Tribute - Cycles of Fire

The last in this series of tribute paintings to the 1980's science fiction artwork classic, "Cycles of Fire," this painting is my interpretation of that book's cover painting. The original piece, create by William K. Hartmann, depicted a barred spiral galaxy in the background with a binary pair of a red giant and white dwarf looming close in the foreground. My version has the same basic composition, but I moved the foreground stars off into the distance since I chose to focus more on the sheer scale of the scene vs. the stars themselves. As with an earlier painting, the technique of flicking water-diluted paint with a toothbrush was used to create the sparkling stars; finally, like most nocturns, this painting was very difficult to photograph, but I think it turned out well.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Tribute - Comet Storm

Another tribute painting based on a classic piece in the late 1980's "Cycles of Fire" science fiction artbook. One of the paintings that I found most striking among so many great ones was one painted by Ron Miller; the scene was that of a young, alien world of fiery colors with numerous comets filling the sunset sky. When I first ventured into landscape painting, I tried to recreate that image, but never succeeded; 25+ years later, I decided to give it a whirl again, and this is my version of that scene. Along the wet sands of a large lake, above the rocky spires and far-away hills, comets hang in the blazing sky.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Tribute - Nightfall

This painting is inspired by a mix of scenes: Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall" story, the classic science fiction artwork of the book "Cycles of Fire" from the late 1980's, and my experience watching the sun set and the Milky Way fade into view at Death Valley. The stars were painted using an old toothbrush and a watery mix of paint; I held the brush close to the painting and gave the bristles a slow flick to produce the scattered light of countless stars bit by bit.

Here, in a dry region of an Earth-like world, we see the sun set and a single constellation with millions of stars fade into view. The blazing light of a huge globular star cluster dominates the night sky with its warm glow. What legends of the stars would form on a world like this?

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Broken Moon

The last of a recent patch of sci-fi paintings, here we see a watery, temperate world from the perspective of its ring system. The rings were formed many thousands of years ago when the planet's moon, once in a long decaying orbit, finally crossed the Roche Limit and was broken apart. The end result is a beautiful ring around the world and many small meteors that light up the sky as the debris slowly rains down.

Digital painting created in Photoshop Elements 10

Life on a Gas Giant's Moon...

So what would life be like on a world similar to Earth, but which is merely a large moon around a huge gas giant? This digital painting explores that possibility. Here, we see a cold world, not unlike Earth during an ice age, orbiting its parent gas giant. Such worlds would have massive tides, impressive auroras, and regularly solar eclipses. The concept of day, night, and seasons would be different with an additional element introduced since not only does the moon rotate and go around the sun, but the moon goes around the parent gas giant as well. Worlds like this one almost surely exist - we have found gas giants large enough to theoretically have moons as massive as Earth - all that is needed is for them to have enough water and exist in the star's habitable zone.

Digital painting create in Photoshop Elements 10

An Earth-like World...

Another of my space art creations, here we approach an Earth-like world, though with one interesting distinction from our own planet - most of this planet's land is fused together in a large super continent that dominates part of the southern hemisphere. Verdant temperate and tropical zones exist along the edges of this realm, though the interior is a scorching desert. Vast storms rage across the planet's single, huge ocean, causing havoc if they do make landfall.

Digital Painting in Photoshop Elements 10

Approaching a Swampy World

Just to change things up a bit, here's one of my more recent science-fiction space paintings.

View on approach to a warm, soggy world covered with shallow oceans and vast tidal estuaries. The world has little geological activity, and slow erosion has reduced the planet's land masses to swamps and low-lying hills. Vegetation covers the landscape beneath the perpetual fog banks and slow rolling, drizzly cloud formations. While rather hot and soggy, this planet is full of life and worthy of exploration.

Created in Photoshop Elements 10: