"It's not safe out here! It's wondrous... with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." - Q

As a young boy, Nathan was first transported to the stars through the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise – on television aboard the Enterprise D, captained by Jean Luc Picard, and in the movies aboard the Refit, captained by James T. Kirk.  More than any other story, Star Trek fired Nathan’s imagination and for years, he kept those visions to himself, but in 2007, he brought them into reality by translating the techniques of the visual effects that brought Star Trek to the screen through his own art process.  “All my art is an homage to traditional special effects,” he explains. “They are photographic composite paintings, painstakingly created with love and care.”  He begins with physical models, which he photographs under careful lighting conditions, then painstakingly masks them out and integrates into his own photography or recreations of NASA images, which he lights, blends, and processes to produce the final creation.

“For me, my art has to be more than a simple glamour picture of a ship,” he says. “The entire work must speak to the character, mood, or emotion that the ship conveys.  I treat them like living creatures and I’m trying to get at their essence, their souls.”  Each piece of art comes from a “conversation” with the ship, where Nathan spends days with it off to the side of his computer while he works, looking for its most alluring angles that speak to its character and nature.  “My wife has been a huge support and certainly indulges me,” he smiles. “In fact, many of the ships I feature come from her going out and finding me model ships – so she deserves a lot of credit!”

Inspired by his love of aviation art, concept art, and fantasy art, Nathan’s Star Trek artwork subconsciously incorporates cues from all these styles in his work.  “I love aviation art, for example,” he explains. “I love its sense of motion, perspective, depth, energy, color – and the glorious celebration of manned machines.  I wanted to try to capture that feeling in my work but with ships and vehicles that are yet to be invented – as an inspiration to reach towards a better future.”

Nathan also writes short stories inspired by meditations on his artwork.  “I get a creative thrill from contemplating a piece of art and asking, ‘what brought this ship to this moment, and what comes after this moment,’” he says. “The stories just flow from that creative challenge.”

To follow Nathan on Facebook or to see more of Nathan’s artwork, read his Star Trek fanfiction, or enjoy his YouTube ambiance videos, visit his website at: www.blabberdock.com