OK, as promised, I’m very proud to present an exclusive Sci-Fi-O-Rama feature, this time with Swedish Design and Illustration superstar Kilian Eng. Here we have a total tour de force of the imagination, gloriously twisted, washed in 80′s technicolor and blending only the very finest Sci-Fi and Fantasy references…

I’m quite sure you’ll be familiar with Kilian’s work, he’s built a considerable following since first proliferating through the major design/illustration blogs. Interestingly it was in fact Dan McPharlin that first put me onto Kilian with a post over at But Does it Float, and I’d put these two in the same bracket, pretty much the finest contemporary Science Fiction Illustrators on the planet. Another totally enviable fact is just how prolific Kilian is, check his primary portfolio site at behance.net/KilianEng for a vast array of interstellar work, amassed in just a few years.

So then, in the tradition of the Sci-Fi-O-Rama interview I have set the post up as follows, firstly a selection of Kilian’s work with my notes, then the interview we traded via email, before finishing on a selection of links and further reading. Lets start then with the notes:

Above: This wonderfully surrealistic illustration typifies Kilian’s portfolio, it’s a truly beautiful style that obviously pays homage to French masters such as Moebius and Enki Bilal. For me what really sets this work apart from others is just how hardcore the imaginative elements are – totally out there – a fusion of the surreal, the psychedelic and the technological, re-birthed with just the slickest style. The fact that the above image could easily work as a fashion illustration serves to underline that.

Above: This example highlights several of Kilian’s clever design traits. Firstly we have a lovingly balanced colour palette, subtly and carefully diffused to give a sense of depth. Next up, edginess – this work is the Sci-Fi definition of it – often tinged with darkness as above, but brought back with a wry sense of humour with nods to the 80′s cartoons that thrilled a generation. Ultimately though, the defining ingredient is the otherworldly factor, totally unforced, it’s the product of a powerful, wandering mind.

Above: Love this! A more graphical element is deployed here in one of the most striking examples from Kilian’s portfolio, thus one of my absolute faves.

Above: A follow up to the prior Illustration, indeed this is actually part of a set of four, check the other two here: behance.net/gallery/Various-work-05/1134721 …what to say, wonderful stuff!

Above: This frenzied, sinister illustration shows Kilian at his most detailed and linear, note the carefully selected tones, only 5 or so colours to define the background – cloud or cave?  – there is something of a feel of Fighting Fantasy’s Russ Nicholson here.

Above: We move once more onto the surreal tip here, this fabulous, dreamlike image forms part of a small series called ‘The Statue’ check the rest here: http://bit.ly/vFW9Ae

Above: This image is just one of many, fantastical environments Kilian is able to – seemingly – effortlessly create.

Above: In addition to his linear drawing and the graphical facets, Kilian also is capable of working in this quintessentially 80′s ‘Robo’ mode – note the much heavier diffusing and neon glows. It’s a style that looks almost effortless (though trust me it isn’t!) and again mixing in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy creates something truly haunting.

Above: Another rendering in the aforementioned ‘Robo’ mode. As usual it’s mind bending stuff, suffice to say it’s another personal fave, would love to see this entity in motion.

So that brings to a close my small selection (bonus after the interview). As I alluded to earlier I’ve barely scratched the surface so if it’s more imagery you seek, head directly to behance.net/KilianEng

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INTERVIEW

Hi Kilian, tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a 29 year old illustrator and live in Stockholm/Sweden. My commercial work as an illustrator began around 4 years ago when I started to do record covers for bands in the electronic music scene. However I had been drawing on my own stories long before and exploring different sides in my work. My education was at Konstfack, University of Arts Craft & Design in Stockholm at the graphic Design & Illustration department which is also called storytelling at Master’s level. From there I graduated in 2010 with an animated short film and I have continued to work on this afterwards so its soon to be completed.

You have a very distinctive style, how would you best describe your work?
Well its perhaps easier for others to put a label on it but I would say something like “often rich in colour with a surreal sci-fi approach with alot of focus on environments and architecture”. Perhaps not exactly what I would say if someone asked me on the street, but I hope it explains something of what I do.

