Jeffrey Catherine Jones

Jeffrey Catherine Jones (January 10, 1944 – May 19, 2011) was an American artist whose work is best known from the late 1960s through the 2000s. Jones created the cover art for more than 150 books through 1976, as well as venturing into fine art during and after this time. Fantasy artist Frank Frazetta supposedly described Jones as "the greatest living painter" and she included the quote on her website, but the source of the quote is unknown and Frazetta denied ever having said it when asked. Although Jones first achieved fame as simply Jeff Jones and later as Jeffrey Jones, she transitioned to female and added Catherine as a middle name in 1998.

Early life Jeffrey Durwood Jones was born January 10, 1944, She graduated from Georgia State College

Career Jones moved to New York City to pursue an art career and quickly found work drawing comics pages for King Comics, Gold Key Comics, Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella, as well as Wally Wood's Witzend. She painted covers for books, including the Ace paperback editions of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series and Andre Norton's Postmarked the Stars, The Zero Stone, Uncharted Stars and over 150 others. For a period during the early 1970s, Jones also provided illustrations to Ted White's Fantastic. She drew many covers and short stories for a variety of comics publishers including DC Comics, Skywald Publications, and Warren but generally avoided the superhero genre.

In the 1972–1975 issues of National Lampoon, Jones produced a full page strip entitled Idyl.

The Studio From 1975 to 1979 Jones shared a workspace in Manhattan's Chelsea district with Bernie Wrightson, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Michael Kaluta, collectively named The Studio. Dragon's Dream produced a volume of their work in 1979. Industry journalist Tom Spurgeon commented on the broader significance and influence of The Studio in his obituary of Jones at The Comics Reporter:

By the early 1980s she had a recurring strip in Heavy Metal titled I'm Age.

Gender transition As an adult, Jones recalled wanting to be a girl from her earliest memories. She confronted these issues in 1998 and began hormone replacement therapy.

Awards In 1967, Jones was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist; she was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist in 1970, 1971, and 1972. In 1975 she was nominated for the World Fantasy Award—Artist, and won it in 1986. In 2006 she was presented with Spectrum’s Grand Master Award; per her request the name on the award’s plaque reads “Jeffrey Jones.” She explained, “That’s how people know me. That’s how I want to be remembered.” Additionally, Jones was nominated for the Chesley Award in 1999.

Films In 2012 a film retrospective on DVD by Maria P. Cabardo was released by Indiegogo featuring interviews with friends, fellow artists, and the artist herself titled Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones.