The picture of the gynoid is by Hajime Sorayama. He has a very distinct (and slightly NSFW) art style. I'm a computer graphics nerd and I've always been amazed by the curved chrome in his paintings. A lot of my hacky attempts at art tried to replicate that chrome style in Photoshop.
It frustrates me that the article doesn’t credit him by name. His art was absolutely iconic, even in a sea of other “chrome-tastic” illustrations. Dude was an absolute master of airbrushed chrome aesthetic.
Here's some examples of his sexy robots. I don't find them very enjoyable as art, perhaps because they seem to be a human shape wrapped in reflective material, rather than what I'd believe as made of rigid parts.
Yeah, trying to think of the origin of the style... Sorayama was the king but perhaps he owes a little to Richard Corben. And perhaps Richard owes something to the guys in So-Cal like Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and his "Weirdo" t-shirts. (Ha ha, notorious enough at the time to inspire a Leave it to Beaver episode.)
