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 Don Davis (born October 21, 1952) is an artist known for his portrayals of
space related subjects. His work is characterized by attention to detail and
authentic portrayals based on what is known of the subject. Chesley Bonestell,
considered by many to be one of the most accomplished practitioners of the space
art genre, critiqued Davis's early paintings and encouraged him to pursue an
artistic career.
Davis worked for the U. S. Geological Survey's branch of Astrogeologic
Studies during the Apollo Lunar expeditions and has since painted many images
for NASA. The NASA art included portrayals of interiors of giant space colonies,
based on the work of Gerard O'Neill. He was part of the team of space artists
gathered to provide the visual effects for the PBS series 'Cosmos' by Carl
Sagan. Later he painted the cover of Sagan's Pulitzer Prize winning book The
Dragons of Eden. Other books by Carl Sagan including Don's work are Comet and
Pale Blue Dot.
  Davis has done numerous paintings of impact events for publications and for
NASA. In the early 1980s he created planetary texture maps for use in Jet
Propulsion Laboratory computer graphic simulations of the Voyager encounters
with the outer planets. During the 80's and early 90's Davis created models and
film animations as part of the visual effects production teams for the PBS shows
'Planet Earth', Infinite Voyage', 'Space Age', and 'Life Beyond Earth' with
Timothy Ferris.
 He painted and filmed in 35 mm an animation of the Galileo probe entry into
Jupiter for NASA Ames. Numerous sequences for Discovery Channel science shows
such as 'Savage Sun' and 'Cosmic Safari' were later created using computer
graphic animation methods. Animations done in immersive hemispheric formats for
planetarium type domed theaters now form the balance of his work.
Don Davis received an Emmy for his work on 'Cosmos', and the 2002 Klumpke-Roberts
Award by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding contributions
to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy. The asteroid 13330
Dondavis is named after him. In 2000 he was elected a Fellow in the
International Association of Astronomical Artists.
Don's
Website
Don Davis on Novaspace |
