Editing Josh Kirby (section)

==Career==
[[Image:Equal Rites full.jpg|thumb|Full cover art of ''[[Equal Rites]]'' by Josh Kirby]]
[[File:Equal Rites detail.jpg|thumb|Detail of the cover art showing Kirby's cameo.<ref>Terry Pratchett remarks on this self-cameo in the introduction to ''[[The Art of Discworld]]''.</ref>]]

He worked as freelance all his career, having left his only employment after half a day.<ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001" />

After leaving art school, Liverpool City Council commissioned him to paint the Lord Mayor, Alderman [[Joseph Jackson Cleary]], in 1950. Kirby carried out the commission but decided against portraiture as a career and turned to illustration for film posters and books.<ref name="Kirby" />

In the early 1950s, Kirby illustrated [[film posters]] for studios in both London and [[Paris, France|Paris]] and continued to do some film posters until the 1980s. In the 1970s, he undertook film poster art for publicity agency feref. Working alongside designer [[Eddie Paul]], Kirby depicted the characters for [[Star Wars]]: ''[[Return of the Jedi]];'' films ''[[The Beastmaster (film)|The Beastmaster]]'' and ''[[Krull (film)|Krull]]'', among others.<ref name="joshkirbyart" /> He also designed a poster for ''[[The Life of Brian]]'' inspired by Pieter Brueghel's Tower Of Babel, but it was not used.<ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001" />

When the market for film poster illustration dried up in the mid 1980s, Kirby switched his attention to [[role-playing game]]s. He provided cover art for ''Duelmasters'', ''[[Tunnels & Trolls]]'' and ''[[Wizards & Warriors]].''<ref name="joshkirbyart">{{Cite web|url=https://www.joshkirbyart.com/new-page-1|title=The Story|website=Josh Kirby|language=en-US|access-date=2 January 2020}}</ref><ref name="Kirby" />

However, Kirby's major output between the late 1950s to the 1980s was artwork for [[book covers]] for a very wide range of books including westerns, crime novels, science fiction and non-fiction, as well as covers and interior art for science fiction magazines. His first published book cover art was for the 1955 science fiction novel ''Cee-Tee Man'', by [[Dan Morgan (writer)|Dan Morgan]]. In 1956, he created a cover for [[Ian Fleming]]'s book [[Moonraker (novel)|''Moonraker'']].<ref name="joshkirbyart" /> Working for publishers including Panther, Corgi, Four Square and NEL/Mayflower,<ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001" /> he illustrated over 400 covers for authors including [[Brian Aldiss]], [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Stephen Briggs]], [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], [[Craig Shaw Gardner]], [[Ron Goulart]], [[Robert Heinlein]], [[Alfred Hitchcock]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Ursula Le Guin]], [[Richard Matheson]], [[Guy de Maupassant]], [[Terry Pratchett]], [[Robert Rankin]], [[Jimmy Sangster]], [[Jules Verne]], and [[H. G. Wells]].<ref name="joshkirbyart" /><ref name="KirbyCovers-full-list">{{cite web |last1=Langford |first1=Dave |title=Josh Kirby Covers |url=https://ansible.uk/misc/joshlist.html |website=Ansible |access-date=9 June 2020}}</ref>

Kirby's most significant work in the 1980s was the covers for the ''Discworld'' series, a commission that Kirby thought would be a "one-off". Starting with ''The Colour of Magic'', he eventually produced the covers for 26 of the series until his death in 2001.<ref name="joshkirbyart" /><ref name="Obit_Grauniad2001">{{cite news |last1=Segar |first1=Rufus |author-link=Rufus Segar |title=Josh Kirby |agency=The Guardian |issue=4 December 2001 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/04/guardianobituaries.books |access-date=9 June 2020}}</ref> Upon his passing, his successor [[Paul Kidby]] painted a portrait of Kirby into the cover art of the novel ''[[Night_Watch_(Discworld)|Night Watch]]'', in tribute to the artist.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fantastic fantasy artwork: Night Watch (Discworld) by Paul Kidby |url=https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/blog/2011/10/11/fantastic-fantasy-artwork-2-night-watch-discworld-book-29-by-paul-kidby/ |website=fantasybookreview.co.uk |access-date=11 February 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014030102/https://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/blog/2011/10/11/fantastic-fantasy-artwork-2-night-watch-discworld-book-29-by-paul-kidby/ |archive-date=14 October 2011}}</ref>