Artists inspired by Virgil Finlay: Redrawn

Many artists are inspired by Virgil Finlay's art. Next to simply using drawings and paintings, some artists modify or alter original drawings for new purposes. Sometimes, presumably when an original drawing is not available, drawings and paintings are redrawn, leaving much of the original composition intact. Of course, the drawings differ in detail and lack the signature that is usually present in the originals. Here some examples are listed.

Narraciones Terrorificas Argentina Volumen 5 (1939)


Weird Tales
April 1939
Hellsgarde
by Virgil Finlay

Cover of
Narraciones Terrorifica Argentina
Volumen 5

Reference: Bibliotecajuntoalmar at blogspot.com.


Narraciones Terrorificas Argentina Volumen 13 (1939)


Weird Tales
January 1939
The Fifth Candle
by Virgil Finlay

Cover of
Narraciones Terrorifica Argentina
Volumen 13

Reference: Bibliotecajuntoalmar at blogspot.com.


Narraciones Terrorificas Argentina Volumen 14 (1940)


Weird Tales
December 1938
More Lives Than One
by Virgil Finlay

Cover of
Narraciones Terrorifica Argentina
Volumen 14

Reference: Bibliotecajuntoalmar at blogspot.com.


Narraciones Terrorificas Argentina Volumen 15 (1940)


Weird Tales
January 1939
Bride of the Lightning
by Virgil Finlay

Cover of
Narraciones Terrorifica Argentina
Volumen 15

Reference: Bibliotecajuntoalmar at blogspot.com.


Narraciones Terrorificas Argentina Volumen 17 (1940)


Weird Tales
July 1938
The Black Drama
by Virgil Finlay

Cover of
Narraciones Terrorifica Argentina
Volumen 17

Reference: Bibliotecajuntoalmar at blogspot.com.


Narraciones Terrorificas Argentina Volumen 21 (1940)


Weird Tales
November 1939
The Old Crow of Cairo
by Virgil Finlay

Cover of
Narraciones Terrorifica Argentina
Volumen 21

Reference: Bibliotecajuntoalmar at blogspot.com.


Narraciones Terrorificas Argentina Volumen 22 (1941)


Weird Tales
December 1939
Deep Night Dark Night
by Virgil Finlay

Cover of
Narraciones Terrorifica Argentina
Volumen 22

Reference: Bibliotecajuntoalmar at blogspot.com.


Narraciones Terrorificas Argentina Volumen 33 (1942)


Weird Tales
Cover April 1937
by Virgil Finlay

Cover of
Narraciones Terrorifica Argentina
Volumen 33

Reference: Bibliotecajuntoalmar at blogspot.com.


Real Fact Comics Number 6 (January 1947)

 
Full page and detail of
'Man with Flag'
by Virgil Finlay
 
Full cover and detail of
'Man with Flag'
Real Fact Comics Number 6

The figures and flags on the cover and the interior page are similar in pose but differ in almost every detail. For example, the flag by Virgil Finlay has one star less than the flag on the cover. Also the number of red and white stripes is not the same.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 5 (Septiembre 1948)


Cover of
Famous Fantastic Mysteries
June 1948

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 5, Septiembre 1948

It is only on close inspection that one can see that minute details by Virgil Finlay are not present in the imitation. Also the top right section is not the same.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 14 (1949)


Cover of
Astonishing Stories
June 1942

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 14, 1949

It is immediate that the imitation is a mirror image of the original. Close inspection shows differences in details.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 16 (Julio 1949)


Cover of
Famous Fantastic Mysteries
October 1942

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 16, Julio 1949

The Virgil Finlay signature is incomplete on the imitation. The forehead of the bearded man is higher, with more wrinkles, and does not show the rounding of the head as does the original painting. There are subtle differences in the man and woman in the test-tubes, and individual hairs in the beard. The difference in the details of the forehead suggests that the imitation was made directly from the Famous Fantastic Mysteries cover, instead of the original painting.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 20 (Octubre 1949)


Cover of
Super Science Stories
May 1942

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 20, Octubre 1949

It is immediate that the imitation is a mirror image of the original. Close inspection shows differences in details.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 22 (Noviembre 1949)


Cover of
Famous Fantastic Mysteries
August 1947

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 22, Noviembre 1949

It is immediate that the imitation is a mirror image of the original, whilst the Virgil Finlay signature is displayed correctly. There are subtle differences in the painting, that are most clearly visible in the wrinkles of the shirt and the waving hair of the woman at the bottom.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 28 (Noviembre 1949)


Cover of
Fantastic Novels
August 1947

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 28, 1950

It is immediate that the imitation is a mirror image of the original. The imitation lacks a Virgil Finlay signature. The effect of the droplets on the spider's web seams to be imitated by light-dark shading of the web in the imitation. Details on the 'globe' are different. Shading on the cephalothorax is done by surfaces in the imitation.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 37 (Marzo 1952)


