• Art

    Adam Tredowski's Organic Rust—SF That's Falling Apart

    An ethereal metal steampunk fish and a rusting steamboat-influenced factory structure suspended above an alien world are just two examples of Polish artist Adam Tredowski's texture-rich approaches to science fiction. The somewhat mysterious 33-year-old currently lives in England and has won many online awards for his work. There’s a satisfyingly organic feel to Tredowski’s work, but you can also see the nuts and bolts, the wear and tear. Metal fatigue welded to something beautiful, often awe-inspiring. But we’ll let Tredowski’s gallery and his answers to our interview questions speak for themselves, below. More »
    11/14/08
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    Comment by Meirelle: Decepticon: I admire anyone who can actually finish a painting. I have about 30 different unfinished digital paintings on my harddrive,... 2 Responses | Other threads

  • Art

    Drool Over Our Alien and Predator Centerfolds, and Win Free Books!

    Regardless of your preference for the drooly one or the clicky one, the Predator and Aliens franchises have entered the pop culture hall of fame. They've get the creep-out factor, the scare, and SF thrills from glimpses of the Predator home world and insight into Alien queen psychology. Both universes continue to expand through comics and novels, creating opportunities for some very talented artists like Stephen Youll and Dave Gibbons. Check out the gallery we’ve put together (major thanks to Dark Horse) — and find out how to win a free copy of Jeff's brand-new Predator book! More »
    10/31/08
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    Comment by Illogic: Predator vs. Jaws "We're gonna need a bigger spaceship." 3 Responses | Other threads

  • Art

    From Rawhead Rex to Zeppelins and Back with SF Artist Les Edwards

    The career of Les Edwards, otherwise known as “Edward Miller,” has taken an interesting path through horror to SF/F through the medium of “the New Weird.” Edwards already had a considerable body of work behind him in the 1980s and 1990s, including posters for movies like Nightbreed and The Thing, illustrations for the Clive Barker graphic novels Rawhead Rex and Son of Celluloid, and cover art for Metallica’s single “Jump in the Fire.” And now his dark cover art is among the most recognizable in SF. We talk to Edwards about his work and his alter ego Edward Miller, and take you on a tour of his most inventive art, after the jump. More »
    10/17/08
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    Comment by SonaliPolites: The picture of the people with the tank was in an illustrated scifi book about a grand tour of the... 1 Responses | Other threads

  • Jewels of apator

    Frank Wu: Kinetic, Surreal Fun

    Welcome back to Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. Three-time Hugo Award winner Frank Wu isn’t much interested in boring old reality — that’s clear from his kinetic, psychedelically surreal artwork, which uses bold, sometimes delightfully lurid, color choices and an aggressive approach to subject matter. Wu never met pulp or pop culture he didn’t like, and this provides the basic fodder for his energetic, ever-roving vision. From his stunning Elvissaurus to a rendering of Cthulhu that uses a vibrant selection of greens-and-pinks, Wu has a restless eye that requires conveying the idea of motion, of life, as you can see from our gallery below. More »
    10/03/08
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    Comment by whatamidoinghere: I's in ur h0ly buk, mispaeling ur wordz? I would totally read that, even though I'm atheist... more » | Other threads

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    Aaron Jasinski: Retro SF Meets the Future

    Welcome back to Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. Aaron Jasinski is a great example of the next generation of creators, slipping easily from song writing and production, including game work for clients including Microsoft and Oberon, to art and illustration. In this new era of cross-pollination more and more of the divisions between different types of media, and even different types of influences, are falling away. More »
    09/19/08
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    Comment by Mathmos: I can't help wondering about the origin of the title of this column. Of course I'm reminded of Samuel Delany's... more » | Other threads

