Where would science fable and phantasy be without their awesome visuals ? Orbit Books Creative Director Lauren Panepinto gives us a clang course in appreciating speculative artwork , and reveal the two unshakable rule of scientific discipline fiction and fantasy fine art .
receive to Science Fiction & Fantasy Art Appreciation 101 . ( a.k.a . SFF Art ) . The fabulous folks here at io9 think I ’m qualified to give you this piddling overview because , as the Creative Director ofOrbit Books , I’ve created one C of covers for books in the musical style , and have been a fan of SFF Art in all of its chassis as far back as I can think back . Plus , I ’ve lumber more hour working in comic Word memory than I care to admit .
Before we bulge covering genre and artists , let ’s take a present moment to think about what constitute SFF Art alone . I could talk about proportion , color theory , and proper lighting all daylight , but these are qualities that are important to all genres of fine art . I really need to concenter on what reach a fantastic work of SFF Art , and the most important thing is its determination . All well - made commercial works of art — whether they ’re movie posters , book covers , or advertizement — need to catch the center and hold it long enough for the viewer ’s brain to hire . Most commercial art does this by relating to a aim audience and making them recognize something familiar - it ’s about the art coming to meet the witness . The use of a great workplace of SFF Art is almost exactly the inverse : it is to render something alien , and then hale the witness aside from their public into the imagined creation of the Word , movie , or television game .
To this last I pop the question the Two Rules of Awesome SFF Art :
1 ) It must have that elusive special quality of a optic hook , or as I wish to call it , the “ Holy Sht That ’s Fcking Cool ” Factor . multitude are bombarded by images all their waking lives , and you have about a nanosecond to seize them and hold them . In SFF art , this usually think of taking advantage of writing style cues , like a completely bad - ass heroine , insane reckon spaceship , or haunting alien landscape . It ’s a hard quality to delimitate , and even hard to beguile , but we ’ve all had that second of “ oooh me want ! ” in front of a book blanket , movie poster , comic , or television game . I literally had a case of whiplash by the end of Comic - con this year .
2 ) Once the artwork has grabbed the witness , it must draw them into the mankind of the art . SFF fans are buff , ultimately , of world - edifice , and it is the art ’s job to set out that story . The honest SFF creative person just somehow magically put varlet deserving of stories into a single visual , and it is in truth the storytelling quality that distinguishes SFF Art . It is the creative person ’s chore to accurately picture the world of the creation behind the artwork , using their own imagination to fill in the details . In no other genre of prowess is the lector / motion-picture fan / video game player so affected by the artist ’s vision , because they do n’t have the safety net of reality to fall back on .
So now rent ’s talk about some of the subgenres within SFF art , and some of the marvellous artists that have made such an impact on our imaginations .
EPIC FANTASY :
brand & sorcery , dungeons and dragons … this is the meat and potatoes of the fantasy human beings . There are many ways to go about undertake this land , but it usually boils down to scene or character . The great hurdle is fighting against the tendency to information - dump — you want to give an enticing coup d’oeil into this alien human race , not end up with an overstuffed kettle of fish .
For the “ character ” remainder of the spectrum ( and some hot infant ) I aim you toFrank Frazetta . Even when his graphic symbol are n’t really doing much , you just know there ’s some insane backstory happening .
For the “ prospect ” end of the spectrum I direct you toAlan Lee , whose artistic production , along with that ofJohn Howe , pretty much directly dictate the Lord of the Rings movies . The thaumaturgy of Alan Lee is all in his frame and cropping – it ’s almost more about what he does n’t show .
See also : Greg & Tim Hildebrandt , John Jude Palencar , Cliff Nielsen , Steve Stone , Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell , Sam Weber
SPACE OPERA :
outer space opera house is to science fiction what larger-than-life is to fantasy , and there are many similarity between the two . Again , as in most of these categories , you ’ll have a character - drive imagination or a scene - driven vision . rent ’s stand by to depictions of blank space scene and spaceships and I ’ll useDaniel Dociuas my creative person example . As with the workplace of Alan Lee , much of the conjuration is in the composition and balance of elements , but I make out Dociu ’s brush - laboured painterly dash – which is ironic , since I get it on he paints digitally , not with a clash — it gives a genuine energy to his work that I love . A lot of the artists who do these kinds of shot work most heavily in concept artistic creation for movies and video games , and it ’s a dainty when I can steal them aside to work on a volume cover for me .
