A couple of years ago, I was approached by Earthling Publications to illustrate a very limited collector’s edition of Dune. In the months that followed—of course, I said yes—I created 12 large graphite and carbon pencil drawings for the interior and a wraparound cover in oils.
Dune was a dream gig for me. I grew up reading Frank Herbert, so the opportunity to bring my artistic imagination to Dune was irresistible. A work this iconic comes freighted with its own visual iconography, but to the extent possible I veered in my own direction, not out of ego but to hopefully bring a new interpretation to the book’s imagery. You can decide how successful I was! The hardest thing by far was deferring my viewing of Villeneuve’s Dune for several months as I completed my drawings. Pure torture for a Dune fan!
I wanted to share a sampling of the art with readers of this blog, so here you go…
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 
I love this artwork! I have one question though. Is there a reason you chose to paint the sky of Arrakis as blue on the dust jacket, rather than the silverish color it’s described as in the book?
Thanks, it’s great to hear you like the art! The sky was an aesthetic choice, but somewhere there is a reference that the sky of Arrakis was filled with dust and that blue peeks through here and there. I tried to find a balance by making the atmosphere more sandlike near the horizon and blue toward the top. Anyway, that was the thought process. Thanks for asking.