Apparently the ultra-limited edition of her expanded first album includes a booklet with these pics (and others) but also a lock of Lady GaGa's hair. [Daily Mail]

If you were reading Doctor Who novelizations in the 1970s or 1980s, you'll recognize Achilleos' trademark epic-flames-and-grayscale-heads design. But he also did some great art for other media entities, including this nice Blade Runner image. And if you followed his early, straight-up media SF images, then you would have been startled to see him turn towards erotic pin-ups and fantasy art... but he never lost the splashy sensibility that made his early Who work so memorable.

Sirens, the collection of Achilleos' art, has been out of print for 20 years, but Titan Books just reissued it. Here's the official description:

The second book of fantasy illustrations by Chris Achilleos, Sirens is a feast for the eyes, bursting with full-color art, sketches and development drawings in everything from oil paint to airbrush and inks. Massively popular and highly regarded, Chris Achilleos' glamour and fantasy artwork ranges from his acclaimed Doctor Who and Star Trek book covers to the erotic pin-ups that made him famous, embracing along the way Greek mythology, role-playing games, Tolkien and movie posters for the likes of Heavy Metal. With full-color gallery shots and pin-ups, as well as pencil sketches, Sirens will delight old and new fans alike.

Warning: The last couple images in this gallery might be slightly NSFW, due to sassy breastplates.

Chances are, if you've looked at a weirdshistic record cover by Yes, Asia or other bands, you've admired Roger Dean's paintings of surreal landscapes. If you've ever seen all good people turn their heads each day, then you're already a Dean fan.

Connor Freff Cochran, founder of Conlan Press (which is busy putting out a bunch of Peter S. Beagle books, hosting Beagle's 52/50 poetry subscription service, and putting out art books) contacted us and suggested that Avatar's lush moon might have gained some inspiration from Dean. And when you look at Dean's artwork and compare it to the concept art we posted the other day, it's hard not to see the resemblance.

All of this makes me want to rent Avatar (when it's released on DVD) and see if I can sync it up with YesSongs.

We interviewed creature designers Wayne Barlowe and Neville Page, plus concept artists James Clyne, Ryan Church and Daphne Yap, about creating a whole new universe from scratch. Plus we've got some stunning concept art, from the new book The Art Of Avatar. In a year that's seen some amazing books of movie concept art, The Art Of Avatar features 106 pages of lush full-color paintings, interspersed with the industry's greatest design minds geeking out about every little aspect of Avatar's creation.

So here are a few things you didn't know about the design of James Cameron's Avatar:

Avatar Started As A Four-Month, Late-Night Jam Session At James Cameron's House

"[We'd be] working late at Jim's house, and having him come back after a three week spell of being down at the freaking Titanic, and having him tell us a story [about being on the ocean floor]." Read the rest of the story.

Pandora's creatures were partly based on cars

Early on in the process, James Cameron "mentioned the core idea" of having Pandora's creatures be "superslick and aerodynamic, and be like a race car with racing stripes," says creature designer Neville Page. Read the rest of the story.

Those crazy color schemes are from the ocean floor — and Art Nouveau

"In the real world, we didn't invent these colors. They exist on animals today. We didn't invent a whole new palette. I think the problem is — the challenge is — you don't often see large creatures with this much color on them." Read the rest of the story.

The human hardware, including those crazy battlesuits, is all based on real stuff

"One thing I worked on big interior for the mech suits, and the whole interior had to have a reason and function for why the suits were lined up the way they were, and how they could work on them like a pit-stop at an F1 race. It had to have that functionality." Read the rest of the story.

Avatar concept art from The Art Of Avatar (Abrams 2009)

[The Nothing Corporation on Flickr]

Neutrinos
Univers
067post
Atomic Happiness
Fisherman's Friend
Worm Power

This is a Sentry, one tough robot. Stronger than the average Slobot, and a good choice to protect and serve. But not in a mindless way, like some kind of... well... robot. More like a robot with an attitude (albeit, a good one).

This is a sloQee 7b. OK, he's got four arms. Wouldn't you like to have four arms? Just think of the fun you could have. But alas, he has no eyes. Maybe not such a bad thing, though, ya know?

