Robert Tinney

Robert Frank Tinney (born November 22, 1947) is an American contemporary illustrator[1] known for his monthly cover illustrations for the microcomputer publication Byte magazine[2][3] spanning over a decade. In so doing, Tinney became one of the first artists to create a broad yet consistent artistic concept for the computing world, combining a specific artistic style with visual metaphor to showcase emerging trends in personal computing technology.

Early life and work

Robert Frank Tinney was born on November 22, 1947, in Penn Yan, New York. He later moved with his family to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[4] There he attended Istrouma High School where his talent for art, and specifically illustration, became distinctly apparent. He later attended Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, now known as Louisiana Tech University.

Byte magazine covers

Carl Helmers, Editor-in-Chief for Byte, contacted Tinney about the new magazine in 1975; sending him a copy of the first issue released in September. Tinney was given the opportunity to produce the artwork for the magazine covers and his first print appeared on the December 1975 issue. Tinney created over 100 pieces of artwork for the magazine covers.[5]

His artwork for Byte was done by hand and consisted of drawn illustrations with tissue paper, oil painting, and designer wash and airbrush.[6]

Tinney would later sell limited edition prints of his Byte magazine covers to the general public; accepting orders on his website.

References
  1. "First take first take first". Artforum International. 1 January 2002. Retrieved 19 March 2011. When illustrator Robert Tinney was asked to draw a cover for a 1981 issue of Byte magazine dedicated to Smalltalk, he used the image of a colorful balloon ...
  2. Ranade, Jay; Nash, Alan (1994). The best of BYTE. McGraw-Hill. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-07-051344-0. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  3. Petersen, Julie K. (2003). Fiber optics illustrated dictionary. CRC Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-8493-1349-3. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  4. "When you think Byte, you think Tinney". The Advocate (Louisiana). 2 August 1987. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  5. "About The Artist". Robert Tinney Graphics. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014.
  6. "Carl Helmers - Computing Pioneers". Computing Pioneers. Retrieved 20 November 2022.


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