This illustration inspired to the story “Pictures from an Expedition” by Alexander C. Irvine was originally published as a cover art for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (September 2003). The subsequent year the artwork gained a full page in the annual SPECTRUM (11), the Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. You find here the original b&w sketch that I sent to the publisher Gordon Van Gelder (together with other proposals and a few notes about details inside the pic and alternative versions).
Below there are the finish for the magazine and the final version with the cover design. Now everything happens via web, but at that time I was used to send a CD-ROM including the image. Everything in the shipment was personalized with the CD-ROM displaying a printed round color label glued to the surface. The story described the first expedition to Mars with an anchorwoman accompanying the NASA crew for some reality show in space, going nuts and trying to sabotage the mission.
Link to the Portfolio Page in this website here
In 2004 the Australian magazine DESIGN GRAPHICS dedicated a issue to Yours Truly, with my astronaut on the front cover plus an extended Portfolio and interview inside:
In 2007 the Italian magazine DELOS edited by Silvio Sosio (Delos Books) celebrated its 100th issue and on the occasion I was asked to create a landscape version of the illustration! Here is the result:
Main links in the article:
Delos 100
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Alexander C. Irvine
SPECTRUM