For me Sci-Fi art was at its best in the 70/80s. You could see a step change in production design on films like Alien, Star Trek, Blade Runner and Tron (and others). You could see it on 1000s of sci-fi book covers, (often better than the books themselves). You could even see it on record sleeves.
I will likely do a seperate detailed blog post one day about the virtues of Sci-Fi art in this era, vs the largely bland, militairistic, and worse uniform efforts we see so much in modern concepts. But for now I am going to do some quick posts on a few of my favourite artists.
Today it’s John Harris, one of my favourite Sci-Fi artist. Not famous by name, but famous through his work. Browsing his portfolio is an excercise of AHAAA-so-HE-did-that-cover moments. Many people’s favourite sci-fi books bear his work on the cover. Have a look here, at his official site.
One of the key aspects of his work is simply the sense of scale*, and sense of wonder that he brings to the table. Or as he puts it, the sheer MASS of his subject matter.
(*via Astrona)
I am lucky enough to have this original on my office wall:
We need more of this I think.
