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 It may seem strange now but once upon a time traditional illustration was in it’s death throws, out in the cold, superseded by saccharine layers of cheap and nasty Photoshop/Stock imagery that thanks to lazy graphic design had (horrifically) risen too prominence in the late 90’s.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

Something slightly different – and frankly bizarre! – obscure US Military Patch graphics. I first tagged this set a while back (2008) but only just rediscovered whilst mining through the ever increasing stack of Sci-Fi-O-Rama resource bookmarks!

What we have here then are six samples or military shoulder/pocket patches taken from “I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagon’s Black World” (published Melville House Dec 2007) a compendium of rarely seen “Black Ops” Military Unit/Projects memorabilia researched and compiled by American Artist’s Trevor Paglen. What constitutes a Black Ops Project then? well basically it’s any classified US military research project veiled in secrecy that quietly guzzle funds from the federal budget. Examples of Black Ops which have trans-located into the public domain include the F-117 Stealth Fighter or the B2 Stealth Bomber and those projects that don’t and remain forever shrouded? well it’s a conspiracy theorists wet dream isn’t it…

I’ve always been a fan of embroidered sew on patches be they Military, Space, Movie or otherwise (having assembled small collection via ebay) anyway this set with it’s extremely weird mix of cartoon visuals, Sci-Fi, the Occult and sinister cryptic slogans pretty much blows any other patch art into oblivion…

Here’s the notes then for the chosen images:

Top: National Reconnaissance Office Dragon Path – This patch is one of Trevor Paglen’s absolute favourites, and it’s not hard to see why! The whole visual concept – the green dragon holding the world in its clutches, American flag wings, and its tail wrapped around a diamond – is extremely sinister, and screams “Imperialism/New World Order/Illuminati” well at least that’s my half-baked conjecture!. The actual source of the patch apparently has something to do with a classified Satellite (probably signals-intelligence) launched into a geosynchronous orbit in 2003…

2nd Top: This one’s definitely my favourite – wicked design – Minotaur is a still-classified program undertaken by Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs division, the Skunk Works.

3rd Top:“We Own The Night” – This patch commemorates the August 17, 2000, launch of a “classified National Reconnaissance Office payload” atop a Titan IV rocket.

4th Top: The Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile was a classified cruise missile symbolized by the Tasmanian Devil. The acronym Tssam recalled the cartoon character.

5th Top: The classic ‘Grey’ alien with a B-2 bomber in it’s clutches, the slogan “To Serve Man” apparently a reference to a classic Twilight Zone episode… The 509th Bomb Wing flew B-2 stealth bomber test flights, and used to be based at Roswell, N.M., home of the notorious ‘Roswell Incident‘.

Bottom: This one with it’s glowing eyed green wizard creature remains something of an enigma, Trevor notes: The origins of this patch remain unknown. The red star is in Southwest, which is many secret units’ home, while military intelligence typically uses green vaults.

**

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 you can buy a copy of “I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have to be Destroyed by Me: Emblems from the Pentagon’s Black World” starting from via Amazon, here’s a link: http://is.gd/eMdbl

And finally for more Secretive Military patch design inspiration check out this site: http://www.u2sr71patches.co.uk/area51.htm

Spotted this breathtaking selection of abstract space photography earlier today and thought it’d make a good meander to the flow of the blog…

This post then is something of an expanded retweet which I first saw linked via We Are Build’s Twitter feed http://twitter.com/BuildsBlog. The full article comes via Wired Magazine and that’s where you can see a complete set of 12 images. Here’s my thoughts and notes on the selected imagery…

All 5 photographs have been taken this year by NASA’s enduring Cassini probe which started it’s long mission to Saturn and it’s many moons back in 1997. Cassini–Huygens was developed as a twin NASA/ESA venture, with NASA constructing the Orbiter and the Europeans building the Huygens Probe (lander) which touched down on the surface of Titan (Saturn’s largest moon) on January 14th, 2005 transmitting data (via Cassini) back to earth for 90 minutes. Whilst not without some glitches both probes have been a phenomenal success making many significant discoveries such as confirming the existence of liquid hydrocarbon lakes, cryovolcanoes and mysterious “spokes” in Saturn’s rings, plus with plans to potentially run Cassini through to 2017 there is of course scope for learning so much more…

Top Image: The Icy moon of Tethys in silent transit around the enourmous gas giant. Tethys is just one of sixty two discovered Moons in orbit of Saturn.

