Space Art by Christopher Doll

Tag: Art

  • Back, like a Phoenix Rising

    Back, like a Phoenix Rising

    We’ve finished our move. It wasn’t a normal relocation, it took a bit longer than usual. We weren’t under the typical pressures of moving. I had no job waiting for me. I had no job I was leaving. In fact, I am beholding to nobody. Now we have our new home with its great new studio, and more space than I could’ve dreamed back in Bothell. Better yet, we outright own it. The silence ends now.

    Space Art is back, but the flavor is altered. Much of what I’ve created over the last dozen years or so has served dual purposes. On the one hand, I am painting the things I have always wanted to paint. More importantly, I’ve used this time to refine my skills and techniques. I’ve explored different mediums, different styles, different materials. Each project, big or small, was a learning experience.

    The goal was never to be a great space and science fiction artist. My goal has been to become the best artist I can be given the time that I have left. Even now I am nowhere near that goal. I’m making progress, but the reality is I have maybe twenty good years or so left (barring accidents or fascist uprisings that target artists and anyone with at least a half-working brain cell).

    We will still be having fun, great fun. But in the transition process of the move I have neglected making the kinds of paintings that I feel need to exist. Some of them will still be space and science fiction themed. But I feel the allure of abstraction, and painting nature with the beautiful scenes I’ve witnessed in my limited travel.

    It’s funny to me how many times I’m treated as flippant and shallow by those who have completed Fine Art degrees, or have otherwise once explored life as an artist. Especially by those I’ve encountered in the corporate tech world – the ones who turned their backs on their fine art backgrounds in favor of a big paycheck and a perceived notion of security. I can say this with great authority, because it’s exactly what I did for nearly 20 years as a professional UX Designer and PM. It doesn’t matter to them that my own studies included a full-on Fine Art core curriculum. I merely traded their studio time for more direct focus on Industrial Design (for which I remain grateful as it’s served me very well as an artist and as a corporate stooge).

    The Artist Life is difficult. The Artist Life is, in many ways, insane. It’s very easy to walk away and seek simpler means to keep food in your cupboards. But I found the simpler path to be just as tenuous, just as perilous as whatever it is that I’m doing now. I cannot count on a weekly or bi-weekly salary with a 401K, but I will also never live in the fear of them disappearing at a moment’s notice. Being broke for a while goes a long way to getting you over the fear of living as a wage slave. My only real regret is not taking this on sooner.

    Instead of grinding my teeth in frustration, I’ve used my time in the studio to pursue my own path. It was immediately apparent to me which areas I needed to improve as an artist. Some of it was a refresher – 20 years ignoring art altogether while slowly dying in a cubicle made me a little rusty. In other cases I could fairly easily identify which specific areas I needed to improve. And I’ve slowly tackled these along the way – Oil paint and mediums, color theory, approaches to realism and abstraction. I’m sure my most ardent followers have noticed along the way, especially those following the livestream.

    Perhaps my timing was better than I’d anticipated. Right now, after the move and setting up a new studio, I have all the time and materials I need to let my brain explode on hundreds of canvases.

    So welcome aboard the Phoenix Rising phase of Space Art by Christopher Doll. I promise I’ll be breaking a few eggs along the way, and it’ll be fun. Great fun.

    Ad Astra!

  • We Are Moving

    We Are Moving

    Big plans are underway here at Space Art by Christopher Doll. As I write this we have begun the process of selling our house here in the Pacific Northwest. We will be traveling across the country to Northern Michigan for a few months after the sale while we sort out where to land. The timetable isn’t entirely set but we anticipate leaving here in June 2023.

    In preparation for the move, we are offering all Original Artwork and Prints in our store for 25% Off until the end of May 2023. Use coupon code VOYAGE in checkout to receive your discount. If there is anything you’d like from the store, we would appreciate all the help we can get while we go through this process.

    During the move the online store will be closed until we can set up shipping operations at our new location. Keep an eye out for further updates.

    Why the Move?