Your portfolio oozes Sci-Fi and Fantasy references, but is there a visual style/genre you identify with more than others? (ie Cyberpunk, Post Apocalyptic, Surrealist?)
I would say that all those themes visit my work from time to time. Its always hard and certainly not necessary to sort out exactly what takes place in the pictures but I would say that a rather surrealistic approach often comes back, both in motive and the way that some work is being created. Surrealism is of course a huge area with limitless approach, but for me some of the best moments in the work process is when the subconscious is allowed to take part. It doesn’t happen too often but from time to time things just go almost by themselves and you can create like 5 pieces without thinking or analysing the process. Afterwards you start to put in the meaning and you try to understand what it is you have in front of you. At that point you can start to see explanations and the meaning or at least hopefully something that can be interesting to look at. When I do commissioned work I plan it much more and think about what kind of themes/genre I want to include, there you have to respect and be aware of the expectations from others on the outcome.

Do you work straight to screen (via Wacom) or does part of your workflow still involve pen and paper?
At the moment almost all of my work is drawn with the Wacom board, some exceptions are black and white outline illustrations that i scan and the color in the computer. Then I draw a lot of rough ideas in the sketchbook offcourse.

And following on from that, which part of the creative process do you enjoy the most?
I love to create shapes and plan the composition and space in images so I would say to build the environment where everything takes place. If you look at a lot of my work your can see that many times it puts focus on the room, often the surroundings are dominating the image and the character’s just passing trough or standing there without really doing anything, just taking in whats around them.

What are you working on at the moment? anything exciting coming up?
I’m just finishing a commission as concept designer for a sci-fi short film, the details around this project is still top secret but I have a very good feeling about the whole thing.  Other than that I’m doing some cover artwork and trying to develop and improve my work with animation. Then there wil be a little book with my work in preparation. It will hopefully be available in december this year. (Sci-Fi-O-Rama says, more on this soon!)

**A couple Sci-Fi-O-Rama generic question’s

What’s the best piece of Sci-Fi related material you’ve come across and been impressed by recently (book, film, artist)
As many others I’m really into H.P Lovecraft and just found out that in the 80′s a great Swedish Actor called Ernst Hugo Järegård read Lovecraft stories to tape and they are available as audiobooks. So far I have just been listening to a short preview of the reading but it sounds fantastic. What makes this so great is that I can’t think of any other actor here in Sweden who would fit better to read Lovecraft for an audience. This is of course very local as its only in my native language but it made me very happy to find out about!

Finally a follow on to the last question, any classic Sci-Fi material (book, film, artist) you could recommend think reader’s might not know of or have overlooked?
Some time ago i watched two short movies by Saul Bass and Elaine Bass called Phase IV and Quest, amazing and visually very strong films.

Many thanks Kilian!

**

Final Notes:

Before we finish up here’s a essential follow up links, Kilian’s portfolio site behance.net/KilianEng his Tumblr: http://dwdesign.tumblr.com/ and a link here to his Facebook Page.

Finally Kilian has very kindly took his own visual spin to our Sci-Fi-O-Rama logo! here it is, with the artist at work!

More from Kilian soon…

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.

Kie

Something of a special feature here, original photography scanned from the breathtakingly beautiful ‘To The Moon’ (Time-Life 1969) an audio and visual chronology that documents NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and (of course) Apollo projects. ‘To The Moon’ includes 6 doubled sided 12″ Vinyl’s full of famous radio transmissions and interviews, plus an accompanying 190 page slip case book, and that’s the focus of this post. Many thanks to Craig for the temporary loan!

The first thing that strikes when flicking through ‘To The Moon’ is the muted palette and hues of the colour photography. Bathed in a loving technicolor warmth, the imagery empowers the feeling of not just peering into the past, but through into another world, like suddenly everything could spring to life. What’s also unusual is the obscure nature or relative rarity of content, as you might expect in running and researching this blog I’ve mined many resources from this period, but scanning here presented gem after perfectly preserved gem.

