It’s been a couple of months since my last article so time to unplug the cryogenics, thaw out and get writing. A few special features lined up this month, including an exclusive interview with a certain Swedish Sci-Fi Illustrator, but to start with here’s a close up on the super slick work of Peruvian Designer and Illustrator Gianmarco Magnani, better known by his monicker Silence Television.

Before compiling this post I did attempt to get in touch with Gianmarco to help contextualize this article and get an insight into his inspired, idiosyncratic approach, also no response as of yet, but hopefully we can hook something up in the future. in the mean time here’s a run down on this stunning artwork with my thoughts.

Above: Browse Gianmarco’s portfolio (www.silencetv.com) and you’ll notice several recurring themes; glamorous biker chicks, rock paraphernalia, deconstructed retro motor vehicles and bikes. What really stands the style apart is not just the ultra tight rendering, or the faultless craftsmanship but a real meticulous eye for detail that binds beautifully – a rare pedigree that almost looks effortless. This image shows up all those traits, and with such confidence, one could get lost just studying her enveloping tattoo.

Above: This one uses several graphic tricks, notably rendering in negative for extra graphical punch. Also note that, not only has Gianmarco perfectly fashioned the splintering guitar, he’s also adorned it with a balanced selection of logotypes, nods of course to his influence and driving inspirations…

Above: This one is pure class, the perfect poise and composition, again great attention paid to the details such as the subtle texture on the skirt and it’s geometric hem. Also really like the ruffled sleeves, emphasizing the girl’s model-type svelteness.

Above: A definite feel of Katsuhiro Otomo here, and probably the most Sci-fi orientated material of this post (like that matters!). Worth noting that Otomo is another bike fan, there must be a shared connection between these two!

Above: Another superior detailed composition with a subtle but effective overlayed gradient, again you get a feeling a real sense of gleeful joy is harnessed when Gianmarco applies his finishing touches, perhaps here seen with the retro Vavoline and Texaco stickers.

Above: We finish up here with one final bike rendering – this one in negative profile – A lovely balance of hard graphics, and technical Illustration. Superb stuff!

Further Reading: Head straight to http://silencetv.com for the full portfolio. There’s also a chance to buy prints here: http://society6.com/silencetv/prints and depending on how au fait your Spanish is you might also want to check out the Silence Televsion blog http://silencetv.com/blog/ remember Google Chrome will has a translation option. Finally is you want to show some Facebook love, go to http://www.facebook.com/SilenceTV

*Edit November 15 2001* Happy to say that Gianmarco has been back in touch, so hopefully we’ll run a interview soon.

Another slight delay on Sci-Fi-O-Rama updates, I was going to run this post to coincide with aprils royal wedding, no real reason other than the pomp and circumstance of that day was nicely mirrored by the splender of the four examples of pre-Bolshevik uniforms featured above. Didn’t quite happen in time, so here it is 2 and a bit weeks late…

So then, what connects this selection of Imperialist Russian Military dress to George Lucas’s original Star Wars and Ridley Scott’s Alien? Well thats actually a slight trick question as the answer is not what but who, Oscar winning British costume designer and author John Mollo.

I first became aware of and interested in John Mollo’s work several years back when, in order to satisfy nerd curiosity I purchased several ‘official’ embodied patches from that were worn by the various Nostromo crew members in Alien. Ordered via ebay they arrived with an unexpected bonus, an 8 sided, folding A4 pamphlet detailing (amongst other production notes) Mollo’s original sketches and design thoughts, such as where inspiration was drawn from. The pamphlet also makes reference to ‘Military Fashion’ a book written by Mollo described as a “definitive work”, I added this too my Amazon wish list and finally made the effort to pick up a copy earlier this year. It’s with that book that I start this post, but before diving into the detail here’s a little more information on Mollo himself.

