Behind the Cover: Tony Mauro

[reviews_and_ramblings]

In 1994 at the age of 23 Tony Mauro left the city of Buffalo, NY, where he grew up and spent most of his adult life bound for the west coast to pursue his career as an illustrator. He landed in Los Angeles in November of '94 and began working in the entertainment industry as an illustrator and designer.

 
Cover Art for Sea Witch by Virginia Kantra

 
Cover Art for Sea Lord by Virginia Kantra

 
Cover Art for Sea Fever by Virginia Kantra

 
Cover Art for Immortal Outlaw by Lisa Hendrix

 
Cover Art for Immortal Warrior by Lisa Hendrix

 
Cover Art for Spider Touched by Jory Strong





 

 

 


Tony graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburg in 1991 with a degree in visual communications and a major in airbrush. After spending six years as an airbrush illustrator he eventually crossed over to the computer. The first several years in Los Angeles were spent working with an illustration and design studio in Santa Monica. This was where Tony refined his computer skills and began developing the style that he uses today. For about two and a half years Tony worked almost exlusively on designing posters, calendars, book covers, and video box covers for the hit show "The X-Files".

His transition into Pin-up/Fantasy art came shortly after that when he started developing the When Darkness Falls Vampire Series. Using what little knowledge of photography he had from shooting his own referene as an illustrator, he started photographing friends and acquaintances on evenings and weekends. Those photographs would later serve at the foundation for his vampire series. By the time he was wrapping up the series he was being contacted by Playmates, Penthouse Pets, and some adult film stars wanting to get involved in the project that was starting to develop quite a buzz among the model circuit in Los Angeles. Tony categorizes his art as photo-based illustration.



Amazon: When Darkness Falls 2010 Calendar

Tony travels around the country doing pin-up, comic and horror conventions to market and promote his prints, books, and calendars. In 2004 Tony's debut book, The Dark Art of Tony Mauro, was released worldwide by a publisher in Germany.

 

Amazon: The Dark Art of Tony Mauro

Commercially Mauro has spent the last 9 years designing movie posters for every major film studio in Hollywood. Some of the campaigns he is credited for designing are The Pirates of the Caribbean Intl, M. Knight Shyamalans The Village, The Pink Panther, Friday Night Lights, The Chronicles of Narnia and Black Christmas to name a few. You've probably also seen his work gracing numerous video game box covers such as Marvel's Ultimate Alliance, Medal of Honor, Brothers in Amrs, Diablo, WarCraft 2, Clive Barker's Undying and most recently Spiderman Friend or Foe.

Tony has recently returned to his home town of Buffalo, NY, to focud more of his time on his fantasy art while still freelancing for the entertainment industry designing movie posters as well as crossing over into the world of publishing and book covers.

http://www.darkdayproductions.com/

Comments

[veggieg.livejournal.com]

Wow those painted skies are the most realistic I've ever seen on a cover! Amazing!

Thank you sooooo much Elisa for finding and sharing with us all these wonders.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

For me it's always a pleasure when I discover the name of the authors of some covers I liked, and so then I want to share the discovery. Elisa