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Zita the Space Girl

Space Arts
Seeing above & beyond

..
A Space Art Trip to the Moon
Kurdistan Planetarium. Music by Laura Sullivan

[To avoid any copyright issues, I've unfortunately had to eliminate
many of the images here and on other HS pages.
Go to the websites linked to see the artworks.
]

Space art ranges from hard-edged graphic arts realism to fine art abstractionism. Regardless of the style, good space art illuminates the special excitement, mystery and attraction of the cosmos.


Space art comes second only to science fiction in the power to inspire the public's interest and support for space exploration.

The history of space art goes back to at least the late 1800's with the illustrations for the books of Jules Verne and for the first popular books about astronomy.

From science fiction book covers to the illustrations in non-fiction space books, artists took us into space with their visual imaginations long before our spacecraft arrived there.

Suggestions for the hobbyist:

  • Collect space art. Original works and signed prints by famous space artists such as Chesley Bonestell and Alan Bean and the many up and coming new artists, can be obtained from galleries and shows specializing in space art. Also, the works of many artists are now available for purchase over the web.

  • Collect magazine covers and books where classic space artworks first appeared. Try used-book stores and flea markets for old copies of magazines such as Colliers, and for science-fiction and non-fiction space and astronomy books.

  • Make space art yourself. Forget those boring earthscapes of lakes and snow capped mountains. Paint glorious Mars-scapes and IO-scapes! Get some suggestions from art instruction sites. For inspiration check out these first rate space artists who have other day jobs.

Arts News from Space-for-All

Previous news items are available in the archive ...


Space Art News Sources


Space Art Exhibitions, Events & Contests

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  • The Dream Rocket program aims to connect space, education and art via a huge collaborative project:
    The Dream Rocket is reaching out to students, teachers, schools, individuals, groups and organizations to create and submit over 8,000 "Dream Theme" or "Visionary" panels that will be sewn together in Huntsville, Alabama. This historical 30,467-square foot quilt will represent dreams from all over the world. During May and June of 2010, (60 days) this quilt will completely wrap the 363-foot vertical Saturn V Rocket which stands in front of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center® in Huntsville, Alabama.
    See how you can participate.

  • FAI Young Artists Contest - The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) sponsor this annual contest for young people.
  • SpaceFest - annual space collectibles and memorabilia fair includes a space art exhibition

List of Past Art Events & Contests


Chesley Bonestell
(1888-1986)


The Exploration of Mars
Credits: Bonestell Space Art

Chesley Bonestell's paintings and illustrations played a big part in raising early public interest and enthusiasm for space travel, especially his famous illustrations for Werner von Braun's space books and magazine articles in the 1950's.

Bonestell combined the graphic artist's eye for realism and accuracy with his own unique visual story-telling talents. While his rockets and space stations today have a somewhat retro look, his style is instantly recognizable and remains very appealing.

In fact many of us old space cadets know that this is the way rockets and spaceships are supposed to look!



Alan Bean

The American

The fourth man to walk on the moon, Alan Bean gave up the astronaut life at the age of 49 to start a new career as an artist. He has developed a strongly realistic yet expressive style that has established him in the top echelons of space artists.

Note that he puts a bit of the Moon into every painting. NASA allowed the astronauts to keep the patches and insignias from their spacesuits. Bean realized years later that they were impregnated with moon dust. Now he puts bits of them into his painting medium.

 


David A. Hardy
..
The lecture Artists in Space delivered by David A Hardy on Sept. 1, 2011
to the British Interplanetary Society

David A. Hardy has for many years been one of the top British space artists with illustrations in countless magazines, SF book covers, and astronomy books.

He has been a strong advocate for space art and was formerly president of the IAAA (International Association of Astronomical Artists). He wrote the Visions of Space book about the history of space art and also has recently released a new book, HARDYWARE: The Art of David A. Hardy, about his own work. His web site displays several works about Space Tourism that he created for an exhibition on the International Space Station.

