Ron Miller is an illustrator and author living in South Boston, Virginia. Before becoming a free-lance illustrator in 1977, Miller was art director for the National Air & Space Museum's Albert Einstein Planetarium. Prior to this he was a commercial advertising illustrator. His primary work today entails the writing and illustration of books specializing in astronomical, astronautical and science fiction subjects. To date he has more than fifty titles to his credit. His work has also appeared on scores of book jackets, book interiors and in magazines such as National Geographic, Reader's Digest, Scientific American, Smithsonian, Air & Space, Sky & Telescope, Newsweek, Natural History, Discover, Geo, etc.
Miller's books include the Hugo-nominated The Grand Tour, Cycles of Fire, In the Stream of Stars, and The History of Earth. All of them have been Book-of-the-Month Club Feature Selections (as well as selections of the Science, Quality Paperback and Astronomy Book Clubs) and have seen numerous translations. They have received many commendations and awards as well. His "Worlds Beyond" series received the prestigious American Institute of Physics Award of Excellence, The Art of Chesley Bonestell, received a Hugo Award and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific has called The Grand Tour "a modern classic".
Considered an authority on Jules Verne, Miller translated and illustrated new, definitive editions of Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth as well as a major companion/atlas to Verne's works, Extraordinary Voyages. He has acted as a consultant on Verne for Disney Imagineering and A&E's Biography series. Miller is also considered an authority on the early history of spaceflight. His The Dream Machines, a comprehensive, quarter-million-word 744-page history of manned spacecraft, was nominated for the prestigious IAF Manuscript Award and won the Booklist Editor's Choice Award. He designed a set of ten commemorative stamps for the U.S. Postal Service and has been a production illustrator for motion pictures, notably Dune and Total Recall. He has also done preproduction concepts, consultation and matte art for David Lynch, George Miller, John Ellis, UFO Films and James Cameron. He designed and co-directed the computer-generated show ride film, Impact!. He has taken part in numerous international space art workshops and exhibitions, including seminal sessions held in Iceland and the Soviet Union (where he had been invited by the Soviet government to take part in the 30th anniversary celebration of the launch of Sputnik), and has lectured on space art and space history in the U.S., France, Japan, Italy and Great Britain. Miller has been on the faculty of the International Space University. His original paintings are in numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Pushkin Museum (Moscow).
Miller is a contributing editor for Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a Life Member, Fellow and past Trustee of the International Association for the Astronomical Arts, an Honorary Member of the Sociétè Jules Verne (Paris), a Member of the North American Jules Verne Society and a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.
You can learn more about Ron Miller and view images of his space art at his website:
http://www.black-cat-studios.com
