Space Art: How to Draw and Paint Planets, Moons, and Landscapes of Alien Worlds

By Michael Carroll

Book Overview

Artists have been imagining otherworldly landscapes for hundreds of years, but only in the past few decades have we an idea of what other planets and moons really look like. This text shows artists... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823048764
• ISBN13: 9780823048762
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.7" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Knocks it out of the park

This book is exactly the book I need to continue developing as a space artist. The book has a number of step-by-step exercises, each of different levels of complexity/expertise. Even if you don't use the very same techniques he uses, you can still get a lot out of seeing a painting develop. This development was exactly the Rosetta Stone I needed. Thanks Mike!

Space Art Can Help Artists in Any Genre Learn to Paint Better

I learned to paint from the wonderful Walter Foster art book series, which featured titles such as "How to Paint Landscapes," "How to Draw and Paint Seascapes," etc. Every niche of hobbyist painting was covered, from sunsets to still lifes. Typically, each subject would be explored through a series of illustrations showing the development of a painting from simple charcoal sketch, to rough color, to the finished work. Popular masters of the 50's and 60's such as Robert Wood and Violet Parkhurst let us look over their shoulders, sharing their "secrets" with struggling beginners. How I wish Michael Carroll's Space Art had existed back then! Space Art is not a primer on painting, although a beginner can pick up valuable techniques unlikely to be covered in more traditional "how to" books. While there is a good, brief discussion of media and tools, and an excellent presentation on color, the book assumes a basic knowledge of how to mix and work acrylics. What the beginning painter might find particularly useful, however, is Carroll's discussion, throughout the book, on how to "see" -- how to observe and depict the interplay of light and objects and atmosphere. Any basic art book will contain a diagram showing how to render and shade the cube, cone, and sphere, but Space Art links this exercise to nature in a way that traditional art books generally do not. For example, most landscape artists rarely paint the moon correctly, either depicting it as a featureless white disk or a weird, banana-shaped crescent. This is, I think, because they haven't made the conceptual leap that allows them to see the moon as a sphere, subject to the same rules of lighting as is an orange in a fruit bowl. They don't see the illuminated part of the moon as its "day" side, and the dark part as its "night." They haven't realized that the dividing line between day and night -- the terminator, to use astronomical parlance -- is an arc of an ellipse: the shape of a great circle seen in perspective. After reading Space Art and attempting its exercises, beginning painters will have a deeper understanding of light and shadow that will make them better artists in any genre of painting. Space Art takes the reader through fourteen exercises, ranging from the the almost mundane -- "Earth seen from the Moon" -- to the science-fictional landscapes of extrasolar worlds with binary suns. Brief essays by established space artists punctuate the exercises. These essays touch only lightly on technique, but delve more deeply into how space artists interpret the raw data of science and apply this knowledge to imaginatively portray a subject in a way that transcends a mere photograph. The sample illustrations by these guest artists range stylistically from plein air sketches to digital photographic realism. Carroll wisely restricts his exercises to techniques available to the beginner. Although he may sometimes use the airbrush or computer in his commercial work, subtle gradients in the exerc

A popular pick.

SPACE ART: HOW TO DRAW AND PAINT PLANETS, MOONS, AND LANDSCAPES OF ALIEN WORLDS comes from a leading astronomical artist who explains the basics of styles and paints needed to produce the hues and excitement of alien worlds. Carroll has been a professional space art painter for over 25 years: his experience lends to a blend of science and art ideas which not only provides an overview of techniques, but provides some fourteen paintings, building in complexity, for step-by-step teaching. Any general-interest or art library will find it easily accessible and a popular pick. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Step by step scenery here or there.

I bought this book to gain an idea of how to paint western backdrops for a model railroad. The book is thouroughly illustrated with progressive views of how to create different images. Work of multiple artists are presented, so it goes beyond just one style. Explanations are given over the use of color. I have found it to be a very useful guide, and did I mention, it has lots of pictures!

No other book out there like this one!

Michael Carroll has written, once again,a very fine book. This one meets a specific need in the artistic painting market of today. Space Art is a unique topic that is a favorite of the author's and it shows. The narrative is presented clearly with step-by-step, easy-to-follow directions, including which colors to use, how to create textures, and specific tricks of the trade used to make the artist's space paintings as realistic as possible. The book portrays painting lessons, with colorful thumbnail views, for all levels of students, from beginners to intermediate through to advanced. Michael has also included educational highlights to broaden the painter's knowledge of his/her favorite space subject as they seek to broaden their painting experience to include the wonderful world of Space. It's a great book and very helpful.