Cover of
Fantastic Novels
August 1947

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 37, Marzo 1952

It is immediate that the imitation is a mirror image of the original, whilst the Virgil Finlay signature is displayed correctly. Close inspection shows that a small number of bubbles are missing on or near the body of the woman. The bubbles around the head of the woman are not all in the same place. Also the facial expression is different.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 38 (Abril 1952)


Cover of
Famous Fantastic Mysteries
August 1947

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 38, Abril 1952

It is immediate that the imitation is a mirror image of the original, whilst the Virgil Finlay signature is displayed correctly. Close inspection shows that the coloration is not the same, the tears are not identical, the subtle shading of the face is replaced by simpler surfaces, and the 'points' in the eye-brows are not the same. Also the place where the text ''red star magazine" was placed on the original is different in the imitation.


Los Cuentos Fantásticos Numero 42 (Enero 1953)


Cover of
Famous Fantastic Mysteries
June 1948

Cover of
Los Cuentos Fantásticos
Numero 42, Enero 1953

The cover of number 42 seems to be a reproduction of the cover of number 5.


Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, Number 30, February 1953


Cover
by Johan Richards
Authentic Science
Fiction Monthly

Detail of cover

Asylum Earth
by Virgil Finlay

The cover of Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, #30, February 1953, by John Richards is based on Virgil Finlay's illustration for Asylum Earth, first published in Startling Stories, Vol. 27, Nr. 3, October 1952.


Galaxy Science Fiction Italy (February 1962)


'The Big Time'
by Virgil Finlay
Galaxy, March 1952

Cover Galaxy
Science Fiction Italy
February 1962


Look Before You Leap (Analog, May 1962)


'The Diploids'
by Virgil Finlay
Thrilling Wonder Stories
Page 93, April 1953

Look Before You Leap
Analog
Page 87
May 1962

The contents page of Analog, May 1962, lists three interior illustrators, but does not mention Virgil Finlay. The illustration on page 87 is uncredited. The hand with the syringe are identical in both drawings.


Galaxy Science Fiction Italy (July 1962)


'The Wrong World'
by Virgil Finlay
Galaxy, December 1960

Cover Galaxy
Science Fiction Italy
July 1962

The figures are redrawn and much of the details of the original drawing are omitted, including a pair of legs.


Galaxy Science Fiction Italy (September 1962)


'The King of the City'
by Virgil Finlay
Galaxy, August 1961

Cover Galaxy
Science Fiction Italy
September 1962

The composition remains the same, the details differ.


Galaxy Science Fiction Italy (May 1963)


'A Planet Named Shayol'
by Virgil Finlay
Galaxy October 1961

Cover Galaxy
Science Fiction Italy
May 1963

The figures are redrawn. Differences in facial expressions and in details of the composition are abundant.


Galaxy Science Fiction Italy (June 1963)


'Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons'
by Virgil Finlay
Galaxy, June 1961

Cover Galaxy
Science Fiction Italy
June 1963

The figures are redrawn, leaving much of the composition in tact. The signature of Virgil Finlay is not present in the cover of the magazine.


Dr. de Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge by Stephen A. Fabian (1975)

 
Virgil Finlay's portraits
 
Stephen Fabian's portraits

Reference: Dr. de Grandin and Dr. Trowbridge.


The Kid from Mars (1951)


Virgil Finlay's drawing

Terry Maloney's cover

Virgil Finlay's drawing was used as frontispiece in the first edition of The Kid from Mars. The first printing of the first British edition is a mass market paperback published in 1951 by Fantasy Books/Cherry Tree (No. 401), published by Kemsley Newspapers Limited. The cover is done by Terry Maloney.


Oeuvres de HP Lovecraft Tome 3 (1992)


Painting
by Virgil Finlay

Cover Weird Tales
September 1952

Cover of the book
Oeuvres de HP Lovecraft
Tome 3

The cover of the book seems to be based on the cover of Weird Tales, September 1952, and not on the original painting by Virgil Finlay. Close inspection of the original drawing and the cover of Oeuvres de HP Lovecraft Tome 3 shows differences in details of the figures and the background, leaving much of the composition in tact.


The Loved Dead and Other Tales (2008)


'All We Marsman'
by Virgil Finlay
Worlds of Tomorrow, 1963

Book cover

It is immediate that the cover of the book 'The Loved Dead and Other Tales', authored by C.M. Eddy, Jr., is inspired by the Virgil Finlay drawing.

Reference: Publishers site Fenham Publishing.


Beauty and the Beast (2010)


'The Time Machine'
by Virgil Finlay
Famous Fantastic Mysteries, August 1950

Digital artwork
representing a Morlock and Eloi
from H.G. Wells' book

Reference: Explanation on flickr.