  • the jewels of apator

    Bonni Reid's Retro-Tech Surrealism

    Welcome back to Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. Bonni Reid often displays an uncanny meshing of the real and the surreal in her artwork—it's as if she's recording something odd or disturbing that's just happened in her backyard. Some of her strangest work takes the form of what appear to be formal portraits. “Deadpan” is also an apt description of her art. However, there’s also an underlying sense of play or the mischievous. Full-blown humor comes out in Reid’s work as a color designer for animation productions, including six seasons of Cartoon Network’s Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy. We talked to Reid about her work, and put together a gallery of her best stuff. More »
    09/05/08
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    Comment by OrazioAeacus: Love Bonni's work, and am proud to call her a friend! more » | Other threads

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    The Uncanny Clockwork of Fantastic Contraption

    Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, a biweekly column from Ann & Jeff VanderMeer about the intersection between art and the fantastic. In La Jolla, California, a very unusual art exhibit called Fantastic Contraption has been on display most of the summer. The best way to think of the aesthetic impulse behind this exhibit is as a meshing of the organic and the inorganic. Hosted by The Device Gallery (founded by Gregory and Amy Brotherton), it features the work of, among others, Mike Libby, H.R. Giger, Kazuhiko Nakamura, Ashley Wood, Nemo Gould, and Gregory Brotherton himself. More »
    08/22/08
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    Comment by DaveLister: I recommend Gottfried Helnwein's art. It's not so blatently fantastic as much as it's fairly etherial/unnatural, but his mastery of... more » | Other threads

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    Bob Eggleton: The Texture of Monsters

    Welcome back to Jewels of Apator, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's biweekly column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. Bob Eggleton has created so many book covers, interior art, monster art, and miscellaneous projects that it’s hard to keep track of his total output. And that's not even including film work for Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, The Ant Bully, and the forthcoming Invasia. One constant across all of his projects, though, is a unique tactile sensibility. Eggleton’s art has texture. More »
    08/08/08
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    Comment by Lou Anders: I love Bob's work. I hope I can be forgiven for pointing out my favorite Eggleton. more » | Other threads

  • the jewels of apator

    Greg Broadmore: Friend to Rayguns

    Welcome to The Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's bimonthly column on the intersection of art and the fantastic. Self-described “dinosaur nerd” and “friend to robots” Greg Broadmore recently wrote and illustrated Dr. Grordborts Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory—a serious critical study of the excesses of British colonialism. Well, okay, we’re joking. There is a certain Lord Cockswain, “a blustering great white hunter and full time retard,” doing un-PC things in goofish fashion in the back of the book, but mainly Broadmore’s latest features a stunning display of steampunkish (puckish?) rayguns. Lots and lots of rayguns. With long and lugubrious names. More »
    07/25/08
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    Comment by MarlboroTestMonkey7: Too costly. How are we suppossed to defend ourselves from the incoming robot revolution? more » | Other threads

  • the jewels of apator

    Mike Mignola, Creator of Hellboy: Low-tech and Badass

    Welcome back to Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's biweekly column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. It may be hard to understand now just how fresh and different Mike Mignola’s Hellboy was when the first installment, Seeds of Destruction, came out from Dark Horse Comics in 1994. Wise-cracking anti-heroes have always been around, whether in comics or other media. But Mignola went a step further: he brought in Boys from Brazil-style Nazi bad guys, monsters that could rival Lovecraft’s Old Ones for sheer alien intensity, a cast of fascinating supporting characters, and a mysterious past for Big Red himself. What made it work, however, was his approach to the art. We've got an interview with Mignola below, as well as a gallery of his art. More »
    07/11/08
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    Comment by Waterhouse: @PVIII: "He will never come back to us now!" "Truly, this is our darkest hour" more » | Other threads

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    Tentacles and Cosmic SF: The Art of Lovecraft

    Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's column on the intersection of art and the fantastic. Tentacular horrors, unnamable evils, and quests to the edges of alien-landscapes-on-earth like Antarctica were just some of the beautifully bizarre features of H.P. Lovecraft’s weird fiction. Creator of the Cthulhu Mythos, Lovecraft has had an enormous influence on readers and writers. But what about art? Ever since the first pulp covers showcasing Lovecraft’s fiction, visual creators have been interpreting his tentacular horrors, unnamable evils, and odd quests. Now, Centipede Press has issued one of the most audacious hardcover art books we have ever seen: The Art of Lovecraft: Artists Inspired by Lovecraft. More »
    06/27/08
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    Comment by Schizohedron: "John Picacio also believes the best Lovecraftian art doesn't try to show everything." Much like the best erotica. more » | Other threads

