Art Gallery

THE STEPHEN E. FABIAN COLLECTION

1. THE STEPHEN E. FABIAN COLLECTION - This image was created with my computer to be used on a CD case. The CD will contain about 500 pieces of my artwork, all of which will appear on my website. The website is a work in progress, I am periodically adding pictures with associated texts, and will do so until I am satisfied that it contains the best of my artwork, and all the related comments I want to make. I have no specific date for completing this project.

In 1951 I was 21 years old teaching an electronics course in the U.S. Air Force at Scott Air Force Base, Belleville, Illinois. One evening I was at the base PX browsing the magazine rack for something to read and looked at a few pulp magazines that had beautiful artwork on the covers with blurbs that promised unusual and exciting stories, magazines like, "Famous Fantastic Mysteries" and "Fantastic Novels". Inside those issues I saw fantastic story illustrations credited to Virgil Finlay. I also looked at a smaller sized magazine, "Astounding Science Fiction," with interior illustrations by Edd Cartier that caught my eye. I remember thinking, "I wish I could draw like these two artists". I bought those magazines and they turned me into a science fiction fan.

For years that "wish" lingered in my mind, and eventually I stopped wishing and began learning to draw and paint in my spare time. And here I am over 60 years later, looking at all the artwork I somehow managed to create. And the wonder of it is, that in time, I actually became a full-time professional free-lance illustrator, just like Cartier and Finlay! Whenever I wake up in the morning thinking it was all a dream, I am assured that it really did happen when I look at the trophy that rests on a shelf in my library, it features a bust of H.P. Lovecraft, sculpted by Gahan Wilson and presented to me at a World Fantasy Convention. At the base of the figure a shiny plaque reads, " 2006 World Fantasy Award, Lifetimetime Achievement Winner, Stephen Fabian".

:: Wed 01/30/2013 @ 04:06 :: 001

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The Loomis Mermaid

2. THE LOOMIS MERMAID - Acrylic painting on a 16 x 20 size canvas board.

Back in the mid 1960s when I was earning a living in the electronics industry, I dreamed of someday becoming a part-time professional science fiction illustrator, perhaps after retiring. I hoped to use my experience as a teacher in the USAF and put together a program to learn how to draw and paint, and to find out how to sell my artwork to professional science fiction magazines.

So I went to the one bookstore in Middlebury, Vermont, where I lived at the time, and was lucky to find five art instruction books by Andrew Loomis, one of the great golden age illustrators. I bought them; "Fun With a Pencil," "Drawing the Head & Hands," "Figure Drawing For All It's Worth," "Three Dimensional Drawing," and "Creative Illustration". I started with "Fun with a Pencil," reading and doing all the drawing excersizes in the book, and over the next two years, during spare time I read all five books, made hundreds of drawings, and finished with the painting projects in "Creative Illustration". This painting is my copy of the "Mermaid" painting in that book, but I made lots of changes so it's not an exact copy.

I have been described as a "self-taught" artist but obviously that is not true, my teacher was Andrew Loomis. Beside all the technical aspects of drawing and painting that he taught me, perhaps the most important one was the need to exercise my powers of observation, to look deeper into the things I see, and to realize that the process of "learning" should never stop.

:: Wed 01/30/2013 @ 04:09 :: 002

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The Potters of Firsk

3. THE POTTERS OF FIRSK - A black ink and color pencil drawing on a 9 x 12 size vellum paper, circa 1966.

When I drew this picture I was working in the electronics industry and drawing was just a spare time hobby. I was teaching myself to draw and paint, and occasionally I would copy a drawing of one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy artists. In this case I copied a story illustration by Edd Cartier, "The Potters of Firsk" by Jack Vance. It appeared in the May 1950 issue of Astounding SF, in black and white. I added color to my copy.

Many years later, around 1990 I think, I had the great pleasure of meeting Edd Cartier. We became good friends, he came to my home, I went to his. The basement in his home had been made to look like an old-fashioned cabaret, there were several round tables covered with appropriate red-checkered tablecloths, and lots of antique lanterns hung from the ceiling, giving the room a unique atmosphere. It was a fun place to meet, eat and chat. Sadly, Edd passed away recently. He was a decorated soldier-hero of WW2, a devoted husband and father, an outstanding illustrator, a truly decent and honorable man, it was a joy and an honor to know him.