2nd Image: The moons of Rhea (large in frame) and Epimetheus, despite the deceiving appearance these moons are in fact 250,000 miles apart. Rhea with a diameter of of 946 miles is Saturn’s second largest moon whilst at just 70miles across Epimetheus ranks 16th largest.

3rd Image: The dark side of Saturn cast’s a long heavy shadow across it’s rings – stunning! – the aforementioned moon of Thetys can be seen top right whilst Enceladus spins away bottom right.

4th Image: Perpetual storms on Saturn can feature wind speeds in access of 1000 mph and can be interspersed with violent cracks of lighting, amazingly Cassini managed to capture this phenomenon on film, check it out. Though unimaginably fast Saturn’s wind speeds are in fact trumped by those of far flung Neptune which can clock over 1300mph!

Bottom: Dione (Saturns 15th largest moon) is dwarfed by the looming Titan. Titan appears yellow in colour and is the only moon known too have a dense atmosphere, consisting of 98.4% Nitrogen with Methane making up the remainder… possibly not a holiday spot then.

**

As I mentioned do check the full post at Wired for another 7 images, or indeed try the NASA source.

A long overdue feature on Eric George Fraser (June 11, 1902 – November 15, 1983), one of the great British Illustrators of his time. Eric’s most renowned for creating lavish covers for the long running Radio Times Magazine as well Illustrating many classic scenes from mythology, Shakespeare and Tolkien – Here’s some notes on the featured images:

Top: The Red Dragon Express – British Railways menu card dating from 1960 via Flickr User: Mikeyashworth

2nd top: Eric Fraser Beowulf & Dragon via Flickr user: hitmissmaybe

3rd top: Exploration of the Moon – book jacket 1965, again via Flickr User: Mikeyashworth- The structure is very Norman Foster Associates!

4th top: St Peter, St Paul and Atilla (Pen Ink and Watercolour) dust jacket cover 1968 via: chrisbeetles.com

5th top: The Talisman (Watercolour and Bodycolour) 1956 via: chrisbeetles.com

6th top: Laxdolela Saga (Pen and Ink) Dust Jacket 1964 via: chrisbeetles.com

Bottom: Smaug (Pen and Ink) Illustration taken from The Hobbit published by the Folio Society in 1976 (thanks for the tip Zhu) see the full set here: tolkien.com.pl

**

For further reading and or galleries, check out:

Eric Fraser @ chrisbeetles.com with a chance to buy signed prints…

Also check this Flickr group: Eric Fraser – artist and illustrator

Finally here’s a link to buy Eric Fraser: Designer and Illustrator a hardback coffee table book compiled by Sylvia Backemeyer.

Ok so once again apologies for the sparse activity on Sci-Fi-O-Rama, legitimate excuses this time – broken shoulder via downhill mountain biking then stolen Mac Book Pro via little scumbags! Anyway all up and running again (thanks to time machine and a sling) so I’m going to start off with an easy post, another Flickr favourite round up, here’s the notes on the images…

Top: “North American X-15″ – A superb painting of the legendary late 50’s experimental Rocket/Space plane, which at Mach 6.72 still hold the record for the fastest manned flight… Well worth reading a bit more about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_X-15. Here’s an additional link to an amazing photograph that shows the X15 slung under a B52 wing (from which it was launched) http://is.gd/eh8Ac …the Cold War did have it’s perks… Not sure of the artist here so please post if you now more, Illustration via X-Ray Delta One