Another helpful robot, designed to assist humans with limited mobility. He's got one huge eye right in the middle of his head, and yet....

An underwater, shark-hunting robot. No need for a harpoon, he lulls the sharks into submission. Such talent!

Ok this guy is a jokester. Do not be swayed by his innocence. He's a slayer, truly he is. His jokes will kill ya. Puns, knock- knock jokes, you name it.

If you want to get the game this weekend, you need this girl. She can make sure the picture is perfect. After all, it is a big game weekend, isn't it? (Gobble gobble.)

A robot pharmacist, 'nuff said...

Sometimes you just gotta give in to popular culture, don'tcha? And what better way than with a Simpsons slobot - d'oh!

Ok, he might be a teddy bear robot. So what? Nothing wrong with more teddy bears in the world, even if they are made of metal.

Ok, no arms. Tru dat. But he's still useful. How, you ask? He's a tree herder on Mars. Oh yes he is.

The Three Philosophers - I don't know about you, but when I see these three guys, I just know I am in the presence of wisdom. Don't they look smart and all-knowing? It's kinda freaky, really. Okay, gotta look away now.....

Ahhh, yes. A more civilized robot. He makes tea. And not just any kind of tea, but the proper British kind. How many lumps do you take?

Guardian Robot - the strong but silent type.

Stubby little arms, but take a look at those legs. Must be a soccer player.

Cute green child-like slobot - for the kiddies (or the child in you, huh?). Not only that, he glows in the dark.

Some of these slobots are currently part of the Toying with Art exhibit at the Cameron Art Museum (thru March 2010). Go check it out.

And for more info on Slobots, see Mike's website.

Once again, we got Cyriaque Lamar to track down the most awful covers with the biggest heads. Here are the 20 most horrific selections, with Cyriaque's commentary. And seroiusly, what is with those Italians?

Additional reporting and writing by Cyriaque Lamar.

Artist Chris Foss is known for his visionary presentation of future technology and weird vistas. He illustrated many book covers in the 70s, 80s and 90s including the Lensman series, Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, and Jack Vance's Demon Princes novels. His covers frequently feature spaceships that are sturdier and chunkier than the usual sleek space rockets you see on many other book covers of the time.

His cool vision of the future led him to be asked to work on production designs for Alejandro Jodorowsky's uncompleted Dune movie, in the mid 1970s, and later on Ridley Scott's Alien and Superman: The Movie.

As Alejandro Jodorowsky said in 1977:

And thus were born the mimetic spaceships, the leather and dagger-studded machines of the fascist Sardaukers;- the pachydermatous geometry of Emperor Padishah's golden planet; the delicate butterfly plane and so many other incredible machines, which I am sure will one day populate interstellar space. Chris Foss knows that today's technical reality is tomorrow's falsehood. Chris also knows that today's pure art is tomorrow's reality. Man will conquer space mounted on Foss' spaceships, never in NASA's concentration camps of the spirit. I was grateful for the existence of my friend. He brought the colours of the apocalypse to the sad machines of a future without imagination.

He has a website, ChrisFossArt.com, where you can see more of his work and buy signed prints of all of these images. And he has a group on Facebook, where you can keep up with his projects.

Pirate Ship, From Jodorowsky's Dune.
Harkonnen's flagship, From Jodorowsky's Dune.
Spice transport, from Dune.
Emperor's palace, from Dune.
Guild Tug, from Dune.
Breaking the Light Barrier
Awesome space image.
Awesome spaceship.
Image for ConceptShips blog.
Awesome spaceship.
Amazing space image.

According to Kappel, he's only making 30 of each 8x10 fine art print, and they'll be hand-numbered and professionally printed on museum-quality 505 Somerset Velvet stock. They go for $45 each, including shipping. So far, it's just these five prints, which include my favorites, "Your Wrecks Make Mechs" and the weird lava robot image.

Also, Kappel says he's showing his art at Crema Bakery and Cafe in Portland, through December, and some kid-friendly paintings will be at Black Wagon in North Portland at the same time.