    While Space Art by Christopher Doll has been growing as a business, it is still not sufficient to support us properly. We will be shedding a good deal of overhead which has held us back for the last few years. It’s a radical move but one that we felt was the best choice at this time. Given the current real estate conditions, we will likely be able to purchase a new home entirely at our new location. Right now we are location scouting for properties in Northern Michigan and Pennsylvania, but are open to just about anything. I am confident that with this change we will vastly improve our situation.

    There are a few options we are considering for a new home, but at this time it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where that will be. It’s unlikely we will be returning to the Pacific Northwest permanently – at least not in the immediate future.

    What About the Livestream?

    The livestream will continue from here until the end of May when we have to pack the office. There may be a break in the schedule while we are on the road, but our destination has excellent internet service. I’ll be picking up the livestream from there once we settle in. I am also investigating options for running the livestream remotely, while we are on the road. At the very least, I’m planning updates through our YouTube Channel and we hope to have some fun with the journey.

    About the Journey

    The Bounder - a Motorhome
    Our Fleetwood Bounder

    After we pack up the house we will be driving back to Michigan in our old, trusty Fleetwood Bounder. It’s going to need some cleanup and a few fixes before the trip, but it’ll be our home away from home for a while. We’ve made this trip a couple of times, the last in 2015. With luck we will be able to stop at a few fun locations on the way, which will give us a chance to relax during a long trip and maybe get in some painting.

    We’ve talked about taking the art business on the road for a while, and this will give us a chance to try it out before settling in. As usual, these plans should be considered tentative at best. It’s hard to say what will happen along the way. In our experience, road trips in the motorhome usually have a few surprises.

    To be honest I am not entirely happy about leaving the Pacific Northwest. I love living here and we are leaving over 20 years of great memories in this house alone. However, I know that this move is going to open up doors that were otherwise closed to us.

    Thank you all again for your support. Stay tuned for updates here and on social media. Let the Voyage begin!

  • 10 Years of Space Art

    10 Years of Space Art

    Back in December 2012, Stephanie used a Groupon Coupon for a new paint and sip shop nearby. We were the only couple to show up that evening, but the owners Justin and Janelle were happy to have us hang out and paint. They showed us a wall of paintings they were prepared to walk us through. Stephanie picked one while we both enjoyed a few libations. Being the science fiction and space enthusiast, I decided I’d take advantage of the paint and canvas in front of me and go rogue with my own painting.

    Me at The Drunken Easel, putting down some lines

    I had learned to paint during my time at Kendall College of Art & Design, back in Michigan. Even though I went through their Industrial Design program (and got the degree), we had many core Fine Art classes. Sixteen years had passed since the last time I picked up a paint brush, I wasn’t sure if I’d forgotten everything. But there was no pressure, and I had the confidence of a couple of good stouts so I just started moving the brush.

    “It looks like this could be a nebula”

    I felt comfortable with the paint and brush, and a blank canvas. A picture started forming as I painted, and I forced myself to just keep going. Don’t stop, don’t deliberate, just go with the flow. It was liberating. No art direction, no internal dialog. Just the canvas, paint, some good music, a chill atmosphere, and decent beer.

    The spaceship started taking form with dark shapes. I blocked in the overall silhouette and added highlights, details, windows. I put on a few “hero stars” with a brush then spattered a bunch of smaller stars to finish it off. By the end of the evening, this was staring back at me:

    Spaceship And Nebula #1

    I surprised myself. Painting tapped into a part of my brain that was dormant for many years. I left feeling like I had ignored a base instinct my entire life. It was different than the 3D work I had done as a game designer, or even on my own as a digital artist. And as much as I enjoyed building and painting models of spaceships, this offered something more – an energy and context that was missing from my other hobbies.

    I Went Back to Work on Monday

    The next week I went back to my dismal job as a User Experience Designer. I loved being a User Experience Designer, don’t get me wrong. But I was working in the middle of a series of garbage corporations, many that you’d know by name, in an industry that still to this day remains stagnant and miserable for designers. I decided that if I were to remain sane and not die sitting in a cubicle or standing desk, I needed to sort out how to make a living as an artist on my own terms.

