Above: A still from The Last Starfighter (1984) this ‘Gunstar’ model is comprised of almost 400,000 Polygons, this was four times more than had ever been attempted with any other computer generated model and each frame took 5 minutes or more to render on the most powerful computer available, a Cray X-MP.

So a little more about ‘Creative Computer Graphics’, this was then, I presume, one of the definitive coffee table books of the day, it’s easy to imagine it having pride of place in a mid 80′s Pixar studio, or Graphics Group as they were then known. Bound inside are 144 glossy pages chronologically charting the rise of computer graphics technology from the tentative first steps of the 1950′s right through to the early 80′s. The book contains some wonderful imagery (often horrendously crude), and in addition there’s some very insightful reading on early computer graphic pioneers like John Whitney and Jim Blinn, it’s definitely worth a look. Here then is a snapshot of that zeitgeist…

Above: Wireframe skeleton for an aircraft on Evans & Sutherland’s original picture system, an F15  Eagle I think ? anyway great colours indicating the various sections of fuselage. This is of course something that could be pulled from any modeling program today, but back in 1984, this was the bleeding edge.

Above: A image developed for the 1983  David Cronenberg film Videodrome, a body shock horror (does he do any other?). It’s a long time since I’ve seen the movie, so I can’t say I remember this, the garish factor is obviously through the roof, and whilst undoubtably somewhat vulgar there is something enticing here. One thing is for sure, it’s so very, very eighties.

Above: A nearly-solid wireframe image of a satellite in high orbit above Oceania, the density of the wireframe gives the Illusion of a sold surface.

Above: A still from an animation designed at Montreal University, this is a simulation of a collision, in fact the scattered debris of a Chervolet Corvette…

Above: A still from Tron (Disney 1982). Three video game warriors poised to transform in ‘Light Cycles’, the glowing red lines added optically over the top of the actors – I presume this means ‘in post-production’.

Above: The books most interesting chapter is on computer art, and the early adopting artists. As with the other sections it’s a mixed bag, with plenty of dated graphics but on the spin there’s some really striking experimental imagery, which interestingly hasn’t really dated at all. Take for example the above image ‘Unititled’ by digital art pioneer Manfred Mohr, this is in fact a wooden construction, plotted by computer, of all the 24 diagonal paths of the diagnal 000-111, generated from a four-dimensional hypercube (also known as a tesseract). If this fascinating excersize in mathematical minimalism is slightly beyond you, dont worry, without further reading I’m with you…

Above: Further experimentation with the tesseract, ‘Cubic Limit V: Restriction’ again by Manfred Mohr.

Above: ’Skew f28′ by Mark Wilson. This one was a little tricky to scan, and due to format I’ve had to scale it down, still it’s a very interesting piece and I imagine it’d look great run off a large format plotter printer.

Plenty more old school goodies inside but I’ll wrap up the post here,  if your interested in checking out more, have a browse through the title over at Google Books or you could pick up the hard copy for just a few dollars via Amazon.

This is a belated tribute post to the late, great Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius and whom sadly, as I’m sure you know has recently passed away, following an extended battle with cancer. A gloomy time for the highest echelon of visual futurists, following the recent death of Starwars designer and visionary Ralph McQuarrie, another brilliant blinding light flickers and fades.

Jean Giraud was one of the worlds finest comic artists and fantasists, up there with luminaries such as Federico Fellini, Stan Lee and Hayao Miyazaki . Perhaps in fact he was the finest, I don’t think it’s an exaggerated statement to suggest that Giraud possessed an almost supernatural ability, an artist whose oneness with his inner creative universe was matched only by his voracious workrate. It’s extremely poignant to now think that every vision forged from Moebius’s staggeringly complex creative mind has now been produced, there’ll never be another…

For this post then I’ve handpicked a just a small selection of his beautiful art,  as usual I’ve then tried to lace with as many leads out as I can for your further reading, lets start with his background.

Jean Giruad was born in in the Paris suburb of Nogent sur Marne on May 8th 1938. His parents divorced while he was young and Giraud was sent to live with his grandparents in the country, this rupture he later explained lay at the heart of his choice of separate pen names. With had little formal artistic training other than two years at the École des Arts Appliqués which joined at 16, Giruad was already publishing his cowboy cartoons by his late teens. Upon leaving education he would then spend some time in Mexico with his mother before a stint of national service in Algeria where he collaborated on the army magazine 5/5 Forces Françaises. 

