Tag: art

Sci-Fi Art Feature — Joakim Ericsson

Hey there SciFi fans!

Although he was originally a classically trained painter, Joakim Ericsson has now found his calling as a concept artist. Known for his incredibly detailed pieces, his work also stands out because of his expert use of color, and mastery of perspective. He is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Ericsson is a fantastic world-builder, which he and I have discussed in the context of Singularity’s Children; It’s quite an immense feat to think up an alternate reality, and I have a lot of respect for the kid of detailed drawings that he’s able to produce on the heel of that imagination.

Here are a few of his awe-inspiring visuals:

If you’re interested in seeing more, here’s a link to his ArtStation site!

SciFi Art Feature — Greg Semkow

 

Hey there SciFi Fans!

It’s been a while since we did a SciFi Art Feature, but this next one has been well worth the wait.

Greg Semkow is a freelance concept artist based near Raleigh, NC, and has worked for studios such as Sony Pictures, Studio 8, Paramount, and Ubisoft. He was also the lead concept artist on the feature film “Alpha,” premiering this August. Greg specializes in everything from environment design, keyframe illustration to character and creature design. He’s produced some truly epic city scapes and action scenes packed with fantasy characters and future-looking tech, which I’ve included some examples of below!

 

 

 

I invite you to have a look website, and get in touch if you’d like to follow up. Thanks for your awesome art, Greg!

 

 

Human Origins

The narrative of the transition from Ape to Man is contained within one astonishing cut in the film 2001…

…but 4 Million years of history contains a lot of potential stories. I am thinking about setting my next novel (after the Singularity’s Children series) back at the Dawn of Man.

It looks like we coexisted and even bred with many other species of Hominid and some of those seem to have been pretty smart. Recent discoveries show that Neanderthals were making cave art hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Neanderthal cave art, spain.

‘Haplo Groups‘ markers allow us to trace humanities deep ancestry. We (Homo Sapiens) left Africa 70K years ago to spread our seed across the world, mingling and mating with the local—as we tend to do.

We eventually replaced the ‘other‘ and history started…

But I love the gaps—into which stories can be inserted!

Maybe I will set it 12,800 Years Ago at the onset of the Younger Dryas, the fall of Eden and the interment of  Goebekli Tepe.

Anyway, I think there is plenty of material for a book set at the Dawn of Man…
…what do you think? Would you read it? Or shall I go 12,000 years the other way?

 

(image: Neanderthal with face paint – Viktor Deak)