Category Archives: SF & Fantasy Art

See Gianni’s 2014 Ice & Fire Calendar Art at Comic-Con

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Artist Gary Gianni, who is bringing George R.R. Martin’s Ice & Fire world and characters to life in a 2014 calendar, has announced all 12 paintings will be unveiled in July at the San Diego Comic-Con.

When George R.R. Martin announced Gianni’s selection a year ago he said,

I’ve been a huge fan of Gianni’s ever since I first stumbled upon a copy of the Wandering Star limited edition of The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane (my favorite Robert E. Howard character, fwiw). Until I saw the Wandering Star book, the notion that any other artist could ever do a Solomon Kane to compare to Jeff Jones’s version would have struck me as rank heresy, but Gianni’s art blew me away.

Gianni has also been mentioned here in connection with his artwork for Bradbury’s The Nefertiti-Tut Express: A Story in Screenplay.

The 2014 calendar will be published by Random House and can be pre-ordered through Amazon.com.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Mitchell Hooks (1923-2013)

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Shores of Space

Illustrator and cover artist Mitchell Hooks, 89, died the week of March 18th. His covers appeared on paperbacks from Avon, Bantam, Dell, Fawcett, and others; his illustrations were used by numerous magazines, including Cosmopolitan, The Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s, Redbook, The Saturday Evening Post, and Woman’s Day.

Although not primarily known for his SF covers, he did several, as illustrated here.

Today’s Inspiration has a multi-part reprint of Gary Lovisi’s interview with Mitchell Hooks from 1988 originally published in Paperback Parade #7.

He also designed film posters, including the first James Bond movie, Dr. No — for which he painted the iconic image of Sean Connery as Bond.

In 1999, he was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]

Ron Miller on Bonestell at io9

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io9 may not need my signal boost but no fan will want to miss Ron Miller’s fine piece on Chesley Bonestell, The Artist Who Helped Invent Space Travel. Accompanying it are many classic examples of Bonestell’s astronomicals. There also were some biographical insights that were new to me –

 In 1938, Bonestell began a new career in Hollywood as a spe­cial effects matte painter. The first film he worked on was Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane. All the views of turn-of-the-century New York and of Charles Foster Kane’s mansion, Xan­adu, are Bonestell’s artwork. In The Fountainhead, Bonestell in a sense was Howard Roark: all of the buildings created by Ayn Rand’s superheroic architect are by Bonestell. He eventually became Hollywood’s highest-paid matte artist.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the link.]

Spectrum 20 Award Finalists

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Spectrum 20 Jury & Directors: Tim Bruckner, Mark A. Nelson,
Irene Gallo, Michael Whelan, Cathy Fenner, Tim Kirk, and Arnie Fenner.

The Spectrum 20 Award jury members Tim Bruckner, Irene Gallo, Tim Kirk, Mark A. Nelson, and Michael R. Whelan evaluated over 6,000 entries before selecting 40 finalists for this year’s edition of the Spectrum Fantastic Art Annual.

Founded in 1993 by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner, Spectrum: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art is among the most respected art showcases, covering a wide range of disciplines. It is the only “art annual” with categories devoted to comics, concept art, and sculpture.

Judging was completed March 2. Their selection of the year’s best fantastic art will appear in Spectrum 20, scheduled for October release in both hardcover and softcover from Underwood Books. Gold and silver medal winners in each category will be announced at the awards ceremony during Spectrum Live, a weekend long celebration of fantastic art, in Kansas City, May 17-19. The Spectrum Grand Master Award will also be presented during the ceremony, which will be held in the historic Midland Theater.

