Don Brautigam

Brautigam, Donald P. (b. Sept. 12, 1946 d. Jan 27, 2008) American artist. Born in Paterson, New Jersey. Brautigam graduated The School of Visual Arts in 1971. He was married to Diane, and had two sons Daniel and James who is also an Artist. Influences include Gilbert L. Stone and Doug Johnson, fellow illustrators and teachers at School of Visual Arts., most of all his father, Curtis. The people that he has enjoyed working with most over his career were Ann Spinelli, Art Director for Putnam Publishing and Dean R. Koontz, both had great ideas, and were good friends. Brautigam worked with acrylics on boards, with a mixture of airbrush and brush combined. He has done numerous advertisements, magazine covers, record/ CD covers, hardcover and paperback covers. His mass-market cover for Stephen Kings The Stand was awarded Cover of the Year by Marketing Bestsellers in 1980, and he has a numerous amount of other awards and commendations. Brautigam's mesmerizing color work redefined paperback and hardcover jacket art. In addition, he excelled in portraits, record sleeves, and information graphics. He is also well known for being the pioneer of using black paint on book illustrations which revolutionized the illustration industry. More than thirty years later, his original method is still the archetype upon which vast amounts of contemporary illustrations are based.