Richard Clifton-Dey

Richard Clifton-Dey (29 May 1930 – 5 April 1997) was a British artist. Born in Yorkshire, he was known mostly for Western and science fiction subjects. As in many cases of artwork produced for book covers, most of Clifton-Dey's artwork is not signed. His most famous work of art may be Behemoth's World, which appeared on the sleeve of the album Cultösaurus Erectus by Blue Öyster Cult.

He started painting in the 1960s and was one of the most highly respected of British illustrators during the 1970s and into the 1980s. Much of his work was for book covers, either for science fiction, fantasy, action-adventure war books, romances, or gothic horror (with some interesting forays into advertising). His cover artwork was used for the novel Lord Tyger by Philip José Farmer in 1974 and reused in 1985. The Dorian Hawkmoon series by Michael Moorcock was issued featuring Richard Clifton-Dey cover art in 1977. The French publishing company Fleuve Noir released several paperbacks from 1981 to 1987 with his artwork.

Along with other well-known artists of his day (Jim Burns, Chris Foss and others), his work was featured in the 1987 Paper Tiger UK edition of Heroic Dreams.