:: Tue 11/27/2012 @ 09:58 :: 003

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Freas-Lawrence

4. FREAS-LAWRENCE - A Black ink and color pencil drawing on a 9 x 12 size vellum paper, circa 1966.

This is another copy drawing that I did in my spare time after working a full day at Simmonds Precision Products, an aerospace company in Vermont. I copied a Kelly Freas figure from the coverof Astounding SF Apr.1955 (the red-haired man), and the Lawrence Stevens female figure from the cover of Famous Fantastic Mysteries Aug.1949.

It was around this time that I began thinking about not copying drawings of my favorite artists any more, I thought it was time to develop a style of my own.

But being different, being "original" is actually a difficult thing to achieve. Sometimes it just comes naturally to a person, but mostly it's a rare thing. It took quite a while before I started to find my own way of creating a picture. It pleases me now , when someone says they can spot my work instantly. So, although my artwork may show the influence of the artists that I learned from, my own identity does dominate my work, and I'm happy with that.

:: Tue 11/27/2012 @ 09:59 :: 004

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Twilight Zine

5. TWILIGHT ZINE - A black ink and black color pencil drawing with zip-a-tone used as a grey color on an 11 x14 size vellum paper. It appears on the cover of "Twilight Zine, No.24".

In 1967 I was reading the letter section in a science fiction magazine and noticed that a fanzine titled, "Twilight Zine" was asking readers to contribute artwork. The fanzine was co-edited by Leslie Turek and Cory Seidman, who were students at MIT. The fanzine was published by the MIT Science Fiction Society, Cambridge, MA.

I found the courage to create this drawing and mailed it to them. Several months later I received a copy of "Twilight Zine, No.24" and saw my drawing on the cover. I was overjoyed, it was my first drawing to be published, anywhere, and the first tiny step to becoming a professional Science Fiction illustrator.

:: Tue 11/27/2012 @ 09:59 :: 005

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Nova

6. NOVA - A black ink and color pencil drawing on an 8 x 8 size vellum paper, circa 1968. This is a spare time drawing that I did in attempting to create a science fiction space scene that I imagined appearing on the cover of a SF magazine.

When I drew this picture in 1968 I was aware that things had changed in the SF field since the early 1950s. At that time there were as many as 25 different SF magazine titles being published, with lots of work for both writers and illustrators. But, as the years went by the number of titles dwindled and by the late 1960s the number of magazines being published was down to only 5 titles. My chances of breaking into the SF field were now greatly reduced and that was certainly disturbing to me. However, I was also aware that the SF paperback market was growing dramatically, and that kept some of my hopes of becoming a SF illustrator alive.

I miss all those SF pulps of the 1940s and 50s, there was an exciting "sense of wonder" to them that doesn't exist any more in the few SF digest magazines being published today. I doubt if any SF fan nowadays looks forward to buying the latest issue the way I did month after month, year after year. Those wonder-filled magazines are gone now. Forever!

I know that everything changes in this universe, nothing lasts forever. But I do get a bit depressed when I think of all the good things, and all the good people that time swallows up with everything else.

:: Tue 11/27/2012 @ 10:00 :: 006

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Space-Girl

7. SPACE-GIRL - A black ink and color pencil drawing on an 8 x 8 size coquille board, circa 1968.

After my first published drawings appeared in "Twilight Zine" in 1967, I began to get letters from other fanzine publishers asking me to contribute some artwork, and that was very encouraging. At first there was no payment involved and I did not expect amateur fanzines to pay for artwork but it was not long before some of the fanzine publishers began offering me payment for my artwork, which not only surprized me, it was a great ego boost.

This early drawing was donated to a comics fanzine titled, "The Collector". At this time I still had the habit of imitating the style of a favorite artist of mine, and in this case, though the picture is original, I was trying to emulate the style of Edd Cartier.

:: Tue 11/27/2012 @ 10:01 :: 007

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Letters Lovecraftian

8. LETTERS LOVECRAFTIAN - Black Ink and black color pencil drawings on an 11 x 14 size coquille board, 1975.

These drawings were commissioned by Gerry de la Ree for a Lovecraft book that he wanted to publish. Gerry was the first person I met who was an insider in the science fiction and fantasy field. That was back in 1955 when he lived in River Edge, NJ. and had a home-based mail-order business selling used SF books and magazines. I went to his home to buy some back issues of Fantastic Novels and Famous Fantastic Mysteries magazines because they all featured the artwork of Virgil Finlay, Lawrence Sterne Stevens, and Hannes Bok, and I just had to have them.

