About the artist

 

Ed Binkley has created fantasy artwork for three decades. His client list includes Lucasfilm, Ltd., Tool, Suntup Editions, Wizards of the Coast, ImagineFX, among others.

          Ed's work has appeared in a variety of books and magazines worldwide. He is the First Place Grand Prize winner in IBA Volume 10, and also received the Body of Work Portfolio Award for Volume 10, as well as the Second Place Grand Prize in IBA Volume 13. He has also received Gold and Silver Awards and Honorable Mentions in the Drawing categoriy for several IBA volumes. His work was published in numerous issues of Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art where he won Gold and Silver awards with six additional award nominations, and his work was featured in Spectrum Quarterly Magazine, Vol. 2 along with an interview with Spectrum owner and publisher Cathy Fenner. He received a Chesley Award in 2024 from the Association of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Artists, and he has been a finalist in the Beautiful Bizarre Art Award competition in 2019, 2020, and 2021, 2022, and 2023, with his 2021 entry being chosen to publicize the "Animalia" Show at The Haven Gallery sponsored by Beautiful Bizarre Magazine. His work appears in Masterpieces of Fantasy Art, a historical survey of fantastic art from the Renaissance to contemporary work, published by Taschen Books of Germany, and in Univers Imaginaire published by Citadelles & Mazenod Publishers of Paris. 
          A variety of his images have been selected by the band Tool as posters for concerts in Atlanta 2024, Corpus Christi 2024, Manchester, U.K. 2924, The Dominican Republic 2025, and Santiago, Chile 2025. Ed was invited to participate in the "Star Wars Visions" book project with Lucasfilm, Ltd., and his work was selected for the project's debut poster at Comic-Con/San Diego. He was also commissioned to create a painting for film director George Lucas's private collection.

          He served as a Juror/Judge for IBA Volume-9, as well as a Juror/Judge and Guest Artist for Dragon Con 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia, and returned to Dragon Con 2019 as a Guest Artist. He was a Featured Artist and Speaker at CTN Animation Expo 2019 in Hollywood/Burbank, California, and his work has twice been exhibited at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators in New York. Ed recently served
as a panel member to discuss "Finding Your Artistic Voice" for LightBox Expo 2021.

          Ed's work is included in two issues of Fantasy Plus: The World’s Best Fantasy Artists published by CYPI Press in London. He is a featured artist in the anthology Sketching From the Imagination published by 3DTotal, and his work has been featured in four issues of ImagineFX magazine including two complete video tutorials. Ed is featured in published interviews with Tor.com, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Artifacts Puzzles, Bizzarre Magazine, and a podcast interview for The Dark Art Society with artist Chet Zar. He has also been featured in Drawing magazine, 2DArtist magazine, and various overseas periodicals including Kunst magazine in Denmark, CG Magazine in Russia, and Teaching-Artist magazine in Taiwan.

          Ed holds MFA and BFA degrees in drawing and printmaking. He recently retired from a thirty-year teaching career. Ed lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife
Lisa, who is also an accomplished artist.

​

EMAIL:  binkleyartist@gmail.com 

​

Awards and Exhibits
 

First Place Grand Prize, IBA Volume 10

Body of Work Portfolio Award, IBA Volume 10 

Second Place Grand Prize, IBA Volume 13 

Gold Award, Drawing Category, IBA Volume 12

Gold Award, Drawing Category, IBA Volume 11 

​

Chesley Award, 2024, The Association of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Artists

​

Gold Award, “Spectrum:  The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art”, Issue 17

Silver Award, “Spectrum:  The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art”, Issue 24
    Additional Award nominations, issues 20, 21, 22, 26 

 

Beautiful-Bizarre Art Prize Finalist, 2019 through 2023 

​

Solo exhibits 2022, 2024, and 2025, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica, California 

​

Solo exhibit, 2023, Beinart Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

​

"Animalia" invitational exhibit at The Haven Gallery, New York, sponsored by Beautiful Bizarre magazine;  Entry "Evening Ascending"selected for worldwide publicity campaign. 