2nd Top “The Man Who Fell to Earth” – a subtle composition and unusual Gothic display font make up this interesting jacket for the 1963 Walter Tevis SF novel that was adapted to the big screen (starring David Bowie) by Nicholas Roeg in 1976. The covers tattered quality lends that extra finishing coat of charm. via Curly-Wurly

3rd Top “Los amos del tiempo” (The Masters of Time) – Another feature for one of my favourite artist’s listed here, Horacio Salinas Blanch, this cover with it’s ultra vivid palette typifies his work, such a great style… Art via C. Rancio

4th Top “Rhapsody in Black” – A beautiful enchantress takes prominence in this haunting book cover by late American SF Illustrator Maestro Kelly Freas. Illustration via mystique123_2000 – a wonderful photostream.

Bottom: “Spring” This final image is a sister piece to something I posted almost two years ago, exuberant flamboyance from Michael Whelan. Illustration via Flickr user Fantasy.Gallery also check Michael Whelan’s portfolio at: http://www.michaelwhelan.com/

More updates soon…

More extraordinarily complex draughtsmanship from Katushiro Otomo’s 2182-page manga masterpiece “Akira”.

**Possible Spoilers**

The above images are taken from the end of Akira book 3 published by Dark Horse comics, I used to have the colourised version compiled by Epic Comics but alas, it’s long since vanished! For those of you perhaps more familiar with the 1988 animated movie but not the Manga, I’d thoroughly recommend checking it out, the story is massively more complex, intertwining a multitude of characters and many recurring, explicitly described locations…

The reason I chose to feature this set was I still vividly remember how much of an effect these illustrations had on me as an aspiring artist/designer, the detail is beyond phenomenal. Of particular interest is not just the superb architectural designs but the way the building are crowned with differing mix of signage, communication arrays, air conditioning systems, water towers etc….

Akira volume 01 is available over on Amazon http://is.gd/dxk1Q and all good bookshops!

** Edit – Also check http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ a good place to pick up all the volumes at retail – cheers for the tip DQN

More on Katsuhiro Otomo here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsuhiro_Otomo

Ok so something a little different here, Non SF/Fantasy related material!

The above images come from a full colour 1968 Magazine Publication “History of the 20th Century” that I came across recently. The magazine was a long running weekly publication that built up in to volumes of 16, forming a substantial encyclopedia of mankinds recent past – as you can imagine, the focus is on colonialism, imperialism and of course war and its devastating effects that have shaped our modern world…

Aside from the extremely in depth content “History of the 20th Century” contains some stunning imagery, all of which has a real “technicolor” saturated feel photography in the way that only 40+ year old colour print can have.

Some notes on the images:

Top: Illustration from a poster produced by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War (1917-20). Wrangelm the White (anti-Bolshevik) general, is shown striding towards Moscow, accompanied by Tsarist officers, a train of priests, officials and capitalists all bearing Tsarist flags… The slogan for this poster was “Wrangel is Coming! Proletarians to arms!”

2nd Top: Allegorical painting: comment on the legacy of war by Russian artist Vereshchagin. Painted in the early years of the 20th Century.

Bottom: From an extensive article on The Boer War; This map details part of the timeline from “The battle of Spion Kop” – which the article notes was perhaps the bloodiest single engagement of the war.

For more imagery from “History of the 20th Century” check Flickr user Mando Maniacs gallery
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mando_gal/sets/72157600556461108/

Two samples of wonderfully coloured, surrealist fantasy painting from Filipino Artist Rom Villaseran.  I first encountered this distinctive work whilst browsing through FFFFound and decided to get in touch…

A native of Manila, Rom began his career as a visual artist creating album covers for local rock bands, he adds “It was a lot of fun, but I was looking for something more fulfilling – I wanted to build a series of paintings that would better describe the world that I have in my head“. In 2000 Rom put on a 30-piece show called Matadora and has since held 4 more solo shows: Pre-Lunar, Lunar, Piloto ng Hatinggabi (The Pilot of Midnight) and Foreplay.

