Read Issue 5 of Digital Art Live

Welcome to Issue 5

Carl Sagan who presented the original Cosmos TV series reminded us of the grandeur and scale of the universe in which we live: “Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home, the Earth,” he said and also “this cosmos, in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.”

Carl had trust in the general public to accept his vision and “personal voyage” and the science that was conveyed in the series  saying“the public is far more intelligent than it has generally been given credit for; that the deepest scientific questions about the nature and origin of the world excite the interests and passions of an enormous number of people.”

His trust and confidence in this paid off. From the year it was first broadcast the number of viewers represented something like three percent of the population of planet Earth. Since that time it Cosmos been one of the most widely watched series in the history of American public television.

So this issue is dedicated to the impact of that series and no doubt many of the space artists we have featured to date have gained some of their inspiration from the ground breaking special effects and memorable artwork used in the Cosmos series. The follow on series Cosmos “A Spacetime Odyssey” continues to provide impact and help popularise science.

Space art helps us consider the scale and the wonder of the universe. It allows us to dream and construct worlds of fiction, but at the same time helps motivate others to find them using the increasing amount of methods to detect and measure planetary bodies billions of miles away.

Get 88 pages of sci-fi artwork, inspiration and in-depth interviews with digital artists for free each month

Subscribe now and receive the PDF free every month

 

In this issue:-

DAVID A. HARDY

Digital Art LIVE interviews the world’s longest-established living space artist in the West, first published in 1952.

PAINTING | PHOTOSHOP

“Next thing I knew I had been asked to illustrate Patrick Moore’s book Suns, Myths and Men. … The only problem was I then had five days to produce the illustrations before joining the RAF.”

ALI RIES

Digital Art LIVE interviews a specialist in nebulae and cosmic art.  Her work is used for Star Trek and in big sci-fi movies and TV.

APOPHYSIS | PHOTOSHOP

“I would love to see my artwork as a mural or on a big canvas. So far I have seen them 3’ x 2’ feet, but I think they could be a lot larger without losing impact.”

TOBIAS ROETSCH

Digital Art LIVE interviews Tobais about the production and printing of his new calendar of the Solar System.

BLENDER | PHOTOSHOP

“… personal projects and images … usually lead to good publicity and new commissions.  So therefore making my own work is an important part of the entire business.”

OSHYAN GREENE

Digital Art LIVE interviews Oshyan Greene on some of the new aspects of the keenly anticpated TERRAGEN 4

A Segment from the David Hardy Interview

For this special ‘Cosmos’ issue of our magazine, we’re very pleased to interview David A. Hardy, FBIS, FIAAA.  David is the longest-established living space artist in the West, having been first published in 1952.  He is currently the Vice President for Europe of the International Association of  Astronomical Artists (IAAA), and he recently received the Ordway Award from the American Astronautical Association (AAS).

DAL: David, welcome, and thanks very much for giving us this in-depth interview.

DAH: No problem. Don’t forget that I’m ‘retired’ now, so I have lots of time on my hands. Yeah, right!  How does an artist retire?

DAL: Indeed. Well now, where to begin in with a career in space art starting way back in 1952? Let’s start with a point in time common to both of us. For a couple of years I was your callow and pimply young assistant in the Art Room at Novacon, the venerable British SF convention, way back in the early 1980s.  Not sure I did a great job there, but at least I helped put the pictures up straight and carried them to the art auction without dropping the boxes.

DAH: Oh, it’s always good to have willing helpers.

DAL: So, let’s reminisce about the city of Birmingham in which you came of age.  A very different place than today, a much rougher and probably far more vibrant city centre than the rather dull shop-a-rama that we have today.  I remember it in my post-punk 80s youth.  But you were of a generation or so before me — the 1950s and the 1960s — the heroic years of Dan Dare through the letterbox each week, the early Space Race. What are your very early memories of how you became aware of space as a boy, and then how did your interest develop?

DAH: In 1950 I was given a book called Flights into the Future for Christmas. It featured what I now know to be the British Interplanetary Society’s 1939 design for a Moonship, articles by Professor A. M. Low, and so on. I was hooked! I was just a little old, or so I felt, for The Eagle.  Though I borrowed my younger friend’s copy each week for the Dan Dare comic strip. I later met Frank Hampson, the Dan Dare creator, who said complimentary things about my own work…..