There is one strategy for collecting that I haven’t yet mentioned. It is not only potentially the most expensive, it is also the most dangerous. Buy What Everyone Else is Buying Pick any one of […]
One of the great things about science fiction and fantasy is that it takes us to new worlds and gives us new perspectives on things that we never had before. With science fiction that can […]
I’ve talked about buying the expensive way (completists, and those who must have what they want), and the easy way (just collect what you love). But there’s also a way to collect the CHEAPEST way….and […]
With the release of the new movie OZ: The Great and Powerful this weekend, the world created by L. Frank Baum back in 1900 is getting a fresh look. Revisiting a classic is always a good […]
Have you ever wondered what it might be like to look at an alien sky? The sky of a planet whose atmosphere has a different chemical composition to that on Earth, resulting in entirely different […]
Here at Giant Spacekat Productions, we are a little company making a big videogame. Thus, we all wear many hats. I am, inter alia, Executive Producer, Second Line Texture Artist, the entire Legal Department, and […]
The spotlight last month fell on the special effects wizards who make SF monsters come to life. The crowning glory was the award of the Best Picture Oscar for Argo. This spy drama focuses on […]
In light of John Whalen’s review of Michael Seller’s John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood, I thought it might be instructive to take a look at the different artistic depictions of the world’s first […]
Ever notice that fictional sorcerers always seem to have long, grizzled beards? Ever wondered why? Well, probably you haven’t, but you’re about to find out. The sorcerer “look” originally comes from a real-life sorcerer named […]
Pulp… no, wait… it should be written like this: PULP! What I am referring to is not what you find in your orange juice. It refers to a type of low grade paper that was […]
If there’s a recently popularized term that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, it’s “webisodes.” This demeaning and fun-sized determination of quality stems from the misconception of tacked-on extra content pumped out in the […]
Rich men (I am going to fall back on the male gender because most of the collectors in the field of illustration art and books are male) don’t let scarcity stop them from getting what […]
One of the more common tropes of fantasy illustration is depictions of women in armor, but this is not necessarily unique to fantasy illustration. Armored women have been depicted in art throughout the centuries. Most […]
Looking back at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear disaster of 3/11/2011, I ask more questions about Japanese robotics. Baudrillard and M. John Harrison are roped in to help. Also, we bought a Roomba.
Let’s get one thing straight: I go weak at the knees because of some colored pigment on a stretched cloth surface – often and regularly. Somewhere I know my parents got it right […]
I came to my role as dealer in SF art in a very old-fashioned way….as a fan. And I’ve still got ‘fandom’ in my blood. I mention this only because dealers in many collecting arenas […]
The Shaver Mystery is part of the history of Amazing Stories Magazine, but it is certainly not considered one of the magazine’s shining moments. Barry Malzberg touched on it briefly in his first blog post […]
Before From Hell, before Watchmen, before The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, there was The Ballad of Halo Jones. Co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Ian Gibson, Halo Jones was a space opera about a young woman who is swept up in […]
The Japanese manga Planetes reminds us that it’s not always about destroying the Death Star Sometimes, I tell people that it’s my brother Nick’s fault. Back in those dim, dark days before home video, Nick gave me […]
There was no movie in 2012 that I looked forward to seeing more than Prometheus. It was being produced by Ridley Scott, the same man who produced Alien and Blade Runner. Unfortunately it wasn’t really […]
Young children collect sea shells, older children collect dolls, action figures, trading cards and comic books, and grown up children . . . well, they still collect dolls, action figures, trading cards and comic books. […]
So, a couple weeks back I began talking about current fantasy artists. I want to continue with that theme this week, but I want to talk about digital artists. Specifically about digital painters. Photoshop began […]
Well it looks like I put my foot right into it in my previous post! Several people objected to my definition of the term “Fan Art”. They felt that it was not in accordance with […]
May you live in interesting times. So goes the curse…. Last year at IlluxCon, a convention devoted purely to the buying, selling and showing of painted art – I overheard a young artist saying to […]
Previously I blogged about that favourite trope of SF & Fantasy illustration: The Scantily Clad Female. That topic generated a lot of comments, so let’s look at the opposite end of the spectrum and see […]
The old axiom about not judging a book by its cover notwithstanding, I am going to judge the merits of various book covers that wrapped editions of heroic fiction. This is not a scholarly article, […]
Before I get properly rolling with this blog, I thought it might be worth taking a moment to stake out the territory I plan to cover. This website, and these blogs, are all about fandom, […]
Human beings have always had a fear of and, at the same time, a fascination with the “other”. Almost as soon as humans were able to make art on cave walls depictions of strange and […]
Steve Stiles is a living double entendre: not only does he draw icons of the field, he is an icon of the field. If brushing twilltone off your lap after reading is a familiar experience, […]
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