I asked Rom about the motives behind his artand he describes it as “Most, if not all, of my work are self-portraits. I know it sounds egotistical, but if I wanted to be honest in my work, I’d have to talk about things that I know and understand. The inspiration for the pieces may not be fantastical ideas, they are actually very simple realities that have happened to me over the years. But once these experiences are filtered through my mind, they become scenes and characters from my fantasy world. It really is like living life in your own head. “

The two samples I’ve included are from the Piloto ng Hatinggabi series, the Top is entitled “Awit Sa Ambon” (Song for Rain) and the second “Biyaheng Talon” (Journey by the Waterfall).

Of Awit Sa Ambon Rom adds “is about me coexisting with my paintings, my work. The bird is singing for rain to nourish the tree, which in return, provides a home for the bird”. And of Biyaheng Talon “it’s about a kid going through a journey. he rides a carriage that is being lifted by birds. Instead of money as payment for passage, he gives them fish. I have always been far more fascinated with the journey one takes rather than the destination.”

Rom sites his influences as “Like everyone else, I grew up enjoying the works of H.R. Giger and Dave McKean. But when I came across the works of Ian Miller (Luck in the Head), and Kent Williams (Meltdown-Wolverine), back in 1995, that’s when I knew I wanted to paint my world for the rest of my life. These guys are amazing!”

Cheers Rom!!

**

See the full portfolio (hosted on the excellent Cargo Platform) over at http://cargocollective.com/romvillaseran

Originally spotted via Folkert Gorter’s AKA Superfamous FFFFOUND posts.

Here’s a new set of 8 tracks to follow on from last years original “Sci-Fi-O-Rama Spotify Playlist” – this bunch I’ve imaginatively entitled #02!

Once again a bit of a mixed bag of spacey electronic sounds starting with the warm, radial ambiance of Loscil’s “Umbra”, before shifting into slo-mo synth house territory, tripped out techno, finally finishing off with a track from my favourite act of the moment; Blondes and “You mean so much to me”.

Here’s a full tracklisting, hope you enjoy!

1. Loscil – Umbra
2. Coyote – Beat Journey
3. Kathy Diamond, Mario Basanov & Vidis – In My System (Downtown Party Network Remix)
4. Gus Gus – Northern Lights
5 Lazersonic, Zak Frost – Aquaplane (Unit 4 Remix)
6. Dance Disorder – Zusammen (Instrumental)
7. Giorgos Gatzigristos – Binary Star System
8. Blondes – You Mean So Much To Me

Here’s the link for the Spotify URL: http://is.gd/dgvou

*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 from Eric Carl’s fabulous Flickr Photostream: http://is.gd/dgxcE

Ian Albinson over at the excellent artofthetitle.com got in touch with me the other day asking me to help identify the original artists and books that were used in the title sequence of the 2009 Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) Comedy “Gentlemen Broncos“. You can view a movie of the the whole sequence here: http://is.gd/dbKfK

In total of 24 books were used by production designer Richard A Wright in creating the title sequence, and I’ve included a small selection here. A few of the designs look familiar, but I must confess I don’t actually know for sure and wondered whether any readers can help out?

Some notes on the featured images:

Top: This looks either like a Frank Frazetta or possibly Peter Andrew Jones – not sure though!

2nd Top: I was thinking this has an echo of Peter Elson ? looks like a 70’s cover

3rd Top: A really well rendered painting, an older cover I think – early 60s’?

4th Top: This reminds me somewhat of StarWars concept artist Ralph Mcquarrie – late 70’s?

5th Top: No idea here! cool though…

6th Top: Again this looks slightly older – a 60’s cover?

7th Top: I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this one browsing through the extensive Flickr Sci-Fi-Books Pool but alas I didn’t favourite it.

Please do post a comment if you are familiar with any of the covers featured above or from the movie.  Also, do make a point to check out Ian’s site – a superb read & inspiration resource: http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Finally here’s a link to the trailer for Gentlemen Broncos staring the excellent Sam Rockwell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdpFpfIBkXc