A brooding composition; a small attack craft skims the swell of a menacing slate grey sea – whilst from the background juts a fortified oil rig reminiscent of a James Cameron design. Illustration used  (I think) for the 1988 Sci-Fi Book “Islands of the Net” by Bruce Sterling.

Near future and alternate history Science Fiction (Speculative Fiction) is the most relevant Sci-fi, it’s tangible, political, social, environmental and always thought provoking… Galloping round the cosmos ala Starwars/Star Trek is all well and good as escapism, but it’s tech that’s hardly round the corner. Plus, when you think about things on a cosmic scale; what are the actual chances of scattered galactic life enduring billions of years of evolution to then suddenly pop-up and simultaneously develop space-faring technology at – give or take a century – exactly the same time … ? About the same as me retiring on Google Ad revenue.

Image sourced from http://astrona.blogspot.com/

See more of Chris Moore at his site: www.chrismooreillustration.co.uk/

Aaaah Airbrush art, isn’t it better than digital 3d model rigging and lighting? well thats up for debate, but I reckon unless it’s Halo it certainly bloody is. Airbrush style is not real, its super real (super-realism), digital creations mostly differ, they look to real but yet unreal – it’s like comparing movies like The Thing (1982) and Aliens (1986) to modern CGI stuff, give me a ketchup pissing animatronic puppet any day of the genre. Back to the image, and what I love about this composition is its all about suggestion, plus whats sexier looking tech-wise than near future fighter jets?

Anyway Chris Moore (Yorkshire Lad) is an absolute master at techno airbrush art, check his website, it’s full of Gung-Ho US Military renderings and other Sci-fi extrodinnaire