Giraud’s career was set inmotion when he started to work as an apprentice with Belgian Comic artist Joseph “Jijé” Gillain, one of the leading comic artists in Europe at the time. During this period Moebius worked on titles such as  Jerry Spring ”The Road to Coronado” of which he inked. Things really began to take off after a collaboration with writer Jean-Michel Charlier and the start of the western comic serial Blueberry, for Pilote and the title quickly gathered a large following. Giraud evolved with Blueberry creating a darker and grittier style, which continued further in 1968 when the loosening of censorship laws allowed more adult themes and explicit content to be incorporated.

Above: Blueberry, superbly lit and coloured.

Giraud’s work in the 60′s and early 70′s was predominately all involved with the Western Gernre, and was produced as either under the pen names Jean Giraud,  Giraud or just simply Gir, but there was also another pseudonym – Moebius – first coined in 1963  used for a 21-strip Science Fiction serial that ran in a satire magazine called Hara-Kiri. The strip ended in 64 and the Moebius Moniker disappeared for 11 years…

in 1975 Moebius joined forces with with journalist/writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet, artist Philippe Druillet, and finacial director Bernard Farkas. The grouped called themselves “Les Humanoides Associes” and together they started the genre busting magazine magazine Métal Hurlant, better known to the english speaking world of course as Heavy Metal.

Above: Les Humanoides Associes, barefooted flare-wearer Moebius is on the right, Philippe Druillet next in then Dionnet with Farkas on the left.

Above: Moebius cover for a 1977 edition of Heavy Metal, trademark with typical hyper-detail.

Under the banner of  Heavy Metal, Moebius published some of his best loved and acclaimed work, and moved to a greater international stage. Material from this period includes the groundbreaking Azarch, named after it’s silent warrior protagonist who rides a pterodactyl-like creature through a strange, desolate landscape. Giraud also penned the the non linear, Airtight Garage strip, which he basically made up as he went along! The ‘Garage’ in question was in fact an asteroid that housed a micro universe.

From today’s viewpoint though the title with perhaps the most importance and resonance is The Long Tomorrow, a Moebius collaboration with the late Alien screenwriter Dan O’Bannon. The Long Tomorrow is now looked upon as the seminal cyberpunk piece first defining the grunged dsytopian look and feel and heavily influenced creatives such as Alien and Bladerunner director Ridley Scott, Neuromancer novelist William Gibson and Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo - this to name but a few.  Here’s a great quote from Gibson on the artwork featured in Heavy Metal

“So it’s entirely fair to say, and I’ve said it before, that the way Neuromancer-the-novel “looks” was influenced in large part by some of the artwork I saw in ‘Heavy Metal’. I assume that this must also be true of John Carpenter’s ‘Escape from New York’, Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’”, and all other artefacts of the style sometimes dubbed ‘cyberpunk’. Those French guys, they got their end in early.” source

Below: A page from The Long Tomorrow, imagine the impact power this had back in 1976.

In addition to comic art and illustration Moebius of course has a long CV of working with film and animation, this all started back in 1974 when was asked by Alejandro Jodorowsky to contribute art to his doomed, big screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune”. If you’ve never heard of this unbelievably ambitious project, then you in for a real treat, I’ve posted about it in the past, but your best to head straight to the source: http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/ also attached were Chris Foss, HR Giger, Pink Floyd for the Soundtrack with Salvador Dali to play The Emporer for a rumoured $100,000 a day!

Anyway before the inevitable implosion, Moebius had created a stunning collection of artwork totaling over 3000 pieces, including a storyboard of each scene, below are a just a few examples, for more head straight to: http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/moebius/

Above: This regal character from Dune is Doctor Wellington Yueh, wonderfully ornate detailing.

Above: More concept costume artwork from the unseen Dune, Duncan Idaho (left) and Gurney Halleck (right), excellent boots and erm codpiece. One thing I really love that features again and again in Moebius’s art is the graphic detailing, the bird graphic on these characters chest’s is a great example, in fact I’ll make a point to research and write about the graphical lexicon of Moebius in future, masterful work.

