John Picacio reports that 79-year-old British sf/f illustrator James Cawthorn died on 2 December 2008. Cawthorn was also a comics artist and historian, and according to Picacio, “created definitive early interpretations of many Michael Moorcock characters, including Elric of Melniboné.”
Picacio’s own obituary of Cawthorn is available here, and he offers links to more by Simon Sellars and John Coulthart (who also posts several of Cawthorn’s illustrations). Coulthart also wrote a bio of Cawthorn on Savoy Pictures‘ web site.