John Mollo’s path to becoming a double academy award winning costume designer (Starwars 1978, Ghandi 1983) was born out of a devoted love of European and American military uniforms, something he’d developed from a young age and a passion that lead him to become and avid collector, author and subsequent authority on the subject. His first work within the movie industry occurred 1966 when he was recruited to act as a military advisor on the Crimean war epic ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’. Later he would work with Stanley Kubrick on his cult 1975 period drama “Barry Lyndon’ before linking up with George Lucas, Ralph Mcquarrie and crew as the costume designer for Starwars IV “A New Hope” creating probably the the most iconic and recognisable Sci-Fi garb ever…

Here’s a breakdown on the selected imagery, I realise the post jumps about a tad as first we have actual historical dress and then it’s re-imagining. The key thing in trying to compare the two is too really study the detail, every tiny nuance means something.

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Top Image: (Military Fashion) Russia, Officer’s ‘Attila’, Life Guard Hussar Regiment, His Majesty’s 1881-94. Mollo Collection.

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2nd Top: (Military Fashion) Russia, Officer’s khaki service dress jacket and ‘Sam Browne’ belt. Guard and line infantry regiments, 1908-17. Mollo Collection.

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3rd Top: (Military Fashion) Russia, Officers tunic or ‘mundir’, Artillery of the Guard, 1908-14. Mollo Collection.

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4th Top: (Military Fashion) Russia, Officers cuirass and helmet, Life Guard Horse Guard Regiment, c. 1860. A similar pattern was in use from 1846-1914. Mollo Collection.

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5th Top: (Starwars) Character ‘Grand Moff Tarkin’ played by Peter Cushing. I know this image is a little small but pose really sets up a specific comparison to the Officer’s khaki service jacket (2nd top). Very similar in terms of cut, though the green is a lot more washed out and drab.

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6th Top: (Starwars) Characters ‘Grand Moff Tarkin’ and ‘Commander #1′ more Peter Cushing this time with another Brit baddie, Leslie Schofield, image via imdb.com.

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7th Top: (Empire Strikes Back) View from the bridge of the AT-AT, note the detailing on the drivers helmets, essentially these were just modified Tie Fighter pilot helmets from the original film sprayed snow grey. Image via the amazing starwarshelmets.com more on that site in a moment…

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8th Top: (Starwars) A great movie still of everyones favourite slightly overweight and doomed X-Wing pilot ‘Red Six’, played by the late William Hootkins, image once again via imdb.com. John Mollo used a US APH-6B Helmet as the base on which to create the rebel helmets, love the graphical language of the helmets symbols, which leads me on to…

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9th Top (Alien) Pin lapel details from a set available to buy on ebay, I should actually point out that I think these might of been created by another Alien production designer – Ron Cobb. These pins were are seen in the movie either worn on the collar or jacket breast, and in the case of Dallas even glued onto a belt buckle. From clockwise and top left we have “Navigation Officer” as worn by Lambert, top left “Science Officer” as warn by Ash, Bottom Right is “Engineering” as is warn by Parker and Brett and finally bottom left indicates “Executive Officer” and is warn by Ripley, Dallas and Kane.

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10th/11th Top (Alien) The Nostromo main patch is warn by all the crew members at all times, visible on jackets and t-shirts on the shoulder and on Brett’s cap. The design (definitely by Mollo) is based upon military uniform buttons from the French Restoration Period, see the sketch below. The patch carries the ships name and serial number

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12th Top(Alien) A sketch for the Weyland Yutani logo, the infamous Anglo-Japanese corporation who crop up again in the subsequent sequels and (awful) spin offs. Note that the Weyland Yutani logo in Alien (a simple egyptian wing) is completely different to the one that features prominently in 1986 sequal Aliens.

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Bottom (Alien) Sketches produced by Mollo or Cobb on a draft of the original script.

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That pretty much wraps it all up, but before I finish I’ll point one amazingly useful resource for further reading. Starwars fans you definitely need to check out this site, it’s just superb http://www.starwarshelmets.com and there’s actually an interview with Mollo on there too http://www.starwarshelmets.com/john-mollo-interview.htm

Once again apologies for the brief pause in posting, and the slow response to emails, going to try and catch up this week/weekend. Actually part of the last month’s break has involved work on a Sci-Fi-O-Rama spin off project with Dan McPharlin, more on that in a moment, first here’s the lowdown on this article…

Kind of a quick post this one whilst I’m prepping some more wholesome material, I had intented to run this on the 29th of March as that was in fact Sci-Fi-O-Rama’s 3rd birthday, but alas didn’t get time! Anyway so for no particular reason other than it was at the top of the stack here’s another hyper-real selection of Hajime Sorayama’s masterful, airbrush craftsmanship. A few notes:

