Science Fiction and Fantasy Art

Jim Burns is an artist whose work has graced a number of science fiction covers.

Here are a few from some award winners.

1607892108357.png1607892175284.png


1607892364868.png

The picture above was generated for Robert Silverberg's Lord Valentine's Castle.
 
Last edited:
When I was a teenager, I loved the Lensman series. I had all the books (except Triplanetary) in paperback.

These were the covers of the editions I had. I discovered Masters of the Vortex first, and that led me to the others. I got Triplanetary out of the library, but I never liked it, so it didn't become part of my SF collection.

1608108588201.png1608108623934.png1608108670477.png
1608108966767.pngchildrenofthelens copy.jpg1608109440056.png
 
I don't know anything about the artists who do the Mandolorian's concept/still art, but I watch the credits just to see the slideshow such as the one included. Fits right into the theme.

Mando.png
 
Untitled.jpg

At one time, When Worlds Collide was considered an essential work of science fiction.
 
1610138768744.png1610138808149.pngUntitled.jpg

I just discovered these covers for Asimov's Foundation trilogy. They're by Michael Whelan, who is doing the covers for Brandon Sanderson's The Stormlight Archive.
 
I guessed those were Whelan before I got to the bottom. Something about the colors he uses.

I thought he did an admirable job for the Wheel of Time covers he was asked to do as well. The original artist for those had died before the series was finished.
 
More Roger Dean:

1610438872356.png

"Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there..."
 
Last edited:
A Wrinkle In Time, Madeleine L'Engle's famous fantasy novel, won the Newbery Medal (and several other awards), but the hard-cover edition had a very plain book jacket.


1620381244652.png

In the years since it was first published, it has been re-issued many times, and two major motion pictures have been based on it.

Some of the re-issue covers are much more fanciful than the original.

1620381449876.png1620381484169.png1620381572573.png

1620381628183.png1620382525426.png1620382664062.png
 
A Wrinkle In Time, Madeleine L'Engle's famous fantasy novel, won the Newbery Medal (and several other awards), but the hard-cover edition had a very plain book jacket.


View attachment 3494

In the years since it was first published, it has been re-issued many times, and two major motion pictures have been based on it.

Some of the re-issue covers are much more fanciful than the original.

View attachment 3495View attachment 3496View attachment 3497

View attachment 3498View attachment 3499View attachment 3500

OMG, I so loved this book when I was a kid. I have been hesitant to see the new movie because the casting leads me to think they blew it.
 
OMG, I so loved this book when I was a kid. I have been hesitant to see the new movie because the casting leads me to think they blew it.
So, did I. And, yes, they did. I found it disappointing.

On an unrelated note, I saw a film clip of some guys in Russia who built a life-size replica of the Razor Crest ship from the Mandalorian as pictured a few posts back. It was a labor
of love as these dudes built it in a garage over the course of a year or so and then were allowed to display it in a nearby public park (for some bizarre reason). Anyhow, they
proved to be a hell of a lot better at building it than displaying it and the ship was totally destroyed in a wind storm, which is a shame since it was an astonishing replica.

Here is a brief clip that gives an idea of what it looked like and it's unfortunate demise. Jesus H.


View: https://youtu.be/SE32gg9lfO0
 
I was in Phoenix Books today - a great used-book store in San Luis Obispo with a decent collection of sci-fi and fantasy.

I saw this cover, which was done by Jack Gaughan.

1663451296047.png

It turns out that a lot of well-known SF paperbacks have been graced with covers by Jack Gaughan. Dune Messiah is one.

1663451597541.png

And he did a set of covers for LOTR:

1663452581357.png
 

Attachments

  • 1663452162488.png
    1663452162488.png
    105.9 KB · Views: 1
Last edited:
Boris Vallejo has an impressive portfolio. His Conan work is quite nice, but represents just a fraction of his output. We'll be coming back to Boris in future posts from me, and perhaps from others.

2.jpg


yAKxp8R.jpg


60e1cdda37db8e6458103ab7e1d3f704.jpg
He has a trading card collection that I have buried with all my sports cards.
 
Oh, one more thing - it turns out the Lensman covers in post #82 are also by Jack Gaughan.
 
So for the Wheel of Time book series, artist Darrell K Sweet did all of the original artwork on the covers. Here are book 1, 3 and 6:

d4l19qg-a5111d80-cb06-4af5-a46e-099ce4bae3e3.jpg

Screenshot 2022-09-18 054708.png

Screenshot 2022-09-18 054645.png

When it came time to publish the LAST book in the series (book 14), Darrell K Sweet had unfortunately passed away.

Michael Whelan had not done any book covers in years and they managed to talk him into doing it. Here is what he had to say:

I was honored to paint the cover image for the final book in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, but it was a daunting prospect given the massive backstory of 14 books written over a span of 20+ years.

Each volume, illustrated by the late Darrell K. Sweet, had a similar look and feel. I decided the last cover should retain a sense of continuation while bringing the epic to a close.

I usually insist on reading the manuscript, but it wasn’t possible this time. The author and publisher selected the cover scene in advance. My compositional ideas were limited to depicting—in the best way I could—the brief episode provided. Many websites and blogs devoted to the Wheel of Time books provided details of character appearances that the scene lacked.

After studying the covers of the earlier volumes, I elected to bring the protagonist Rand forward to dominate the front book jacket. I was torn whether to show Rand and his companions outside or inside the cave; I attempted to visualize both. Eventually, the “powers that be” selected the approach and I was on my way.


And the final cover:

Screenshot 2022-09-18 055241.png


If you are interested, you can see the rest of the covers for the series here:


Along with an initial sketch that Sweet did for the last book before he passed away.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2022-09-18 054708.png
    Screenshot 2022-09-18 054708.png
    1.2 MB · Views: 1
Last edited:
Back
Top