Students

Pat Rawlings
Space Artist and Conceptual Designer

What is your birth date?

June 2, 1955

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Where did you grow up?

Greenville, Texas

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What was your favorite subject in school?

Science

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Did you have a favorite teacher?

My third grade teacher. She knew her stuff, liked teaching it, and liked kids.

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What do you do?

When I drive down the road, I look at things and I think, ‘what would that be like if it were in space?’ If I read a book or watch a movie I ask the same question. I’m always looking at things and wondering what they would be like in space. This is how a space artist thinks!

I do artwork of what space might really be like in the future. I don’t paint things you can go out and take a picture of, like the Shuttle. I create pictures that show what space could be like 10 to 100 years in the future. Every picture I do is like a story.

There are details that show what time of day it is, what planets are in the background and what the atmosphere and weather outside is like. These pictures help all sorts of people. Have you ever heard the saying that a picture paints a thousand words? A lot of times, engineers and scientists ask me to do a picture showing what it would be like to go to the Moon or to Mars. They use the picture instead of the thousand words! A painting can help them show off the ideas that they have in their head.

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When I was your age...

When I was in school I had been doing art for a long time. I did art during math in the first grade and during English in the second grade. I was drawing pictures to amuse my classmates. What I really wanted to be was a magician. A friend and I used to put on magic shows for people. We’d go out and give magic shows for retired people.

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When I got older...

I wanted to be a chemist. I spent all my extra money on glassware and chemicals. I set up a lab in an extra room in the house. I tried to figure out ways to make things change color or explode. I also read tons of science fiction stories.

All the time I was doing things that ended up being very helpful for being a space artist and I didn’t even know I wanted to be a space artist. You mix chemistry, science, and magic and you come out with space art. It involves illusion of reality, scientific accuracy and knowledge of a number of the sciences and artistry. You never quite know how things will help you when you’re growing up until it hits you in the face.

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Now, I have a really cool job...

My hobby is my job. The coolest thing about my job is being able to sit in my office all day long and listen to classical music while I paint. Sometimes I produce pictures out of my head. If I need help with the idea, I can pick up the telephone and call the world’s top experts on whatever I’m painting. So I get to talk to really cool people.

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What are your hobbies?

Indoor soccer, movies, reading

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Who is your hero?

My parents

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