First of I’m embarssed to say I’m actually not sure of the titles here as these images are via the Hungarian Fantasy/Erotic Art bunker known as http://www.net-cafe.hu/ I do own a Sorayama book, but it’s in storage, so if you know how any are named please let me know. I’ll ad-lib then…

Top Image: This sultry vixen, adorned in glimmering chrome and gold crested armour is typical Sorayama subject material. If your your familiar with this strain of Sorayama’s work you’ll know how far he veers into fetishistic porno, by his standards this example only vaguely hint’s at eroticism. What I love about this piece is not just the flawless, impeciable rendering but more so the suit’s detailing, look closer and you’ll see many of Hajime’s familiar trademarks such as the venting on her inner left thigh, and the tiny winglets on the left forearm. It’s as complicated and fussy a design as a modern F1 car, and every bit as amazing (no doubt better too watch too)…

Middle: Although it’s what he’s most renowned for not all Sorayama’s work revolves around scantliy clad females undergoing robotic metamorphism, on a more advertising/commercial tip he also prouduced a series of metallic animals of which this dinosaur creature is one. Again check the beautiful detailing, such as the ever so spindly chromed hydraulics.

Bottom: This final example features one of Sorayama’s famous ‘Gynoid’ creations which I posted a little more about way back in September 2008. Something so quintessentially 80′s about not just this one but all three examples here – love them!

To check out more on Hajime Sorayama visit his official site – be warned there’s explicit content! http://hajimesorayama.com/. Also of interest I featured a post on British Illustrator Jasper Goodall who admits to being a fan, if you missed that it’s definitely worth a look check it here.

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Finally a quick one regarding the aforementioned Sci-Fi-O-Rama spin off project. I’ve managed to tie in my day job to the blog and with the help of Kieran Gutteridge and Dan McPharlin am currently developing a special Sci-Fi-O-Rama quiz game coming very soon to iOS… In fact if any iPad owners out there would like to take part in the Beta trial please get in touch via Twitter – send me a Direct Message with your iPad’s UDID cheers, Kie.

Two reasons for posting here, firstly I wanted to share this wonderful selection of ink renderings detailing some extremely elaborate – and therefore gorgeous – medieval armor. Secondly I wanted to point readers towards the original source of this material: Bibliodyssey a superb blog that features a raft of historic Illustration and draftsmanship. in a similar vein to A Journey Round My Skull Bibliodyssey, with its ever expanding archive of ultra rare imagery, is absolutely essential reading…

Follow Bibliodyssey on twitter http://twitter.com/BibliOdyssey or on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliodyssey/

The Illustrations are taken from Volumes of ‘Dictionnaire Raisonné du Mobilier Français de L’Époque Carlovingienne à la Renaissance’ (Dictionary of French Furniture from the Carolingian era to the Renaissance) Dating from the 18th Century.

See more Knight Attire at the original source: http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/03/knight-attire.html

Whilst I prep some new feature post’s I’m going to follow on from my recent Flickr Round with a collection of images I’ve bookmarked and backtracked via the excellent FFFFound.com – lazy? yes I know!

I actually still have FFFFound set as my Firefox home page and although I don’t spend quite as much time browsing as I used too, I still think it’s an excellent resource. In fact I’ve even saved off hundreds of bookmarked images too form offline inspiration scrapbook- It was a boring chore, but has since proved to be very handy!

Ok so here’s the notes on this somewhat arbitrary selection:

Top: Stunning Gothic, fantasy tinged fashion Illustration from Russian Artist Vania Zouravliov, this piece is entitled “The Head”. Really beautiful work, I think you’ll agree and someone I’ll definitely be looking to run a full feature on in the near(ish) future – in the meantime check this post at Jeff Hamada’s superb Booooooom.com or maybe just a general Google image search on Vania Zouravliov http://bit.ly/gwiMLU

2nd Top: I’m not sure on who the artist is here, only that I very much like the piece! As is often the problem with backtracking from FFFFound the link ends http://supersonicelectronic.com but not on the exact page – If you know who it is and have more info, please post a comment.