Order your own prints here. [Space Monkey Designs]

We're lucky enough to feature Quantum Mechanix's authentic replica of the Cylon targets used on Battlestar Galactica before any other site — even Quantum Mechanix's own site. They're model-makers who brought you the amazing animated-style BSG figures, the Cylon raider filming minature, the U.S.S. Enterprise model, the detailed map of Firefly's 'Verse, and most of all the perfect replica of the Serenity.

Here's the full description for the Cylon poster, so you can prepare to take aim with your credit card:

Take Out Your Aggression on a Target That Deserves It!

Battlestar Galactica is one of the most ground-breaking television shows of all time. Not just in terms of storytelling and visual effects, but in every detail – set design, soundtrack – even the background props.

In our continuing quest to bring you affordable, screen-accurate replicas of the iconic props from TV's greatest saga, we are proud to present our screen-accurate replica of the Cylon Centurion practice target as seen on Galactica's shooting range.

Reproduced from the same digital files used to print the screen-used props, QMx has painstakingly reproduced this practice target on an 18"x24" poster printed on 60-pound flat-finish paper stock. We've even die cut the poster into the same distinctive trapizoid shape (why do Colonials hate right angles so much?) and we've included the scoring form in lower right corner of the poster.

All for just $9.95 per poster. Perfect way to prepare for the fight against our Cylon oppressors, when that day inevitably comes.

It'll be available soon over at Quantum Mechanix.

Pink Tentacle has an incredible gallery of album covers, movie posters and car art by Nagaoka, whose work we've admired for ages without knowing it was his. (If you're into late 1970s-early 1980s funk/R&B, several of these covers will strike a chord as well.)

Here are some of our favorites — the last image is the NSFW one. Check out the rest over at the link. [Pink Tentacle]

V's mothership is directly inspired by the new wing to the Milwaukee Art Museum, designed by Spanish artist Santiago Calatrava in 2001, executive producer Steve Pearlman told OnMilwaukee.com:

"One of the things we loved about the design is the "V" built into the architecture," Pearlman says.

Ian Thomas, production designer on the show's pilot — he was unable to stay with the show — showed photos of the museum to director Yves Simoneau and executive producers Pearlman and Scott Peters, "as concept art when we were in the design phase of the Mothership and we loved its scope and the simplicity."

Pearlman says the idea was tailored to the Mothership and tied "to other areas of the ship that we were also creating (i.e. The Grand Atrium and Anna's Executive Office)."

The sets are actually computer-generated, and the actors film in front of a greenscreen, as you can see here:

Want to see the museum that inspired the alien mothership? Here are some photos, from Associated Press:

V is back on ABC tonight at 8 PM.

Museum photos by AP/Morry Gash [On Milwaukee]

White's Deviant Art gallery includes tons of these amazing paintings, some of which are still for sale. They're all acrylic on stretched black velvet, generally around 14 by 18 inches, although some are as big as 18 by 24. And they're like your most vivid dreams about robots, spaceships and aliens, only brought to life in pure velvet.

Says White:

I am a huge scifi geek. I saw this velvet painting on the Star Wars Collector's Archive, and I thought it was so cool in an awesome, yet cheesy way. I figured I could reproduce it pretty quickly. I was wrong. Painting on velvet is a lot harder than I thought. I did a few more, which were a little better, but they were still more like the "oh god that's so bad that it's funny" velvet paintings that seem so prevalent. I stopped trying for a while, and then had the idea, instead of trying to make them "cheesy", that I would try to paint them as realistically as I possibly could. Slowly, the paintings got better, and I started to get the hang of working on velvet. So, the more realistic paintings in my "deviantart" gallery are the more recent ones.

Check out more of his artwork here: [Bruce White on Deviant Art]

Captain Kirk velvet painting from The Velvet Store

Admiral Ackbar velvet painting from eBay auction.

Velvet Yoda painting for sale here, for just $1,500. Cheap!

Velvet Yoda Elvis painting, from BoingBong

Unicorns in space, from BoingBoing!

Star Wars poster on black velvet, from Mike Jackiw.

U.S.S. Enterprise on black velvet — sorry this is so low-res, but I had to include it. From Who Would Buy That? via Site Du Jour.