    This was an insane idea. I’ve known many artists, and even in my circle of friends I knew people with Fine Art Degrees that shoved them aside to work in the more practical technology and business fields. My peers would laugh at me, and with good reason. I wouldn’t make nearly the money I was making in tech. Artists my age already had 20 years on me. I was just a guy who had a few beers and threw a spaceship on a canvas.

    I was already beginning to realize my career was killing me. That isn’t hyperbole. I was beginning to hit the wall with several health issues related to stress and anxiety. And maybe I would’ve hit that wall anyway, but I knew after sixteen years I wasn’t built for the industry. Even with my comfortable salary I hadn’t accumulated enough money to just walk away and start painting. We’d lose the house within months, and I knew it.

    One of my last work badges (company name modified to protect the jerks)

    So, Get On With It

    It took me a few weeks to build a plan, and I started slowly. I dusted off my Wacom tablet and began working with my digital tools. With a recently purchased iPad, I put a lot of miles on an early version of Procreate. And I began buying paint, brushes, and canvases to work on painting at home. The only way I could pull this off was if I put myself on the equivalent of a Master’s Degree program for Fine Art, while working as a UX Designer. This meant more than just painting nebulae and spaceships, I wanted to tackle it all – landscapes, abstracts, figurative art. I had to get good at many levels if I ever wanted to step up and call myself an Artist.

    I still feel I’m an Imposter as an Artist, ten years later. But in that time a lot of good things happened. I left my career as a UX Designer and joined my wife Stephanie with her baking business Doll House Baked Goods. This helped us keep the house and I was still able to learn new painting techniques, new media, and I started landing commissions. I also learned how to make a mean batch of chocolate chip cookies, sourdough, pies, and other baked goods. More importantly, we got a crash course in running a small business and this was a tremendous advantage for my own art business.

    For an imposter, I’ve had a few successes – I’ve painted the covers for many science fiction novels, including a series that won the Hugo Award for “Best Science Fiction Series” in 2019. My work has been on album covers, model kits, and is now in the homes of many collectors. This year I completed a HUGE commission for a Science Museum (more on that when I can reveal the project). And I’ve been running a weekly livestream on Twitch.TV where I paint a new science fiction or space painting every week, Bob Ross style. I remain hopeful that I can grow this business and career for the rest of my remaining days.

    There are many artists who, like me, left their careers to become successful space and science fiction artists – and in less time than it’s taken me. But I wouldn’t trade my own experience as it’s been both frustrating and incredibly rewarding.

    I am Grateful

    I am thankful to Stephanie for arranging this event, and for being such an amazing supporter of my art for the last ten years. I had no idea going into this evening that it would switch my brain onto a completely different course. And my thanks also go out to Justin and Janelle for being so great to their lone patrons that evening, and letting me paint something that was quite literally “off the wall”. I am also grateful for the many followers that have found me on social media, and more recently through my livestream. You’ve all helped make this possible.

    Our Paintings from the Drunken Easel

    Post Script

    I’m approaching the third anniversary of my livestream on Twitch and two weeks ago I wanted to try painting my “spaceship and nebula” again, just like I did at The Drunken Easel ten years ago. This was a two-hour live painting, with no initial preparation. Just me, the paint, the camera, a fine audience of viewers (thank you to all of my subscribers, followers, and Patreon supporters). I still enjoy the visceral throwing of paint that happens with a spontaneous painting session:

    Stellar Explorer V

    And now, on to the next ten years. Ad Astra!

    Where you Can Find Me

  • Latest Project – The Planets

    Latest Project – The Planets

    Recently, I was approached by someone who saw my painted planets from a few years back. They wanted a new set of planets, in a larger scale, for an installation at their home. I am happy to announce that this project is now underway.

    My previous planet set – each 2 1/2″ across

    Previously I offered Jupiter, Mars, Earth and its Moon. Each was approximately 2 1/2″ across, and far more round than the actual planets they were depicting.

