David Burroughs Mattingly
David Burroughs Mattingly (born June 29, 1956) is an American illustrator and painter, best known for his numerous book covers of science fiction and fantasy literature.
Also recorded as David Mattingly · David B. Mattingly
David Burroughs Mattingly
- Born
- 29 June 1956
- Birthplace
- Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
- Known for
- Book cover artwork
- Occupation
- Illustrator, painter
- Nationality
- United States
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for David Burroughs Mattingly. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Born — 29 June 1956 • Birthplace — Fort Collins, Colorado, United States • Known for — Book cover artwork • Occupation — Illustrator, painter • Website — www.davidmattingly.com
Early life and career
Early life and career
Mattingly was born in and grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, and was inspired at age twelve to enter the visual arts, and discovered matte art. Mattingly first attended Colorado Institute of Art, then transferred to Art Center College of Art and Design. He left from there to take a job as a matte artist at Disney Studios. There he worked on the production of The Black Hole. He also worked on films including Tron, Dick Tracy, The Watcher in the Woods, and Stephen King's The Stand miniseries. After seven years, he became the head of the matte department there. He later worked on the films I, Robot and Hail, Caesar!. After moving to New York, Mattingly was under contract at Ballantine Books. He has done more than 2000 book covers for Ballantine, Baen, Ballantine, Bantam, Berkley, Dell, Alfred A. Knopf, Marvel Comics, Omni, Playboy, Ace, Penguin, Scholastic, Signet, and Tor. He later took a matte art teaching position at the School of Visual Art, and then the Pratt Institute, where he is an adjunct professor. He teaches digital matte painting and compositing at both institutions. Mattingly is the subject of the 1996 book Alternate views, alternate universes: the art of David B. Mattingly by Cathleen Cogswell. He currently works as an independent matte artist and illustrator in addition to his teaching.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1956
David Burroughs Mattingly born at Fort Collins.
Publications
Publications
David created 55 of 64 covers for K. A. Applegate's Animorphs series. He also created covers for all of David Weber's Honorverse science-fiction series. He has been the Artist Guest of Honor at a number of conventions, including Technicon 24 and Loscon 42. He has also published a handbook on digital matte painting, The Digital Matte Painting Handbook.
Books
Books
• David B. Mattingly (2011), The Digital Matte Painting Handbook, Indianapolis, IN: Wiley;
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article David B. Mattingly, revision 1290136172 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 03 October 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
19,456 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- David BowesArtist
- David BowieArtist
- David BradshawArtist
- David Breuer-WeilArtist
- David BurrowsArtist
- David ChichkanArtist
- David ChoeArtist
- David ChristianaArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by David Burroughs Mattingly?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.