Sam Weber’s Stunning Artwork for the Illustrated Edition of Dune

Sam is amazing at painting a plausible alternative reality. We’d been so impressed with his previous commissions for us, but even more so by Sam’s wider portfolio which showed a clear love of all things strange. I thought it would make for a really interesting commission. In all, he was the perfect choice for Dune, and we were blown away when he not only said he’d love to work on it for us, but that it is also his favorite book.

Getting asked to illustrate Dune was something I’d dreamed about for a long time. With that said, it was honestly a pretty intimidating prospect, especially at the outset. It’s been envisioned so well in the past, and has occupied such a prominent place in my psyche, I think once the initial thrill passed I became really nervous about doing the project justice. At some point I just had to reconcile within myself that I’d be bringing my own take to the text and that an artist’s shortcomings are a part of what makes one’s work interesting and unique.

Having spent so much time in one world, especially one as rich as Dune, I was curious to know if the book resonated with Sam differently after having gone through the process of illustrating Herbert’s work, and he shared some thoughts on the overall experience: Yes, although I’d be hard pressed to describe exactly how. One of the funny things about illustrating a story you love is that, inevitably, some of the images fall short of how you truly envisioned the scene or characters. So there’s a weird discrepancy between how I remember the book and what I’ve actually created to accompany it. The opposite is also true, however, which is really a thrilling thing to experience: when a picture you create ends up feeling more true or real than what you initially imagined. This is the longest project I’ve ever worked on, so that alone is meaningful to me. I’ll probably never be able to really separate Herbert’s text from my own experiences now; in many ways the book has become more special. I really hope people get some enjoyment out of what I made — that really would be the ultimate reward for this whole endeavour.