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Cover art © Wayne D. Barlowe

This is the cover to the April 1982 DAW Books edition of The Darkness on Diamondia. The cover artist is Wayne D. Barlowe, one of my favorite SF illustrators.
Barlowe is an admirer of Van's work, having depicted the Ixtl and a Riim (from Voyage of the Space Beagle) in his 1979 book Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials. While bringing his own spark of creativity to his paintings, he nevertheless stays true to an author's description of a creature — while working, he often keeps in front of him excerpts from the book he's illustrating.
This is an exquisitely rendered — and remarkably "life-like" — painting of the alien Irsk, complete with the loose-fitting striped shirt that shows which tribe it belongs to. The creative design of the weapon it holds, and the fascinating looping grasp of the Irsk's tentacles are fine examples of Barlowe's thoroughness and the thought he puts into each of his works.
His vast artistic talent, attention to detail, adherence to the author's description, and fine method of execution have deservedly made him one of the most acclaimed artists in the SF community.

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