A quick disclaimer on the scans, I’ve tried my best to match the tones of the book, but of course some scans work better than others.

Top Image: I often tend to start a post with the image I deem strongest, most outlandish or simply just the personal fave. The above is no exception, akin to a Renaissance masterpiece, with perfect pose and expression. What’s it all about? it’s part of development testing for the Mercury program, a researcher carefully measures how far a test subject, restricted by a pressure suit, can push ’spokes’ basically to gauge how away far the capsule controls should be.

Above: Gemini 6 splashes down 26 hours after launch. Once again a stripped back, gorgeous array of vivid colours, the fact that it’s slightly out of focus just adds to the painterly feel.

Above: Three early twin rotor helicopters (a type I’m unfamiliar with) sit against a cold and barren volcanic backdrop. No prizes for guessing this hostile landscape is Iceland, here the astronauts explore the lunar like terrain to help familiarise with the adventures that lay ahead.

Above: This abstract image is actually a long exposure of Astronaut Gus Grissom sitting within the fearsome ‘MASTIF’ (an acronym for Multiple Axis Space Test Inertia Facility). The g-force throttling, spinning MASTIF is designed to help teach an astronaut how bring a tumbling capsule under control.

Above: Engineers test a fragile-looking Mariner 4, this early interplanetary probe will embark on an 8 month fly-by mission to Mars.

Above: The Seven Astronauts of the Mercury Program try on their distinctive silver space suits. Composed of a rubber inner layer, and an outer aluminised shell these outfits are tailored to fit each astronaut precisely, to the point that even a few extra pounds would feel akin to being squeezed in a vise.

Above: An Atlas booster surges skyward from the launch pad carrying astronaut Wally Schirra. He rides atop inside Sigma 7, the tiny black and white capsule surmounted by the red escape tower.

Above: This ominous vast metallic structure is the inners of the gigantic liquid oxygen tank that forms part of stage 1 of a Saturn V Rocket, as used in NASA’s Apollo and Skylab projects.

Above: Friendship 7 (Mercury) soars skyward carrying John Glen. To myself as a child of the late 70′s/80′s Nasa missions predominantly mean the Space Shuttle and Cape Canaveral. This retro panorama of concrete towers, bunkers, pads and gantries (also at Cape Canaveral) seems somehow much more futuristic, a spaceport from which rockets hurtle to the furthest flung reaches of the solar system. Or alternatively on a somewhat darker note, this fearsome array of rapidly developed rocketry technology, birthed out of the Cold War’s arms and space race, also serves to remind how close our world came to nuclear annihilation.

Above: Prior to the liftoff of Gemini 5, Conrad and Cooper lie expectantly on their couches (combined photograph). This image is presented vertically from within the book, but it’s spun horizontally here, Cooper (right) looks almost waxen inside the helmet.

Above: 5 Days after the Soviet Spacewalk, several astronaut’s wives watch in tremendous anticipation as the first Gemini lifts off with its two man crew. Love this, a broad brushstroke of expression and emotion, much more than just one moment captured here, these faces beam back all the pride, thrill, terror and raw astonishment the Space Program can present. Or maybe it’s a just a summer snapshot with the greatest collection of 60′s sunglasses ever captured by camera.

Above: Astronaut John Glenn peers through a simulated capsule window, he observes star groupings at the Morehead Planetarium in North Carolina. Sighting on the vertical blue line which represents his flightpath, he learns to recognise the stars he will need as navigation guides when he gets into space. What to say about this one, definitely one of the most powerful in the book with a real Dave Bowman / 2001: A Space Odyssey feel, though of course Kubrick’s masterpiece arrived several years later.

It’s only fitting that we sign off with more details on the source, so last but not least here’s a few shots of the box, book and inlay, nicely showing off the colour coded vinyl, If your interested in picking this up then ebay of course is the best place to start, seems to crop up fairly regularly. Here’s a breakdown on the publication.

TO THE MOON – Book Plus Musical Recordings. Time Life Productions 1969. THE BOOK (Section II) captures the story in pictures and text for generations to come. 190 pages. – Slip Case Book: 12-1/2″ x 12-1/2″ (Includes records).

