Richard Martin

Jim Baen called me and offered me cover work on the basis of a mutual friend's insistence ( one of my students worked for him)  and samples of my non-fantasy/science fiction artwork.  He mentioned 3 different titles he had upcoming and asked ME to choose which one I would most like to tackle, after which, pleased with the result, he gave me another 6 or 7 covers I can honestly say working for Jim was the greatest/happiest time of my illustration career; SF paperbacks for writers I love and good money, too. I don't know how many other folks Jim gave such a chance to: I'm sure there are a few.
I believe Jim's favorite piece of mine was "The lighter side of Laumer". I think Jim just thought the piece was funny. ( Most of what I did for him was humor- oriented; that first piece was "the Right to Arm Bears") He did tell me he wanted the character to look like Marlon Brando, rather a difficult assignment when you realize he's referring to a 6-foot, one eyed giant rutabaga. I put the "wild one' cap on the alien and tried to give him Brando's mouth; I guess I succeeded. He didn’t ask for any changes anyway ( and when he asked for changes, he could be very blunt about what he didn’t like.) I know Jim loved the piece. I do, too.