With all the talk of classic science fiction over the last day it got me thinking back to some of the old-school art that I remember seeing on the covers of my uncle Dean’s science fiction collection. Artists like Vincent DiFate, Les Edwards, and John Berkey are some of the greatest interpreters of space and spacecraft that I’ve seen. A fairly recent edition to these artistic stalwarts is Stephen Martiniere. Martiniere’s work evokes the science fiction images of old through the use of digital technology. His work is beginning to crop up on more and more books hitting the science fiction shelves.

Stephan Martiniere caught the space bug as a lad of six in 1968. His first drawings were of rockets and space ships. Martiniere went to art school, then animation school, and was soon hired to do work on backgrounds for Inspector Gadget. He also did work on the animated series Ghostbusters and Heathcliff. Animation led to television work which led to the theme park industry. Martiniere helped design Star Trek: The Experience and The Race for Atlantis in Vegas. Theme park work led to the the ultimate amusement park, Hollywood. In Hollywood Martiniere did design work on Virus, The Astronaut’s Wife, Red Planet, Dragon Heart 2, I, Robot, and Star Wars Episodes II and III. Stephan Martiniere also forayed into the computer gaming industry with work on Uru, Ages Beyond Myst, and 2 sequels.

Martiniere is currently venturing into cover illustration and is getting quite a bit of exposure with coverwork for: Larry Niven, L. Neil Smith, Ken Macleod, Spider Robinson, Timothy Zahn, and Jack Williamson just to name a few.

The pictures above don’t really do justice to his work. More of Stephan Martiniere’s amazing work can be seen and purchased at his website here and a book of his work can be purchased here.