Dedication: To the yet unborn generations of the world who, in centuries to come, will be able to listen and understand that this extraordinary achievement was accomplished by “average men” like their fathers . . . Michael Kapp.

Side 1 – Prologue: The First message from man on the moon… The beginning of rocketry . . . Tsiolkovsky.

Side 2 – Prologue: World WAR II ends… US seizes remaining V-2’s and the German rocket team surrenders to the Americans.

Side 3 – Mercury: National Space and Aeronautics Administration is set up under the Eisenhower Administration.

Side 4 – Mercury: U.S. Space Probes… Russia photographs the moon with Lunik III… President Kennedy.

Side 5 – Mercury: Grissom’s Liberty Bell 7 makes a successful flight and sinks.

Side 6 – Mercury: Slayton is grounded . . . Ranger 4 to the dark side of the Moon.

Side 7 – Gemini: Russia, three-man capsule . . . Vietnam war escalates . . . Russian spacewalk.

Side 8 – Gemini: Armstrong and Scott dock with an Agenda but tumble end over end and must make an emergency landing.

Side 9 – Apollo: Grissom, White and Chaffee die in a ground test for the first manned Apollo.

Side 10 – Apollo: Schirra, Eiselle and Cunningham… the first manned flight with a Saturn IB.

Side 11 – Apollo: McDivitt, Scott and Schweickart prepare first manned test in space for LM… In Earth orbit, perform crucial docking.

Side 12 – Apollo: At Cape Kennedy during the long countdown Liftoff for Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins . . . Trans-lunar injection . . . Separation of Columbia and Eagle.

** Audio notes

If your even mildly into electronic/dance music, you’ll know that these hallow vinyls have been heavily sampled through the years. For further reading on that check this excellent post created by Craig (lender of book) over at DJ History http://www.djhistory.com/forum/to-the-moon

Here’s a taster, Lemon Jelly ‘Space Walk’, this track samples Ed White’s spacewalk during the Gemini program. Made more poignant as he tragically died in the Apollo 1 fire.

Finally I’d just like to point out how uplifting writing and researching this article in particular has been, To The Moon radiates a real sense of wonder and I hope that’s reflected. NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs were truly awe inspiring, this post is dedicated to all those involved.

Once again apologies for the long delay between posting, and responding to email. I’ve finally freed up some time and space to start posting again, so lets jump right then…

Above sits a wonderful cross section of art, illustration and design, not the work of an agency, collective or duo but in fact products of just one individual, Sydney based artist and designer Johnathan Zawada. I first came across Jonathan’s work whilst perusing the phenomenal inspiration repository that is butdoesitfloat.com (macro mode). As you will know the quality of the curation there is exceedingly high, each feature generally astonishing, however I was particularly drawn to the spectacular, otherworldly iridescence of Jonathan’s ‘Over Time’ series. This lead me back to his home site Exhibition and Commercial portfolios, where I researched and selected samples for presentation here.

Top & 2nd top: ‘Notes n Tokes’ and ‘Populations’. An exhibition of large scale drawings and oil paintings at Prism Gallery, Los Angeles from December 16, 2010 – February 28, 2011. The landscape topographies were derived from graph data (displayed as printed mirrors on accompanying plinths), modeled in 3D and then oil paintings created from those 3D renders. To see more check: http://zawada.com.au/2010/12/over-time/

3rd top: From Johnathan’s commercial portfolio a cover illustration on the the theme of ‘purple’ for Japanese creative magazine Brain.

4th top ‘Vallery 2011′ a photograph of part of Jonathan’s ‘Free Dumb’ exhibition, more on that here: http://zawada.com.au/2011/05/free-dumb/. I think the twisted jet is an F16 Falcon by the way…

5th top: A poster design to celebrate the premiere of Jean-Baptiste de Laubier’s film ‘It Was On Earth That I Knew Joy’, a 35 min science fiction film. Watch it on vimeo http://vimeo.com/9183277

6th top: An optical illusion rendered in a retro-tech fashion. Another inspired design, this time for the French clothing label Six Pack http://www.sixpack.fr/

Bottom: Signing off with this cheeky Disney adaption ‘Gunboat Willy’ an Identity design for a mens’ shoe label. Love it!

