Christopher Foss (born 1946) is a British illustrator and science fiction artist, best known for his science fiction book covers and the illustrations for the original editions of The Joy of Sex. 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... An illustrator is a graphic artist who specializes in enhancing written text by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... The Joy of Sex was a ground-breaking sex manual by Alex Comfort, M.D., Ph. ...

Science-fiction illustrations

His evocative science fiction book covers pioneered a much-imitated style featuring vast, colourful spaceships, machines and cities, often marked with mysterious symbols. Human figures are (almost always) totally absent. These images are suggestive of science fiction in general rather than depictions of specific scenes from books, and therefore can be -- and have been -- used interchangeably on book covers. During the 1970s, Foss's images of future technology had the same iconic "definitive" quality that H.R. Giger's would have in terms of depictions of alien or future life forms. 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Birth machine Hans Ruedi Giger (pronounced: GEE-ger) (born at Chur, Grisons canton, February 5, 1940) is a Swiss painter best known for his design work on the film Alien. ...

Books featuring Foss illustrations include the 1970s British paperback covers for Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, the Terran Trade Authority, and E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series. Some of the art he did produce was specific to the stories and some examples of this are the covers he did for the Grafton publications of the Demon Princes novels by Jack Vance in the late 1980's, Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face and The Book of Dreams. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Paperback may refer to a kind of book binding by which papers are simply folded without cloth or leather and bound - usually with glue rather than stitches or staples - into a thick paper cover; or to a book with this type of binding. ... Isaac Asimov, Ph. ... Hari Seldons holographic image, pictured on a paperback edition of Foundation, appears at various times in the First Foundations history, to guide it through the social and economic crises that befall it. ... Terran Trade Authority is a collection of four large illustrated science fiction books published between 1978 and 1980. ... Gray Lensman in Astounding Oct. ... The Lensman series is a serial science fiction space opera by E. E. Smith. ... Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (b. ... Star King (also published as The Star King) is the first of the Demon Princes novels by Jack Vance. ... The Killing Machine (1964) is the second of Jack Vances Demon Princes novels, in which Kirth Gersen, having brought Malagate the Woe to his final downfall, sets his sights on Kokor Hekkus. ... Malagate the Woe and Kokor Hekkus are no more. ... Influential British magazine The Face was started in May 1980 by Nick Logan out of his publishing house Wagadon. ... The Book of Dreams is the fifth and final book in Jack Vances Demon Princes series, in which Kirth Gersen pursues Howard Alan Treesong. ...

In 1975 Foss was hired by director Alejandro Jodorowsky for an intended film version of the science-fiction novel Dune by author Frank Herbert. He delivered several conceptual studies published in the book 21st Century Foss, ISBN 90-6332-571-1, containing a foreword by Jodorowsky. The project failed. In 1977 Foss worked for several month on studies for the movie Alien (not being used in the movie) and also did some designs of the planet Krypton for the movie Superman. Some of his crystal structures for the planet were realised in the movie, although they were used as ice-structures. Alejandro (or Alexandro) Jodorowsky Alejandro Jodorowsky or Alexandro Jodorowsky (pronounced Aleh-HAN-dro Hoh-doh-ROV-ski) (born February 7, 1929, in Iquique, Chile) is an actor, director, producer, composer, mime, comic book writer and psychotherapist born to Ashkenazi Jewish parents of Russian origin. ... Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965. ... Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986) Frank Patrick Herbert (October 8, 1920 – February 11, 1986) was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. ... Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, is an extremely popular and influential science fiction/horror film that spawned several sequels and imitators. ... Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, Superman Superman, also known as Superman: The Movie, is a 1978 Warner Bros. ...

In 1977 Foss worked for several month on studies for the movie Alien (not being used in the movie).

During this period Chris Foss illustrated the sleeve of the album Clear Air Turbulence for the Ian Gillan Band. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (981x609, 123 KB) According to the book The Book of Alien (Titan Books © 1979), in a very early draft of the script, the eggs were originally meant to be housed in a completely separate architectural structure, shaped in the form of... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (981x609, 123 KB) According to the book The Book of Alien (Titan Books © 1979), in a very early draft of the script, the eggs were originally meant to be housed in a completely separate architectural structure, shaped in the form of... Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott, is an extremely popular and influential science fiction/horror film that spawned several sequels and imitators. ... The Ian Gillan Band is a side project band of former Deep Purple member Ian Gillan. ...

Chris Foss also released a book that was vague in many of the details of its production called Diary of a Spaceperson, published by 'Paper Tiger' (ISBN 1-85028-049-5).It has a copyright date of 1990. It is obviously a tome of his work, to date. However there is no way of knowing what that date is, which in some way provides some potency to the story within, as it is stated in the forward page that "the contents of the book are extracts of a ‘spaceperson's diary’ and are duplicated within", and ‘that the dates published within are of no meaning’. This gives the book a 'lost and found feel'. Making it timeless in a sense, much like his work.

Although there is a vast number of his paintings within the book, hardly a large percentage of what he has produced is featured, and the diary text itself, (fictional of course), also bears little connection to the paintings, except in some contrived ways. There is also no mention of the actual or original titles for any of the featured artworks, but many have been seen on the covers of authors' science fiction.

It also features many sketches in various states of completion, some of which are seen completed and painted in other parts of the book. This can be illuminating of his techniques. In fact only some of the images, all of which feature architecture and craft, are rendered in paint, the rest of the works are nudes and sketches of women.

However there is sometimes a difficulty in seeing if these nudes and portraits are actually the work of Foss. This is due in some way to such a diverse difference and lack of refinement of the pencil sketches as compared to the completely awesome airbrushed masterpieces, with their grand scale and brilliant colour.

However, in some of the sketches there are enough of his trademark features to give away the fact that they are his work, some are shaded, some are hatched, and some are simply line drawings, there is one on the rear cover that is coloured and inked, but is featured in greyscale within the book. The women are beautiful, and very naturally rendered and are tastefully posed and illustrated, most of them are scantily clad, some are completely nude, and some are in evocative poses.

Painter Glenn Brown has appropriated individual space scene paintings by Foss and in the one case copying and altering it (Exercise One (for Ian Curtis), 1995) and in the other, leaving it entirely unchanged (Dark Angel (for Ian Curtis), 2002). The titles of these works reference the vocalist of the band Joy Division, who died by his own hand. Glenn Brown is a British artist and painter who was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2000. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Ian Kevin Curtis (July 15, 1956 – May 18, 1980) was a British singer-songwriter born in the Memorial Hospital, Old Trafford, Manchester. ... Joy Division was a rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. ...

The Joy of Sex

In contrast, Foss's numerous illustrations for the sex manual The Joy of Sex are done in a much softer, natural style. The illustrations were based on original photographs of the book's art director and his wife. The illustrations have since become somewhat dated, mainly because of changes in hairstyles. Sex manuals are books which explain how to perform sexual intercourse and other sexual practices. ...

Official Website

The official Chris Foss website was launched in 2005, in conjunction with a web forum where the artist himself was apparently going to participate. Whilst the forum has seen a small amount of activity, the artist has not participated on the board since its inception and is not an active forum member. Dissapointingly, the promise that original works would be made available for purchase has yet to eventuate (as of May 2006).

External links

• Chris Foss's Official site, originals and prints available for sale
• Chris Foss's Official forum
• A gallery of Chris Foss's work
• Short bio of Chris Foss
• A gallery of Chris Foss's french books covers
• About Chris Foss, in French