Draft:Michael Fishel

Michael Fishel (born 1950 ) is an American fantasy artist and author.

Early life
Michael Fishel was born to Fredrick and Lorene Fishel in 1950 in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father provided his first art lessons, showing Michael how to draw small animals.

Poster artist
In 1971, after a stint in the military during the Vietnam War, Fishel enrolled in the John Herron Institute of Art, but soon left when it became clear that their approach to art was strictly commercial.

In the late 1960s, UK entrepreneur Peter Ledeboer had realized that in addition to buying concert tickets for popular bands, people were also collecting the psychedelic concert posters. Sensing a new market for cheap wall art, Ledeboer started up Big O Posters. In 1976, Michael Fishel sent some photographs of his artwork to Big O, which resulted in his first paid commission.

TSR artist
In 1980, Fishel also began to provide artwork for TSR Hobbies, publishers of Dungeons & Dragons, illustrating several TSR books, including some of the "Fantasy Forest" line of "choose-your-adventure" books such as Ruins of Rangar (1983) and Keep of the Ancient King (1983).

Independent artist
Finding the fantasy RPG themes too limiting, Fishel declined more work from TSR and became an independent fantasy artist. In 1984, Avon Books commissioned Fishel to create the cover art for the fantasy anthology The Phoenix Tree (1980). Another lucrative source of work was the jigsaw puzzle market, where several companies started to buy Fishel's fantasy art.

Digital artist and author
In the 21st century, Fishel moved to Austin, Texas, earned a degree in digital publishing, and began to create art in the digital medium. One of his first works was a self-published anthology of some of his art titled Creations.

In 2014, Schiffer Publishing released It Must Be Art: Big O Poster Artists of the 1960s and 70s, co-authored by Fishel and Nigel Suckling. Illustration Magazine noted "The driving force behind [this book] is Michael Fishel who has spent the past 20 years toying with the idea and building connections. In 2020, Schiffer released Fishel's next book, Renaissance Realm: The Art of Olga Suorova.