  • the jewels of apator

    Bruce Jensen's Sekrit Cool

    Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. Bruce Jensen is an artist whose work you’ve probably seen more times than you can remember. Over seven seasons, his art montages formed the backdrop to hundreds of segments on the CBS show 60 Minutes II. Jensen has also done cover art for such classics as Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash and The Diamond Age. His work tends toward bold color choices, using a style that can be whimsical or more severe, recalling the architectural surrealism of an artist like Magritte. More »
    06/13/08
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    Comment by Silver_Back: I like the Brass Man picture. Would make for an awesome poster on my wall. more » | Other threads

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    Trondheim and Sfar's Cute Aliens Who Kill

    Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, a biweekly column on the intersection of science fiction and art by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. One of the best science fiction graphic novels from the past few years doesn't use any words. It doesn't even come from our world. Deliberately weathered and made to look like a children's book left behind by a UFO, A.L.I.E.E.E.N. by Lewis Trondheim features duck-faced, frog-faced, and pig-faced aliens doing terrible things to one another. On any given page you might find something cute doing something cute, only to have it all go south Real Fast. The art style is a subversive take on Hello Kitty but in terms of what's happening, it's Saw mixed with Alien Autopsy. More »
    05/30/08
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    Comment by Sam Healer: Anyone else look at that and think Homer and Marge? more » | Other threads

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    Ian Miller's Geometrically-Exact Surrealism

    Welcome to The Jewels of Aptor, Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's biweekly column on art and the fantastic. Ian Miller would've been cool even if he hadn't worked on Ralph Bakshi's underrated movie Cool World. The UK native has produced a distinctive body of SF artwork over the last thirty years, sometimes pulling collage and photography into his more traditional drawings. Not only did he create an amazing and iconic graphic novel of the brilliant New Wave writer M. John Harrison's The Luck of the Head, he also did covers for such classic magazines as New Worlds and Interzone. Edgy and surreal, Miller combines intelligent geometric exactness with a messy, fluid sense of what it means to be human. More »
    05/16/08
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    Comment by PadreFaustus: @Ann and Jeff VanderMeer: I'm imagining Leonardo da Vinci saying to himself one lazy afternoon, "Aw what the hell...I think... more » | Other threads

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    Stephan Martiniere: The Future Will Be Bio-Mechanical

    Welcome to The Jewels of Aptor, a biweekly column about the intersection of art and the fantastic. Never heard of French artist Stephan Martiniere? Well, you've definitely heard of the projects he's been involved with: Star Wars II and III, The Astronaut's Wife, Red Planet, I, Robot, Virus, and several other SF movies. That's in addition to creative work on videogames, animated projects, TV, and book covers. Even better, he's helped design theme parks like Fantastik Pukoland in Japan (and check out the TVLand theme park production paintings in the gallery below). His credits might be glitzy, but we love Martiniere's art because of its organic feel, the sense of the future being as much biological as mechanical—a trait he shares with French genius Moebius. More »
    05/02/08
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    Comment by dhelor: He's also done some artwork for Magic: the Gathering. Great stuff. more » | Other threads

  • templesmith-5.jpgben templesmith

    Ben Templesmith Brings You Doctor Who and the Decapitated Corpse

    Welcome to a new column about science fiction art by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer. Artist Ben Templesmith's daring, horrific, and sometimes just plain perverse approach in graphic novels like 30 Days of Night and his solo creation Wormwood, Gentleman Corpse is influenced by the science-fantasy cosmos of H.P. Lovecraft's Old Ones and the work of H.R. Giger. However, Templesmith says "The biggest influence on me sci-fi wise has to be the BBC prop and art departments on old classic Doctor Who episodes." More »
    04/18/08
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    Comment by tamoko: Templesmith's work just gives me that itch to go all multi-media on someones ass. I love the blend of watercolors,... more » | Other threads