John Berkey was born in 1932 and lived in a small town in Minnesota. He is best known for his science fiction artwork that focuses on vary large and detailed space ships. In the 1960's John was commissioned to do artwork for NASA and the space program as a part of their efforts to go beyond the earth's atmosphere. Early in his career he worked as a staff artist at Brown and Bigelow where he produced calendar paintings. Johns's artwork was featured on Ballantine Book's STAR series and many other science fiction book covers. His artwork can also be easily recognized on magazine covers, ads, books, and movie posters such as King Kong, Star Wars, and The Towering Inferno. In 2004 John was introduced into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame and was called the most innovative and influential futurist painter of his time.