David A. Cherry took a long time deciding what he wanted to do in life before he finally settled on art. Through the mid 70’s he was happy being a lawyer. Then in 1976 his sister C.J. Cherryh asked him to come along to Kansas City’s WorldCon and he stumbled on the acres of art show panels. He had always liked art as a hobby but had never considered it as a career before.
            Over the next years Cherry taught himself to draw and paint. He accepted his first professional assignment in 1980 and finally quit his law practice in 1984 to be a full-time artist. He won two of ASFA’s Chesley Awards and has been nominated nine times for the Hugo for Best Artist over the years. Cherry has done covers and illustrations for the works of such authors as Stephen R. Donaldson, Poul Anderson, John Brunner, David Brin, Piers Anthony, William Shatner, L. Sprague de Camp, Lois McMaster Bujold, and, of course, his sister. Some of his independent work from 1988-89 while he was President of ASFA found its way into several major exhibitions including the Park Avenue Atrium in New York and the Delaware Art Museum. His last book project was in 2001 on a guide for Terry Brook’s Shannara series written by Teresa Patterson.
            During the mid 90’s Cherry switched from cover art to gaming art at the request of his friend Bill Fawcett for a new game called SHATTERED LIGHT. Cherry was happy with the decision because the pay was better and the industry is still young and enthusiastic enough to care about its art, unlike the current book publishers. He is now the Senior Concept Artist for Ensemble Studios, the developer of the real time strategy game Age of Empires.
            David A. Cherry’s website can be found at http://www.davidcherryart.com.