Customer Reviews

Cosmic Motors: Spaceships, Cars and Pilots of Another Galaxy (English and German Edition)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Very impressive! I haven't seen future concepts as good as this since I bought a copy of Syd Mead's 'Sentinel' in the late seventies. Interestingly, on page 126, Daniel Simon credits Mead as the inspiration for the staging and vehicle concepts of his work and on page 127 there is a concept car with romantic princess and a tiger on a leash: pure Mead.

Any future fan will love this book. Based around the mythical Cosmic Motors Company located in the middle of the Galaxion Galaxy. The companies nine vehicles are presented in stunning color digital reality and you really have to see this work to appreciate the love and control Simon has put into each image. He says all his work is produced using Autodesk AliasStudio software. As well as the color imagery each unit has plenty of concept art in sepia and black.

The thing that really grabbed me about the images is the used look. This is tech that has been used out there in the galaxies, dirt, scratches, wisps of smoke or dirty exhausts suggests hard working units. Another thing that gives everything a cool look is all the bits of lettering and graphics that seem to pepper racing cars, jets and other bits of high technology. Syd Mead's art used some of this material but had to hand-letter the stuff, now software makes it much easier, precise and credible.

The book is a handsome design job with 175 screen on art paper. All the art has captions and a sort of running story involving the vehicles and their use in the future. Fans of virtual reality art will love it and this raises the obvious question: when will the second edition be out!

***SEE SOME INSIDE PAGES by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.

Length:: 0:27 Mins

In this book contains some of the best 3D vehicle renderings I've ever seen. There are spaceships, cars and bikes.

You have seen the ships from Star Wars, now imagine the vehicles are 10 times sleeker. That's what you get in this book.

Daniel Simon has also include over hundreds of his concept design sketches for his vehicles. Not only that, he has provided interesting back stories into the history of the vehicles.

What is Cosmic Motors?

Cosmic Motors is an independent manufacturer of vehicles of all kinds, located in the center of the Galaxion Galaxy. CoMo, as it is affectionately referred to by its fans, was founded by the famous Redooa brothers in the Galaxion year 8966-B. (From the book)

The most amazing part of the book is the super realistic renders. Those sexy models standing beside the vehicles are real life models. They are composited onto the 3D illustration later on. Details are added later, such as reflections of the models and mechanics on the glossy car surfaces. The photos, no, illustrations are printed big for showing off all the glorious details. They are so good I have hard time believing they are not real.

This book is highly recommended for concept artists into futuristic designs and vehicles.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I have to say that I am very pleased with the illustrations and drwaings that Daniel Simon has cretaed for this book. The stories are entertaining to read and the illustrations are great. If you are looking for clean drawings, you will find it here. A lot of 3D renderings are shown for the final piece of each major vehicle he produces for the book, but there are nice progression pages that show Simon going from rough drawing concepts, to refined pen drawings with photoshop shading to complete detail perfect images. If you are a car designer, want to be one, or appreciate them, you need this in your library.

I came across this book after reading a FastCompany interview with Darren Gilford, the designer for the 2010 movie "Tron: Legacy". Daniel Simon, the artist of "Cosmic Motors" have been chosen to design the new version "Light Cycles" for the movie, after Darren Gilford and director Joe Kosinki saw a copy of Cosmic Motors.

Darren says: "Joe and I found this book called Cosmic Motors from this new conceptual artist, Daniel Simon, this automotive designer who was the first guy I've ever seen that was conceptualizing in 3-D. He is an incredible 3-D artist. We reached out and made a commitment that we wanted him to work on this movie. I would say I got the Light Cycle 60% of the way there, but I can't take credit - it was Daniel's final design. His sense of styling and automotive history and detail really brought this design to fruition. I would say Daniel's design is probably one of the most iconic vehicles ever brought to screen."

You can see Daniel's completed work on "Tron: Legacy" on The Art of Tron: Legacy

I immediately went and purchased the book and i must say i am thoroughly impressed with Daniel's vision and art.

Although the 1st edition of the hardcover version is sold out, there are some extremely expensive copies available. This paperback version makes a great coffee table book, which instantly brings back memories of all the iconic vehicles of the movies like the DeLorean from Back To The Future, Audi RSQ from i-Robot, Lexus 2054 from Minority Report and Cadillac Cien from The Island.

I gave this book 4 stars, because (as some other reviewers before me correctly mentioned) the binding of this paperback edition is not of top quality. But Daniel's art most definitely is.

7 years into pursuing my craft I generally don't buy books by other artists. It's mainly so that my work won't be influenced by anyone else, but when I came across Daniel Simon's work and website, my jaw dropped. Yep, anyone can be an automotive designer, but Daniel does it with style and attitude. This is one of those books that you don't want to end. It doesn't really have any wire or clay renders, but then would you want your work to look like someone else's? His work is tight. This is not a "How-to" book, but more like a "This is my stuff..." And I'm fine with that. It's transportation design at it's extreme. I hope we see a part 2. Great job Daniel.

I really enjoyed Cosmic-Motors. As a 2d/3d artist I was inspired by the concepts that Simon created and his use of photography, 3d and 2d apps to bring his work to life. From scketches to final renders, his work is amazing and inspirational.

I did not hasitate to order the Cosmic Motors Book when I came across Cosmic Motors Web site. My impulsive buy came out to be a great decision as the work contained in the bool is amazing. The imagination used to shape the Cosmic Motors world is without competition and the attention to detail togeather with great skill used to produce the 3D art is simply astonishing. This book ant the art it contains can be used as inspiration for ones own work or just a great passtime in the world of tommorow.
One can only hope that the author will soon be providing us with a broader glimpse into his world, maby even in a form of a movie based on the Cosmic Motors.

I've been wanting a long time to buy Cosmic Motors, and it does not disappoint. It's a sweet design/art book jam packed with sweet sketches and even more amazing renderings. Though it's got a few more, uh, cheesecake images than I normally buy, the combo of photo-real renderings (Alias Studio Tools natch) and the real life models is absolutely amazing. Each different ship has a series of sketches and process images, along with several sweet full color renderings complete with pilots, mechanics and other people and props. This is an amazing book

i was very glad to receive my book in perfect conditions. the price is really worthy: the quantity and quality of its contents are great!
the images are perfect and the design developed by the author is amazing, showing us how something that we judge impossible could be real when imagination has no limits!
i am a fan of him because his sketches and ideations are just as perfect as his 3D renderings, always expressive and emotive images.

I am an avid Syd Mead fan and Daniel Simon just about matches him, possibly surpassing Syd in the form of including real, tangible models with his artwork. This helps with better conceptualizing Simon's artwork, something I wish Syd Mead included with his art. For futurists out there, this book is a MUST to have in your library! Believe me, I have spent well over $100 for books that just don't do half of what this book does. Well worth every cent spent!