Virgil Finlay "Astrological Illustration" - click on image for full detail!
Oh, people. It doesn't get any better than this. Scratchboard master, Virgil Finlay, was an utter genius. While many refer to him as a sci-fi illustrator, to me, his work is so much more. He was a fabulist with an innate graphic sensibility. And he'd have to have had the patience and control of a Tibetan monk to do all of that tedious, gorgeous rendering.
(Thank you, Charles!)
At the risk of sounding trite, that's the bomb.
Posted by: bioephemera | May 23, 2007 at 03:12 PM
Bioephemera.com is the bomb!
Posted by: Pam | May 23, 2007 at 08:44 PM
Hey, don't get me in trouble with Homeland Security. There is nothing explosive on my blog. Really. Nothing to see here. Move on.
Posted by: bioephemera | June 02, 2007 at 02:47 AM
Glad that I could introduce you to something that you like. Here's another science fiction illustrator Richard Powers, who, while he's not as graphically exquisite as Finaly, he has had some transcendent moments:
http://hedonia.net/art/powers.htm
...more surrealist influenced.
Reminding me that I recently picked up a copy of J G Ballard's "The Crystal World" (1966) with a Max Ernst reproduction, "Eye of Silence", on the cover. You can see the comparison.
http://www.abcgallery.com/E/ernst/ernst52.html
For readers of Phantasmaphile who are curious about Ballard's writing, The Crystal World might not be a bad place to start, but for imagery they might really be fascinated by, I would really highly reccomend to them "The Unlimited Dream Company". I would have to confess that I would count Ballard among my major influences.
-Charles Vincent
charlesvincent.ca
Posted by: Charles Frederick Vincent | June 02, 2007 at 11:09 PM
Outstanding! It was Virgil Finlay's
work that inspired me to try
scratchboard. The total volume of
his work, and the amount of detail
in most of them, is astounding!
Posted by: Rocky Angel | May 22, 2008 at 12:29 AM