GVN Interview: David Palumbo on Illustrating The Binti Trilogy By Nnedi Okorafor For The Folio Society

David Palumbo grew up in a creative environment, influenced by his parents, science fiction scholar Donald Palumbo, and artist Julie Bell. To add to his artistic lineage, his stepfather is the renowned fantasy artist Boris Vallejo. Given this rich, art-filled background, it was almost inevitable that David would become a painter specializing in the fantasy and science fiction genres.

During his career, David has created illustrations for “Magic: The Gathering” and has been a regular contributor to Heavy Metal magazine since 2008. In addition, his artwork has appeared in various forms, including collectible card games, comic book covers, album covers, film posters, magazine covers, advertisements, and preproduction materials for films.

Recently, David was given the challenge and honor of providing illustrations for The Folio Society’s Illustrated Edition of Nnedi Okorafor’s “The Binti Trilogy.”

The lavishly illustrated 360-page omnibus edition of THE BINTI TRILOGY includes seven full-page colour artworks in a palette of rich blues, purples and reds—featuring a cast of characters including our heroine Binti, the jellyfish-like Meduse, and the living spaceship Third Fish—as well as black and white illustrated part-title pages and dark blue metallic endpapers. The cloth-bound cover features an illustration of heroine Binti surrounded by a jellyfish-like alien species, with silver foil blocking for added dimension, while the slipcase is decorated with nebulas, planets and stars printed on a metallic paper for a shimmering finish.

Recently, we had the opportunity to catch up with the talented artist David Palumbo to discuss his creative beginnings, the influence of his parents, and his exciting new project for the Folio Society. Let’s welcome David Palumbo to GVN Talking Comics!

Creative Beginnings

GVN: Thank you, David, for sharing just a bit of your day. Since this is our first opportunity to converse, let’s talk about your artistic beginnings. As a child, you had the benefit of both a science fiction scholar (your father, Donald Palumbo) and an illustrator (your mother, Julie Bell). Not to mention your stepfather, Boris Vallejo. (I’m a huge fan of both their work.) Did you even consider a different path for yourself, or was art an inevitable destination for you?

DAVID: Hi, thanks so much, glad to be talking with you! When I was little, I loved to draw and I loved movies and I always hoped to be involved with something related to either of those. So I suppose some type of creative path was always what I wanted, but the specifics didn’t take shape until I was getting into high school and started thinking more seriously about what my next steps would be. At this point, drawing was the direction that I felt much more confident in and so that was the path I took.

Studying at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

GVN: You studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Why did you choose there to further your art education, and did you contemplate studying elsewhere at that time?

DAVID: My brother Anthony, who is two years older than me, had already been attending PAFA when I was making my college decisions, and I really liked what I saw of their program. I liked that it was very focused on realism fundamentals. In addition to that, PAFA was relatively close to home and very affordable at that time. I honestly don’t remember giving much consideration to any other schools.

An Impressive Resume

GVN: Reading your resume, it is almost like a checklist of all the things I’m a fan of. Working on projects for Marvel, Heavy Metal Magazine, Imagine FX, and Lucasfilm, to name just a few. Were these opportunities you pursued yourself, or did they approach you to work with them?

DAVID: I definitely pursued many of the clients and properties I’ve worked with, especially early on. I had a list of people I wanted to work with and Folio Society was on there too. I love illustrated novels and they always turned out such beautiful editions. In some cases it was years of showing work before the door would open. Over time, the way that I get work has shifted and I’m fortunate to have folks approach me based on other projects I’ve worked on. Marvel and Folio Society are both examples of folks that I pursued but it didn’t initially take, and then many years later opportunities came to me unexpectedly.

Gallery Shows

GVN: Your work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in the United States and abroad. Were you at all apprehensive the first time your work was shown in such a venue?

DAVID: Working in galleries was actually how I started while I was still a student at PAFA, so in a way it has less mystique to me. The school was very much directed at that type of career path. I was showing in Philadelphia and a little bit elsewhere for a few years before I started getting any traction with my illustration, and by that point I knew genre illustration was what I wanted to be doing most.

The Folio Society’s Omnibus Edition of Nnedi Okorafor’s THE BINTI TRILOGY

GVN: So, let’s get to the reason I usurped your time, and that is collaboration with the Folio Society and their release of award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor’s “The Binti Trilogy,” which features your illustrations. How did this project come about, and did you have prior familiarity with her work?

DAVID: This was really exciting for me to be brought in on because I actually painted the original release covers for Tor over a decade ago, so I was very much familiar. The image from the first cover was something of a landmark piece for me and still remains a personal favorite. I’ve done a fair number of illustrated books in the time since then, but I’d never been asked to work on something that I had that type of connection to. Having the opportunity to revisit this world and pull out more images from Nnedi’s fantastic story was an automatic “yes” for me!

Communication During the Project

GVN: As is the norm with all Folio Society books, this will be beautifully bound and lavish with your illustrations. Did you converse at all with the author, or did The Folio Society confer with you about what your work would detail in the collection?

DAVID: All the communication was done through my editor Sophia Schoepfer. Having the editor act as liaison between author and artist is typically how it works in my experience. We had some broad conversations early on to establish the tone and focus and all that. From there, I reread the books and pitched my suggestions and in response Sophia would give me Nnedi’s notes along with any of her own. The process generally followed like that. I would send along my progress and they would confer and send me any guidance or direction and I would then take that forward.

GVN: Having worked now with the Folio Society, would you be willing to work with them again if the opportunity arose?

DAVID: I think Folio Society has an incredible track record for putting out gorgeous books and it is an honor for my work to be a part of that. This type of project can be challenging to schedule because there’s so many paintings to commit to, but I think the end result is well worth it. I hope that the stars can align again.

Following David’s Work

GVN: Thank you for speaking with us today, David. Before we conclude, I would like to allow you to discuss any future projects or share information on where fans can follow your work.

DAVID: Thanks so much! It’s been my pleasure! I can’t share much details about upcoming work other than I have a whole bunch of paintings that I’ve very excited for people to see. Besides my website (dvpalumbo.com), Instagram and Facebook are where I’m currently most active (both at dvpalumbo). I’m looking forward to sharing more soon!

You can purchase The Folio Society’s Omnibus Edition of Nnedi Okorafor’s THE BINTI TRILOGY exclusively from https://www.foliosociety.com/uk/autumn-reveal.