John Berkey

"Berkey's imagination and expressionistic style quickly set him apart from other sci-fi illustrators. From a distance, his paintings appear very exacting and perfectly rendered. But upon closer inspection, they reveal a beautifully loose and freely abstract style."

- Rusty Freeman, Vice-President, Collections & Public Programs, Plains Art Museum, North Fargo, North Dakota

John Berkey (1932 &mdash;April 29, 2008) was an artist who illustrated at least eleven pieces of Star Wars art, including cover art for the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization and Star Wars: Death Star Battle video game.

Berkey was born in North Dakota in 1932. Until the age of six, Berkey and his family lived in Aberdeen, South Dakota, whereupon they moved to St. Joseph, Montana and later Excelsior, Minnesota. In 1950, after graduating from high school, Berkey attended the Minneapolis School of Art. John Berkey worked for three studios over a six-year period, including Artists Inc., before being hired by Brown & Bigelow for eight years. Since then, he continued to illustrate for various projects, such as cover art for a Science Fiction Book Club cover. John Berkey was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2004.