Entries in sci-fi (3)

Tuesday
May072013

Life on Mars

Growing up I dreamed of being an astronaut. They always send up scientists and engineers. Why not an artist? Someone who could observe and document the experience on a personal level? Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has been taking a series of amazing photos from the space station, capturing some of the amazing vistas of earth that can only be seen from space. An inspirational document of our planet.

Watching the unmanned rovers poking and probing the surface of Mars looking for signs of life has been amazing. I find the images of snow and ice and from the satellites circling the planet to be beautiful and captivating. When you get down to the surface of the planet, however, it gets very cold and bleak and barren. Imagine waking up on that cold and distant planet every day. So remote and inhospitable. Like the moon with an atmosphere. Could humans survive on Mars? If we go, chances are those who do will never come back. Could you live there for a year, or a decade? Or for several generations?

I loved working on this story, it asked those questions and came up with a lot of surprising answers, and unusual twists. Take the time and see for yourself.

I have had the priviledge of working on several other covers for Tor.com. Irene Gallo is always a treat to work with, these stories always take my work in new directions.

Thursday
Jul052012

Loco

Crazy. It's not every day I am handed a manuscript with leeches, steamrollers and exploding heads. Not to mention a portal into another dimension. I love working with Irene Gallo at Tor.com. So many amazing writers. I've had the priveledge of working with Charles Stross and John Scalzi. Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling teamed up on this ripping, high-adrenaline sci-fi adventure. Desperate times call for desperate inventions.

I am not going to try to describe the story further, other than to say - check it out! Give it a read, right here.

Sketches:

 

 

I really liked the kissing leeches, with flaming lips, but we agreed the best sketch had a more human element to it. Working with sci-fi is like getting out of a car after a long ride. It feels good to stretch your legs and have the freedom to move in new directions.

Wednesday
Apr202011

The President's Brain is Missing

Not a quote from Donald Trump, but the title of a brilliant and funny sci-fi story by John Scalzi, over at Tor.com.
 
Working with Irene Gallo is always a treat. I haven't posted this illustration yet, this was initially available only for registered members of the site.

 

This is one of those images I've been meaning to post for a while, but today I was given a reason - this piece was 'chosen' by the American Illustration 30  jury. Not sure how many would dig deep enough on the AI website to find it, so here it is!