For further reading, if you haven’t already do visit Johnathan’s home site http://zawada.com.au or follow him through Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanzawada/.

Time once again to electroshock Sci-Fi-O-Rama from it’s semi-dormant state, here with a selection of work from the late Scottish sculptor and artist Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005).

Paolozzi has always been a favourite of mine, particularly his beautifully composed, ultra-vibrant graphic screenprints. This post was sparked when I recently picked up a copy of “Paolozzi” a 1999 paperback publication that gives a chronological overview of Eduardo’s work. Here is the back page synopsis, note that I’ve embellished this slightly, altering present to past tense.

Eduardo Paolozzi (of Italian descent) was one of the major figures of postwar British art: A father of Pop Art a creator of key icons of the nuclear age, a brilliant manipulator of the images produced by the media, an iconoclast and traditionalist, an outsider and academican.

Onto the notes, I’ll keep it simple and won’t attempt a heavy analysis. If you would like to read more about Paolozzi, his methods, motivations and technique then the best place to start is his in-depth wikipedia page. One (patronising!) point I will make is when viewing, remember that all of these images hail from the 60′s or 70′s, long before the age of Photoshop. An obvious point for sure, but for me something that underlines just how sophisticated and forward leaning this work was at the time.

Top: “Hollywood Wax Museum from Zero Energy Experimental Pile (Z.E.E.P)” 1969-70 Screenprint on paper. We kick off here with a real trademark pieces, and I’m actually referring to the title not just the artwork, every bit as out there! A real diverse mix of elements features here, Sputnik, attitude indicators, giant Mecha robots, Marylin Monroe and the uneasy focal point of a NASA space monkey (Sam?).

2nd top:“B.A.S.H”1971 Screenprinted on paper. A flat colour, more geometric offering, this one gives clues as to Paolozzi’s background in surrealism.

3rd top: “Silken World of Michelangelo from Moonstrips Empire News” 1967 Screenprint on paper. Another great example of the way that Poalozzi used repeated patterns, to layer up composistions, at no point here does the eye rest easily. Also of note; the deconstructed Disney image worked down to mosiac form, something that appears in other screenprints.

4th top:“Print from Mein Kolner Dom: Blueprints for a New Museum” 1980-81lithograph and screenprint. Another playful and innovative composition; a giant blue bottle, Skylab (remember that?), Albert Einstein, jet packs and more, all playfully juxtaposed over the inners of a grand gothic cathedral.

5th top: “Part One, Frozen Terror… Part Two, Fangs of Death”1965 screenprint. This piece and the subsequent lower two are taken from http://www.paolozziprints.comand are available to buy, signed by the artist with the edition number. Another fab title, this mixes familiar pattern geometrics with pin girls and a strange alien type crusader creature, printed with a typically vivid contrasting colour palette.

6th top: “Cover for a Journal” Screenprint. This more abstract piece features a slick example of overprinting.

7th top: “Why children commit suicide…read next month’s issue” Signed and numbered photolithograph 1965-70. Another crazy title!

8th top: A photo of the artist, taken at a Hamburg ship breakers yard in 1961.

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Images taken from paolozziprints.com scanned from Paolozzi (Fiona Pearson 1999) http://amzn.to/mwl61i

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…

**
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.

**
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.

**
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

Here’s a continuation of one of the more popular features I ran last year ‘The Art of the Arcade Marque‘ with a further selection of 12 primary coloured beauties. First of all a quick refresh on what an Arcade Marquee actually is, basically it’s the flat, often illuminated panel at the top of an Arcade Cabinet. The above examples date from the late 70′s through to the early 90′s, essentially this was the golden age of Arcade / Coin-op games, this era faded quickly as the power and playability of Home Console/PC gaming began to catch up and supersede the majority of the arcade experience. When you think back even the full on 3D Games of the Mid 90′s such as Sega Rally or Ridge Racer are now well into their respective teens, an eon in terms graphics and processing technology.

