Fiction has long entered our life very tightly. American scientists argue that reading science fiction literature has a very beneficial effect on the development of memory, imagination, the ability to think outside the box, and helps expand the boundaries of worldview. The same can be attributed to paintings in this direction. Science fiction artists and their work have done a lot to expand the scope of reality and provide food for the imagination of the audience. Despite all the forecasts of skeptics, the genre continues to develop and delight connoisseurs with new authors.
Let's look at the best science fiction artists of our time.
Jim Burns
One of the most famous fiction illustrators in Europe today is Jim Burns. The British artist for many years of creative activity has developed its own unique, inimitable style and brought it almost to perfection. His paintings depicting the distant future are very realistic. The author is good at depicting both fantastic technology and alien life in all its diversity. Jim Burns is in demand both at home and abroad, in particular, the artist works closely with American publishing houses. Burns works adorn the covers of many of Harry Harrison's works.
The artist is not limited to illustrations for books. Jim Burns worked with director Ridley Scott on the movie Blade Runner. Also published were collections of his works - Lightship, Planet Story, Mechanismo and The Jim Burns Portfolio.
The artistās abilities are well marked by various awards. Three times in his life, Burns received the Hugo Award in the category "Best Professional Artist." In addition, the artist for his creative life received 12 awards of the British Science Fiction Association.
Julie Bell
American artist Julia Bell fell in love with drawing since childhood. Julia was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas. The artist studied the art of photography and painting at 6 different colleges and universities.
To date, Julia Bell has become one of the leading artists and illustrators in the art of fantasy. Specialists note her unique sense of color and composition, which makes her admire her paintings over and over again. She is particularly good at depicting metal flesh, which combines the fluidity of water with the hardness of steel. This effect has become her easily recognizable feature. For the first time, this technique was used by Julia in her work on the cover of Heavy Metall magazine, and this work made a real sensation.
In 1994, Julia Bell and Boris Vallejo, an American artist, married.
Boris Vallejo
One of the most famous figures in the fantasy genre is undoubtedly Boris Vallejo. Born in Peru, Boris managed to graduate from the National School of Arts before immigrating to the United States of America. His contribution to the development of fantasy art is hard to overestimate. The artist receives orders from almost all major publishers in the areas of fantasy and science fiction. The most recognizable feature of all his works is the high realism of the image.
An interesting feature of Boris Vallejo is that he does not like to draw people from nature, usually dealing with photographs. The mythical characters of his paintings look no less realistic than the people depicted there. Fairytale heroic fiction - thatās the name of the artistās style. Very often in his works we can easily recognize Conan the barbarian, Tarzan and the Severe Dock.
Boris Vallejo also illustrates album covers, video films, creates graphic advertisements for films.
Today, the artist is considered a classic of fine art in the fantasy genre. Married to a colleague - Julia Bell (see above).
Ciruelo Cabral
Argentine artist Gustavo Cabral, better known under the pseudonym Ciruelo, took up painting from an early age. In childhood, he was very fond of comics, science fiction books and movies. Seeing this, his parents sent him to an art school. After graduating from an educational institution at the age of 18, the artist began working in an advertising agency, where he gained invaluable experience. Gustavo later moved to Spain. He is currently one of the world's leading Fantasy Art illustrators. The specialization of Cabral is the image of dragons, they come out by the artist as very realistic.
However, the author not only draws dragons, but also writes about them. āDragon Bookā, āFairies and Dragonsā - in these books Cabral lovingly describes the life of dragons, their history, habits. The world of dragons, elves and magicians, intertwined with the world of people, is carefully described in books and presented as illustrations.
Cadwell Clyde (Caldwell Clyde)
Cadwell Clyde was very interested in science fiction as a child. A great influence on his further creative career was made by the works of such authors as Arthur Clark, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein.
By the time he received a master's degree in art, Cadwell Clyde University had already decided on the choice of his creative path, he decided that he would become an illustrator. For several years he works in advertising agencies, doing his favorite business only in his free time. The artist was spotted and began to receive orders from professional science fiction publishers. In the early 90s, when orders began to arrive quite regularly, Cadwell Clyde began his career as a free artist. During the creative activities of Clyde, several collections of the artist's works were published. The latter include world-famous covers for science fiction publications.
Andrzej Sykut
Polish science-fiction artist Andrzej Sykut is known for his carefully drawn futuristic paintings. Most often, the artist depicts on the canvases distant planets to which we only have to get. Thanks to the authorās almost limitless imagination, these fantastic planets are inhabited by no less fantastic species of life. The paintings of Andrzej are always bright and interesting. High technology here often coexists with exotic landscapes. Andrzej is often called not an artist, but a photographer, because most of his work was created in Photoshop and Corel photo editors. Digital technology combined with brilliant imagination brings fantastic results.
Artists and space
The direction in the visual arts, which we now call "space", has a rich history. Even in ancient times, people turned to this topic. Illustrations to religious and mythological texts can be safely attributed to this genre. With the development of the fiction genre in literature, the "cosmic" direction in painting also developed. Illustrators of the works of Jules Verne, Herbert Wells and other famous science fiction writers have made a huge contribution to the development of this direction. However, the artistās imagination was constrained by the scope of an artwork.
A major breakthrough in space painting occurred with the development of space research. People began to fly into space, and prerequisites appeared for the formation of a documentary-space direction. To do this, it was necessary that a person capable of reproducing what he saw was āspace artistā flew into space. And such a man was found. It was Alexei Leonov, who would later be called the "master of the cosmic landscape."
For the first time, an artist with a sharp eye and a firm hand was in orbit. His works carry information that the impassive camera lens cannot transmit. The cameras of space stations that capture the panoramas of Mars and Venus are impartial, their images are emotionless and cold. And Leonov sees the sky through the eyes of an earthly man, and this is the advantage of his work. His series of cosmic sunsets and sunrises made a splash and brought Alexei to leading positions in the ranks of space science fiction artists.
The space trend in painting is developing quite successfully, and perhaps soon we will become witnesses of creative business trips of artists to other planets.