"Vintage spaceship book covers...get inspired!" Topic

Just came across this article, some really great stuff. It makes be realize how homogenized and boring the gritty science fiction of today has become. Well, boring may be harsh, but it is certainly less beautiful.

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Thanks for the link, I have some old covers and collections of covers around for inspiration for spaceship painting. May add some of those to the pile as well. Certainly the older covers seem a lot less cluttered and in-your-face than today's.

Oh, man, I had the Terran Trade Authority books based on this art. Pretty cool backstory organizing all the artwork into ship classes, even interstellar wars and stuff. A baked and ready to shake universe!

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A lot of those are Chris Foss ships. His book was inspirational.

Wow, as a kid I had a whole set of the books at the bottom of SBminisguy's post… Tall skinny hardbacks..I don't recall how many I had, but I am sure at least 10. I devoured those things! And oddly, had forgotten entirely about them until now. Despite being a verocious reader, then and now, I do not recall ever reading the text in the books. It was pure eye candy. And probably the reason I abandoned D&D for Gamma World and Traveller.

Now I am going to have to track down a set.

On a related note…

Someone just gave me an old poster for 80's Flash Gordon movie. Any of you Pulp Sci Fi gamers want it for your game room?

I also have a giant 2010 movie poster as well.

Pay for the mailing tube and postage and I'll send it your way.

I had the spacewreck one, totally forgot about it until I saw this. I loved that book! -Steve

There was a RPG game based off the Terran Trade Authority books done about 5 years ago, never heard anything about it but you can still buy it off Amazon.

I would've been all over the the new books if they'd had the original art, but the new CG stuff just lacks some essential Fossian magic to me.
It's a shame that they couldn't get the rights to the paintings.

Oh, can you imagine some nice quality minis on these for 3D print?? That would be cool, get your Terran Trade Authority ships for the Proximan War…

Had most of the Terran Trade Authority books – they were superb future histories.

Quite worryingly I have most of the paperbacks linked to in the OP !

My own ship painting styles are influenced by Peter Elson myself – check through those books for a square with PE inside, that's his signature. Sadly passed now, but a huge legacy of art left for us.

I still have all of my old Terran Trade Authority books, too. Great inspiration.

And there was an RPG as well.
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Who knew?

Chris Foss' book is available from Titan books:

I picked up a copy at DragonCon a few years back; it's a beauty. Thanks to mister Droid for the Io9 link.

titanbooks.com

Ron

I picked up most of the TTA books unloved from a secondhand book shop unloved for about £3.00 GBP each in the mid-90's. Used them to inspire RPG scenarios liberally since then.

I' really like to see some ships produced that are truly inspired by artists like Foss and Elson – I want a 'Stellar Cow'!

Foss was the god of spaceships. He painted what the future should look like!

Always slightly preferred the work of Peter Elson myself. And the warm acrylic work of Fred Gambino ( Cover of Spacewreck I think for one ) rather than his Elson-style Mac digital work later.