Ron Walotsky, 58; His Art Graced Covers of 500 Fantasy Books

Ron Walotsky, 58, an artist whose illustrations adorned the covers of about 500 science fiction and fantasy books, including Anne Rice’s “Queen of the Damned” and Stephen King’s “Carrie,” died Monday after a brief illness in Flagler Beach, Fla.

The Brooklyn-born Walotsky graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1966. His first job was with Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine. He later painted posters of such rock stars as Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and created album jackets for RCA and other record companies

His fine-art paintings and book cover art, which frequently featured space aliens and surreal landscapes, have been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

Last year he published an anthology of his work, “Inner Visions: the Art of Ron Walotsky.”