Byte magazine artist Robert Tinney, who illustrated the birth of PCs, dies at 78

"Born on November 22, 1947, in Penn Yan, New York, Tinney moved with his family to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as a child. He studied illustration and graphic design at Louisiana Tech University, and after a tour of service during the Vietnam War, he began his career as a commercial artist in Houston. His connection to Byte came through a chance meeting with Carl Helmers, who would later found the magazine."

"Tinney went on to paint more than 80 covers for Byte, working almost entirely in airbrushed Designers Gouache, a medium he chose for its opaque, intense colors and smooth finish. He said the process of creating each cover typically took about a week of painting once a design was approved, following phone conversations with editors about each issue's theme. He cited René Magritte and M.C. Escher as two of his favorite artists, and fans often noticed their influence in his work."

Robert Tinney painted over 80 airbrushed covers for Byte from 1975 into the late 1980s, translating topics like artificial intelligence, networking, and programming into vivid, surrealist-inflected paintings. He worked almost exclusively in airbrushed Designers Gouache for its opaque, intense colors and smooth finish, typically spending about a week painting each approved cover after editorial phone discussions about the issue's theme. Born in 1947 and raised in Baton Rouge, he studied illustration and graphic design at Louisiana Tech, served in Vietnam, began as a commercial artist in Houston, and produced his first Byte cover in December 1975. He died February 1 at age 78 in Baker, Louisiana.

Read at Ars Technica