I’d saying being persistent and never giving up is crucial if it’s what you really want to do. Eventually you’ll get a break, but it’s a tough road for most, building clients and gaining trust with them. It requires a lot of patients and a bit of suffering until it finally becomes full time. Lot’s of young artists give up during that part, but as they say..you have to pay your dues. AS I mentioned earlier, If its what you really love and want to do, you’ll make it happen.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, NYC is filled with tons to do…of course there are the museums and tourist things, but I’ve always felt the heart of the city is in the east and west village and other downtown areas. If they were foodies I’d recommend the Japanese speak easy bar called Angel’s Share and another one called NR NYC which has Ramen and cocktails. As for restaurants, Babbo, IL ‘Bucco, Tsukimi and Marea to name a few. I could go on and on. I’d also recommend a trip to Williamsburg Brooklyn. Lots of great shops and food, plus a cool vibe about the place. Unfortunately, a lot of the cool scenes with art and music have mostly but not completely have left Manhattan and are happening in different parts of Brooklyn, in areas such as Williamsburg, Bushwick Greenpoint etc…

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Definitely my painting mentor Steven Assael. I would never have achieved the skill level and tools I have now without studying with him.
It was under his study that I began to appreciate painting and drawing from life and saw it’s importance and value in being able to truly understand human anatomy and form. I also saw there was definitely more to the painting world than just illustration, so for a while I began to have interests in art outside of sci fi and fantasy illustration. While taking his classes and studying at SVA, I really got into the old masters such as Rembrandt, Van Dyke, Goya, Sargent and so on.
I was also exposed to the gallery world and had an interest in doing fine art as well….but…in the end I knew I belonged in illustration and my heart was still in sci fi and fantasy art, so I stuck to it. But I did bring my academic training and some fine art influence into my work.
I would also say my good friend Dorian Vallejo was a big influence on my approach to illustration. He was a few years ahead of me, but would come back to school to sit in on life drawing classes and show some of his paintings to the professors and the class. At the time he was doing science fiction book covers and taking all the things he had learned from the same teachers and applied it to his illustration. It was very hyper realistic and well planned. So as a student, seeing somebody who was just a few years older doing the work he was doing at such a high skill level, was very encouraging, and I really felt that this was possible. And I saw what had to be done and had a much better understanding of how to approach a work method. Before that, I really had very little idea on how to put a book cover together, but seeing Dorian’s work really opened everything up and gave me a path to follow. Like I said, seeing someone that young doing work at that level that wasn’t an older teacher, really made me believe that I can do this, and that this was a definite possibility.
https://www.stevenassael.com/
https://dorianvallejo.com/

Website: https://chrismcgrath.art

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chris_mcgrath_art/

Twitter: https://x.com/cmcgrath72