3rd Top: Now I really like this photograph, but again I’m lost for any more info on it – is it real? or a composite? The link ends here: www.ryanduenas.com – please help!

4th Top: Here’s one that’s easy to spot, it is of course the work of SF French illustrator extraordinaire Moebius this Image is via the fantastic butdoesitfloat.com – check out much more here: http://butdoesitfloat.com/filter/moebius

5th Top: This haunting portrait is the work of another illustrator I’ll be featuring again soon, Autumn Whitehurst – see more from her gorgeous portfolio here.

Bottom: Again this is another piece I’m not entirely sure on, though it looks somewhat similar to the work Cartoonist Spain Rodriguez whom I featured earlier in the year http://bit.ly/bm2l8q

** Proper posts coming soon! please give us a shout if you can help out at all identifying any of the unknown pieces…

Ok then so to (finally!) celebrate the 300th post Sci-Fi-O-Rama proudly presents a limited edition run of 50 customised American Apparel fashion T-Shirts, featuring an exclusive new logo designed by Dan McPharlin.

The garment comes in 2 variations, both hand screen printed in Manchester (UK). The first option is Metallic/Reflective on “50/50″ Black Aqua and is available in Small, Medium, and Large. The second design features Brilliant Orange printed upon extra soft “Tri-Blended” Indigo, this item is available in Medium only.

American Apparel T-Shirts are high quality, and wash very well, the fit is slim rather than tight/skinny (model shown is wearing Medium) these T-Shirts normally retail (non-customised) at £14 for the Black Aqua and £17 for the Tri-Indigo. American Apparel has a sweatshop free policy, all garments are made in the USA.

Each Sci-Fi-O-Rama T Shirt comes with a numbered card (1 to 50) and also features a hand sewn label on the sleeve.

Note that the price includes global shipping and handling – 1 price for all.

More photos to follow soon!!

Black Aqua - Size:

Medium £26.00 Small £26.00 Large £26.00

SORRY INDIGO T-SHIRT IS SOLD OUT!

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Photography: Scott Kershaw
Model: Sam Kershaw

See the orignal Tshirts in the American Apparel store here: http://bit.ly/cl7gBz and http://bit.ly/b60UnN ]]> http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/2010/10/17/3393/feed/ 13 http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/2010/09/26/more-from-i-could-tell-you-but-then-you-would-have-to-be-destroyed-by-me-emblems-from-the-pentagon%e2%80%99s-black-world/ http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/2010/09/26/more-from-i-could-tell-you-but-then-you-would-have-to-be-destroyed-by-me-emblems-from-the-pentagon%e2%80%99s-black-world/#comments Sun, 26 Sep 2010 14:22:02 +0000 Kie http://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/?p=3362

The source of this patch is the Philips Laboratory Military Spaceplane Technology Program (MiST) at Kirtland airbase New Mexico. Interesting too note here that the swooping X-Wing derived craft was in fact deemed too derivative and in stepped George Lucas’s army of lawyers with a cease and desist order! The patch you see here is an updated version featuring a modified craft, these modifications presumably include shoving the the cockpit down the nose cone and fitting a cosmic cow catcher to the front.

2nd Top: “Pete’s Dragon II”

This evil looking little creature sits on a commemorative patch apparently worn by Stealth Fighter Test Pilot Pete Barnes during secret flight tests in the mid eighties. The design is based on the 1977 Disney film Pete’s Dragon which follows the story of a green dragon named Elliot who was invisible to every one except a boy named Pete…

3rd Top: “Procul Este Profani – Special Projects”

More dragon action here with this snarling variant gleefully ripping through a thundercloud. This macho patch is from the 416th Flight Test Specials Projects flight working on advanced technologies for the F16 combined Test Force situated at Edwards Air Force Base. Members of the unit translate the latin phrase as “Keep your distance, you who are uninitiated”

Bottom: “National Reconnaissance Office – Snakes”

3 Cobras writhe and encircle our planet, more super menacing stuff from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Trevor Paglen notes that this patch’s origin is entirely obscure, perhaps the Latin phrase might give a clue which translates as “Never Before, Never Again” – maybe something to do with an missile early warning system? Incidentally is there sexual dimorphism in Cobras? I couldn’t work out why only the centre snake has the famous flared hood.

