John Jude Palencar

Born in 1957 Palencar is an American fantasy, horror and Sci-fi artist whose works has been used on over 100 book covers. He uses both painting and illustration in his work. One of his most notable works is the covers for Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle but he’s also done covers for The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Earthsea.  He has created covers for several novels by Stephen King, who also holds Palencar's work in his private collection. A location in the Inheritance cycle known as Palencar Valley was actually named after him long before he was asked to create the covers. In 2008 he was awarded a Spectrum Grand Master.

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