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Posted in: Comics | Tagged: chris achilleos, doctor who
Chris Achilléos Passes Away, Aged 74
We have heard the news from friends that Chris Achilléos, the Cypriot-born British painter and illustrator who specialised in genre work, passed away on the 6th of December 2021, aged 74. Born in Ammochostos, Cyprus, his family emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1959, where he attended the Hornsey College of Art. Comic book artist and illustrator, his work appeared in everywhere from Heavy Metal Magazine to the BBC's Radio Times magazines. His book covers, most famously the stipple pattern photo realistic covers of Doctor Who Target novels, as well as Conan, Star Trek and the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series. He has also worked on films such as Heavy Metal, Batman, Blade Runner and Willow as a conceptual artist.
Chris Achilléos created the controversial cover for Whitesnake's 1979 album, Lovehunter, which showed a naked woman straddling a giant serpent. In an interview with MelodicRock, Gary Hughes stated that Achilleos thereafter "had a policy of not working with bands" though he designed an album cover and artwork in 2003 with Gary Hughes' rock opera Once and Future King Part I, and Kate Bush's video for Babooshka, was intended to resemble the cover portrait he did of the heroine of the 1978 novel Raven – Swordsmistress of Chaos. Since 1990 he has mostly worked in designing fantasy trading cards as well as selling prints and original works of art.
I last saw him when he appeared at the London Film and Comic Con in 2019, where he was making a fair trade selling copies of the promotional piece he did for Batman Forever starring Val Kilmer. Unknown to the marketing folk, Kilmer had had it written into his contract that no visual version of him be used in promotion of the movie. However Val Kilmer was also appearing at the show, and plenty of people picked prints up from Chris' booth for a now-very-willing Val Kilmer to sign away…
Chris' daughter Anna Achilleos tweeted in response to the outpouring of memories, saying "My family and I are so overwhelmed with all of the love and respect for my Father Chris Achilleos, it is very comforting at this sad time"
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