Sci-Fi-O-Rama

A selection of five enchanting watercolor/inks Illustrations taken from the 1983 Childrens Story “The Saga of Erik the Viking” penned by Terry Jones (of Monty Python) and lovingly illustrated by British artist Michael Foreman.

This is a book I remember well from childhood, and recently picked up a copy via Amazon, the story centre’s on around Erik’s and his loyal companions following their epic voyage in search of ‘the land where the sun goes down at night’. It’s a great read for kids & adults alike featuring some truly mesmorising Illustrations that fit the text perfectly, you really feel the cold and desolation of the icey waves & windswept slate black rocks but there’s something in the way Michael’s draws his characters the lends a real charming, human quality… The Saga of Erik the Viking is available for next to nothing via Amazon http://is.gd/9HO7v makes for great bedtime reading!

Also of note, Terry Jones went on to direct a big screen adaptation in 1989 starring Tim Robins, Mickey Rooney, John Cleese and several other familiar faces http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097289/

Read more on Author/Illustrator Michael Foreman here at Wiki: http://is.gd/9HPx8

Super detailed draftsmanship from the absolute master of techno-Illustration; Katsuhiro Otomo, the Japanese Illustrator behind the legendary cyberpunk manga-fest “Akira”. This image is taken from the Epic Books Akira Collection “Part 10″ fairly close to the epic sagas end.

The Akira Manga ran from Dec 1982 through June 1990, and was the basis for the simply stunning 1988 animated feature film, although the story is only loosely connected. The most fasicanting thing with Otomos work is the unbelievable attention to detail, every element is impeccably fashioned and has function. take for a example the above Illustration, Otomo has not just drawn this fighter jet, it’s designed to be as realistic as possible, his take on exactly how a US Navy jet would look in 2019. For case in point note the tilting Canard Wing and airspeed pilot (thanks pete) at the front of the craft…simply amazing stuff!

Read more about Katsuhiro Otomo at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuhiro_Otomo and the Akira Manga: (Warning Spoilers!!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuhiro_Otomo

Lower B/W image via Flickr user: art_files

These powerful, minimal designs with a fauvist-esque palette are a small selection of the art of Eyke Volkmer a German Graphic Artist/Illustrator. During the 60’s & 70’s Eyke worked closely with publishing House Wilhelm Goldmann, and during this period produced a total of 162 airbrushed covers for the SF series “Goldmanns Weltraum Taschenbücher” and another 70 covers for the series “Goldmanns Zukunftsromane”, his publisher once remarked to Vokmer: “It doesn’t look like that in outer space.” but encouraged him to follow and develop his unique and prolific style.

You can see the full set of “Weltraum Taschenbücher” covers at covers http://www.weltraumtaschenbuch.de and there’s a full bio on Eyke here: http://www.weltraumtaschenbuch.de/pages/eyke_volkmer.html

Many thanks to Tommi Bren for getting in touch with the link, Tommi set up the aforementioned tribute site and also runs the excellent Sci-Fi book archive http://www.houdinination.com/ great stuff! check the Book cover Gallery here: http://www.houdinination.de/covers.html

Here’s something I’ve not featured for a while, a bandwidth-crunching animated GIF!

This frenzied loop is ripped from Neill Blomkamp’s magnificent “District 9” (2009), for my money the best allround, accessible Sci-Fi flick since Jim Cameron’s “Aliens” (1986). The great thing about District 9 is that it’s a Sci-fi film that spans way beyond the confines of just one genre, it’s an absolutely fascinating blend of docudrama, social commentary, cutting edge Sci-fi, and (sporadic) breakneck action – add to this the very finest Peter’s Jackson “splatterhouse” FX then lace with wry black humour – superb! I also think a very good indicator for it’s greatness is the fact that most of my friends enjoyed it, and (unlike myself) most of them aren’t geeks!

I’ll say nothing about the featured footage, just in case you’ve still not seen it! anyway you should – available at Amazon http://bit.ly/bwBWiO << treat yourself to the Blu-Ray I reckon….

A selection of Coin-Op/Arcade Machine “Marquees” beaming gloriously in brash 80’s technicolor… Marquees (in case you didn’t know) are used to illuminate the name of an arcade game at the top of its cabinet.

Stopping with a friend recently I was reminded with just how amazing this art is as he has a small selection of these marquees as fridge magnets! and I haven’t featured any Coin Op / Pinball design for a while, so figured it was about time to run an update…

So what makes this Art so cool? for me it’s the punchy low palettes & comic-type colouring, mix this up with super striking Logotypes and the fact of course that the whole thing is designed to be backlit! It’s actually worth pointing out that I worked in a seaside arcade as a 16 year old, in retrospect it’s obviously mcuh more than just the game themselves that made a major impact me… My Favourite ever Coin-Op’s ? Turbo Out Run, Aliens, Rolling Thunder and Special Criminal Investigation aaah, things were simpler back then!

So a bit more more about the samples collected here:

Top: “Alien Syndrome” – A top down Commando/Gauntlet-esque shooter dating from 1986, designed and manufactured by Sega, it’s one I missed in the Arcade, though played it on the 8-bit home systems of the day, decent game! Here’s a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsZ0g6HE684

2nd Top: “Sinistar” – By Williams in 1982, this an evolution of Asteroids, and is similar to Bosconion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcyBtVwAsfg embarrassingly I’d never even heard of Sinistar before researching this post! I’m still not sure how I’ve missed it! Check the freaky Sinistar Sample too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-XEINagmaU

3rd Top: “Commando” – From Nihon Bussan/AV Japan released 1985. Another genre-defining rock solid classic, I’m more familiar with the Speccy version where you had to rotate the joystick 360 degrees to lob a grenade (very difficult).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qctKI_t5eY

4th Top: “Asteroids” – By Atari 1979. One of the most popular arcade games of all time, this marquee featuring an obvious Battlestar Galactica reference. You must of seen Asteroids, so here’s a clip of Atari’s lesser known 1987 sequal “Blasteroids” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFmhK3VM3Ng

5th Top: “Tempest” – By Atari, released 1987. The wireframe vector graphic legend that’s been recyclced many times, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxIquJIRZHU&feature=related

6th Top: “Crystal Castles” – Another Atari title, this time from 1983 – this is an Isometric platform/maze/puzzler which utilises a bizarre collection of sprites, a game I loved as a kid, and like most games I’m still completely useless at it… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f01M2l9oGJI

7th Top:”Zaxxon” – More isometric viewpoint action, this one from Sega and dating from 1982. Supremely ambitious for it’s time, in many ways this still looks great http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHORFz6ZCC0&feature=related

8th / 9th Top: “Galaga” and “Galaxian” – These classic precursor’s to the Vertical Shoot-em-up both hail released from the Namco stable, appearing 1979 and 1981 respectively. Just in case you forgot how Galaxian plays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzitZv8Enmc

10th Top: “Bosconian” – The original 8 way shooter from Midway, released 1981. Again this is one I remember from the 8-bit systems rather than in the arcade itself, here’s a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC5_RYXmfsc

Bottom: “Rastan” – A left scrolling fantasy platform fighter from Taito released in 1987. If the throttled Lizard-Man hasn’t jogged your memory, here’s a clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvn2pPsaE4I

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All games referenced via KLOV “The Killer List of Video Games” AKA http://www.arcade-museum.com
a superb reference site…

Images collected from various sources via The Google.