    I’ve always wanted to upscale the planets that I made before, and render them in a more accurate fashion. This is a perfect opportunity to do so, and to perhaps offer these updated planets to others. Especially Saturn, which is by nature a difficult planet to depict in 3D due to its beautiful rings. I’ve had my own ideas on how to make a scale model of Saturn, but they required tools that I did not have easy access to at the time. And frankly with the bakery business that we were running, I didn’t really have the capacity to make any progress on them. But I did manage to knock together a concept model using smaller wood hemispheres and a shape I cut on our Cricut Maker.

    Original Prototype – 3.5″ across – wood and chipboard

    I’m pretty fond of this size Saturn, but the details would be quite hard to see. And the thickness of the rings is a bit distracting. This design was a test of the rings that are suspended from a single ledge behind the planet (not shown in the photo). It’s effective when viewed from multiple angles.

    As luck would have it, a good friend and colleague of mine started collecting some clever machinery that would help make this project a reality. And this week, after some back and forth about the details, we have our first Saturn prototype ready to go:

    Full Size Saturn Prototype

    The main body of Saturn will be two acrylic hemispheres, 4 1/2″ across. The rings were laser etched and cut by my friend Joe Graziano. We will be working together on these and I am thrilled with the results so far. Overall Saturn will be just over 10″ across with the rings.

    Outer Planets (L to R) Jupiter 6″, Saturn 4.5″, Uranus & Neptune 4″
    6″ Hemispheres for Jupiter – clear acrylic

    The largest single planet will of course be Jupiter, at 6″ diameter. Uranus and Neptune will each be 4″. As much as I’d like to scale these with 100% accuracy, I am at the mercy of available hemispheres. At least until I can manufacture my own at a later date. Each of the hemispheres will need to be reduced in height to match the proper profile of the planets.

    Inner Planets (L to R) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter (for scale)

    The inner planets will be mostly at scale with each other, but for the sake of the display, they will each be larger than they should be compared to the outer planets. As of this writing, I am considering bumping up their scale a bit as they may be a bit small when viewed in person.

    For my client, these planets will be suspended from the ceiling with a dedicated light fixture. I will be working on stand-alone sets as well, either wall-mounted or tabletop. Either way, I am excited to share this with all of you and I will be updating as things progress.

    Let me know what you think!

  • Watercolor Paintings

    Watercolor Paintings

    Milky Way At Night
    Milky Way At Night

    You may have noticed a number of new watercolor paintings lately. Why all of a sudden have I moved to a new medium? Partly, it’s from the portability. Last summer I picked up a great little travel watercolor kit from Windsor Newton’s Cotman line. The kit fit nicely into my travel bag and I brought it with me regularly to the Doll House Baked Goods’ Farmers Markets.

    I started painting some of my #spaceshipaday drawings while hanging out at the markets. One of the images was used for the cover of my Coloring Book, Coloring Space 1. I liked the simplicity and speed. And the Windsor Newton Cotman Watercolors were a lot better than I expected.

     

    I have to credit James Gurney’s blog with a great series on Plein Air Painting techniques. He’s got� great tips on making your own portable art setup. Definitely worth the time to go through if you have any interest in Plein Air Painting – plus he has great dinosaur paintings.

    Photo Aug 07, 5 17 16 PM
    Photo Mar 16, 2 00 09 AM
    Photo Aug 28, 3 54 48 PM
    Friends in Fantastic Worlds
    Friends in Fantastic Worlds

    Once I got the hang of the basics, as with any paint media, I started trying out a few other subjects including some of my favorite lighthouses and scenes. Not only is watercolor a fast media to use, it’s quite unforgiving. That forces you to commit to your painting faster than usual. It’s a good exercise and with the right touch they can look fantastic.

    Cape Disappointment and Starry Sky
    Night Sky – Original Watercolor 4″ x 6″
    North Head Lighthouse
    HMS Surprise Ambushed By The Acheron
    Pioneer Building, Seattle, Washington

    I am by no means a master at this, and I don’t claim to be. This is merely another chance for me to explore color in my artwork. As much as I enjoy the digital experience with my iPad, Procreate, and a stylus, there’s something more visceral and rewarding about working with traditional tools.

