Duillo is known for her prolific, eye-catching, realism painting for romance paperback covers. Her painting style is one of "characteristically flawless draftsmanship, evocative mood and compositional power", She is credited not only with breaking through into a male-dominated field in the early 1960s, and influencing other illustrators who followed her style. She is also credited with aiding the rise to fame of the model
Fabio Lanzoni when she began using him as a model, first on the
clinch cover illustration for
Johanna Lindsey's
Hearts Aflame. She worked for paperback publishers including
Ace, Airmont,
Avon, Balcourt Art Service,
Bantam,
Berkley, Crescent,
Dell,
Fawcett Gold Medal,
Lancer,
Penguin USA,
Playboy Press,
Pocket Books,
New American Library and
Zebra Kensington. She retired from book cover illustration in early 2003. In her acceptance speech for her induction to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame, she summarized her career saying, "[T]his field has been rewarding to me and in return I've tried to elevate romance illustration to an art form. At least I hope I've been influential in changing the look of the genre… My work is mainly about creating fantasy – fantasy people, fantasy situations and fantasy settings. It is realistic, but upon closer inspection, my paintings portray a highly glamorized version of already attractive people and places that goes beyond realism." ==References==