As a boy growing up in a small town in North Carolina, Clyde Caldwell
roamed the red sands of Mars and explored the world at the earth's core
with Edgar Rice Burroughs, and was whisked away to other worlds, alternate
dimensions and adventures in the future by Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein
and Arthur C. Clarke.
By the time he had
earned his MFA degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro,
he had already decided on a career in illustration. Inspired by the
artistry of fantasy greats like Frank Frazetta, Roy G. Krenkel and Jeff
Jones (to name but a few), he hoped to specialize in the field of fantasy
art.
After several years
of working as a commercial illustrator for ad agencies and doing fanzine
work in his spare time, he began to get cover assignments from professional
fantasy & science fiction publishers.
Over the past 25
years, Clyde has produced hundreds of cover paintings for his chosen
field, and is best known for his portrayal of strong, sexy female characters
(his favorite subject matter).
His work has appeared
as book covers for such publishers as Ace, Avon, Popular Library, Warner
books, Zebra, Houghton-Mifflin, and Doubleday...as magazine covers for
HEAVY METAL, THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN, EPIC ILLUSTRATED, DRAGON,
and DUNGEON, among others...and worldwide as posters,
limited edition prints, game module and computer game covers, calendar
paintings, portfolios, etc.
For almost 10 years
Clyde's work graced the covers of TSR, Inc.'s game and book lines. For
TSR he did paintings for the 1985 through 1993 calendars, including
the covers for the 1987 Dragonlance Calendar and the 1990 Forgotten
Realms Calendar. He was also the cover artist for the D & D Gazetteer
module series, and the popular Ravenloft series, and has had work included
in several TSR Art Books.
In 1992 Clyde left
TSR to pursue a freelance career. Recent work includes covers for Baen
Books, Ultra-Pro, Armada Comics, SQ Productions, INQUEST Magazine and
Bud K Worldwide, as well as gaming art for Wizards of the Coast, Precedence
Entertainment, White Wolf Game Studio, Palladium Games, Bethesda Softworks
and Bullseye Tattoos. Portfolios include "Kingdom of Knives",
"Kingdom of Knives, Set 2", and the best-selling "Savage
Hearts". Verlinden Productions has produced a 150mm resin figure
based on one of his paintings.
In 1994 Clyde released
"Armed & Dangerous!", a limited edition print featuring
"Scream Queen" Brinke Stevens. A set of fantasy art trading
cards featuring his work was released in 1995 from FPG, and 1997 saw
the publication of "Savage Hearts: The Clyde Caldwell Sketchbook,
Volume 1" by SQ Productions. NBC 2000 licensed two of Clyde's paintings
for use in a FRASIER TV promo, and three paintings were produced
as posters by Impact Posters
Savage Hearts: The
Clyde Caldwell Sketchbook, Volume 2, and a full-color collection of
Clyde's paintings from m/g publishing/, The Art of Clyde Caldwell, were
both released in 2002.
Clyde now lives
in Wisconsin with his wife, Sharon.