    Artist Travel Kit

    These sketches were fun but I was finding that I wanted a few more options during some of the longer market sessions. Then we packed for a long RV trip to Michigan and I wanted to bring some of my paint supplies with me.� I was limited to a few pens, pencils and smaller 4″ x 6″ cut sheets of watercolor paper – my basic drawing package that I bring with me almost everywhere. But back home I had a lot more tools and supplies that I often used in my studio. To get things a bit more portable I started gathering my essentials into a larger kit.

    Wine Box To The Rescue
    Wine Box To The Rescue

    I started with a fine wooden box from Chateau Ste. Michelle, a perfect size for my kit. It would be a bit larger than a sling-bag but it gave me a few more options while on location.

    Now I have a bigger container of pens, including my ink-well style pens from ages ago when I drew my cartoons by hand. They still work very well. I also have a small Prismacolor Colored Pencil set, a new box of Pentel watercolors that I’m just starting to try out, my old design pastels, Golden liquid acrylic paints, a jar for water, erasers, and several pencil sharpeners. It all fits nicely in the box and it even leaves enough room for a wider variety of watercolor paper sizes.

    My Travel Art Kit
    The Kit
    Portability Achievement Unlocked

    Sure it’s a bit more to carry than my sling bag, but it also acts as its own tabletop when I don’t have a lot of flat surfaces. Later I’ll figure out an option for mounting a tripod and maybe re-work the lid into a drawing table with optional angles, who knows. The existing hinges are more decorative and won’t hold up well� with repeated heavy usage.

    I’m looking forward to doing a lot more of these, especially once we open our new shop. There I’ll have the room to work on paintings in the public full-time.

    Now Available In My Store

    A number of these are already available for sale in my store. I’m offering the originals right now and will be offering prints once I decide on a proper avenue for producing them. As much as I hate to turn this into a giant sales pitch, the purchases do help me continue making these. Thank you all

    Space Art By Christopher Doll Store
    Space Art By Christopher Doll Store

     

  • Trekyards’ Review of Coloring Space 1

    Trekyards’ Review of Coloring Space 1

    I’m thrilled to share with you this great review of my new coloring book, Coloring Space 1, by Stuart Foley and his site, Trekyards. Take a look!

    Autographed copies of Coloring Space 1 are available here:

    Coloring Space 1
    Coloring Space 1
    A Coloring Book wi…
    By Christopher Doll
    Photo book
  • Drawing a spaceship a day

    Drawing a spaceship a day

    NEW FOR 2026 – HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101

    I am now taking pre-orders on a new class, How to Draw Starships 101. This is the first in a series in my new Space Art Academy. I’m offering this course at a steep discount so hurry before this offer runs out. I will teach you all the essentials, and more, for drawing all of your Spaceships any day of the week!

    HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101 - Image 1
    HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101 - Image 2
    HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101 - Image 3
    • HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101
    • HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101
    • HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101
    Product on sale
    HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101 - Image 1HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101 - Image 2HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101 - Image 3

    HOW TO DRAW STARSHIPS 101

    Original price was: $80.00.Current price is: $69.00.
    Category: ,

    Recently I discovered the #spaceshipaday Twitter thread started by artist and designer, Jeff Zugale. Jeff was drawing his ships the same way I’ve been drawing my own, pens and design markers in a 5.5″ x 8″ ring-bound sketchbook. Each sketch has a 45 minute time limit. His posts garnered so much attention they were featured on Kotaku.

    Drawing Spaceships

    I’ve been drawing spaceships like this my entire life. My notebooks and sketchbooks are full of them. It used to drive my teachers nuts whenever they’d grade my papers only to see them surrounding by little spaceships and science fiction scenes.