 

​“The Enchanted Brush” invitational exhibits, 2015 thru 2021 --

The Mazza Museum of Picture Book Art, Findlay, Ohio.

 

IX Art Show 2020 -- 4-part webinar series:  "Digital Drawing", "Composition: Holding Complex Images Together", "The Rorschach Approach to Fantasy Work", and "Hybrids:
Combining Species in Fantasy Work"; October through December, 2020.

​

Juror/Judge and Guest Artist, Dragon Con 2018, Atlanta, Georgia 

​

Juror/Judge, Infected-by-Art, Volume 9 

​

Featured Artist and Speaker, CTN Animation Expo 2019, Burbank, California

Guest Artist and Speaker, Dragon Con 2019, Atlanta, Georgia 
Panel member, "Finding Your Artistic Voice", LightBox Expo 2021
 

“The Best of Spectrum” — The Society of Illustrators, The Museum of American Illustration, 2014 and 2009:  Invitational exhibitions featuring selected work from each five years of “Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art”    

​

Guest artist and gallery lecture, "The Art of Illustration" exhibit

     Giertz Gallery, Parkland College, Champaign, Illinois; Curated by Liza Winette

“Tusken Raiders” illustration selected by George Lucas as "Star Wars: Visions" debut

     Comic-Con International, San Diego, CA

 

Original artwork commissioned by George Lucas for his private collection

Award Finalist, “Share One Planet,” invitational exhibition and competition sponsored by The Peoples’ Republic of China;  Exhibition held in Beijing.

Cited in “The Year’s Best Horror” short story anthology edited by Ellen Datlow,
    Published by Night Shade Books, New York

Featured in an online interview with Tor Executive Art Director Irene Gallo;  

 

“Fantastic Worlds — Masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art”
— Kenosha Public Museum Kenosha, Wisconsin
 

Publication highlights

 

​Spectrum Quarterly, Volume 2:   

   Feature article, interview, and cover illustration

 

Spectrum:  The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art  (published in 19 issues)
   Juried fantasy-illustration annual
   Gold Award

   Silver Award
   4 additional award nominations

 

IBA: Infected by Art -- Volumes 5-13 (Juror for Volume 9, so ineligible) 

     First Place Grand Prize, Volume 10

     Body of Work Portfolio Award, Volume 10 

     Second Place Grand Prize, Volume 13

     Gold Award, Drawing category, Volume 12

     Gold Award, Drawing category, Volume 11

     Silver Awards, Drawing category, Volumes 8 and 10

     Bronze Award, Digital category, Volume 5

Masterpieces of Fantasy Art, published by Taschen Books, Germany. 

​

Univer Imaginaire, published by Citadelles & Mazenod, Paris.

 

"3 x 3" Juried international illustration annual, Volume 15; Award of Merit

Sketching From the Imagination — Featured artist
   Published by 3DTotal, London, 2014

Fantasy Plus: The World’s Twenty Best Digital Fantasy Artists
— Featured artist, issues 1 and 4
   Articles and interviews
   Published by CYPI Press, London and Beijing
   www.cypi.net
 

Star Wars: Visions published by Abrams Books   
     Invited by George Lucas to participate as one of 100 artists worldwide

Star Wars Year by Year:  A Visual Chronicle — Published by Dorling-Kindersley, London
   a visual chronicle of the history of the Star Wars enterprise

Drawing Magazine — Featured artist with Yuko Shimizu,
Patrick Arrasmith, and Mark Schultz
   Feature article and interview
   Published by F+W Media, New York

ImagineFX Magazine — Featured artist in 4 issues, including full tutorial and video series, Issues 111 and 135; Published by Futurenet Publishers, London

Print Magazine’s North American Design Annual
   Juried annual of the best in North American graphic design

The Book, Jacket, and Journal Show of the Association of American University Presses
   International touring exhibit throughout North America, Europe, and Japan

Kunst Magazine (Denmark)
   Feature article

2DArtist Magazine — Feature article;
   Published by 3DTotal Publishing, London

Magic CG Magazine — Fantasy art magazine published in Russia
   Feature article

Artist/Record/Teach Volume 23 — Fantasy art magazine published in Taiwan
   Feature article and interview

​