Donato Giancola

I don't talk about art or literature -- my two main preoccupations -- often enough. So I'll mention the prolific and outrageously gifted artist Donato Giancola, whose work has graced the covers of more than a score of science-fiction books and as companions to works of fiction in major publications.

For me, it isn't only that he's a good artist; Giancola is able to imagine future environments and design, aliens and fantasy, and he can translate the images in his mind into art. All artists have an imagination -- but the best are those who can take an emotion, and the internal vision it created, and move it all nearly whole to paper, canvas, metal; clay or stone.



Believe me, that's a rare gift; and that Giancola makes it look so deceptively, gracefully easy is a hallmark of real ability.



Giancola makes drawings which can be transferred to large sheets of Strathmore 500-series paper, run through commercial plotter printers. He seals the paper to Masonite panels with Acrylic gloss medium, and when dry carefully puts on additional layers over the (now-sealed) drawing.



When completely dry, Giancola paints both transparent and semi-transparent glazes, and opaque passages, over a hard layer of acrylic plastic covering a sheet of very white paper. Using this particular technique, Giancola's works possess a dimension of luminosity and depth that wholly opaque oil paint laid on a neutral-toned canvas can't achieve.



Go and check out his works here; enjoy.