    Chris was always drawing little spaceships all over the place. ALWAYS. It’d be annoying if he wasn’t so damn good about it…
    – (Annoyed Co-Worker, name withheld)

    Drawing is one of the reasons I pursued a degree in Industrial Design, which amped up my ability to draw these scenes with better tools. To this day my notebooks appear to be written in an alien, heiroglyphic language composed of spacecraft and scenes. But I never really shared this with anyone, beyond a few close friends. With nothing to lose, I decided to jump on the #spaceshipaday bandwagon and join in the fun. Thank you, Jeff for starting a cool thread.

    My Spaceship-A-Day Process

    Like Jeff I’ve kept my sketches to a 45 minute time-limit, but I’ll admit some of mine have run to 60 minutes. Sometimes I draw in the rough shape with 2H pencil, then go over it with several fine-line ink pens (.03, .06, .01 sometimes). Next, a couple of shading passes with light gray design markers (20%-40%, sometimes 70% for darker details). If needed I’ve used a brush pen for more painterly ink tones.

    Photo Aug 04, 3 39 15 PM (1)

    I’ll begin posting my own here on my site, but you’re welcome to follow my Twitter account for active updates. And let me know in the comments if you’d like to see a video of the process.

    Taking passengers on voyages through the system
    It’s a skiff, with guns
    My mashup of classic Ron Cobb designs and possible sister class to the Firefly transports
    Commissioned by General Martok, this Bird of Prey has significant advantages over the previous models
    Multi-role transport and emergency rescue vehicle
    Some kind of orbital transport craft, multi-wing
    Winged, orbular space fighter
    Capable of refueling by skimming the atmosphere of the gas giants, this frigate maintains the peace in the outer system
    Ship repair and tug vessel
    My take on the old Galactica
    Just following a vibe on this one. Heavy Moebius influence
    After arriving at their destination star system, the passengers grafted the remains of their colony ship to a local asteroid. This provides them with sufficient raw materials and fuel to stage orbital landing and support.
    Interstellar transport with variable wing Alcubierre Drive fields
    Star Trek meets John Berkey

    Adding Color

    For some of my drawings, I’ve taken them into Procreate on my iPad so I can add some color. Again I try to keep this to a 60 minute time limit, as the goal is to have a colored sketch or mood board view of the spaceship. Later on I will take some selections and do a fully rendered final piece.

    I added the hints of a Jovian atmosphere, engine plumes, and shockwave
    Straight up color rendering
    With background. Procreate on an iPad
    An homage to production design art for ALIEN. Digital – Procreate on an iPad
    Almost like a cel animated feature
    A bit more technical, like a Ron Cobb drawing
    After arriving at their destination star system, the passengers grafted the remains of their colony ship to a local asteroid. This provides them with sufficient raw materials and fuel to stage orbital landing and support.

    This is also an exploration in tools, like in this case where I tried out a portable water-color set.

    Photo Aug 07, 5 17 16 PM

    My Spaceship in Lego

    Daniel Fortine, a fellow UX Designer and friend of mine, is very skilled in the brick arts. He really liked one of my drawings, and he’s gone ahead and started building it in LEGO:

    20052704743_b5a6f7bedc_k

    He is part of a group pool over at Flickr, with a lot of really great ship designs. Good luck Daniel!

    The End-Goal

    These drawings are part of a long-term strategy I’ve been following. For the last three years I’ve been practicing the necessary skills to be a professional artist, specializing in space, astronomy and science fiction art. Mostly it’s been an exploration of tools, media, and processes (including both digital and traditional methods). I’m also beginning to gain exposure as an artist, so I guess to some degree it’s just me sharing some cool spaceships with the world and saying “Hi, I can do this”. Granted if you’re the sort of person who needs a spaceship design, feel free to reach out.

    JOIN MY SPACE ART ACADEMY

    New classes for Space and Science Fiction Art!

