Christopher Frank Foss (born 1946) [1] is a British artist and science fiction illustrator. He is best known for his science fiction book covers and the black and white illustrations for the original editions of The Joy of Sex .
Christopher Frank Foss (born 1946) [1] is a British artist and science fiction illustrator. He is best known for his science fiction book covers and the black and white illustrations for the original editions of The Joy of Sex .
Born in 1946 in Guernsey, Channel Islands, [1] Foss started working there as an artist in his teens, creating signage for local companies. [2] He went to a boarding school in Dorset; his master encouraged him to train for an art scholarship. [3] While studying at Magdalene College, Cambridge, he started pursuing professional magazine commissions, including the then recently launched Penthouse magazine. [2]
Books featuring Foss illustrations include the 1970s British paperback covers for Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, several of Edmund Cooper's novels, and E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman and Skylark series. Some of the art he did produce was specific to the stories and some examples of this are the covers he did for the Grafton publications of the Demon Princes novels by Jack Vance in the late 1980s, Star King , The Killing Machine , The Palace of Love , The Face and The Book of Dreams .
Not being a fan of science fiction, Foss typically did not read the books he illustrated, preferring to paint scenes entirely from his imagination. [4]
In 1975, Foss was hired by director Alejandro Jodorowsky for an intended film version of the science-fiction novel Dune by author Frank Herbert. He delivered several conceptual studies published in the book 21st Century Foss, ISBN 90-6332-571-1, containing a foreword by Jodorowsky. The project failed. In 1977 Foss worked for several months on studies for the movie Alien (not being used in the movie) and also did some designs of the planet Krypton for the movie Superman . Some of his crystal structures for the planet were realised in the movie, although they were used as ice-structures.
During this period Chris Foss illustrated the sleeve of the album Clear Air Turbulence for the Ian Gillan Band.
Painter Glenn Brown controversially appropriated individual space scene paintings by Foss [2] [5] and in the one case copying and altering it (Exercise One (for Ian Curtis), 1995) and in the other, leaving it entirely unchanged (Dark Angel (for Ian Curtis), 2002).
Chris Foss created much of the colour concept art for Sweetpea Entertainment's Traveller franchise, as produced by Imperium Games. [6] : 332 He produced 12 pages of artwork for the new Traveller edition's first supplement, Starships (1996). [6] : 332 He also illustrated a number of covers for Imperium's Traveller. [6] : 333
In contrast, Foss's numerous illustrations for the sex manual The Joy of Sex are done in a soft, natural style.[ citation needed ] The illustrations were based on photographs taken by Chris in his studio in Fulham, London.[ citation needed ]
Dune is a 1984 American epic space opera film written and directed by David Lynch and based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel Dune. It was filmed at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City. The soundtrack was composed by the rock band Toto, with a contribution from Brian Eno. Its large ensemble cast includes Kyle MacLachlan's film debut as young nobleman Paul Atreides, Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, José Ferrer, Sean Young, Sting, Linda Hunt, and Max von Sydow.
Dune is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. It is the first installment of the Dune Chronicles. It is one of the world's best-selling science fiction novels.
Krypton is a fictional planet appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly appearing or mentioned in stories starring the superhero Superman as the world from whence he came. The planet was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and was named after the chemical element krypton. The planet was first mentioned in Action Comics #1 and made its first appearance in Superman #1 (1939).
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky is a Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker. Best known for his 1970s films El Topo and The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation".
Jor-El is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Jor-El first appeared in the Superman newspaper comic strip in 1939.
Dune is an American science fiction media franchise that originated with the 1965 novel Dune by Frank Herbert and has continued to add new publications. Dune is frequently described as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. It won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Hugo Award in 1966 and was later adapted into a 1984 film, a 2000 television miniseries, and a two-part film series with the first film in 2021 and a sequel in 2024. Herbert wrote five sequels, the first two of which were concomitantly adapted as a 2003 miniseries. Dune has also inspired tabletop games and a series of video games. Since 2009, the names of planets from the Dune novels have been adopted for the real-world nomenclature of plains and other features on Saturn's moon Titan.
Conquest of Space is a 1955 American Technicolor science fiction film from Paramount Pictures, produced by George Pal, directed by Byron Haskin, that stars Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, and Mickey Shaughnessy.
Richard Michael Sternbach is an illustrator who is best known for his space illustrations and his work on the Star Trek television series.
John Berkey was an American artist known for his space and science fiction themed works. Some of Berkey's best-known work includes much of the original poster art for the Star Wars trilogy, the poster for the 1976 remake of King Kong and also the "Old Elvis Stamp".
Starship Traveller is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by Peter Andrew Jones. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1983, the title is the fourth gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002. A digital version developed by Tin Man Games is available for Android, iOS, Windows 10, MacOS, and Linux.
Space Assassin is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Andrew Chapman, illustrated by Geoffrey Senior and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 12th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031861-5). There are currently no announced plans to republish the book as part of the modern Wizard series.
Superman is an American fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and featured pervasively in DC Comic books. The character debuted in Action Comics issue #1 in June 1938 and has since become a paradigm for superhero characters.
GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars is the first fourth edition book in the GURPS Traveller role-playing game series, by Steve Jackson Games, set early in the history of the Traveller universe.
The origin of Superman and his superhuman powers have been a central narrative for Superman since his inception, with the story of the destruction of his home planet, his arrival on Earth and emergence as a superhero evolving from Jerry Siegel's original story into a broad narrative archetype over the course of Superman's literary history and as the character's scope continues to expand across comics, radio, television and film.
MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy is a 1990 space science fiction role-playing video game based on the Traveller series and was produced by Game Designers' Workshop licensee Paragon Software for Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. The game is set within the Official Traveller Universe and features character creation and other aspects of game mechanics compatible with prior Traveller products. The player controls up to five ex-military adventurers whose objective is to save their civilization, the Imperium, from a conspiracy instigated by the Zhodani, a rival spacefaring race, and aided by the actions of a traitor named Konrad Kiefer. Gameplay features real-time planetary and space exploration, combat, trading, and interaction with various non-player characters in eight solar systems containing twenty-eight visitable planets.
Jodorowsky's Dune is a 2013 American-French documentary film directed by Frank Pavich. The film explores cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's unsuccessful attempt to adapt and film Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune in the mid-1970s.
Imperium Games was an American game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements.
In popular culture, Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey has had a significant impact in such diverse cultural forms and media as film, literature, music and technology.
Fifth Frontier War two-player science fiction board wargame published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1981. Fifth Frontier War is the fifth Traveller boardgame published by GDW. It was republished in 2004 as part of Far Future Enterprises Traveller: The Classic Games, Games 1-6+.
First Survey is a supplement published under license by Imperium Games in 1996 for Game Designers Workshop's science fiction role-playing game Traveller.
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