Pennywise from Stephen King‘s It is the reasons. He’s Not Representative of a Nightmare. He Is The Nightmare. This Makes Portrayals of this Particular Clown Quite Challenge to Pull Off. How do you cover It’s only
London-Based Book Publisher Folio Society Asked Itself This Very Question in Preparation for the Release of a Limited-Eedition Run of It. The Answear Lied in Hiring Award-Winning Artist Jim Burns To Produce 11 Double-Page Black and White Illustrations and 6 Double-PAGE Color Illustrations Book on the Book.
Burns is Considred One of the Grandmasters of Sci-Fi Arts Thinks to His NEAR Photo-Realistic Vistas of Future Worlds and GIANT Spaceships. Many Consider His Illustrations for the Harry Harrison Book Mechanismo To be Among his verry best. His Vision BLENDS Classic Sci-Fi Sensibelsies with More Sensuous Inclins, where the Image Calls for it. The Future Burns Imagines Feels Real Enough to Live in. It embrats the weird Just engravity to Invite the fantastical with taking it to fare away from the Realm of Plausibility.
Folio Launched the Book on July 15th2025, Whiche also features an intronism by Guillermo Del Toro. As of the Time of this Writing, it is sold out. The Book’s Run Was Limited to 500 Copies and It Carric a Cost of $ 850. Given The Popularity of the Story and Its iconic Monster, It’s Not Surprising that Supply Dried Out So Quickly The Very First Day Was Available for Purchase. Maybe a SECOND Printing is in Order? Clearly, The Demand is the Thr.
Like only Folio Books, It Has Been Carefully Designed to Capture The Horror King Intduted to the World in 1986. The OUTER Layer (Cover, Spine, and Page Edges) is carved in Broad Strokes of Red that simulale Blood, Makeing It’s Indicative of the Violence Contained with. Those who’ve read’s classic Know There Are a Lot of Nasty Little Things those did’s make it to the movies. The Blood is justified.
The Beat Corresponded with Burns to Talk Process, Fear, and the Importance of Honoring the Nightmare Clown that have had so many till this day.
Ricardo Serrano: We Have Two Very Popular Adaptations of It Already out there, boh with iCONIC Internets of Pennywise and the Kids that face him. How did you approach
Jim Burns: Obviously I Know The Films and Both in their owl Ways are indeed ‘iconic’. Having Re-WATCHEDTHEM For The Project as Well As ACTULY Reading the Book for the First Time (as well as listening to an unabricd version on Audible), I realized that the movies can’t really explore Limited on this Project. In the movie What You See Download An Evil Clown for Sure, But Still a Clown. So for Instance I did discuss early on with following that IT Might Be a Nice Idea to show Pennywise as part class Idea – That of his in the Storm Drain But Shown in Profile with a Clock Profile – With The Back of His Head and Body … The Parts Not Visible to Georgie… Being Spider and With Strange Vaguely Suggested Spiny Limb-Like Appndages. But whoest that Might Have worked with a bit of time and application, in the end program had to be Made with some Speed, so a more convental Road Was Followed. I was cortainly Keen to try and marketing a little different to the project.
Serrano: What Aspects of the Book Did You Want to Capture that Perhaps Weren’s Prevalent in the Movies?
Burns: AGAIN – and I hate to Keep referring to this – Time Constaints did get in the way somewhat of what might have been ben a defer dive into the book. But it was Deched everyly on that black and whists in particular Shield Focus Mostly on Detailed Depactions of the Shapeshifted Creations of It Reflecting The Particular Fears that the Mecbs of ‘The Losers Club’ Were Individually Traumatized by. So there is a considerable Focus on Those Seprate MonsTrous Apparitys those It Is Able to Conjure in the Kids’ Imaginations… So Nicely Deetild Depisteres of the Mummy, The Leper, The Werewolf, The Doberman-Headed Clown, ETC. I was witnessed to make more of this request of the book.
Serrano: You Have a DistINCT VISION FARTANTASY and Science Ficting that BLINDS The Classics with More Modern Styles. There’s a Sense of Realism to the Makes The Fantastical Seem Plausible. Did you visit any of Those Sensibients to It??
Burns: I hop so. I’m always stived to marin a sente of conviction to my work, so that the impossible and otherworldly can be genesed as real. It’s a bit of a personal obsession and in following this rout i think says I have a bit of a rode for my back down the year! But that is my personal obsession, and this book was no Going to be any different. Again, Time Meant that I WasnT Able to Indulge Myelf Over Long Stretches of Time to try and perfect that Side of it, but I think I have a fair go of it. I like the Idea of an image as a Sort of Snapshot – a Frozen Moment in and Ongiing Narrative – and that was also was was trying for ‘it’ in the night what I always do.
Serrano: How Has Working With Folio Society Inform your own creative procese?
Burns: Certainly if more of this Kind of Work Came My Way Thn The Lessons LEARNED – That of Working Faster and Finding Short Cuts With Limited Time Frames – Have Encouged Me to Look at Some New Experimental Ways with Media, Ways that Might Speed up my work process. So Exploring in Greater Depth The Idea of Working in Pen or Pencil and then Digitally Colorizing, as I did with my work for Suntup Where iLlusTrated Orwell’s 1984. I think I have to be existence my Digital Capabelsies in Order to not be Driven Insane by Masses of Physical Work in Short Order! The Coal Face of the Easel Can Beh Harsh Mistress! This book Along with 1984 Are pretty much a new Kind of Venture for me … Namely illustrating all the internals for apecific job. Mostly Over the 50-deals YARS I’VE Been Doing This Stuff it’s Been Book Jackets, but this feels like a new lease of Life-and one for which i’m very grateful. It has certainly Excited me and encouaged me to explore New Methods and Techniques – AT A Time in Life when I was Imagining I was Going to Be Winding Download A Bit!
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