Fantasy Worlds Beyond: The Irwin Allen Art of Ron Gross

"Fantasy Worlds Beyond: The Irwin Allen Art of Ron Gross" represents the culmination of three decades of artistic contributions from the author. Artisan Ron Gross occupies a unique position in that his work is comprised of various scratch-built scale models based on Irwin Allen's most popular TV series "Lost in Space," and also illustrations that have been created by utilizing his own unique hybrid rendering methodology. Ron first became aware of "Lost in Space" at age eleven, when the first promo for the new show was broadcast by CBS in the summer of 1965. "Lost in Space" continued to capture Ron's imagination into adulthood, which culminated in an extensive project to scratch build a model of the show's Jupiter 2 spacecraft in the 1990's. Such a model had been missing from commercially available kits for decades, but Ron's efforts were soon translated into the Polar Lights Jupiter 2 production model in 1998. Throughout the 1990's and early 2000's, Ron wrote a variety of articles for various scale modeling magazines that described his novel scratch building techniques. He also contributed various box art covers for a variety of other Irwin Allen model kits over the years. Ron is now personally licensed to create new graphic materials based on the Irwin Allen sci-fi television properties. "Fantasy Worlds Beyond: The Irwin Allen Art of Ron Gross" covers all of the above in full, graphic detail. Ron's scratch built scale modeling efforts are fully represented with compelling descriptions and photos. All graphic illustrations are depicted in high resolution and in full color, many of which are either full-page or half-page representations. All told, there are well over 200 thought-provoking illustrations throughout this volume, most of which emphasize the early, dramatic vision of "Lost in Space." The primary goal of artist/author Ron Gross, in fact, has always been to dignify the show and the three other Irwin Allen sci-fi TV properties in ways that he feels have been long deserved.