David Hardy

The artist David Hardy produced his first space art in 1950, at the age of just 14, and illustrated his first book, entitled `Suns, Myths and Men`, for Patrick Moore in 1954 when he was just 18. As a young man, he worked at Cadbury's, near to his home in Bournville, painting chocolate boxes whilst learning his trade as an illustrator, and then he became a freelance painter and illustrator in 1965. Throughout his career David Hardy has concentrated on the painting of space-related artwork and he has been President of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA), which has over 120 members worldwide. He has illustrated and produced the covers for dozens of books, including those by Patrick Moore, Arthur C Clarke and Carl Sagan, and his originals are held worldwide, including within the private collections of these three authors and also by space luminaries including Isaac Asimov, Brian May of Queen and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones. David Hardy has also written a number of books under his own name.