Below: A Spice Smuggler, Moebius at his most playfully wild and outlandish – just superb – but again I think minimal skull and crossbones graphics caps the hole outfit off.

The next big film project to come along was Ridley Scott’s 1979 Sci-Fi Horror classic Alien, joining part of a creative force which again included Giger and Foss. Moebius’s creative involvement however was cut short after a difference of opinion with Scott, limiting his involvement to just three days. This was still sufficient time to make an impact, as his conceptual spacesuit drawings made it into production with only minor changes, as you can see below.

Above: Original Sketches for the crew’s EVA suits, which are I must say probably one of my favourite movie costumes.

Above: The actual suits featured it the film, Scott’s production team have given them a slightly darker edge, love the wedged helmet torch. Just a side thought, I never really thought of Alien as a cyberpunk film until a friend described it as such in conversation, but it’s beaten up aesthetic certainly fits…

Next up something we have a conceptual drawing of an Imperial Probe Droid, that appears memorably at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back. I had absolutely no idea Moebius was involved with the film until researching for this post, I always thought the droid design and its garbled transmission pattern was one of the coolest things in that movie, and now I know why!

** EDIT Moebius DID NOT produce the drawing below, it was probably produced by Joe Johnston based on designs from The Long Tomorrow, the ESB production team attained special permission from Moebius to adapt the design. Thanks for pointing that out Cecil

Above: An original sketch, interesting to note similarities with the Sentinel robots featured in The Matrix series, though of they would come years later…

Work on the revolutionary CGI pioneering film Tron (Disney 1982) would follow next, with Moebius once again acting as a conceptual artist and back up storyboard creator. Heres a small selection of the art, fascinating when you consider just how close some of these drawings are to the actual finished costumes.

See more of the artwork over at http://theairtightgarage.tumblr.com/search/tron a wonderful Tumblr blog dedicated solely to exploring the work of Jean Giraud.

Another film I’ve covered in the past and also from 1982 Moebius is the Franco-Hungarian animated film “Les Maîtres du temps” (Time Masters) directed by none other than René Laloux. Moebius was employed as designer and judging by the box art obviously having him involved was a big deal, as his name takes prominence on the box art, top right of the image below. For more imagery from Les Maîtres du temps check out Eric Carl’s excellent gallery set over at Flickr.

Throughout the 80′s Moebius would continue to be involved in major hollywood projects including Masters of the Universe (1987) Willow (1988) and The Abyss (1989) though ultimately neither Lucas or Cameron would use his designs.

Probably the film that owes most to art of Moebius is Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (1997), the project started out in 1991 as a script titled Zaltam Bleros, and Giraud was hired in the early stages to produce concepts for costumes, vehicles and sets. Over the next 6 years Zaltam Bleros would under go many revisions before emerging as the popular super camp blockbusting space opera though throughout it’s metamorphosis Moebius’s designs essentially remained intact. The relationship with Besson would turn sour as after the films release Moebius and Jodorowsky attempted to sue accusing him of blatantly plagiarising The Incal, a comic book series they had started in 1981.  The case was unsuccessful though and in fact Jodorowsky would later conceed he actually considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas.

Above: Art from Luc Besson: The Story of the Fifth Element currently retailing new on Amazon for nearly $900 !

Of course whilst all these film projects were ongoing so was the comic illustration and writing, including collaboration with Stan Lee and Marvel comics on The Silver Surfer as you can see below. Specific comic series is something I shall cover in depth in future posts.

To underline the importance and prominence of Moebius in his native france in 1988 he was chosen among with 11 other winners of the prestigious Grand Prix of the Angoulême Festival, to illustrate a postage stamp set issued on the theme of communication. In recent years Moebius’s work has been the subject of several exhibitions, sharing a joint exhibition 2004/2005 with Hayao Miyazaki at La Monnaie Paris, and then in 2010 his very own grandoise ‘Moebius: Transe-Forme at Fondation Cartier’ once again in Paris. This was something I posted about at the time, If you’ve not seen the imagery before it’s definitely worth a look, stunning stuff, I really wish I could have gone, oh yeah and I love Giruad’s sharp tailor suit.

