ILLUS-3920

SCIFI AND FANTASY ILLUSTRATION

Faculty: Lars Grant-West

Course Level: Junior, Senior, 5th Year

3 CREDITS

This course will be a short introduction to Science Fiction and Fantasy illustration in the form they are most frequently seen in book covers. Subjects will include, (besides the usual aliens, futuristic looking machinery, and dragons), practice with materials and techniques, reference gathering, working with a manuscript, working with the paperback format, etc . . . The goal of the course is to familiarize the interested student with the means and methods of producing a realistic illustration of an unreal scene.

This course will also be an introduction to the history and methods of narrative illustration and representational painting. Sketching, reference gathering, composition, and the use of painting and drawing materials will be covered. Additionally, there will be discussions of related areas such as: the development of characters, environments and creatures; the extraction of information from the manuscript or brief; the use of the sketch as a research tool and as a presentation device; and several demonstrations of traditional media techniques as well as a visiting artist.

This course is open to all skill-levels and disciplines. More time and emphasis will be placed on conceptual clarity and originality than fineness of execution. All assignments will be of one week’s duration. One afternoon per week will be devoted to science fiction and fantasy in the media – primarily movies – and the influence these powerful images of imagination and possibility have had on the culture at large. Such classic films as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis , Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast , and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey will be screened and discussed with special attention to the grand visual sets and design.