Fast forward to 2011 and the ‘Age of the App Icon’. With potentially 100′s of games on just your phone alone the concept of giant power hungry cabinet capable of playing just one game over and over seems pretty antiquated, leaving most cabinets to exist today as retro curiosities, often long forgotten. But though the bright neon days of the 80′s may have dimmed, retro culture plus legions of devoted fans and collectors empower that the magic still lives on. As a total ex-arcade nerd myself I’m doing my bit here to bring a bit of past graphical wizardry back to the fore.

Right then, before I start with the run down of each of the featured examples I’ll just point out a couple of valuable resources and where I’ve actually collected the artwork from. First up is KLOV or ‘Killer List Of Video Games’ essentially this is Wikipedia for Coin-Op’s, it’s amazing. Secondly I’ve also heavily referenced Emdkay.net who specialise in ‘Authentic & Reproduction Arcade Artwork, Arcade & Mame Marquees, and Home Arcade Bartop Cabinets’. If your after purchasing any of this artwork then Emdkay might be the best place to start.

Here’s the notes on the images, from top to bottom.

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Space Odyssey (Sega/Gremlin) 1981.
An early vertical Shoot-Em’-Up that looks like it alternates and also plays horizontally, for the time probably something of a novelty. KLOV ranks is it as scare, and I confess that I’ve never heard nor seen it… The monochrome red marquee with it’s spindly space ship and black hole is fab though, so It gets a special mention here!

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9675

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Space Invaders (Taito / Bally-Midway) 1978.
From a rarity to the game the started it all, Tomihiro Nishikado’s Space Invaders caused a temporary shortage of 100-yen coins upon it’s release in Japan and Guiness World Records still ranks it as the top arcade game ever. This marquee, from the US Bally Midway version will surely jog you memory as to what the cabinet looks like, I’ve never been too sure where exactly the Yeti type alien appears exactly in the actual game but as it’s earned Taito over $500 million dollars in the last 32 years or so, it’s hardly my place to be picking holes!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders

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Super Qix (Taito) 1987
A fairly common fantasy themed puzzle game from 1987, not one I’ve seen myself but the graphic is certainly striking and slots in here’s nicely next to the other dragon themed marquees.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9933

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King of Dragons (Capcom) 1991
This scrolling swords &s ocery beat-em-up is one I do remember playing, basically a more sophisticated Golden Axe type game which supported up to 3 players. Another lovely graphic, reminiscent of Gauntlet but sadly missing a scantily clad, amazonian type warrior babe.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8313

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Castle of Dragon (Seta) 1989.
A side scrolling platform fighter, this is another one I’d not heard of till researching this post, and judging by the scarcity rating on KLOV, It’s not just me that missed it. In truth it looks pretty average, and I wonder if it even made it’s way to distant British Shores. Marquee’s cool though.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7292

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Bubble Bobble (Taito) 1986
Another massive Taito classic that was ported across the board to pretty much all systems of the time. Bub & Bob (as featured here) are actually twin ‘Bubble Dragons’ there in game mission; to save there girlfriends from monsters… Is it me or does that sound somewhat familiar?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_Bobble

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Outrun (Sega) 1986
Whilst 1986 saw the release of the immensely playable Bubble Bobble amongst others, nothing made jaws drop like Outrun, an Audio/Visual feast delivered with the help of pioneering sprite scaling technology that gives a real sense of speed. Despite now being 25 years old IMHO even today it’s a driving game that still looks and plays fantastic. Quick note on the marquee itself, whilst it’s obviously an instantly recognizable classic, but I’m wondering, is the perspective ever so slightly out? the truck looks a little too elongated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_Run

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Galaxy Force (Sega) 1988.
Another Sega game to employ Outrun’s sprite scaling technology was Galaxy Force, a pseudo 3d space shoot-em-up very similar to Afterburner, though far less common. This is one that used to fascinate me, not because of amazing playability (in retrospect it was more of a tech demo) but rather just because of the sheer size of the moving cabinet! have a look over at at KLOV…

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=7891

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Warp Warp (Rock-Ola Mfg Corp) 1981
One more game I was completely unfamiliar with till composing this article, Warp Warp looks as if it plays as a hybrid of the more popular game types of it’s time, though since I don’t have Mame installed I can’t confirm. The marquee is interesting in that it kinda reminds me of the work of Ian Anderson’s Designer’s Republic though it predates there formation by at least 5 years, still I wonder if Ian ever saw this?

