Brian Froud

Brian Froud (born 1947) is an English fantasy illustrator and conceptual designer. He is most widely known for his 1978 book Faeries with Alan Lee, and as the conceptual designer of the Jim Henson films The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). According to Wired, Froud is "one of the most pre-emiminent visualizers of the world of faerie and folktale". Most recently, Froud developed the 2019 streaming television series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Early life Froud was born in Winchester, England in 1947. An only child, he grew up in rural Hampshire before moving to Kent. In 1967 he enrolled as a painter at Maidstone College of Art, where he graduated with a first class honors diploma in Graphic Design in 1971. Career After graduating, Froud spent five years working as a commercial illustrator in Soho, London before moving to Chagford, Devon in 1975. Between 1972 and 1976, he illustrated four books by children's author Margaret Mahy and Are All the Giants Dead? by Mary Norton. In 1976, Froud was featured in Once Upon a Time: Some Contemporary Illustrators of Fantasy, a survey of modern British illustrators. In 1977, an anthology of his artwork, The Land of Froud, was published.