    Learn More
  • Preview! Rigel 7 print coming soon

    Preview! Rigel 7 print coming soon

    Last year I made this painting based on the classic scene by famous matte painter Albert Whitlock. It’s the Rigel 7 fortress originally shown in the first Star Trek pilot episode, “The Cage”. It was re-used several times during the rest of the Star Trek series and I always wanted my own version of this classic shot. (more…)

  • Breaking Fitts’s Law – My New Comic Strip

    Breaking Fitts’s Law – My New Comic Strip

    Space Art has helped me kick down a few creative doors within my brain, and one of the pleasant side effects over the last couple of years was my re-discovery of the joy of drawing cartoons. Funny pictures have always found their way into the sidelines of my scribbles in notebooks, and occasionally they’ve made their way into design presentations. I even went so far as to produce a comic strip years ago, during college, which racked up a respectable stack of rejection letters from all the major syndicates of the day. (more…)

  • Book Cover – The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

    Book Cover – The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

    Author Becky Chambers is preparing to release her first Science Fiction novel, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. Becky contacted me Spring of 2014, looking for cover art for her book and the finished cover is finally revealed.

    (more…)
  • Cape Disappointment Lighthouse Painting

    Cape Disappointment Lighthouse Painting

    Given the amount of space and science fiction work showcased on my site, people may be surprised to see me tackling a terrestrial subject like a lighthouse on a cliff. However, painting from life subjects is an essential method for anyone who wants to learn how to draw and paint, digitally or otherwise. I learned this both on my own, and through many art classes during college. While I majored in Industrial Design, the core program was based on London’s Royal College of Art – a program that focuses heavily on drawing from nature and life.

    Cape Disappointment, located in the Southeastern corner of Washington State, has a lot of history to me and my extended family. We’ve held annual family reunions in the area for over three generations. Some of my earliest memories include trips to the ocean beaches and the lighthouses, so I thought I’d tackle a landscape that held some value to me personally.
    This is a 20″ by 30″ stretched canvas, and I used acrylic paint. Some of the additives I used included a clear gloss medium which helped me build layers of transparent details building to the overall look. I started by blocking in the sky and water.

    CapeDisappointment_Start

    And that’s a shot from my home studio. From there I added the cliffs, clouds, horizon, and later came back and made the churning water. Sadly most of my visits to Cape Disappointment took place during rough weather, even in the summertime. Even under dark skies and rain it’s a beautiful location.

    CapeDisappointment_BlockedInCliffOcean

    Next I added the lighthouse forms and tree line. At this point they weren’t detailed, merely placeholders while I brought the rest of the painting up to a similar level of detail.

    CapeDisappointment_BlockedInLighthouse

    After getting all the elements in place, I focused on the lighthouse itself. My wife and I deliberated on having an explicit light beam coming from the lighthouse, out into the sky. To me it felt forced, so I left it as you’d expect to see it in person – a lonely light against a dark sky.

    CapeDisappointment_LighthouseDetail

    The closer you get to finishing a painting, the longer it takes to get all the details. I spent the last chunk of time working out how the rocks should look, water splashing against the shore, and refining the clouds and trees. In the end, I’m happy with the painting, but it still doesn’t feel finished. The curse of the painter, I’m learning.

    CapeDisappointment_Final

    I put it on a wall to take some photos, and my family liked it so� much, it’s stayed there so far.

    CapeDisappointment_OnTheWall

    As an exercise, I like to refer to this as “practicing my clich�s”, referring to a quote by Kevin Costner in the movie Bull Durham. In that movie Costner plays Crash Davis, a veteran baseball player tasked with trying to coach the brash and young Ebby Calvin LaLoosh (played by Tim Robbins) into becoming a big-time pitcher. Here is Crash Davis’ sage advice regarding interviews:

    Crash Davis: You’re gonna have to learn your clich�s. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends. Write this down: “We gotta play it one day at a time.”
    Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: Got to play… it’s pretty boring.
    Crash Davis: ‘Course it’s boring, that’s the point. Write it down.

    Some may find a lighthouse on a cliff is a bit of an artistic clich�, especially when you consider Art spelled with a capital “A”. But they make me feel good, they’re fun to paint, and people enjoy them. To me, this was a fun exercise. Enjoy!

