70s Sci-Fi Art

A cutaway shows a giant red fish with fangs under the water of a lake. Above the lake are the ruins of a house between some trees.

Uncredited 1977 cover art for 'A Medicine for Melancholy,' by Ray Bradbury

Classic pieces of 40k Rogue Trader era art by the great Peter Knifton who has sadly passed away today. Anyone who collected an Imperial Guard army back then would recognise his amazing art. RIP sir.
#40k #nerdlings

Imagine #11 (Feb 1984). Cover art by Peter Knifton

Imagine #11 (Feb 1984). Cover art by Peter Knifton #ImagineMagazine #TSR #TSRUKLtd #D&D #Dungeons&Dragons #AD&D #AdvancedDungeons&Dragons

Nice!

FTL Games artist David R. Darrow passed away in May 2025. He was known to gamers for illustrating the box art for Dungeon Master as well as for FTL's first game Sundog. He also did extensive work for Hollywood films

Art by Steve R Dodd ‘Martian Lights’ (2025, acrylics on canvas board)

Art by John Berkey for Star Science Fiction Stories No. 4 (1972). It was also amongst a number of artworks purchased by George Lucas to use as the visual background to try to get movie studios interested in funding Star Wars.

An image labelled "GEEDIS" features a smiling, cartoony warthog-like creature with gorilla-like hands and feet.

Everyone who enjoyed that podcast about the Wrinkle in Time cover art: You should check out their earlier episode about this mysterious illustration of "Geedis." Very similar vibes, and a much funnier name www.wbur.org/endlessthrea...

Are you there, god? It’s me, Margaret. You know that new sound you’ve been looking for? Well listen to this *plays the Star Wars cantina band 10x slowed down*

A Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta-themed cover with Char Aznable as he appears in then sporting black shades and a more casual vibe.

Today's cool Newtype cover: Z Gundam Char Aznable themed!

This was very early in the magazine's run (September 1985), but they were already knocking it out of the ballpark on the cool covers front.

He's one of the best!

A hairy gray humanoid creature snarls while holding a helmet with a pink brain inside it. The creature is inside a metal sphere on a yellow plain under a red sky. Outside, a troop of short robots with brain helmets walks by, single-file.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza ride up to a big brain-shaped tree with a spine-shaped trunk.

A robot floats underwater, with a yellow light above cutting through the green water to reveal several stalks of a what looks like brain-shaped seaweed, each connected to the sea floor with a single long stalk.

Several astronauts float inside a pink building that houses a giant blue exposed brain on a tall pedestal. A starry night sky is visible through a skylight above.

Last chance to sign up for my art blog newsletter before the next issue's out tomorrow, all about brains in sci-fi! 70s-sci-fi-art.ghost.io

Here's a sneak peek, featuring Carlos Ochagavia, Bruce Pennington, Jean-Francois Penichoux, and an uncredited artist.

Cover art by David Pelham for the Penguin editions of several books by J.G. Ballard: ‘The Wind from Nowhere’ (a stylised army tank at an angle over a barren landscape), ‘The Drowned World’ (stylised Chrysler Buikdibg submerged in a body of water, ‘The Drought’ (stylised close-up of a car at a sharp angle), ‘The Terminal Beach’ (stylised atomic binb half submerged in sand) and ‘The Four Dimensional Nightmare’ (images of Yuri Gagarin and Mickey Mouse on the screens of a antiquated television unit in a wooden cabinet).

Remembering J.G. Ballard, born OTD 1930.
I’ve been reading his work for many years & I can readily appreciate why many qualify his writing as ‘timeless’.
And I can think of no better imagery to accompany this post than the equally timeless appeal of David Pelham’s superlative cover art 🙂

I’m hoping the hivemind starts creating weird new art forms like choreographed dance with a million people

I’m watching it with a friend and we’ve been pausing like six times an episode to ask questions like that

The box art for Team 17's The Speris Legacy was illustrated by Mark Taylor. I'm not sure whether this is the same Mark Taylor (1941–2021) known for his involvement in the creation of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe (MOTU) franchise

A cutaway view of a brain from the side, with half of it replaced by two tiny round rooms. One room in the frontal lobe has a chair and an array of controls, with another room behind it that has a small young human figure in it.

Happy Control Panel Saturday, with this tiny frontal lobe control room from Roger Dean’s 1973 cover art for 'Gold the Man,' by Joseph Green

Why, it’s Moebius himself alongside his Major Grubert in a Tatooine marketplace, from 2010’s “Star Wars Art: Visions”.

Art by Jean Giraud/Moebius
#ComicArt

A leonine alien pauses in the buckled gap of a bulkhead door with finger on the trigger of its shiny laser pistol which is pointed up but at the ready. The metal above him is cool purple while lower in the frame yellow laser beams cross, kicking sparks where one intersects metal. Dozens of rings pierce the Hani’s ears and gold bangles hang from furry wrists. Two more Hani lurk in shadows of the space behind. Above them rises a tall alien with long dragon-like snout protruding from its hooded robe. It grips a long gun by the stock and clip.

CHANUR’S BREAKOUT (1991)
Acrylic on Watercolor Board - 30” X 22”

An opportunity to paint C.J. Cherryh’s catlike Hani was always welcome. I was fortunate to have done several covers for this popular series, yet for CHANUR’S LEGACY I came up with more new concepts than ever before. 1/5

People in robes walk along curved pathways under the green tubes of a bulbous city.

Bruce Pennington

Cover for Herbert's The Eyes of Heisenberg. Man in suit is smashed by multiple destructive rays. His suit seems to be attached to a machine behind him.

Artist Ian Miller (1946-) was born on this day. Bibliography: www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.c...

#scifi #sciencefiction

Cover: 1975

Anne McCaffrey, Decision at Doona, Corgi, 1971. Cover: Bruce Pennington. One of @70sscifiart.bsky.social favourite cat covers. #AnneMcCaffrey #caturday #cat #BrucePennington

Brian Edwards. #BrianEdwards

So that was Friday November 7th 2025. Crikey. Another day done, another day (more or less) here. So it goes.

(Released this very month in 1972, just 53 years ago, Star Trek #17, with its painted cover by George Wilson.)

And so to bed. Sleep well, gentle sentients of Planet Earth.

Jeff Wack, Smoking Desert, 1980

Jeff Wack, Smoking Desert, 1980

'Spellbound' art Jakub Rebelka
#fantasyart

Anne McCaffrey, The Crystal Singer, Severn House, 1982. Cover: Steve Weston. Crystal Singer series no. 1. #AnneMcCaffrey #SevernHouse #SteveWeston #crystal #singer

An old Camel ad. Joe Camel is leaning against his car smoking. His henchman Mel Camel is offering me a cigarette. It's clear that they intended only to teach me a lesson, not to hurt me. It's okay that they hit me with their car. Just look at that sunset. God, I feel more alive than I have in years.

Cool photo I took a few seconds after waking up when Joe Camel hit me with his car

Space art by Ludek Pesek, Ron Miller, Don Dixon, John R Foster (all 1980s)