Science Fiction Cover Art

[Sineva]

 

[Brett Davidson]

If i recall it
that Artwork for United State Steel 1960s

Several are reproduced in the book Sentinel. Nice to see the original source!

 

[Sineva]

Several are reproduced in the book Sentinel. Nice to see the original source!

Its pretty mind blowing that a steel company in the 1960s was producing brochures with not just that sort of content,but also its quality.

 

[Sineva]

Noriyoshi Ohrai poster artwork for the star wars trilogy

And heres an earlier one

 

[Graham1973]

The cover by Mike Eagle to the anthology 'Trips in Time' (1977) edited by Robert Silverberg.

 

[Graham1973]

An illustration by 'School of Foss' artist Colin Hay for an unknown publication that found later fame in one of the TTA books.

 

[Michel Van]

artist Colin Hay for an unknown publication that found later fame in one of the TTA books.

This for french publication Opération Soleil Levant
by Karl Herbert Scheer (german Author)

Source:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?384770

 

[Brett Davidson]

Bruce Pennington does great skies and landscapes.

 

[Brett Davidson]

More.

 

[Graham1973]

I'm pretty certain I've seen that spaceship before in another artist's work.

 

[Graham1973]

Concept art for '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968), the artist is Roy Cannon.

 

[Antonio]

The Young Scientist Book of Space Flight' (1976)

From my Spanish edition book

 

[Sineva]

I'm pretty certain I've seen that spaceship before in another artist's work.

The artist is Dexter Dickinson,its titled "Crossing" from 1987.
I assume its the cover of some sf paperback novel....

 

[Sineva]

Preliminary Star Wars art by John Berkey.

"That's no moon, its a DISCO BALL!"

 

[Sineva]

John Harris,Run To The Stars.

 

[martinbayer]

Back in the day when Sunday newspapers were 2-foot thick, the Sunday Times had a children's supplement called the Funday Times and in one edition they printed that moonbase artwork (must have been mid-90s). I loved that artwork and must have drawn that Moonbase about 20 times! It's really cool to see it again after all these years.

Scans or it didn't happen !

 

[Graham1973]

The artist is Dexter Dickinson,its titled "Crossing" from 1987.
I assume its the cover of some sf paperback novel....

I was thinking more of Eddie Jones.

 

[Graham1973]

A Syd Mead vision of a future Tokyo

 

[Graham1973]

Angus McKie artwork for an unknown publication.

 

[Graham1973]

Syd Mead artwork for an unknown publication.

 

[Michel Van]

Syd Mead artwork for an unknown publication.

I think it was illustration for Playboy about future of Hi-Fi system.

 

[Michel Van]

Astounding Science Fiction March 1958 cover by Kelly Freas

 

[Sineva]

I think it was illustration for Playboy about future of Hi-Fi system.

Yep,Playboys Wonder Wall,it featured in the nov 1971 issue.

 

[Graham1973]

Artwork by Pamela Lee for an unknown publication.

 

[Graham1973]

Ed Valigursky's cover art to Andre Norton's 1956 novel 'Plague Ship' (Solar Queen: 2). And by way of comparison, courtesy of the ISFDB, Tony Robert's artwork for the 1979 UK publication by Magnet Books, it's clear that the artist had read the book as he is depicting a scene towards the end of the novel, and he correctly depicts the Solar Queen as a tail-sitter.

 

[Sineva]

John Berkey art for ‘Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle,’ 1983

 

[martinbayer]

Astounding Science Fiction March 1958 cover by Kelly Freas

Looks like the second guy from the right is trying to hitch a ride for the second coming of Jesus in the center (with snazzy white clothing) - Astounding, indeed...

 

[Graham1973]

A Bruce Pennington artwork I've not been able to run down the publication details for. The site I found it identified it as the cover art for a 1974 book entitled 'Aliens From Space' searching for it has not bought up any specific details.

 

[Graham1973]

The cover art by Don Maitz for the US edition of C. J. Cherryh's 1992 novel 'Hellburner' (Company Wars: 2)

 

[Brett Davidson]

A bit of history on book illustration. Some might know of Gustave Doré - he's known among many other works for illustrating an edition of The Divine Comedy, but in fact artists like him painted works that were then reproduced in plates by engravers who were often uncredited or given only minor acknowledgement for the actual printed versions. Here are a few works for Jules Verne novels.

These are credited to Alphonse de Neuville for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea but engraved by Edouard Riou.

 

[Brett Davidson]

I like to think of the caption for this, in Addams family style, as 'Get back upstairs Fifi! Walkies is at seven, after supper!'

 

[Brett Davidson]

Frank R Paul, mentioned far above. I can only go by the file description: 'As Mars Sees Us, Amazing Stories Magazine Back Cover, by Frank.R.Paul (1940).' I shows self-awareness about the speculative art that he had done of inhabitants of other planets by showing what those beings might imagine inhabitants of Earth to look like.

 

[Brett Davidson]

A bit of a mess here. Usborne is the publisher associated with the core of this collection, but there's a knot of attributions to sort out and the artists themselves were often uncredited. In many cases the art refers to already-known sources such as Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I avidly consumed these as an adolescent.

 

[Brett Davidson]

Don Davis is well-known for these works illustrating Gerrard K O'Neill's space colonies.

 

[Brett Davidson]

... but he did b&w work for The High Frontier too which have a charm. They show not only the giant colonies but also the small 'homesteader' asteroid miners.

 

[Brett Davidson]

This is a generation starship.

 

[Brett Davidson]

For certain snobs, science fiction art is mere illustration. There has been quite a range of 'proper' space art supported by institutions such as NASA and there're galleries of it.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jul/06/smithsonian-space-museum-exhibition

The Grauniad is always dependable for snobbery. The Soviets at least were more enthusiastic about aspirational space art.

I picked up this book (sorry, no quality scans) of various examples of commissioned work. There are a variety of styles and the work is good on its terms but not one example of anything that didn't at least make it to a PowerPoint (or its predecessors).

 

[Brett Davidson]

Heartily agree, I've got a copy.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69kwZKoArvE&t=11s

From this site:
https://70sscifiart.tumblr.com/

 

[martinbayer]

First rule of good and proper scifi art: NO ALIENS EVER AT ALL WHATSOEVER. For the time being, we are alone (thank god?) in this here universe.

 

[Graham1973]

Don Dixon's art work showing what happened on the day the dinosaur's died....