OK, it’s not modern SF art, but I couldn’t fail to be impressed by this work. I was just sent some stunning work by Warwick Goble, who I’d not heard of before, but it prompted me to do a quick Google search and I found this post featuring his War of the Worlds illustrations from the story’s first ever publication in Pearson’s Magazine in 1897.
War of the Worlds author HG Wells apparently didn’t really pay a lot of attention to thinking the mechanics of the Martian’s war machines through, some feel. He described them as moving like a milking stool being bowled along the ground, then later talked about them being like spiders.
“I tried a 3d animation of a Martian tripod walking once and it’s really hard,” says John Guy Collick, who unearthed these illustrations (and by the way, you should bookmark his blog, it’s packed with SF goodness). “It’s not a natural leg arrangement.
“The third leg is a problem. Even sets of legs are easy because they work in opposition. A third leg just gets in the way.
“Here’s an example – the back leg just trails behind…”
Warwick Goble, an illustrator of children’s books, is not as well known as his contemporaries Arthur Rackham and Dulac, nevertheless he contributed his own mastery of watercolour to the golden age of illustration.
Born in November 1862 in Dalston, North London, Goble was educated at the City of London School and Westminster School of Art. Initially he worked for a printer who specialised in chromolithography and made numerous contributions to the illustrated newspapers and magazines of the day such as the Pall Mall Gazette, Strand Magazine and The Boy’s Own Paper.
• There’s more of Goble’s fantasy art here: http://goble.artpassions.net
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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