About the Artist

Josh Hicks is a Seattle-based illustrator and painter working primarily in casein and ink. His subjects live in the gutter between pulp adventure and noir — femme fatales, hard-bitten heroes, and gritty scenes carved out of heavy shadow.

He trained at Watts Atelier and SmArt School, and has studied under Brian Snoddy and Greg Manchess. His candidates for an artistic Mount Rushmore include Drew Struzan, Frank Frazetta, Bernie Wrightson, Mark Schultz, Bob Peak, Patrick J. Jones, Robert McGinnis, John Buscema and Greg Manchess.

Each piece starts as digital thumbnails, moves through painterly graphite comps and digital color studies, then gets its final life as a traditional casein painting on gessoed illustration board.

Josh is primarily interested in book cover illustration and sci-fi/fantasy related art.

When he's not painting, he's probably hanging out with his amazing wife, sitting at a poker table, or running a D&D campaign.