The gold and silver finalists are:

Advertising

  • Craig Elliott:ForestAwakening
  • Michael C. Hayes: Procession
  • Android Jones: Ganeshatron
  • Greg Ruth: Three Outlaw Samurai
  • Dan DosSantos: Dragon Empress

Book

  • Brom: Wipi
  • William O’Connor: Wargriffin
  • David Palumbo: Fed
  • Shaun Tan: Never Leave a Red Sock on the Clothesline
  • Charles Vess: Tanglewood: I Didn’t Know She Was a Bottle Witch

Comics

  • Jennifer L. Meyer: Aesop’s Ark,Ch. 2, P2
  • David Petersen: Mouse Guard Black Axe #4, Page 19
  • Paolo Rivera: Daredevil #10
  • Paolo Rivera: Captain America #1
  • João Ruas: Fables #121

Concept Art

  • Daniel Dociu: Guild Wars 2, Norn Lodge
  • Theo Prins: Southsun Cove
  • Paul Sullivan: Franken-animal
  • Justin Sweet: Marauders 2
  • Allen Willams: Tree of Tales

Dimensional

  • Dan Chudzinski: Turbulence
  • David Meng: Sashimi
  • Virginie Ropars: Mothra
  • Virginie Ropars: Acanthopis III
  • Katya Tal: Blanket Fairy

Editorial

  • Sam Bosma: Stability
  • Chris Buzelli: Book Monster
  • Sean Andrew Murray: He’s Gone Full-Bird
  • Victo Ngai: Best of the Best
  • Sam Weber: Cancer Monster

Institutional

  • Ed Binkley: A Cob of Chiseldon-Brimble
  • Lucas Graciano: Dragon Swarm
  • Tyler Jacobson: Ruric Thar, The Unbowed
  • Kekai Kotaki: Stampede
  • David Palumbo: Taken

Unpublished

  • Cory Godbey: The Fish Master
  • Lucas Graciano: Guardianship
  • Kekai Kotaki: Ride
  • Andrew Mar: Tell-Tale Heart
  • Tohru Patrick Awa: Sudden Shower

Society of Illustrators Panel 2/9

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The Society of Illustrators will host leading sf/fantasy artists Donata Giancola, Rebecca Guay, Greg Manchess, Sam Weber, and Michael Whelan, plus moderator Irene Gallo, on February 9 for a panel discussion of “What Lies Beyond”. They’ll range over their careers, the industry today, and where they see science fiction and fantasy illustration heading.

Donato Giancola recently won a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators for his portrait of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Rebecca Guay’s A Flight of Angels appeared on many best graphic novels of 2012 lists.

Greg Manchess, in his 36-year career, has worked on book covers, advertising, magazines, US postal stamps, and movie posters.

Sam Weber’s work has appeared in mainstream and science fiction publications, including the NY Times and Tor Books. He also hosts the illustration podcast, Your Dreams My Nightmares.

Michael Whelan, who has won 15 Hugos and countless other awards, current mixes illustration commissions with gallery work.

Irene Gallo (moderator) is the creative director for Tor.com and Tor Books.

The event is at the Society’s New York headquarters. Tickets are $15 for non-members, $10 for members, $7 students/seniors

[Via Thomas Endrey and Andrew Porter.]

Seuss Secrets and Rarities

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Dr. Seuss was determined some of his interests and artworks should be shared only after his death. In The Cat Behind the Hat, Caroline M. Smith makes them generally known for the first time.

For one, there was the hat collection in his secret closet.

As the book’s publisher Bob Chase told public radio listeners:

On the discovery of Geisel’s affinity for collecting hats and where they have been stored for seventy years:
“In an actual secret chamber. And the only thing that’s in that chamber that is really interesting is his hat collection. He collected hats. He traveled to 30 countries in the 1930s, if you can imagine that. Thirty countries in the 1930s. And in those travels, he collected hats. So his private hat collection as well as the artwork was stashed in this closet. It was amazing.”

Shades of Bartholomew Cubbins!

Even more interesting is the revelation of Seuss’ darker, and intensely personal paintings. As explained in the promotional copy on Amazon:

This exquisitely produced collector’s edition holds four exclusive lithographs along with a cloth-covered edition of The Cat Behind the Hat, a beautifully illustrated book that redefines Dr. Seuss as an iconic American artist. Illustrator by day, surrealist by night, Dr. Seuss created a body of little-known work that he called his “Midnight Paintings.” For sixty years, this work allowed Geisel to expand his artistic boundaries outside the confines of commercial influences and deadlines. The book exuberantly juxtaposes Geisel’s “Midnight Paintings” with his best -loved children’s books. Though he fiercely protected his “Midnight Paintings” from criticism during his lifetime, his intention all along was for these works to be seen when he was gone. This comprehensive look at the art that he created over his lifetime, along with four frame-able prints, is an eye-opening peek behind the public persona into the real story of the man who was Dr. Seuss.