So that draws my brief tribute to a close, there’s so much more I could write and post about, and of course I shall continue to do so in the future, a future in which without doubt Moebius’s legacy will just continue to gracefully evolve.

Finally here’s a great quote, taken from an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2011:

“They said that I changed their life, work is why I became an artist. Oh it makes me happy. But you know at same time I have an internal broom to clean it all up. It can be dangerous to believe it. Someone wrote, ‘Moebius is a legendary artist.’ A legend — now I am like a unicorn.”

Jean Giruad – Moebius passed away aged 73 and is survived by his second wife and business partner, Isabelle Giraud and two children Helene and Julien from his first marriage.

***

Further Reading:

Moebius tagged Gallaries at But Does it Float http://butdoesitfloat.com/filter/Moebius

An excellent tribute article By Dan Dos Santos - I ♥ Moebius –  http://muddycolors.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/i-moebius.html

Jodorowsky on Moebius http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/moebius/

A tumblr for all things Jean Giraud  http://theairtightgarage.tumblr.com/

io9.com tribute post with Willow and Abyss artwork.

Not sure how long this link will remain valid, but while it’s up do check the Moebius Redux documentary, originally broadcast on BBC4 a couple of years ago.

Au revoir Moebius…

One of Sci-Fi Arts true legends Ralph McQuarrie has sadly passed away aged 82, Ralph was the visionary concept artist and illustrator responsible for the look and feel of the original Starwars trilogy . Born and raised in Gary Indiana, Ralph moved to California in the 60′s where he was first employed as a technical llustrator for Boeing. Ralph left in 1965 before becoming a commercial artist and designer working on a variety of projects such as these film posters. At the end of the 60′s as part of a three man team he animated US TV network CBS’s coverage of Nasa’s Apollo space programme this can be seen here (would love to see more of this). Not too long afterwards McQuarrie was approached by George Lucas to discuss plans for a certain sci-Fi fantasy film…

McQuarrie was commissioned by Lucas in 1975, and immediately set out creating concepts for characters, vehicles, set paintings, backdrops etc, these would of course evolve into some of cinema’s most recgonisable and loved Icons. Here’s a great quote from Ralph:

“I just did my best to depict what I thought the film should look like, I really liked the idea. I didn’t think the film would ever get made. My impression was it was too expensive. There wouldn’t be enough of an audience. It’s just too complicated. But George knew a lot of things that I didn’t know.”

Against all odds, Lucas armed with McQuarrie’s wonderful paintings finally managed to twist 20 Century Fox’s arm into comissioning the project, filming in Tunisia would start shortly afterwards. McQuarrie carried on with the Trilogy, working on both sequels, examples of which I’ve included here. Interestingly (I didn’t know this) Ralph also has a uncredited, non speaking part in The Empire Strikes Back, you can see that here kinda funny as he walks across screen in front of one of his own matte paintings.

Though obviously most famous for his work on the Starwars universe, McQuarrie’s highly impressive reseme includes Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, Battlestar Galactica, Close Encounters of The Third Kind and Cocoon, which earned him an Acadamy Award for visual effects in 1986.

Above and at the head of post are a few of my favourite McQuarrie images, I love the way his imaginings are slightly more streamlined and delicate than the intricate models they became, wonderful stuff!

Here are a few links for futher reading, firstly some great interviews (dating back to 1978)  at http://www.ralphmcquarrie.com/interviews/index.html also at his site check through the portfolio sections, I’ll strive to track down some of McQuarrie’s lesser known work for future posting. Also check the Day of the Jedi, for broad collection of Starwars concept art.

Finally to end with here’s a great quote from his website:

His influence on design will be felt forever. There’s no doubt in our hearts that centuries from now amazing spaceships will soar, future cities will rise and someone, somewhere will say…

“that looks like something Ralph McQuarrie painted.”

The era is the mid to late 80′s, a period fabulously rich in gaming concepts and innovation as developers frantically sought to grasp, harness and subsequently wring every last nanogram of creativity from the available platforms of the day. Each title here contained – for the time – an array of groundbreaking ideas and technologies. What else connects them? well of course I played them way back when and thus they are in some way or another forever burned into the hazy mists of my subconscious.