Chewbacca, plus weird creepy angel heads, on black velvet. From Brancusi7 on Flickr.

Baby Princess Leia on black velvet, from Bonnie Burton at the Star Wars Blog. (Thanks Bonnie!)

Admiral Ackbar (again!) From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

Unicorn on the Moon! From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

Wesley Crusher! As presented to Wil Wheaton. From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

The Winchester Bros. From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

A Sleestak, in contemplation. From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

The Joker. From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

Kim Jong Il and another Sleestak (why??) From Indignico Inc. on Flickr.

A Journey Round My Skull joined Feuilleton and Arthur Magazine in posting a slew of new covers and illustrations from the beguilling German magazine. Here are a few of our favorites, and you absolutely must check out the rest over at the individual sites.

And then in a further paroxysm of art-inspired debauchery, AJRMS sponsored a contest to create bookplates similar to the Orchideengarten style, and the results are fantastic. I would never dare steal a book from your library if it bore one of these insignia. Here are a few of the best, but they're all worth checking out.

Jason Martin's first love affair with science fiction all started with Star Wars. He was intrigued by the elaborate details of the action figures along with the Star Wars sketchbook he received as a child. This led him to create his own Intergalactic Hockey team. Check out some of his other star hockey players, plus his menagerie of weird creatures.

Punchy the Clown: Remember the punching clown you had as a child? And how much fun you had punching it over and over again? Well, he's back and he's got all kinds of upgrades. Don't be fooled by his large belly. He's a serious player.

The Goalie for the Cyborgs: This character sheet shows you that all is not as it may appear. There's a human inside this goalie armor. And check out the fancy foot design.

Shorty: Last but not least there is Shorty, probably the fiercest player of them all. He's a member of the Clown Team and you would be surprised how often the Clowns defeat the Cyborgs.

Not part of the Hockey team, but one of Jason's proudest achievements. Jason loves artwork that tells a story and has done quite a bit of animation work. His first comic book, "Homunculous" is a collaboration with Niko Karvounis and he's also wrapped up his first cartoon, Juvees, for the Fox AniBoom Competition.

He is currently developing a book, Lil' Book of Critters, and it's filled with a bunch of strange and fantastic creatures. And since Jason is all about the story behind the creatures, each one has a name. This one is Fangs (naturally)!

And this is Frisky. When Jason showed these creatures to others, they often came up with their own stories behind the critters. So I thought I'd take up this challenge and tell my own stories about them.

Here is Wisp. He may look a bit weak but he has a powerful singing voice (especially in the shower...).

Ok, this one is Clog. Not sure where to begin with his story (ha-ha). Makes my imagination just go wild. Probably better left unsaid.

It's not so much that he can't keep still, but that he is just an excitable boy. Fidget has a hard time staying in one place. And why should he? The world is a wonder and filled with marvels to explore.

Frizz is just a hopeless romantic. She enjoys a great love story and cries at the drop of a hat.

Sweet little Peep also sometimes cries, but this is usually because people forget where he is (because he is sooo very small) and he gets crushed or stepped on.

Ogler has been known to appreciate the finer things in life, such as good wine and beautiful women.

Leaflet may be small but she doesn't miss a thing. And don't worry. She is a loyal friend and your secrets are always safe with her.

Not all of Jason's critters are sweet. Some are downright mean. Not only does Snitch blab, he also thinks he's better than everyone.

And Worrywart is not much fun. He wrings his hands so much that they're all chapped; one of the many reasons he refuses to shake hands (also, he's worried about germs).

And here is Habringer. She doesn't just foresee the upcoming horrible events, she brings them.

Our last creature is Doubt, whom many consider the scariest of them all.

Many thanks to Jason Martin for giving me such cool art that allows me to make up my own stories!