The book costs a mere $180 – maybe you can work a package deal with someone who will give it to you as your Christmas, birthday and Groundhog’s Day present.

[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]

Second Breakfast at Tiffany’s

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Giant dwarves, unlike jumbo shrimp, is not an oxymoron among New York’s advertising painters.

In ”This Is How You Paint 150 Foot Tall Hobbit Dwarves”, Tor Books Art Director Irene Gallo returns to the topic of painting movie ads on a Park Avenue building. It’s a sequel to her interview with Dan Cohen of Art FX Murals about the ad for Batman painted on the same building (see Paint By (Big) Numbers).

Don’t miss it!

[Thanks to Janice Gelb for the story.]

Complete Anarchy

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Anarchy Comics: The Complete Collection, edited by Jay Kinney, brings together all four issues of the underground comic published between 1978-1986. In it are the comic stories of thirty contributors from the U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, and Canada.  

Kinney’s fanzine art in years gone by compels a mention – as does Steve Stiles work in the book.

Contributors include: Jay Kinney, Yves Frémion, Gerhard Seyfried, Sharon Rudahl, Steve Stiles, Donald Rooum, Paul Mavrides, Adam Cornford, Spain Rodriguez, Melinda Gebbie, Gilbert Shelton, Volny, John Burnham, Cliff Harper, Ruby Ray, Peter Pontiac, Marcel Trublin, Albo Helm, Steve Lafler, Gary Panter, Greg Irons, Dave Lester, Marion Lydebrooke, Matt Feazell, Pepe Moreno, Norman Dog, Zorca, R. Diggs (Harry Driggs), Harry Robins, and Byron Werner.

Alan Moore of Watchmen fame gives the book an enthusiastic plug:

60′s counterculture, supposedly political, mostly concerned itself with hedonism and self-focused individualism, as did the underground comix it engendered. Anarchy Comics, to which all the scene’s most artistically and politically adventurous creators gravitated, was an almost singular exception. Combining a grasp of Anarchy’s history and principles with a genuinely anarchic and experimental approach to the form itself, Anarchy Comics represents a blazing pinnacle of what the underground was, and what it could have been. A brave and brilliant collection.

It’s available from PM Press for $20.

Tarpinian: Martian Chronicles Exhibit

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Edited ms. page of The Martian Chronicles table of contents. Photo taken through exhibit case by John King Tarpinian.

By John King Tarpinian: The L&M Art Gallery in Venice, CA had their opening night reception “For The Martian Chronicles” on November 8. The exhibition continues until the first week of January. The exhibit had modern artist’s interpretations of Mars plus four pages of The Martian Chronicles manuscript from the UCLA archives. Books, loaned by me, were on display in their library.

What is very special about this art gallery is that the main building is the converted power station next to the house Ray lived in with his parents and brother until Ray married. Not only did Ray share a bedroom with his brother they shared a bed. The west gallery building sits on the land where the house used to be. Ray had set-up an office in the garage. This is where Ray wrote the majority of his Martian stories. That makes this exhibition very special.

GALLERY INFORMATION: L&M Arts, Los Angheles, 660 South Venice Boulevard, Venice, CA, 90291. Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 – 5:30 and by appointment.

Curated by Yael Lipschutz in honor of Bradbury and his journey into the red unknown, the exhibition will include the original manuscript of The Martian Chronicles, alongside artists ranging from Yves Klein—whose mysterious blue sponge sculpture from 1958 is as strange and disconcerting as any Mars rock—to Larry Bell, Jonah Freeman & Justin Lowe, Matthew Ritchie, and Vija Celmins, whose exquisite renderings of the cosmos serve to propel the viewer forward through space as we travel with Bradbury on his interstellar mission. Some works directly invoke the Red Planet, such as Ed Ruscha’s Hold on For a Minute, I’m No Martian (1980), and Tom Sachs’ Phonkey (2012), a large-scale sculptural tableau, in which a lone radio sits silent, stranded atop a scorching Martian terrain.