I’ve been mulling over this one for a while but wasn’t sure quite how to start, hence the recent posting log jam. I wanted to compose an extended retro game feature, but not just to give a rose tinted review of gameplay or mechanics. Here then is a more focused look at the visuals themselves, what fascinated back then and what us still so beautiful and relevant today, 2012.

1. Midwinter (1989) Microplay – Amiga/Atari St/IBM-PC

Hailing way back from 1989 we begin with this wonderful in-game animation, taken from Mike Singleton‘s seminal first person Action/Strategy game ‘Midwinter’. I actually covered the back story and game mechanics in depth a few years back, today the focus is the virtual world itself . This long forgotten classic (23 years old!) featured the implementation of many radical new ideas most notably it’s beautiful, fractal generated landscape, all 160,000 square miles of it. Upon this jagged stage of relentless grey and blue polygons the game would unfold, the above animation shows all of the objects to be found within this bleak digital realm.

This type of spinning model animation was not unique to Midwinter, as you’ll see below, but of them all this (for me) has the most resonance. Back them due to hardware restrictions, there was no texture or bump mapping – at least not in game – graphics could only run with a limited palette, though this was expanded by interlacing or dithering the colours.  Seen above this is the checkered, flickering effect as two filled blocks dance between each other. There’s also a real charm with the basic tones of this palette too, earthy terracotta, golden yellows and shades of evergreen jumping straight off the jet black background. A final note and a total giveaway of the era is the speed in which the objects rotate, the simplest and smallest revolving far faster, whilst the emulated 8Mhz processor slows to shift the larger models.

I’ll summerise to say how the subtle, simplistic genius of the design today could easily pass off as abstract pop-art.

Read more about Midwinter at Wikipedia

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2. The Sentinel (AKA The Sentry) (1986) Firebird
BBC Micro / ZX Spectrum /Commordore 64 /Amstrad / CPCAmiga / Atari St / PC (Dos)

First released in 1986 The Sentinel (US The Sentry) was an experience like nothing else, a brooding first person 3d puzzler with 10,000 individual levels. A digital mutation of chess and musical statues It’s compelling uniqueness has retrospectively led some to dub it ”the first virtual reality game’ . The objective of each level is the same, traverse and ascend a checkered, angular landscape by teleportation, to do this you must harvest energy by absorbing the worlds various objects. Atop of all stands the ever watching and rotating sentinel, constantly scanning for intruders to consume and destroy. To win you must survive long enough to be able to climb as high as the Sentinel himself, and thus be able to absorb even him . Though the premise may sound somewhat bewildering, gameplay is in fact relatively relatively simple to pick up, though undoubtedly difficult to master.

The Sentinel was developed originally on the 8-Bit BBC Micro by British programming legend Geoff Crammond, it was then subsequently ported across the board. I first played it on a ZX Spectrum, which due to the obvious hardware limitations plays at a slower pace than the Atari St Version demonstrated above, though this only serves to heighten the tension.

With it’s hard edged, selectively colored graphics, there’s something very alien and ethereal about The Sentinel; A voyage through a seemingly endless array of cold, stark and unavailing worlds, It’s eerie desolation matched only by it’s sweaty addictiveness. Truly timeless.

Above The Sentinel Rendered on the BBC Micro, also note the phallic overtones present in the game box art.

For more information on the Sentinel and it’s legacy check out the Wikipedia Article or read more at Moby Games.

**

Elite (1984) Firebird
BBC Micro / Acorn / ZX Spectrum / Commordore 64 / Amstrad / CPCAmiga / Atari St / IBM-PC / NES

Here we have a game of truly legendary status, and really needs no introduction. The brainchild of Cambridge graduates David Braben and Ian Bell and originally launched in 1984 it’s 3d wireframe graphics enveloped the player in galaxy of space exploration, trading and combat.

As with a few of the other titles here, Elite is something I’ve mentioned on the blog before, firstly when I featured Philip Castle promotional Artwork and of related interest here is a link with some thoughts on Elites extraordinarily ambitious sequel ‘Frontier’ released in 1992.

