Imagination - The Art & Technique Of David A. Cherry
(1987 - The Donning Company)

The main part of this 112-page book is 41 paintings faced by an open page with an anecdote or other explanatory text. Sometimes that text is accompanied by sketches and they run the range from barely present to fully finished. You get another 12 art-pages when you count the worthy drawings with a couple of other 'well-presented' examples of his work. There is also an intensive nine-page section where he works through all the techniques he employs in creating one painting. Another six pages of his thoughts & dedications, a short biography and a publisher's foreword take up most of the remaining space. There are six double page spreads on display, but unfortunately, only two pass muster in accomodating the book's gutter. There's a clear distinction made between the fairies, dragons & wizards of his fantasy works and the spaceships & aliens of his science-fiction covers. While there is the occasional spacescape, know that the majority of his work is near-portraits of the interesting characters to be met in the stories he has chosen to illustrate.