  • Lightships

    Lightships

    I regularly follow Centauri Dreams, a great blog on the future of interstellar travel, and one of the more compelling technologies makes a recurring appearance – Bussard Ramjets. Think of these as jet engines that take in hydrogen with enormous electromagnetic collectors, feeding a fusion engine. They can’t break the speed of light, but they’re fast enough to being humans to the stars. Eventually.

    These ships are enormous. From a distance you would mostly see the side effects of this exotic drive – glowing fields and hot plasma. In my mind these starships would resemble cathedrals set against a tapestry of stars.

  • Arrakis and the Seven Sisters

    Arrakis and the Seven Sisters

    Today’s painting with my good friend, Justin from The Drunken Easel. Neither of us were feeling the muse, but we pressed on anyway.

    I finished off a painting I started earlier of the Pleiades, aka The Seven Sisters. It’s a brilliant gem of a star cluster that’s prominent from Fall to Winter here in the northern latitudes.

    The Pleiades, on the wall

    My second painting was a bit of a struggle. I was trying out a primed board that was way too smooth for my acrylic paint. But I pressed on and ended up with a reasonably decent depiction of a sandworm from DUNE, my favorite book of all time. The color tones match those used by Vincent DiFate for his book cover illustrations in the late 1970’s.

    Justin turned out a really great abstract piece:

    It’s important to press on, even if you’re not in the mood.

  • MUSE Magazine Cover Art

    MUSE Magazine Cover Art

    Keep an eye out for the April 2014 issue of MUSE Magazine, which features articles about Space Elevators. My Space Elevator piece is to be featured on the front cover!

    Muse_April2014

    A Space Elevator is literally an enormous elevator from the ground on Earth to a fixed location in space. People and hardware are delivered to space with a train-like elevator car, eliminating the need for expensive and dangerous rockets. The idea goes back to famed Science Fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, and more recently Robert L. Forward who worked on building some of the first real investigations on such a technology before his death in 2002.

    We are decades away from building such a device, but the idea is being pursued in spite of the fact that no material known to science is strong enough to be used as a 600 mile cable from the ground to space. Yet.

    It’s possible that a space elevator will be built on our moon, which would be a far simpler engineering task. Time will tell, in the meantime I hope you enjoy my Space Elevator piece and be sure to check out MUSE magazine when it hits the shelves.

    Cheers!

    Space Elevator 2013-01-04 (02.13.20-229 PM)

  • Digital Sketches

    Digital Sketches

    While clearing off some space on my iPad, I found a bunch of sketches that I’ve never posted. When I sit down to paint, I always warm up with some sketches. Doesn’t matter if I’m working in a digital format or traditional media. The warm up helps me get into the groove.

    Sometimes these sketches take on a life of their own and become finished pieces. Other times I just lost interest or the idea didn’t quite gel the way I wanted. And some of these were merely an exercise to try out a style or trick. As I look back over the last year, I’ve probably spent too much time in the quick sketch stage but it’s helped me knock off the rough corners here and there.

    So here’s a gallery of quick studies to enjoy:

    Sketch Gallery

  • Book Cover Art

    Book Cover Art

    In conjunction with my good friend Andrew McDonald, a talented photographer and all-around creative individual, I’ve put together a few samples of cover art for books. These could be used for printed or electronic books, and can be formatted to fit a variety of sizes. Enjoy, and check out more of Andrew’s photography on his site!

    Cover Art with Photos by Andrew McDonald

     

    Cover Art – Christopher Doll

    And here are a few using my own Space & Science Fiction art:

  • Spaceship Speed Sketch

    Spaceship Speed Sketch

    SpeedSketech_Spacecraft

    Felt like a spacecraft sketch tonight.

    Drawn with Photoshop CC and a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet

  • Featured on Amazing Stories Magazine

    Featured on Amazing Stories Magazine

    This week I was featured on the Amazing Stories website in a series that profiles Space Artists, members of the IAAA (International Association of Astronomical Artists). I’m honored and privileged to have been selected for this article alongside artists that I’ve looked up to over the years. If you get a chance, check it out:

    IAAA Gallery: Christopher Doll – Experience Designer