The movie shoes the IBM-PC version of the games starting animation, this introduces the player to all of the in game objects, essentially the different types of spacecraft you may encounter. Elite was originally written for 8-Bit systems, and featured only black and white wireframe graphics, the upgraded 16-Bit version includes solid polygons, as you can see. I’ve compiled the clip to show the game running in different display modes starting with CGA, then EGA and finally VGA. Bearing in mind that PC’s back then were purely made for the office, CGA graphic mode was severely hamstrung and capable of only a very limited, migraine inducing palette, and you think thats bad, play the game with just the PC speaker for sound and you have a truly ghastly experience! Next up is EGA mode, capable of a more powerful range of colours, expanded by the same interlaced displacement of pixels mentioned earlier. Finally the VGA mode removes the interlacing and shows the cheese shaped objects in a gloriously garish neon spectrum.

Whilst graphically it all obviously seems so primitive today, this was once cutting edge stuff; showing all the objects gave the player a notion to go forth and explore, it’s a visual checklist for things to see inside Braben and Bell’s economically woven synthetic universe. Finally, one really neat thing here is the flickering star, I presume this is to simulate atmospheric heat haze, and not just a hardware limitation!

Above the games original box art, always loved this winged-crest-type thing, though I confess to this day  I have no idea what it’s actually supposed to be. The design I presume was created by the afforementioned Philip Castle.

Read more about Elite at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(game)

**

Battle Command (1990) Ocean Software
ZX Spectrum / Commordore 64 / Amstrad CPC / Amiga / Atari St / IBM-PC

Where as the previous titles can be considered classics, Battle Command slides casually into the ‘obscure and unremarkable’ category. Released in 1990 (yes I know the post title says 80s) the game is a loose sequel to the superb ‘Carrier Command’ whose war-games-esque kitsch cover was featured as one of the very first posts here at Sci-Fi-O-Rama. Battle Command is much more action orientated than it’s better known predecessor and seems to play out like an updated version of Atari’s legendary ‘Battlezone’. I say it’s “seems to” because the truth is 20+ years after owning I’m still not really sure how to play it, even today through emulation I’m none the wiser…

But whilst the gaming experience may still allude, it does have it’s plus points, essentially these boils down to a selection of primitive, but nevertheless, fascinating 3d animations, to be seen compiled in the above movie. The smaller movies show the objective of each mission, presumably what must be destroyed, captured or protected. Theres real charm and a sense of play here, as the camera slowly pans the various objects, the simplistic but striking models shimmer in a gorgeous range of acidic, saturated colours. In keeping with the plastic palette and theme, the in-game protanganist bare a closer resemblance to Lego-like renditions rather than that of the the real thing – toy buildings, tanks, fighter jets poised and ready to be challenged in battle. Finally and as if to underline that, checkout the lovingly crafted intro animation complete with clipping, and slight CPU slowdown. Forget todays hyper-realism, for me this is what computer graphics will forever be about.

Above: The box art featuring a pretty mean looking armoured vehicle, off topic I do wonder how much of a role tanks will play on future battlefields, not exactly cutting edge tech are they, and would you really want to drive one in an even fight?. Anyway, enough of that, as you might expect of a long-forgotten 22 year old game cyberspace isn’t awash with information on Battle Command. However, as always, a good place to start is the Wikipedia article.

**

Captain Blood – 1988 Infrogrmmes/ Mindscape
ZX Spectrum / Commordore 64 /Amstrad / CPCAmiga / Atari St / IBM-PC

The final title here, by Philippe Ulrich & Didier Bouchon is from France. As with most things Sci-Fi and Gallic, to say it’s ‘out there’ is a blasphemous understatement, quite how the French do their Sci-Fi which such broad strokes of flair must surely be the subject of a future article, but for now let’s stick this fine example.

Captain Blood’s suitably existential plot involves assuming the role of a game designer flung into his own game, searching the galaxy for a number rouge clones of yourself that were created during an accident soon after the transition to the game world. To track the clones down help is available via variety of alien races who are dotted around the galaxy and to whom who you must voyage too, meet and interview.