Look for more of his work at http://www.conceptcreature.com/animation_art.php

We became fascinated with Kappel's robot masterpieces when we saw he was having a gallery show in Phoenix recently, called "Artificial Agents." We caught up with Kappel, who kindly sent us some of his amazing robot paintings, plus some other horror-themed art (perfect for late October!). Kappel tells us:

I became interested in all that is scifi long ago. My father schooled both my sister in myself in the finer things in life. 50's horror flicks, Star Trek, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Hitchhiker's Guide, OG Twilight Zone, Battlestar Galactica, (Even the Greatest American Hero) and The Outer Limits coupled with a heavy dose of Tom and Jerry, Superfriends, Thundar, M.A.S.K., G.I. Joe, Transformers and Bugs Bunny. Everything that I do spawns from that foundation, sprinkle in some comic book affinity, with the writings of Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury, and shazaam, you have Space Monkey Designs and all of my hand crafted, wood sculpted, laser cut visual stylings.

See more of Kappel's work at his site. [Space Monkey Designs]

The above image is Yap's incredible "Legend Of Yamato" image won the CG Society's concept art challenge a couple years ago. You may have seen it before, but it was new to us — and we love how colorfully it reinvents steampunk. Here are some more of our favorites.

It's a steampunk boat that's also a train, from BlueStorm. More of his art here.

A steampunk arctic explorer by Vyse — way more of his awesome art at Concept Art forums.

Fantastic concept art from Big Huge Games' Rise Of Legends. Way more awesome art here.

Fantastic concept art from Big Huge Games' Rise Of Legends. Way more awesome art here.

Fantastic concept art from Big Huge Games' Rise Of Legends. Way more awesome art here.

Fantastic concept art from Big Huge Games' Rise Of Legends. Way more awesome art here.

Fantastic concept art from Big Huge Games' Rise Of Legends. Way more awesome art here.

"Crab fort" concept art from Guild Wars Factions — we featured this art at io9 ages ago, but it's so amazing it deserves to be seen again. More art from the game here.

Walker concept art from Guild Wars Factions. More art from the game here.

Walker concept art from Guild Wars Factions. More art from the game here.

Requiem For Industry by Kazuhiko Nakamura. Way more art here.

Automaton by Kazuhiko Nakamura. Way more art here.

Metamorphosis by Kazuhiko Nakamura. Way more art here.

Steampunk concept art by Lebbeus.

Steam train concept art by Emil Landgreen.

War Zeppelin concept art from Iron Grip video game, by Leviathan artist Keith Thompson. Way more at the link.

ST-38 tank concept art from Iron Grip video game, by Leviathan artist Keith Thompson. Way more at the link.

Steam walker concept art from Iron Grip video game, by Leviathan artist Keith Thompson. Way more at the link.

Freighter concept art from Iron Grip video game, by Leviathan artist Keith Thompson. Way more at the link.

Norse APC concept art from Iron Grip video game, by Leviathan artist Keith Thompson. Way more at the link.

Antarctic exploration by Myke Amend, more at his site.

Captain Nemo's Office by Alex Brockel.

Steampunk Mary Poppins by Daniel Cestari (More at the link.)

Steampunk Mary Poppins (draft) by Daniel Cestari (More at the link.)

Juggernaut assault, concept art from Steam Wars movie by Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra director Larry Blamire.

Turkish "Flaming Kettle," concept art from Steam Wars movie by Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra director Larry Blamire.

Tyler Gunwagon (1872), concept art from Steam Wars movie by Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra director Larry Blamire.

French experimental steam rig, concept art from Steam Wars movie by Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra director Larry Blamire.

Goliath class gunrig, concept art from Steam Wars movie by Lost Skeleton Of Cadavra director Larry Blamire.

Concept art from War Of The Worlds: Goliath, a direct-to-DVD animated movie (from the Heavy Metal Fan Forum. More at the link.)

Concept art from War Of The Worlds: Goliath, a direct-to-DVD animated movie (from the Heavy Metal Fan Forum. More at the link.)

Concept art from War Of The Worlds: Goliath, a direct-to-DVD animated movie (from the Heavy Metal Fan Forum. More at the link.)

Concept art from War Of The Worlds: Goliath, a direct-to-DVD animated movie (from the Heavy Metal Fan Forum. More at the link.)

Concept art from War Of The Worlds: Goliath, a direct-to-DVD animated movie (from the Heavy Metal Fan Forum. More at the link.)