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10407

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Nemesis (Konami) 1985
Nemesis was an immensly playable side scrolling shoot-em-up which featured (for it’s time) a revolutionairy weapon’s power up system, again as with Outrun it’s something that still plays great today. A further note on something that’s always slightly confused me, the game is better known ‘Gradius’ not quite sure why the name swap happened for different regions, anyone know why?

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8842

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Life Force (Konami) 1986
More name swapping trickery here from Konami, Life Force is also known as Salamader it’s an indirect sequal to Gradius/Nemesis apperently set in ‘the same universe’. The game features one of those great lost in translation arcade moments, the second playable craft is known as “Lord British” but due to ambiguity of Japanese-to-English romanization is often referred to as “Road British”.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8427

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Splatterhouse (Namco) 1988
Though predating by approximately 8 years ‘Splatterhourse’ is undoubtedly a spiritual precursor to the Resident Evil series, It’s a horror themed linear side scrolling beat-em-up featuring some fairly gory graphics and somewhat questionable content. When ported to home consoles the game featured a ‘parental advisory warning’ on the box art. The marque itself is rendered in a classic B-Movie esque style.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splatterhouse

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.

Here’s my 3rd Spotify playlist and this time I thought I’d go for something of a theme, that being “Alternate 80′s”. Therefore then all tracks I’ve featured hark from that era. Ok so maybe there not all alternate, and actually one isn’t from the 80′s at all (although in spirit is) but once again there all pretty much synth driven.So a couple of notes on this selection:

We kick off with an obscure Eurythmics B-Side from 1982 before moving into several familiar cuts from some of the UK’s seminal acts of the time. Then moving uptempo swoop into a more club oritentated angle with offerings from Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) & Depeche Mode before swerving southbound into Italo Disco mode with Aeroplane’s ( They’re better than Daft Punk) recent remix of Sebastian Tellier and then Peter Richards “Walking in the Neon”. The last segment moves to electro-pop with Tim Simenon’s Bomb The Bass Project, followed by some early Moroder-esque-euro-disco from Belgium. The selection ends with, for me, one of the greatest pieces of electronic music ever produced, the totally timeless and therefore completely amazing “Dead Eyes Opened” composed by Aussie industrialists and synth pioneers, Severed Heads.

Here’s the full tracklist:

1. Eurythmics – Monkey Monkey (1982)
2. Talk Talk – Such a Shame (1984)
3. Brian Ferry – Don’t stop the Dance (Special 12″ Mix -1985*)
4. Japan – Quite Life (1979/1980)
5. Sharpe & Numan – Change Your Mind (1984)
6. Pete Shelley – I don’t know what it is (1981)
7. Depeche Mode – Get the Balance Right (Combination Mix – 1983)
8. Sébastien Tellier – Kilometer (Aeroplane “Italo 84″ Remix – 2009)
9. Peter Richard – Walking in the Neon (Dub Version – 1986)
10. Bomb the Bass – Don’t Make Me Wait (7″ Mix – 1988)
11: Sue Ann – My Baby My (1981)
12: Severed Heads – Dead Eyes Opened (1984)

Here then is the link for the playlist: http://bit.ly/h9rZFX hope you enjoy!

*Note that you must have the Spotify App installed, and of course be signed up to the premium service to dodge the Adverts. Artwork once again – as is custom – from Eric Carl’s fabulous Flickr Photostream: http://bit.ly/e18NTx

*Quick note on “Don’t stop the Dance” – John Daly (fave producer of mine) has done an excellent re-edit that’s not too hard to find …