Gameplay involves picking and then travelling to a planet where upon arrival you must guide a biological probe called an ‘OORXX’ to the chosen worlds surface. This involves steering a cross hair across a fractal generated psuedo-3d landscape, try to imagine flying through Peter Saville’s iconic Joy Divison LP cover for ‘Unknown Pleasures‘. When the OORXX lands you’ll need to attempt to communicate with the local indigenous species using a complicated universal translating device, the ‘UPCOM’. I’ll pause here and just say, if you hadn’t guessed already Captain Blood It’s totally bizarre, and frankly, quite how it should be. The UPCOM’s GUI has a range of icons each symbolising a different concept, you string them together to form conversation, the machine garbles then out robotic synthisised speech, the alien subsequently responds. Yeap it’s even weirder than it sounds, but I have to say, if there was ever a game that deserves to be remade or re-invented for the tablet gerneration this has got to be it.

The games British box art, nice Font. Read more about Captain Blood at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Blood_(video_game)

**
Further Notes:

If your interested in reliving a few memories or just a spot of retro gaming most of these games are now classed as Abondonware, essentially meaning you can find the ROM’s and play them through the PC emulator DOSBOX. For OSX users this is easier than you think, just visit and download the Boxer App. In addition check Abandonia for a large selection of legally downloadable ROMs.

That’s pretty much it, quick disclaimer on the presentation, this is the first major post I’ve upgrading the site to be mobile responsive, if you spot any design anomolies please let me know. Back soon with more!

Hi, apologies once again for the lengthy delay between posting, a plethora of trivial and mundane excuses are available on request, but I’m sure your just glad to see the bloody hammering, hammer has vanished! Me too.

Ok so I want to try and squeeze in a couple of posts and (I’m hoping) featured interviews this month, but I thought I’d get the ball rolling with an official announcement heralding Sci-Fi-O-Rama’s return. Also that the site is now Mobile Responsive…

What does that mean? well I took the festive period to basically rebuild the WordPress theme from the bottom up so that it renders well across the board from Smartphones, to Widescreen Monitors. In hindsight I probably should of looked at reworking the blog into excerpt overview snippets, this would save on initial loadtime, particularly over a cellular network, but I guess one step at a time. New content first…

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

**

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…

As they’ve proved popular I thought I’d put together another hour long Spotify set.  Essentially these are Tracks I’ve enjoyed in the last year or so, yeap It’s another Collection of  80′s inspired Cosmic/Italo tinged House & Techno, a quick check on what to expect, and then the track list.

• Multi-layered and delayed spaced out sounds ✓
• Galloping Synths ✓
• Chattering Appergiator Riffs ✓
• Twinkling harmonics ✓
• Middling camp factor ✓

1. Blondes – ‘Synthesist‘  2011 Rvng Intl
Pretty much love anything from this Brooklyn based duo, a really distinctive layering sound.

2. Sven Weisemann – ‘Slices’ (Boris Hotton Mix) 2008 liebe*detail spezial
Missed this first time around, classy minimal Germanic Tech House.

3. John Daly – ‘Flashback’ 2009 Wave Music
Another superb 80′s-esque synth cut from this extremely talented Irish producer, taken from John’s 2009 album ‘Sea and Sky‘.

4. Ripperton – ‘Farra’ 2010, Green
Love the way the sounds are balanced here, creating a spooky, distant dreamscape. Track is taken from Ripperton’s 2010 album ‘Niwa‘.

5. Âme - ‘Excelsior’ – 2006, Sonar Kollektiv
A tripped out, downtempo sojourn from this superb German act.

6. Cosmo Vitelli – ‘Running Backwards’ – 2011, I’m A Cliché
A dark, robotic tech-house chugger, with a rocking End-of-the-world type feel.

7. Nick Chacona - ‘Be like Olive’ – 2010, Moodmusic
An excellent, deep-but-mellow cut hailing from Nick’s debut album ‘Love in the Middle“.

8. Ilya Santana – ‘Dance Beyond‘ – 2010, Eskimo Recordings
A superb Moroder-esque monster from a very gifted Belgian producer with all the right references. Also a label stablemate of the superb Aeroplane.

** Here’s the link for the playlist: http://spoti.fi/uy5ukk - enjoy!!

*Note that you must have the Spotify App installed, and of course be signed up to one of the subscription service to remove the adverts.

The kaleidoscopic image is taken from from the Flickr stream of Brazilian artist and designer Duda Lanna (AKA Eduardo Michelini Lanna). I’ll be sure to feature more from him soon, in the meantime check www.dudalanna.com a top portfolio.

Up next, a Kilian Eng exclusive…

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.