Modern science fiction artists: the best works

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Fiction has long been a very dense part of our lives. American scientists argue that reading science fiction has a very positive effect on the development of memory, imagination, the ability to think outside the box, and helps to expand the boundaries of worldview. The same can be attributed to the paintings of this direction. Science fiction artists and their work have done a lot to push the boundaries of reality and give food to the imagination of the audience. Despite all the forecasts of skeptics, the genre continues to develop and delight connoisseurs with new authors.

Let's take a look at the best science fiction artists of our time.

Jim Burns

One of the most famous science fiction illustrators in Europe today is Jim Burns. The British artist for many years of creative activity has developed his own unique, inimitable style and brought it almost to perfection. His paintings depicting the distant future are very realistic. The author is good at portraying both fantastic technology and alien life in all its diversity. Jim Burns is in demand in his homeland andoutside of it, in particular, the artist closely cooperates with American publishing houses. Burns' work graces 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 Blade Runner. Collections of his work have also been released - Lightship, Planet Story, Mechanismo and The Jim Burns Portfolio.

The artist's abilities are quite well marked by various awards. Three times in his life, Burns received the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist. In addition, the artist has received 12 awards from the British Science Fiction Association for his creative life.

Julie Bell

American artist Julia Bell has loved drawing since childhood. Julia was born and raised in Beaumont, Texas. The artist studied photography and painting at 6 different colleges and universities.

To date, Julia Bell has become one of the leading artists and illustrators in fantasy art. Experts note her unique sense of color and composition, which makes her paintings admire again and again. She is especially good at depicting "metal flesh", which combines the fluidity of water with the hardness of steel. This effect has become her easily recognizable feature. This technique was first used by Julia in her work on the cover of Heavy Metall magazine, and this workmade a real sensation.

In 1994, Julia Bell and Boris Vallejo, an American artist, got married.

Boris Vallejo

One of the most famous figures in the fantasy genre is undoubtedly Boris Vallejo. Boris was born in Peru, before his immigration to the United States of America, he managed to finish the National School of Arts. His contribution to the development of fantasy art can hardly be overestimated. The artist receives orders from almost all major publishers in fantasy and science fiction. The most recognizable feature of all his work is the high realism of the image.

An interesting feature of Boris Vallejo is that he doesn't like to draw people from life, he usually deals with photographs. The mythical characters of his paintings look no less realistic than the people depicted there. Fairy-tale heroic fantasy - this is how the artist's style can be called. Very often in his works we can easily recognize Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan and the Harsh Dock.

Boris Vallejo also illustrates album covers, video films, creates graphic advertising for movies.

Today, the artist is considered a classic of fine art in the fantasy genre. Married to colleague Julia Bell (see above).

Ciruelo Cabral

Argentine artist Gustavo Cabral, better known by his pseudonym Ciruelo, took up painting from an early age. As a child, I was very fond ofcomics, fantasy books and movies. Seeing this, his parents sent him to 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 illustrators in the Fantasy Art genre. Cabral's speci alty is the image of dragons, they come out very realistic from the artist.

However, the author not only draws dragons, but also writes about them. "The Book of the Dragon", "Fairies and Dragons" - 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 in the form of illustrations.

Cadwell Clyde

Cadwell Clyde was very fond of science fiction as a child. The works of such authors as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein had a great influence on his further creative career.

By the time he received his Master of Arts degree from Cadwell University, Clyde had already decided on the choice of a creative path, he decided that he would become an illustrator. For several years he has been working in advertising agencies, doing what he loves only in his spare time. The artist was noticed and began to receive commissions from professional fiction publishers. In the early 90s, when commissions began to arrive quite regularly, Cadwell Clyde began his career as a freelance artist. During the creative activity of Clyde, severalcollections of the artist's works. The latter include world-famous covers for fantasy titles.

Andrzej Sykut

Polish science fiction artist Andrzej Sykut is known for his meticulously rendered futuristic paintings. Most often, the artist depicts distant planets on canvases, which we have only to get to. Thanks to the almost limitless imagination of the author, these fantastic planets are inhabited by no less fantastic species of life. Andrzej's paintings are always bright and interesting. High technologies here often coexist with exotic landscapes. Andrzej is often referred to not as an artist, but as 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 "cosmic", has a rich history. Even in ancient times, people turned to this topic. Illustrations for cult and mythological texts can be safely attributed to this genre. With the development of the fantasy genre in literature, the "cosmic" direction in painting also developed. Illustrators of the works of Jules Verne, HG Wells and other famous science fiction writers have made a huge contribution to the development of this direction. However, the artist's imagination was constrained by the framework of the work of art.

A grand breakthrough in space painting occurred with the development of space research. people startedfly into space, and the prerequisites for the formation of a documentary-space direction appeared. For this, it was necessary that a person capable of reproducing what he saw, a "space artist", flew into space. And such a person was found. It was Alexei Leonov, who would later be called the "master of space landscape".

For the first time in orbit was an artist with a sharp eye and a steady hand. His works carry information that a dispassionate camera lens cannot convey. The space station cameras, which captured the panoramas of Mars and Venus, are impartial, their images are devoid of emotions and cold. And Leonov sees the sky through the eyes of an earthly person, and this is the advantage of his work. His series of cosmic sunsets and sunrises made a splash and brought Alexei to the leading positions in the ranks of space science fiction artists.

Space direction in painting is developing quite successfully, and, perhaps, soon we will witness creative missions of artists to other planets.