I’ve been working on several writing projects lately…poetry, short stories, and a big essay on the lyrics of Van Dyke Parks. In the interim I have also completed some new artwork. There are not enough hours in the month to work on everything equally, as my brain jumps from one thing to another so my visual output is pretty limited.

This is an illustration meant for my book The Future Past Due. It reflects the various themes of the book which has stories and poems on artificial intelligence, space travel, history, and biography. I wasn’t able to incorporate it into the finished product. But here it is.

Pen and ink, Prismacolor markers
Pen and ink, Prismacolor markers

I am currently working on a theme of using my favorite authors and making them “Icons of Literature” something like religious iconography but without the ritual layouts. Here is Dante:

Dante Alighieri in pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencil.
Dante Alighieri in pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencil.

and Chaucer:

                                                               Geoffrey Chaucer in pen and ink, watercolor, and colored pencil

I have also done a couple of drawings representing the brilliant fiction of Uel Aramchek. You can follow him on Twitter @ThePatanoiac. He started a theme of bizarre series of tarot cards called the Tarot Arcana. I did a few drawings of his ideas:

This is called "Singularity" pen and ink, Prismacolor markers
This is called “Singularity” pen and ink, Prismacolor markers
This is titled "Global Warming" pen and ink, colored pencil, and Prismacolor markers
This is titled “Global Warming” pen and ink, colored pencil, and Prismacolor markers

Another artist on Twitter, Lays Farra (@LaysFarra) printed them out, including work from another fellow artist. They turned out pretty well:

PRINTEDTAROT