 


Robert McCall

Robert McCall

Robert McCall is well known from his covers and illustrations for Life Magzine in the 1960's, from his posters for 2001 Space Odyssey, murals at the Air & Space Museum, and countless other encounters with his space paintings in books and magazines.

See his gallery at Novaspace.

 


Pat Rawlings

X-Prize
Credits: Pat Rawlings

Pat Rawlings, art director at SAIC, has become one of the most popular artists in the world of aerospace. NASA and companies love to use his imagination and talents to preview what their future rockets and spacecraft will look like in action.

He also creates wonderful planetscapes and likes to put well-rendered human figures there on those worlds (just where they should be!)


Space Artists with Other Day Jobs

These artists may not like to be referred to as amateurs since their work is of professional quality. However, in the spirit of HobbySpace, they demonstrate how far one can go in pursuing this wonderful space hobby.



A Very Incomplete List of Space Artists

Here is a just a sampling of space artists whose work is displayed on the web. See the other space art sites below for more extensive listings.


Michael Carroll
This award-winning site features Michael Carroll's space art who has done commissions for NASA and JPL and whose work has appeared in many books, magazines, album covers, and on TV.

Lynette Cook
Lynette Cook's art includes many astronomical illustrations and covers for magazines and books. Commissions have included Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, Science News and others. See her galleries including a selection dealing with extrasolar planets.

Donald Davis
This site shows Davis's paintings & photography, as well as his models created for NASA and for various TV shows. He also provides and interesting discussion on Colors in Space.

Don Dixon Spacescapes
"His spacescapes have graced over 60 book covers, scores of magazines, and are in the collections of Ray Bradbury and Larry Niven."

Marilynn Flynn
See the art of Marilynn Flynn at
B.E.Johnson
Has created paintings, photographs, and animations for NASA space missions and for commercial clients. - Spacecraft Celestial
Duncan Long
Duncan Long offers a selection of his diverse work in science fiction and fantasy art.

Ron Millers's Black Cat Studios
Ron Miller is an illustrator and author for numerous science, astronomy, sci-fi and fantasy books, as well as a production artist for several films

Edward Rowles
Edward Rowles award winning site Above The Blue Horizon is devoted to science fiction and space art.
Brian Smallwood
Brian Smallwood currently does art work for the BBC's Sky At Night astronomy program with Patrick Moore. The site features images of his space visions.

Andrew Stewart
Stewart is a freelance artist who specializes in space, science fiction and fantasy art. His particularly likes to work with the airbrush. He has had a joint exhibition show with David A Hardy.

The C.P.Vick Space Art Collection
Detail illustrations of military satellites, missiles and launch vehicles. (Unfortunately, the gallery previously available on the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) website has been removed.)
Erik Viktor SpaceWorld Gallery
Since the 1980's the Belgian artist Erik Viktor has had many works in magazines and books and commissions for NASA and aerospace companies. His SpaceWorld exhibition of his own and other artists' work plus various space related displays is touring Europe.
Other Space Artists Galleries

Space Art & Artists Link Lists

See these lists that have far more extensive listings of top rate space artists web sites as well as other space art related links


 

The Art of C. Sergent Lindsey

 

 

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Stream of Stars : The Soviet-American Space Art Book In the Stream of Stars:
The Soviet-American
Space Art Book

A, Sokolov et al, 1990
Amazon: US  UK

Hardyware: The Art of David A. Hardy
Hardyware: The Art of David A. Hardy
C. Morgan, S. Baxter, D. A. Hardy- 2001
Amazon: US  UK
" A retrospective of the life and work of David A Hardy, the world's longest-established space artist, and a former President of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA)"

Art of Chesley Bonestell
The Art of
Chesley Bonestell

Ron Miller, Frederick C. Durant III - 2001
Amazon: US  UK

Finally a book with a broad selection of Bonestell's glorious space art. Bonestell's marvelous visions of space helped prepare the public of the 1940s and '50s for the space age and continue to inspire us today.

Visions of Spaceflight
Visions of Spaceflight : Images from the Ordway Collection
Frederick Ordway - 2001
Amazon: US  UK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
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