The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

Weird Tales’s premier interior story illustrator in the ’30s, VIRGIL FINLAY (1914–1971) influenced a generation of fantasy artists, who passed his influence along, unheralded, to the next generation. His forever unmatched scratchboard technique melded on the page with his unerring ability to zero in on the most arresting angle in the most compelling scene in the most unforgettable narratives. Without Finlay, our monsters and heroes would never have reached the same extremes of unearthly beauty and unspeakable horror.

Note: These images are but two of the hundreds at the Imagenetion archive, which is a treasure trove of fantasy art but is very difficult to navigate.