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Nick Stevens

@nick-stevens.com

Nick Stevens Graphics, based in Moldova, and keenly interested in the obscure corners of the Soviet Space Program. Busy restoring old infographics, and making CGI renders. Fellow of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.

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Mike Okuda@mikeokuda.bsky.social · 14h ago

A FUTURE ASKEW is a collection of short fiction and essays on the urgent issues facing our global society. Written by my friend, Jeffrey Morris, the forthcoming book is essential reading for anyone inspired by Gene Roddenberry's vision of a better tomorrow. >>

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Nick Stevens@nick-stevens.com · 15h ago

Two more renders of my Lovell Radio Telescope mesh. Unusually for me, I made these in Vue. The atmosphere lighting was always superb in Vue, but stability was poor, and surfaces were a nightmare.

Backlit CGI radio telescopeCGI radio telescope at sunrise.
Ed Zitron@edzitron.com · 2d ago

Analysts estimate that 70%+ of Microsoft, Google and Amazon's present and future AI revenues are from Anthropic and OpenAI's compute spend and model sales. Outside of two unsustainable AI labs, demand barely exists, and they've massively overbuilt capacity. www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-deman...

The AI Demand Bubble

If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, in...

wheresyoured.at

Mike Okuda@mikeokuda.bsky.social · 2d ago

Scott invited Foster to sit in the captain's chair, and even insisted that I take their photo together! Happy Birthday, William Foster, honorary captain of the Starship Enterprise!

Mike Okuda@mikeokuda.bsky.social · 2d ago

It was during the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise. I was taking William Foster on an illicit tour of our sets. (Studio policy forbade visitors, but we could sometimes sneak a guest onto some of the sets if we were quiet about it.) >>

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Mike Okuda@mikeokuda.bsky.social · 2d ago

I dared not take him too close to the bridge, because filming was in progress. But Scott Bakula spotted us hiding in the shadows and came over to say "hello." Upon learning that Foster was a Ground Control officer at NASA's Johnson Space Center, >>

Nick Stevens@nick-stevens.com · 2d ago

Ala-Too Movie Theatre Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Completed 1963 Artsits Alexander Voronin, Sabitzhan Bakashev, Alexey Kamensky and Zaur Khabibulin Photo: Architectonic Travels

Ala-Too Movie Theatre Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Completed 1963 Artsits Alexander Voronin, Sabitzhan Bakashev, Alexey Kamensky and Zaur Khabibulin Photo: Architectonic Travels
Nick Stevens@nick-stevens.com · 2d ago

Just finished Susanna Clarke's "Piranesi", an utterly delightful read. Wildly original, I was about 40% in before I got a feeling for what was actually going on. I found "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" superb, I'd say this is even better.

Book cover
J. Michael Straczynski@straczynski.bsky.social · 2d ago

Alas I didn't pull anything off for this to happen. The page is owned by Warners. I'm just the cheerleader.

Digital Prophet@digitalprophet.online · 2d ago

Attention: Full episodes of #babylon5 are now available on the official B5 youtube channel. If you have not already watched the complete B5, now is the time. The greatest scifi show ever produced, now on the tubes. I dunno how @straczynski.bsky.social pulled this off. I suspect skullduggery.

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 2d ago

'There Will Come Soft Rains' tells of the final day of an automated house carrying on the routines for long dead tenants, in a short story within Ray Bradbury's 'The Martian Chronicles'. The date mentioned in the cheerful morning announcement by the house robotic voice is today, August 4, 2026.

Nick Stevens@nick-stevens.com · 3d ago

My first visit to a local cinema here in #Chisinau yesterday. Great! You can bring your own snacks! And I have never before seen a cinema where you can buy wine in the foyer to take in! Saw Odyssey. Long film. Twice during the screening, my watch told me it was time to stand up!

Don Davis@ddavisspaceart.bsky.social · 3d ago

51 years ago I painted a trio of Viking related works for NASA HQ including the widely reproduced one of the landing on Mars. I have reimagined the Landing portrayal in updated form using digital methods of visualization and painting. I chose the same angle but with reality replacing anticipation.

This oil painting portrays the Viking 1 landing on Mars, which appeared in countless publications. The story of this work is relayed in an earlier post and is shown here for comparison with the new portrayal of this very view, showing the event as it would have appeared. This 1975 anticipatory painting was done with oils on a gesso smoothed 16 X 20 canvas panel, using traditional art methods including a tracing paper guide featured earlier. This work shows in retrospect my ideal of the 'spirit of space art', showing something of a summary of what is known of the subject while conveying what it is about the subject's known or theorized attributes that I find visually compelling. The new digital painting updates that visual impression with one based on our current knowledge. The new digital work was also done at the same size as this one was for possible printing purposes, 16 by 20 inches at 300 DPI. #Sciart In 1976 the pair of Viking spacecraft orbiter/lander combos were sent to Mars. Before Viking, Mars was still largely a place of our imaginations, an unknown that we wrote stories about then studied from Earth and space. The dominance of cratered terrain on the portions of Mars photographed by Mariners 4, 6 and 7 gave an initially Lunar impression of that world, which changed during the development of the Viking lander after Mariner 9 revealed the planet. The first landing was aimed for a flat flood plain, judged as a decent place to search for life. The landing date was July 4, however the intended site appeared too rough for comfort in the high quality orbiter photos, causing the landing to wisely be delayed. A smoother site further 'down stream' was found using photo and radar data. The landing proceeded quite nominally, a magnificent achievement that apparently accounted for what it had to and made it the first time. The first photo from the surface was a look at a footpad to see how solid the 'footing' appeared. Then a moderate resolution panorama of the surroundings was obtained, first showing the rocks, hills, dunes-and bright sky. The latter was my biggest surprise as a space artist. The adjustments to the color balance of the later photos were gradually narrowed down. The ubiquitous dust is planet wide, suspended in the air and coloring the sky a luminous tan ochre. This digital painting shows the view a meter above the surface seeing the lander briefly kicking up dust less than a second before touchdown with the footpads 1.4 meters high. The landing rockets were designed with many nozzles to disturb the surroundings as little as possible. The nearby disturbed dust resembles in color that of the sky. We are 6 meters away from the center of the lander. field of view is 60 degrees, we are looking Northwest with the Sun and Earth off the frame to the left. This is a digital art update of the pre mission oil painting I did for NASA HQ 1n 1975. #Sciart
J. Michael Straczynski@straczynski.bsky.social · 3d ago

Just to be clear: I didn't create the B5 YouTube page. That was done through the Warner Bros. online division, from start to finish and all points in-between. I'm contributing to this effort, but it ain't my property or done at my initiative.

Wraithe@wraithe.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d ago

Holy crap! JMS (J Michael Straczynski) the creator of “Babylon 5“ has created a new YouTube channel - “The official Babylon 5 channel”! It looks like this actually launched six months ago but I hadn’t heard of it so it’s new to me! I assume this means they’re gonna be having cast on, etc […]