Chris Achilleos is a painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 and illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 who specialises in fantasy art

Fantasy art

Fantasy art is a genre of art that depicts magical or other supernatural themes, ideas, creatures or settings. While there is some overlap with science fiction, horror and other speculative fiction art, there are unique elements not generally found in other forms of speculative fiction art...

work and glamour

Glamour (presentation)

Glamour originally was a magical-occult spell cast on somebody to make them believe that something or somebody was attractive. In the late 19th century terminology a non magical item used to help create a more attractive appearance gradually became 'a glamour'...

 illustration

Illustration

An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...

. Born in Famagusta

Famagusta

Famagusta is a city on the east coast of Cyprus and is capital of the Famagusta District. It is located east of Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour of the island.-Name:...

, Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, his family emigrated to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 1959, where he currently resides.

His work has appeared in Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal (magazine)

Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...

and Radio Times

Radio Times

Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...

magazines, on book covers (including series based on the Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...

 character, TV's Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

and the Fighting Fantasy

Fighting Fantasy

Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player fantasy roleplay gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volumes in the series were published by Puffin in 1982, with the rights to the franchise eventually being purchased by Wizard Books in 2002...

 gamebook series), and in collections of his own work. He has also worked on various film projects as a conceptual artist. His work has also included fetish art

Fetish art

Fetish art is art that depicts people in fetishistic situations such as bondage, BDSM, transvestism, domination/submission scenarios etc. -- sometimes in combination....

.

Achilleos created the controversial cover for Whitesnake

Whitesnake

Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...

's 1979 album, Lovehunter

Lovehunter

Lovehunter is the second studio album by the British band Whitesnake, released in 1979. The album charted at #29 on the UK Albums Chart."Long Way from Home", the leading track on the album, was the band's first single but only reached #55 on the UK charts.-Cover art:Lovehunters cover art featuring...

, which featured a naked woman straddling a giant serpent. In an interview with MelodicRock, Gary Hughes

Gary Hughes

Gary Hughes is an English hard rock singer, songwriter and musician. Apart from his work as a solo artist, Gary Hughes is the front man and main songwriter of Hard Rock/Melodic Rock band Ten...

 stated that Achilleos thereafter "had a policy of not working with bands". The original artwork, along with several other pieces, were stolen from him in the 1980s and sold to a private collector.

In 2003, Achilleos created the covers and artwork for the two-album-wide rock opera

Rock opera

A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...

 by Gary Hughes

Gary Hughes

Gary Hughes is an English hard rock singer, songwriter and musician. Apart from his work as a solo artist, Gary Hughes is the front man and main songwriter of Hard Rock/Melodic Rock band Ten...

, The Once And Future King.

Collections

Several book collections of Achilleos works have been published, including:

• Beauty and the Beast (1978)
• Medusa (1988)
• Sirens (1986)
• Amazona (2004)

External links

• Biography on Chris Achilleos' website