Physalia-Ships

The Physalia is a form of sea life which drifts through tropical waters. It has a sail-like bulb at the top and a tangle of extendable tentacles underneath. It is poisonous and will give painful stings to any human who touches it. I envisioned spaceships built like Physalia, with a hard central shell and long streamers reaching outward from it. Perhaps the streamers are a form of biomorphic space drive, as there doesn't seem to be any conventional form of propulsion. Probably the aliens who travel in these ships resemble Physalias, and are used to either aquatic or zero-G life. The stings would be bursts of radiation which would burn anything that came into contact with the streamers.

"Physalia-ships" is acrylic on illustration board, 10" x 7", September 1990.

War Bikini

Here's my next attempt at doing another scantily clad battle Amazon. This doesn't suck as much as my first warrior woman, but it isn't up to "World of Warcraft" standards yet. Here's what I'm aiming for with these. I view all figure drawing, and all "realistic" digital painting, as a challenge to me, whereas drawing buildings or other stuff I'm actually good at, is not much of a challenge. I need a challenge - or a commission - to do good art. Oddly enough, I am not much of an artistic self-motivator except in certain special areas, like my Noantri world, which no one, except a couple of my friends, is interested in. I really like working to order. I don't like to just do stuff for myself, that no one else sees or appreciates. I'd rather publish mediocre art than hide excellent art.

I guess I'm an egotist. I want an audience and fans and recognition. That's one reason I'm trying to do "conventional" fantasy subjects like warrior women. These stock figures (or gaming characters) are also a way for me to learn how to handle the digital painting medium so I can get "realistic" renderings out of it. This piece didn't take me as long as the previous one I published here. I still have problems with the proportions on the figure, in that they have to be exaggerated: longer limbs, rounder bazooms, flexible back, smaller head. And also, to design true fantasy female warrior costumes, I must abandon all sense of utility and just go for the "showgirl" aspect of it. I mean, it's got to be realistically rendered, but in "reality," totally absurd. There really were women warriors in ancient times, but they wore armor or some body-covering protective garments. They did not, alas, go to war wearing bikinis.

"War Bikini" is Photoshop, 7" x 10", March 2010.

Round Spacecraft

Here's another in my later 1990 series of space miniatures. This was called "Round Probe" though it might be an escape pod or some sort of shuttlecraft, as it has a large engine to propel it. I like to look at pictures of old hardware from industrial or military or civil engineering and then re-create it as space architecture and hardware. I was once again trying for that high-contrast Vincent diFate look here. If this is an escape pod, there's a lot of space for the rescuers to cover; I hope that the passengers are saved.

"Round Probe" is acrylic on illustration board, 10" x 7", September 1990.

Iconic Mid-Century Modern Car Shop

It's my first outdoor drawing of the year! Here is a specimen of mid-century modern vernacular auto architecture in Fairfax, VA. I did it while sitting on a rickety splintery wood pallet at an outdoor flower shop in the parking lot. Note the classic office area with the big windows. There were also cheerful if faded accents of blue and red. The same kind of layout is still used in fancy modern houses. No architect can resist the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows. I like the buildings in my neighborhoods, usually small business buildings, that no one notices. They are often hidden architectural gems. I hope to bring you more of them when the weather gets warmer.

Small sketchbook drawing, about 5" x 3".

Lebbeus Tower

I have been a fan of architect and artist Lebbeus Woods for many years. His fantastic drawings occupy a space which is both science fiction and Serious Art, a place I devoutly wish to occupy, (while doing gross, vulgar fantasy art for fun). You can't build these things, unless you are building a model or a stage set, but they are memorable and influential on many other architects. Woods himself is a wild eccentric with a perverse imagination, who has traveled the world getting and giving dark inspiration. This is one person I would really like to meet, but he would despise me as a trivial suck-up.

Inspired by Lebbeus Woods' designs, I created this image of a tower on the Moon, in the harsh light of airless space. It could be an exploration rocket which has been turned into an inhabited colony, or it could be a weapons station for lunar warfare. Tracks from lunar rovers have pressed a road into the dusty surface, where the occupants come and go.

"Lebbeus Tower" is acrylic on illustration board, 7" x 10", September 1990.

Escher Orientale

Here's a little speedpaint I did tonight in Photoshop. I guess the gravity gets a little odd in Cathay, after all it's on the other side of the world from me so things must be upside down! And so if you walk up the suspension bridge, you will get to the center where all things face each other, like the petals of a golden flower.

Two Dimensional Space Warp

In late 1990 I was feeling avant-garde. I had an avant-garde moment where I painted a whole series of unusual stuff over the usual airbrush nebula and star backgrounds. This was one of them. I chose shapes made out of curves, mostly triangular shapes, and painted them on top of a standard space "blank" which I made in batches. I had no intent of telling a story or making the shapes mean anything, it was just one of those abstract things. In order to get it into a science fiction convention art show (Philcon 1990), I had to make up a title that would fit, so I called this "Two-Dimensional Space Warp."

Nowadays I could toss this off in Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator in an hour or two. I am not selling anything these days, so if I must make art I might as well do it in pixels which take up no space whatsoever in my cluttered studio. But Balticon is coming up so I may have to actually paint some of these in real paint so that someone might buy it.

I'm not feeling very good about my art these days. I'm faced with the choice of making formulaic space abstractions, soporific country scenes, or kitschy fantasy art. I have limited time to make art so I have to be careful about my choices 'cause I don't want to waste time on something. So I waste time looking at other people's fabulous digital extravaganzas on DeviantART instead.

"Two-Dimensional Space Warp" is acrylic on illustration board, 10" x 7", September 1990.