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As with the last post for further reading and imagery check this New York Times article and interview with Trevor Paglin http://is.gd/eMcOz or visit Trevor’s home site: http://www.paglen.com/

Also as I now have a copy of “I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagon’s Black World”  I highly recommend purchasing a copy yourself via Amazon, here’s a link: http://is.gd/eMdbl

And here’s a link to the prior post…

A very welcome to return to Sci-Fi-O-Rama for contemporary Sci-Fi/Fantasy Fashion Illustrator Barnaby Ward definitely one of my favourite featured artists. As is clearly demonstrated here, Barnaby’s capable of drawing extremely beautiful female characters whom he vivaciously mixes with the surreal and bizarre, such a cool inspiring style that always makes me want to grab a pen and start scribbling… In fact I’d go as far to say that’s there’s really only one other contemporary Illustrator capable of drawing quite such gorgeous, stylised characters and that’s Britain’s Jason Brooks.

Ok so to the notes on the Images, the top four here I’ve cropped into from a series of large Illustration intended as desktop backgrounds, there’s a full set of 9 available via Banarby’s expertly presented portfolio site: somefield.com, the final Illustration is a teaser illustration for his next major Illustrative project “Leavetaking” – all very much under wraps at the moment!.

Finally If you’ve not had a look before I also highly recommended checking Barnaby’s past Graphic Novel Work and the superb “Sixteen Miles to Merricks“.

Ok something of a bit of an exclusive here, from a contemporary Artist & Illustrator I’ve long admired – Brighton based Jasper Goodall (UK).

I first came across Jasper’s work as a design student around the turn of the century, his work prominently featured in Angus Hyland’s seminal “Pen and Mouse: Commercial Art and Digital Illustration” the book that triumphed traditional Illustrations transition into digital and thus the 21st century. It may seem strange now but once upon a time traditional illustration was in it’s death throws, out in the cold, superseded by saccharine layers of cheap and nasty Photoshop/Stock imagery that thanks to lazy graphic design had (horrifically) risen too prominence in the late 90′s. Something needed to give, and did, a new wave of Illustrators adapted, opting to use the Mac as a primary tool rather than just a finishing repro one, the computer became an integral part of the image making process, giving rise to a new fresh approach that continues to evolve – Jasper Goodall remains at the vanguard of this creative zeitgeist…

As something of a fan I decided to approach Jasper directly to ask him to supply Sci-Fi-O-Rama with a selection of recent work which he’s kindly done. Before I add the notes I’d like to point out that prints of all of the above images are available at http://www.jaspergoodall.com/shop.php

Top: This wonderfully lit latex beauty is entitled “Eye of Horus”, part of Jasper’s brand new “Sunrise Series”.

2nd Top: “Perpetual Dawn” – another superb rendering, with a slight echo of Hajime Sorayama to whom Jasper admits to being a fan…

3rd Top “Into the Void” – a flawless example of a superior digital airbrush technique.

4th Top & Bottom: “Dione’s Rapture” and “The Birth of Erebus”, these two final pieces came out of Jasper’s work for British Alternative Rock Band Muse, though they were not used as covers they were inspired by the project – see the full selection of Muse A/W here: http://www.jaspergoodall.com/projects.php?show=4#1

** Further Reading:

I hope to feature more on Jasper at some point in the not too distant future, in the meantime however do check his portfolio website for projects past and present: www.jaspergoodall.com

Two fine examples of Illustrated Concept Art from the Star Trek Universe, the top Image is the Borg Queen designed for the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact (best after Wrath of Khan IMO) this concept is quite a bit different to the film version, the carved skull idea here is particularly freaky! .The lower image profiles a Neutrino Welder apparently from the Original Movie Adaptation Star Trek: The Motion Picture – no I can’t remember them either… still, it’s a pretty cool looking suit.

Both these Images come via this superb Star Trek resource: Forgotten Trek http://www.ottens.co.uk/forgottentrek/ a vertible mine of behind the scenes stories, designs, concepts etc. Highly recommend even if your not a Trek fan, if you are however – this site’s worth it’s weight in Gold Pressed Latinum!