Customer Reviews

The Science Fiction Art of Vincent Di Fate

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

 

 

Not only is Vincent Di Fate an excellent illustrator, he's also a great historian of science fiction illustration, from the time of Verne through today. This book shows off Di Fate's stunning art to perfection. He gives honest and relevant commentary about the individual works, revealing his thought processes at the time. Another treat is some superlative black and white illustrations that he's done for sci fi magazines over the years. This is a stellar book.

SPECIFICS:
Page Count: 112
Number of images: 71
Small images: 11
Half page images: 17
Full page images: 38
2-page spreads: 5
BW images: 2

TEXT:
Introduction: 2 pages
Index of works: 1 page
Title, year, medium used, real size and short comment for each piece
The book has 6 chapters, which try to cover the artist's career (8 pages) and the science fiction genre (25 pages).

ART:
6 images: 5 stars
35 images: 4 stars
25 images: 3 stars
5 images: 2 stars
0 images: 1 star

Overall: 3,5 Stars

Note: images smaller than a ¼ page were left out of the rating

A master illustrator, on a par with legends such as Pyle, Rockwell or Wyeth, Vincent Di Fate understands the recipe for a superb illustration. From his early illustrations in Analog magazine during the 1970s and '80s to covers of Del Rey and Tor novels, later finding a broader audience while illustrating for such diverse groups as Scholastic books, the National Geographic Society and NASA, Di Fate has captivated the imaginations of countless readers with unique visions of space and the future expressed in his own signature style. This compilation offers a rare insight into their creation, from the Master himself.

Far more than a mere portfolio of his most well-known cover paintings, this book also includes a wide sampling of Di Fate's lesser-known works, as well as his work in other media including pen & ink, several preliminary sketches and even a balsa wood model he scratch-built as a reference for one of his paintings! The book does a decent job chronicling his work, through a career which spans over forty years, as of this writing. Throughout the text, his essays and commentary are thoroughly readable, and include much anecdotal material which really sheds light on the creative and developmental processes of the professional science fiction illustrator.

The Science Fiction Art of Vincent Di Fate is a must-read for any science fiction aficionado or aspiring graphic artist or illustrator.

Vincent di Fate's baroque "star castle" spaceships, forex [...] are instantly recognizable to any regular SF reader -- he's known as a 'gadget man', and rather laments his typecasting -- especially since he doesn't get to paint as many pretty girls as he would like.

Di Fate started illustrating for Analog some 30 years ago, and it was a real trip down Memory Lane to see the old magazine illos....

Lots more samples at di Fate's nice website: vincentdifate[dot]com

Recommended for SF art fans.

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman

The artwork was done too small. No variety in the book including the artwork. Larger artwork was didvided by the bindings over multiple pages, that gave the artwork a divided look. Far too many sketches and not enough finished products.