About

Debbie Hughes is a science fiction and Fantasy Illustrator.

Since 1981 I have honed my skills as a realistic painter. As an illustrator in the Science Fiction and Fantasy field that goal was and still is a challenge. It is not easy to paint something that belongs in the future. In addition, I started my career in a field dominated by male artists. Through persistence, I became one of the few women to have my work published in over 250 publications. I have worked for Baen Books, Easton Press, Amazing Stories Magazine, Science Fiction Age Magazine, Realms of Fantasy Magazine, Wizards of the Coast, The Learning Company, Paramount Interactive and many more. In order to survive in this business I branched out into animation, medical illustration, space and astronomical art, movie poster art, game art, micro stock, flash, webpage illustration and collectible game card art. But through all this I maintained a daily schedule of painting in the traditional style of paint on hardboard and canvas.

Today, I describe my work as “magic realism”. I concentrate on my own ideas: a combination of myths, fairy tales and enigmatic themes and elements born out of my years doing illustration. My work is currently exhibited through NAWA, The National Association of Women Artists in various show in the NY, NY. I also exhibit at galleries in South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky. In addition, I continue to exhibit my work at Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions throughout the United States and abroad.

Debbie is proud to be a member of the National Association of Women Artists, Inc., an organization that was created in 1889 to promote women in the arts and has represented women nationally as well as internationally. Debbie was inducted into this organization in November of 2019 and joins a distinguished and limited group of women artists.

Member of ASFA (Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists)

ASFA is a non-profit, educational 501(c)(3) association made up of artists, publishers, collectors and others with an interest in the genre.

Member of Georgia Lawyers for the Arts. Georgia Lawyers for the Arts (GLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance and educational programming to artists and arts organizations.

You can find more information about Debbie Hughes in these links:

Honors

Hughes was in­vited to show over 50 pieces of her orig­i­nal paint­ings at the Lex­ing­ton Pub­lic Li­brary, Lex­ing­ton KY from March 17 – May 16 2023. The Show was ti­tled Fan­tas­tic Worlds & Vi­sions of the Fu­ture. The Down­town Lex­ing­ton Li­brary ex­hibits occur 6 times a year. Deb­bie was in­vited to show her works be­cause she is a na­tive of Lex­ing­ton, KY, born there in 1958. This ex­hibit was a ret­ro­spec­tive of her pub­lished works in Sci­ence Fic­tion and Fan­tasy art since 1989 to the pre­sent and in­cluded cur­rent works.

Hughes re­ceived The Bernadette Award for her work: “Im­ped­ance in Slum­ber” from The Na­tional As­so­ci­a­tion of Women Artists 132nd An­nual Ex­hi­bi­tion. This was held at One Art Space, 23 War­ren Street (Tribeca)NY. NY. Oct. 16-23 2021. Deb­bie’ work, “Sea­sons of Wither won an Hon­or­able Men­tion with The Na­tional As­so­ci­a­tion of Women Artists ex­hibit: “Grand Vi­sions, we are here”, Sep­tem­ber 2020. This was held at the Grand Cen­tral Li­brary, NYPL, 135 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017.

Hughes re­ceived the Ches­ley Award from the As­so­ci­a­tion of Sci­ence Fic­tion & Fan­tasy Artists (ASFA) Oc­to­ber 2020. Cat­e­gory: Un­pub­lished Color Art work for her paint­ing: “The Raven, the Wolf and the Maiden”.

On No­vem­ber 14, 2019, she was in­ducted into the Na­tional As­so­ci­a­tion of Women Artists which is the old­est women’s fine art or­ga­ni­za­tion in the coun­try. Deb­bie joins a list of dis­tin­guished Amer­i­can women artists.

Things you may not know about Debbie

Debbie’s Grandmother was Hildegarde Hamilton, a well known impressionist landscape painter. 

Debbie wanted to be a dancer and took extensive training in Jazz, Modern and Folk Dance which also included Choreography. She realized she did not have the training needed at a very young age and decided to devote herself exclusively to Painting

Debbie worked at the Greenville Museum of Art in Greenville, SC in the summer of 1980.  There she had the good fortune to study the works of Andrew Wyeth and N.C. Wyeth since this museum had the World’s Largest collection of the Wyeth’s works at that time. 

Debbie was the Lead Singer for a Rock Band called HQ in Knoxville TN for 5 years. The Band was also immortalized in  the book Cumberland Avenue Revisited: Four Decades of Music From Knoxville Tennessee by Jack Rentfro.  Debbie was even asked to form an all girl band by a producer but turned it down. 

Debbie worked for Dr. William Bass briefly in Knoxville TN doing illustration of Bones. Dr. William Bass is well known in the world for his Forensic Anthropology.  Debbie did illustrations of  Bones loaned out to her from the Anthropology Department which came from the “Body Farm” .  Those illustrations were used in training for the police department when they needed to identify the age of women that were buried. Debbie worked for Dr. Bass in the early 80’s – 1984-1985. 

Debbie has illustrated for many notable authors including Sir Kingsley Amis, Ben Bova, Alan Steel, Jack McDevitt, Roger Zelazny, Spider Robinson and many others. She has won numerous awards in the field of Science Fiction and Fantasy. She has been the Artist Guest of Honor at 14 conventions. 

Debbie is a member of The National Association of Women Artist.  NAWA is an organization that was created in 1889 to promote women in the arts and has represented women nationally as well as internationally. Debbie was inducted into this organization in November of 2019 and joins a distinguished and limited group of women artists

Debbie’s Biography and works are listed in Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary, by Jane Frank, 2009

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