Riveting robotics: Try a robot or spaceship illustration to get your audience in the Star Trek mood. This one by Kirk Manley is purposely unfinished to show his technique. Studio KM


War of the worlds Find colorful, cosmic images galore on the BrandX CD Air and Space, Creatas Image BXP31667.

Designing a science fiction-inspired color palette doesn’t have to be a mysterious, daunting task. Just ask Kirk Manley of Studio KM, whose illustrative endeavors often target the sci-fi book publishing world, comics, advertising, and the video game and film industries. “Fantasy works are successully executed if the viewer can look at them and think, ‘Yes, it is fantasy, but it could be the real world,’” Manley explains. “Just maybe a different real world, or a different time in the real world.”

Pop culture is where Manley finds inspiration— in movies, literature, games, music, the internet, etc. “Since I was young, comics have been a huge source of entertainment, inspiration, and motivation,” he says. “I love the heroic imagery of comics, as well as the visual storytelling aspects.” Manley’s artistic influences include Adam Hughes, Alex Ross, Adi Granov, and Travis Charest, as well as Japanese anime and manga artists, like Masamune Shirow, and modern fantasy painters and illustrators like Brom and RK Post. “Books that collect the works of artists like these litter my studio,” Manley admits.

Manley’s pieces always begin with pencil and paper. “I sketch rough ideas and concepts,” he says. He then scans them into Photoshop and digitally inks or digitally paints, depending on the style he intends to create. He also sometimes uses Illustrator.

“I like to illustrate robots and tech stuff like machines, wires, weapons, and the like,” the artist says. “This is probably traceable back to comics and its stories about people in wild environments.” Which is why Manley’s art is perfect to showcase in this unusual palette. What environment could be wilder and more unknown than outer space?