Miller, Ian
Entry updated 12 January 2026. Tagged: Artist.
(1946- ) UK illustrator. After graduating from St Martin's College of Art, Miller became a commercial illustrator in 1970, with both book-cover work and interior Illustrations, some of the latter in David Day's A Tolkien Bestiary (1979). He did highly characteristic work on the backgrounds for Wizards (1977), an animated film with a Far Future setting directed by Ralph Bakshi (1938- ). Books of his work are Green Dog Trumpet and Other Stories (graph coll 1978) – the stories being narrated by images without accompanying text – Secret Art (graph coll 1980) and Ratspike (graph coll 1990) with John Blanche. The Luck in the Head (graph 1991) with M John Harrison is a Graphic Novel with text adapted by Harrison from his 1983 short story of the same name. Miller appears in The Guide to Fantasy Art Techniques (1984) edited by Martyn Dean. Though he has worked in a commercial vein, he is also known for fanciful work at the opposite pole from the airbrushed superrealism that has dominated UK sf/fantasy art for decades: two of his gloomier modes involve, respectively, detailed fine-lined Gothic black-and-white work in ink, almost Steampunk in style, and semi-abstracted deliquescing faces; in Ratspike he classed these as "tight pen" and "asylum images" respectively. Miller was art editor for Interzone 1983-1985. He is a gallery artist as well as an illustrator, his first exhibition having been in 1973. [PN/JC]
further awards or honours: BSFA Award.
see also: Games Workshop.
Ian Miller
born London: 11 November 1946
works (selected)
- Green Dog Trumpet and Other Stories (Brighton, East Sussex: Dragon's Dream, 1978) [coll: graph: hb/Ian Miller]
- Secret Art (Brighton, East Sussex: Dragon's Dream, 1980) [coll: graph: hb/Ian Miller]
- Ratspike (Brighton, East Sussex: GW Books, 1989) with John Blanche [coll: graph: hb/Ian Miller]
- The Luck in the Head (London: VG Graphics, 1991) with M John Harrison [story: graph: hb/Ian Miller]
- The Art of Ian Miller (London: Titan Books, 2014) with Tom Whyte [graph: hb/Ian Miller]
- The Art of Ian Miller (London: Titan Books, 2014) with Tom Whyte [graph: exp version published simultaneously with trade edition: hb/Ian Miller]
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