Tristan Elwell

About the artist

Tristan Elwell grew up in New York City, going to the Met and MoMA, Forbidden Planet and CBGB. That mixture of fine art, comics and fantasy/science fiction, and alternative music has continued to influence his work up to today.

His illustrations have appeared on hundreds of book covers, magazine covers, and international advertising campaigns, and his work has been honored by the Society of Illustrators, Print, Spectrum: the Best of Contemporary Fantastic Art and Communication Arts magazine. He has won the Chesley Award for Best Paperback Cover and was nominated for Best Professional Artist at the 2024 Hugo Awards.

In recent years Tristan has increasingly focused on personal work, and has exhibited in galleries in New York, California, and Europe, as well at the United Nations. 

Tristan lives in the Hudson Valley of New York and teaches drawing, painting, and illustration at the School of Visual Arts.

Tristan Elwell is the 1st prize winner of the Digital Art Award, Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2024

Artwork Themes & Subject Matter

Tristan Elwell’s personal work draws from the traditions of the Pre-Raphaelites, Gothic Romance, fin de siècle Symbolists and Decadents, as well as the Golden Age of American and British illustration, and imbues them with a 21st century sensibility.

Press

Tristan Elwell’s art has been featured in The Art of Fantasy, Spectrum, the Society of Illustrators Annuals, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Communication Arts, and Print. 

Upcoming Exhibitions

CV

Education

1990 

BFA in Illustration, School of Visual Arts, New York, United States

Selected Group Exhibitions

See also

12

SCULPTUREANIMAL ARTDARK ARTFIGURATIVE ARTSTEELTEXTILE

Patrice “Pit” Hubert

2018

Of Scales & Feathers, Spoke Art, New York, NY. United States

Miniature Show, Dorothy Circus Gallery, Rome, Italy

2015

Wild About Harryhausen, Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. United States