Born in Concrete - (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

After a 12 year absence from creating his own art, Derek started to focus on his personal work in 2009.

His first personal project, Born in Concrete, was undertaken to dispel his biases towards expressive art, overcome his own perceived limitations and to rejuvenate his creative spirit. This collision of Soviet inspired retro sci-fi and Jewish mystical and qabalistic symbolism has evolved into a filter, or framework, that emotions, ideas and images are pushed through to be given shape and form. This project was well received, being featured in numerous exhibits, international publications, as well as book and album covers, It continues to unfold and expand....

This second edition of the original book features a gallery section of artwork, a chapter on the artwork created for use as graphics on snowboards, the snowboards and the corresponding marketing material as well as a chapter on the creation of a resin model kit by Industria Mechanika.

A section of the book is also dedicated to a step-by-step breakdown of how one of the art pieces was created.

Review Quotes

"Life and death, nature and technology, animal and human all collide in Derek Stenning's vivid, eye-catching depictions of cosmonauts as freedom fighters, struggling above the earth in a simultaneously hard and smooth sky. With a colour palette as juxtaposed as his images, Stenning's bold lines and geometric shapes tell a narrative of intolerance and stasis in a bleak cityscape, and remaking of this world by an artist-warrior escaping the chains of both gravity and society. He invokes symbols of the natural world and images of birth to remake artistic expression in a more liberated space. Above all, these artworks, beginning as sketches and evolving with computer graphics, convey raw emotion, as well as the tension and personal struggle within the artist."

- Adan Jerreat-Poole
Rooms Art Uncovered Magazine

"Victoria, BC-based Derek Stenning creates otherworldly compositions. Astronauts circling space stations in the future, floating in space, falling into deeper outer space are all the situations in the highly detailed work, as well as some remarkable space suit construction."

- Juxtapoz

About the Author

Trained as a classical animator, Derek has spent the last decade working in the video game development field in Vancouver, Canada. Over the years he has fulfilled a number of different artistic roles while working on video game projects for clients such as Nintendo, Sega, Activision and Marvel Entertainment.

Derek's work has been featured in numerous magazines, including Wired (USA), Das Science Fiction Jahr 2012 (Germany), Imagine FX (UK), Versus Magazine (UK), Advanced Photoshop (UK), Inside The World of Board Graphics (USA), and Rooms Art Uncovered (UK).

He is currently a Senior Concept Artist at Microsoft Studios Victoria.