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Stephen Hickman is an award-winning American artist, illustrator, sculptor and author. He is best known for his work in science fiction and fantasy, with over 350 book and magazine covers to his credit. His efforts have brought an extra dimension to the stories of Robert A. Heinlein, H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, and Andre Norton. He may be best known for illustrating Larry Niven's Man-Kzin Wars novels and the evocative dragons he created for Steven Brust's Dragaera series, which have often been imitated. His most widely circulated effort is a series of space fantasy postage stamps done for the United States Postal Service.
Hickman has mastered a variety of styles and is known for his versatility. However, his work is especially notable for two features. His use of the possibilities of oil color, in layers both transparent and translucent, is balanced to create subtle moods that can range for the contemplative to the unsettling. Frank Kelly Freas said that no one since Rembrandt has mastered the use of gold the way Hickman has.
Another consistent feature of Hickman's work is the intelligence of his characters, especially the women. The faces of Hickman's subjects are fully engaged in thought, sometimes absorbed in a dream, sometimes on the verge of a climactic "aha." This characteristic might best be compared to that of another Dutch painter, Vermeer.
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