Rick Sternbach | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Michael Sternbach (1951-07-06)July 6, 1951 (age 73) |
| Alma mater | University of Connecticut |
| Known for | Star Trek,Cosmos: A Personal Voyage |
| Awards |
|
Richard Michael Sternbach (born July 6, 1951) is an illustrator who is best known for his space illustrations and his work on theStar Trek television series.
Born July 6, 1951,[1] inBridgeport, Connecticut, in 1969 Sternbach enrolled at theUniversity of Connecticut with an art major, but after a couple of years switched to marine biology.[2] After leaving University, he became an illustrator for books and magazines, with his first cover illustration published on the October 1973 issue ofAnalog magazine.[2] Sternbach became a friend of science fiction writerGreg Bear, after his illustration of "A Martian Ricorso" featured in the cover of the February 1976 issue ofAnalog.[3]
During 1974 to 1976 he produced several original works of art for the Gengras Planetarium, part of the Children's Museum of West Hartford, in Connecticut. The works included airbrush paintings of the Earth as a primeval planet. It is unknown if these works are still in possession of CMWH, the original owner and client of Sternbach.[citation needed]
In 1976 he helped found theAssociation of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists (ASFA), to give legal advice to science fiction and fantasy artists on contracts and copyrights.
In 1977, inspired by the story of artistRalph McQuarrie's move from working in the aerospace industry to working forGeorge Lucas onStar Wars, Sternbach moved to California to seek illustration work in the film and television industry.[2]
After some work forDisney andPBS,[2] in April 1978, Sternbach was offered an illustrator position onStar Trek: The Motion Picture.[2] As a member of the art department, working alongsideMike Minor, Sternbach designed control panel layouts and signage for the starship sets.[2][4] He also helped to create the animated asteroid wormhole sequence and helped source material fromNASA/JPL that was used in the design ofV'ger.[2]
From 1977 to 1980, Sternbach worked as an Assistant Art Director and Visual Effects Artist onCarl Sagan'sCosmos: A Personal Voyage series, where he designed sets and storyboard sequences during pre-production and then worked on visual effects scenes during production. For his work on the episodeThe Shores of the Cosmic Ocean he won the 1980-1981Emmy Award forOutstanding Individual Achievement in a Creative Technical Craft.
At around the same time, Sternbach collaborated with Charley Kohlhase andJim Blinn at JPL on theVoyager 1Jupiter flyby movie, creating textures for theGalilean satellites.[5]
With four other artists, in 1981 Sternbach helped found the non-profitInternational Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA), to arrange projects that promote and foster space art.
In 1983, he worked as an illustrator onThe Last Starfighter, story-boarding visual effects sequences and developing texture maps for computer rendered space scenes.
AfterStar Trek, as Scenic Artist onSteven Soderbergh'sSolaris, Sternbach contributed control panel designs to the Prometheus station set and the Athena 7 ship cockpit and also designed and rendered animated loops to play on background set displays.[6]
In January 1987, Sternbach was hired along withAndrew Probert (the first two art department hires) to start design work for a newStar Trek series,Star Trek: The Next Generation.[2] Sternbach recounts that he heard the news aboutTNG on his car radio, and then quickly calledGene Roddenberry's office.[2][7]
Sternbach helped define the look of the 24th century that would be used throughoutThe Next Generation and the series that followed it,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine andStar Trek: Voyager. Props such as thephasers,tricorders, PADDs and the communicator badge were all based on his designs.
During his time in theStar Trek art department at Paramount, Sternbach was also responsible for a number of starship designs including the CardassianGalor class starships, the KlingonVor'cha andNegh'Var class starships and Federation starships such as the Prometheus class, the Dauntless, the Nova class and theUSS Voyager itself.[2]
As fans of the original series ofStar Trek and fans of the space program, Sternbach andMichael Okuda found roles as Technical Advisors on the series, advising the writers on technical matters and developing a number of concepts to add realism to theStar Trek universe, such as theStructural Integrity Field and the Inertial Dampener. To this end, they produced a technical manual for each series, that was made available along with the series bible to any prospective script-writers to familiarize them with the concepts behind the series' technology. In 1991, Pocket Books published an updated, illustrated version of theNext Generation Technical Manual and then seven years later, theDeep Space Nine Technical Manual.[2]
WhenVoyager finished its seventh year in 2001, the producers decided they wanted a different look for the prequel seriesStar Trek: Enterprise that was set in the 22nd century, so Sternbach did not transfer over to theEnterprise art department, concluding his fourteen-year employment atParamount Studios.
Sternbach returned toStar Trek in 2002, when he produced control panel designs and signage for theEnterprise-E andRomulan starships inStar Trek Nemesis.[6]
As of 2015, he is also a member of the board of advisers for the Hollywood Science Fiction Museum.
Sternbach is also a noted contributor to theusenet newsgroup sci.space.history, and is an accepted expert on the various paint schemes used on theSaturn V booster. His company,Space Model Systems, is a leading provider of accurate decals for model kits of the Saturn V, as well as theApollo Command Module.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
