Although the early practitioners in the 1930s and 40s, such as Lucien Rudaux and Chesley Bonestell, (see Space Art) were realists, many IAAA artists produce work which is impressionistic, expressionistic, abstract or surreal; however, the majority (unlike science fiction and fantasy artists, who work almost purely from imagination) do have a background in astronomy, physics and mathematics which enables them to interpret accurately the data from observatories and space probes, and convert them into believable images.
They paint in oils, acrylics, gouache and markers, use pens, pastels or coloured pencils, or the latest digital technology.
A major activity of the IAAA is space art workshops, in most cases at remote locations with geology common to what has been discovered on other worlds.
Iceland, Death Valley, Hawaii, The Colorado Plateau including Meteor Crater, and other locations with a sense of the unworldly about them have been visited in workshops.
Painting and sketching such scenery outdoors helps in training the artist to know the landscape and the forces shaping it, as well as to reinforce the sensory impressions one is putting into their work of the effects of light and shade in the atmosphere.