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Description
Concept art for the Magellan spacecraft, commissioned by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) 1982

While a student at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, before graduating, I felt the need to find professional opportunities in the space art field. There were two, just miles away.

I stayed in La Cresenta, 10 miles from ACCD. Just a stone's throw away, in Montrose, was the production company that produced the famous "Cosmos" TV series, hosted by astronomer Carl Sagan, in 1980.

The other, was JPL, which I passed daily, going to ACCD.

In the end, I broke through with JPL. They happened to be proposing the Venus Radar Mapper mission, and I was commissioned to do 2 concept illustrations.

I was driven hard on this painting. The art director fussed over every detail, as they had a reputation for excellence, and though I later went through the mill with Popular Mechanics, this was my first baptism of fire in the real world of professional illustration, 3 months before I graduated.

The spacecraft was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis May 4, 1989, and attained orbit, the following year.

Oil on masonite, 18" x 24"

Description
Concept art for the Magellan spacecraft, commissioned by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) 1982

While a student at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, before graduating, I felt the need to find professional opportunities in the space art field. There were two, just miles away.

I stayed in La Cresenta, 10 miles from ACCD. Just a stone's throw away, in Montrose, was the production company that produced the famous "Cosmos" TV series, hosted by astronomer Carl Sagan, in 1980.

The other, was JPL, which I passed daily, going to ACCD.

In the end, I broke through with JPL. They happened to be proposing the Venus Radar Mapper mission, and I was commissioned to do 2 concept illustrations.

I was driven hard on this painting. The art director fussed over every detail, as they had a reputation for excellence, and though I later went through the mill with Popular Mechanics, this was my first baptism of fire in the real world of professional illustration, 3 months before I graduated.

The spacecraft was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis May 4, 1989, and attained orbit, the following year.

Oil on masonite, 18" x 24"