Space Art
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | astronomical art, spacescape, planetscape |
| Related tropes/genres | fanart, science fiction |
| See also | Space Art at Wikipedia |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Space Art is a type of landscape that depicts astronomical objects and events. Space art can be science fiction art, but it is also created for planetariums, museums, NASA, and other non-SF purposes. The Conquest of Space (1949), illustrated by Chesley Bonestell, is an early and influential book of space art.
Some fanart is space art.
On Convention Program Covers
Space art has been known to appear on the covers of convention program books, especially for science fiction conventions.
Ultimate Fantasy (convention), a 1982 Star Trek con
Boskone 1986, sf con program featuring a planet, a comet, a spiral arm of the galaxy, and some hardware
I-Con 1989, an sf con
In Media Fanzines
Although media fanzine art tends to focus on characters rather than scenery, some zines for science fiction canons contain space art. Here are some earlier examples:
Warped Space #46 cover art by Michael Goodwin (1981). Likely inspired (directly or indirectly) by Bonestell's "Saturn As Seen From Mimas".
from Academy Chronicles #6 (1979). Similar composition as Bonestell's Saturn As Seen From Titan.
Cover of Against the Sith #6 (1979)
Pastak #5 cover art by Peter John Fugere, Sr. (1979)
Plak Tow #4 back cover art by Nan Lewis (1980)
Often a space scene would include a spaceship or other technological structure:
art from Stardate: Unknown #4 by Bill Peterson (1978)
Berengaria #10 cover art by Mike Brown (1978). The starship Enterprise is shown orbiting planets on the original show, but never with such a detailed background
Delta Triad #2 cover variation by John Martin (1975). Another artist rendering of the Enterprise, with some extreme gravitational forces at work in the background.
ThousandWorlds Collected back cover art by Carol Walske (1986). Spectacular view from an X-wing.
Warped Space #22 interior art by Leslie Fish (1976) with typical sf toroidal space craft. (For example, see Dean Ellis's cover of Operation Umanaq.)
A cursory scan of zine art available on Fanlore would suggest that more recent fanzines were less influenced by science fiction art. However, this may be more true of slash than gen fanzines. Another factor is that the scope of Media Fandom has broadened considerably since the early 1970s from "sf media" to "genre media" to "whatever floats your boat." So the percentage of sf art in 1990s media zines could only be less than the percentage in 1970s zines.