See also : Stephan Martiniere , Sparth , Ralph McQuarrie , John Schoenherr
URBAN FANTASY :
Urban Fantasy is really bookcover - based , and as a genre is really a mashup of fantasy and romance novel , and we ’re still sorting out the schizophrenic disorder of clichés that this has bring forth . It ’s the subgenre that gets the most aesthetic bashing , but there are multitude doing it with an emphasis on the fine art , and it ’s interesting to me to see how people can harness the same kind of cover from both a traditional painting direction , and picture - illustration technique .
In the photo - illustration corner isChris McGrath , who get a particular Au star in my Bible for being equally good at female person - led and male - led urban fantasy , without drowning in a pool of cheese .
In the house painting corner isDan Dos Santos , who I ’m including specifically for his covers for the Mercy Thompson Book , as he could be included in any of these genres . On newspaper these binding are the urban fantasy stereotype : hot chick , scantily enclothe , tattoo — but I fuck them anyway , so process me . It ’s the sinewy personality he gives the character that keeps it about being a strong woman , rather than just a cheesecake image .
See also : Larry Rostant , Gordon Crabb
STEAMPUNK & CYBERPUNK :
As controvert to the above genres , where a wider view of the world or character signals genre , Cyberpunkand Steampunk is all about the details . ForSteampunk , gears , goggles , airships , and/or Victorian accessories must be placeable components . Since this is a relatively new genre , artists really have a hazard to redefine the boundaries . Because of the opportunity to apply the historical aspect through typography , I ’m going to include art with textbook . Instead of pick one creative person here , I ’m go to jump around , which is also a fabulous opportunity to show how , especially in these two genre , bookcovers can influence film , way can influence comic , and it becomes one self-aggrandizing mussy ethnic collaboraton .
( Boneshaker , art byJon Foster , design byJamie Stafford - Hill , Suckerpunch moviedirected by Zach Snyder , Soulless top designed by me , pic byDerek Caballero , modelDonna Ricci , Steampunk Vader byEric Poulton , Laptop byDatamancer , Time Traveller ensemble byClockwork Couture , sit by Donna Ricci )
Cyberpunk and Steampunk are closely link up , but where Steampunk looks to the past , Cyberpunk looks to a ( usually ) dystopian future overrun with engineering science . We all know Blade Runner and The Matrix , but do you knowMoebius , andH. R. Giger ? Their art was so inspirational to Ridley Scott , Luc Besson , and William Gibson . And withoutGeof Clarence Seward Darrow , I ca n’t reckon The Matrix being anywhere almost as visually rich . Cyberpunk , like Steampunk , is all about the details , but now its all about crammed skylines full of mile - high spires , slub of wire and robotlike cybernetics .
( H. R. Giger )
( Moebius )
( Geof Darrow , Matrix concept art )
See also : Mike Mignola , Frank Quitely
I wish I could have a twelve mail service to breed SFF Art , but this is reckon to be an overview . I ’m work to seek to wrap it up , even though I ’ve left out numberless masters and genres like SFF / Horror , Military SF , and so many others . ( and do n’t block the poor neglectedzombies ! ) I ’ve pretty much skirt the integral issue of tools : oil key , digital pigment , photograph - montage , photography , and even sculpture . I ’ve also altogether glossed over some authoritative issue I deal with on the industry side . For example , this C. W. Post has been an overview done by a sports fan aimed towards mass who have some interest in SFF already . However , every day at Orbit I endeavor to balance on the fine line between making fans happy while also reaching potential fresh fans . It can be problematical to notice the right equilibrium , but we are all about converting the mass .
SFF Art is such an worked up topic for many people , myself included , because it ’s often so tied up in our childhood nostalgia . I ca n’t render Dune withoutJohn Schoenherr . I could n’t conceive of aMiddle Earthwithout John Howe & Alan Lee ( and Peter Jackson could n’t either ) . There ’s a little girlfriend inside me rid aHildebrandt dragonflying over a landscape byMichael Whelanand I ’m really blessed that it ’s my line of work at Orbit to get to work with such fantastic art and artists . I desire this see into the SFF Art World is a pleasant refresher for you fans out there , and a good overview for those of you not so versed in the SFF world .
Homework for SFF Art 102 : Dave McKean , Mélanie Delon , Frank Miller , Gregory Manchess , Adam Hughes , Cliff Chiang , Donato Giancola , Ben Templesmith , Dave Palumbo , Charles Vess …
H.R. Giger
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