When I entered his home it was like stepping into the Magic Land of OZ; beautiful paintings by famous SF artists hung on all the walls above the many bookcases that stretched around the room. They were all filled with rare science fiction and fantasy books. My sense of wonder was overflowing, and by the smile on his face I could see that Gerry knew how I felt. As I looked around it never entered my mind that one day I would see my artwork displayed up there with all those wonderful artists, that I would be part of that magical world.

Sometimes dreams do come true. Twenty years later I stood in his library again, he had moved to Saddle Brook, NJ, and as I had been doing for years, I looked at all those wonderful paintings by Kelly Freas, J. Allen St. John, Hannes Bok, Lawrence Stevens, and others. And this time I also saw a few of my paintings displayed among them. My determination had paid off, I was one of "them," my drawings and paintings were appearing in professional SF magazines and books.

And Gerry de la Ree helped make that possible.

:: Tue 11/27/2012 @ 10:01 :: 008

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Gerry de La Ree

9. GERRY DE LA REE - A black ink, black color pencil drawings on an 11 x 14 size coquille board.

This drawing was commissioned by Helen de la Ree in 1975. She gave me a 1950 photo of her husband, Gerry, and asked me to surround him with his favorite artists; Virgil Finlay, Hannes Bok and Edd Cartier. For years Gerry and Helen purchased original artwork from me and eventually they published two art books featuring my work, "Fantasy by Fabian," and "More Fantasy by Fabian". We became good friends, I was a frequent visitor to their home, often to buy some old pulp magazines or books. It was always a great pleasure to look at all those wonderful original SF and fantasy paintings and drawings displayed throughout the house.

One dreadful day Helen phoned to tell me that Gerry had only a day or two to live, and would like to see me. When I got there he greeted me at the door looking as normal as I'd ever seen him, though I knew that he suffered from sugar diabetes. During the next hour or so nothing was said about his imminent passing, and I don't remember what we talked about because my mind was so numb from the shock of what was happening. I do remember that when the time came to leave, we looked at each other, there was an unspoken understanding that this was the final goodbye. We hugged and I left in a kind of daze. A few days later he was gone, and I'm still amazed when I think of how calm and ordinary his demeanor was during that last visit. Just before I left he waved at his magnificent library of rare and very expensive books and asked me to take any book I wanted. I couldn't do it. Instead, there was a small plastic model airplane that a neighbor's kid had made, and I took that because he insisted I take something to remember him by. And just like that, a truly wonderful part of my life was gone. That small plastic model airplane that I took sits on a bookshelf in my library and every time I look at it, I think of him.

:: Fri 11/09/2012 @ 02:27 :: 009

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Helen de la Ree

10. HELEN DE LA REE - A black ink, black color pencil drawings on an 11 x 14 size coquille board.

This drawing was commissioned by Helen de la Ree in 1975. She gave me a 1950 photo of her husband, Gerry, and asked me to surround him with his favorite artists; Virgil Finlay, Hannes Bok and Edd Cartier. For years Gerry and Helen purchased original artwork from me and eventually they published two art books featuring my work, "Fantasy by Fabian," and "More Fantasy by Fabian". We became good friends, I was a frequent visitor to their home, often to buy some old pulp magazines or books. It was always a great pleasure to look at all those wonderful original SF and fantasy paintings and drawings displayed throughout the house.

One dreadful day Helen phoned to tell me that Gerry had only a day or two to live, and would like to see me. When I got there he greeted me at the door looking as normal as I'd ever seen him, though I knew that he suffered from sugar diabetes. During the next hour or so nothing was said about his imminent passing, and I don't remember what we talked about because my mind was so numb from the shock of what was happening. I do remember that when the time came to leave, we looked at each other, there was an unspoken understanding that this was the final goodbye. We hugged and I left in a kind of daze. A few days later he was gone, and I'm still amazed when I think of how calm and ordinary his demeanor was during that last visit. Just before I left he waved at his magnificent library of rare and very expensive books and asked me to take any book I wanted. I couldn't do it. Instead, there was a small plastic model airplane that a neighbor's kid had made, and I took that because he insisted I take something to remember him by. And just like that, a truly wonderful part of my life was gone. That small plastic model airplane that I took sits on a bookshelf in my library and every time I look at it, I think of him.

:: Fri 11/09/2012 @ 02:29 :: 010

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