‘Goosebumps’ Artist Tim Jacobus on How He Made Those Iconic Book Covers (Exclusive)

Gabrielle Moss January 10, 3:59 pm

If you were a kid (or a parent!) in the ’90s, you remember Goosebumps, the blockbuster kids’ horror series that yielded countless books, two films, a ’90s TV series and a Disney+ reboot series — the second season of which, Goosebumps: The Vanishing, starring David Schwimmer, debuts today. But what you probably remember the most about Goosebumps are the book covers — vivid, frightening-yet-funny images that still stand out as some of the most iconic art in horror history. Almost all of those iconic covers are the work of one artist — illustrator Tim Jacobus.

Jacobus spoke to ReMind at ’90s Con in Daytona Beach, Florida, in September 2024, and gave us the scoop on how he got started and why Goosebumps books have that unique look (hint: it involves car and motorcycle art).

“We started the very first Goosebumps, Welcome to Dead House, that came out in 1992,” Jacobus told ReMind. “And then R.L. and I did a book a month for 10 years. So that’s over 100 Goosebumps.”

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How He Created Those Unique Cover Looks

“In the 1990s, digital art existed,” said Jacobus, “but it didn’t exist for a Joe Schmo like me. You had to be working for a big company to have any access to it.” So for many years, Jacobus painted each cover by hand. “They were acrylic paintings and it was a combination of brush and airbrush. Airbrush gives it that polished [look].”

How did Jacobus come up with the idea to use airbrushing? From his experiences during his first art career: painting cars and motorcycles. “I started out painting motorcycle tanks and cars when I was in my late teens,” he recalled, “so I learned to use the airbrush. When I started to do illustrations, I was like, ‘yeah, this thing … this can really help with what I do.”

Around 2005, Jacobus said, “the whole publishing business changed. They gave us an ultimatum and they said, ‘You have two years to figure this out, but we are no longer accepting traditional art. We want nothing but digital.’ So for my newer pieces, I did switch over. Luckily for me, my art kind of had a digital look to it — you know, it’s that smooth polish thing. So, to make the transition, it wasn’t easy, but it’s hard to tell which of my stuff is digital and which of it is traditional.”

Jacobus still works as an artist today, and sells art through the Jacobus Studios website — where fans can also purchase autographed prints of their favorite Goosebumps covers, as well as sketches and a Goosebumps coffee table book, with $10 of each purchase going to feeding people in need.

You can check out his art and find his convention appearance and signing schedule on his Instagram account, @timjacobus.