Nerd Alert!

So this and the images that follow are part of my overly ambitious ridiculous project to finish out art school. They're illustrations to go with China Mieville's homosexual Victorian communist revolutionary science fiction novel Iron Council. It's a great book, highly recommend it. This first thing was going to be the cover image. This is the result of a paint over by my friend Dan, who gave it a lot more mood and a tighter composition. I was going to paint it, but the color rough was awful and Sal was more excited by my other sketches, so I'm putting this one on hold until after I graduate.

So, in this scene, Judah the protagonist is riding one of his golems to escape the New Crobuzon militia. Someday I'll paint it, but I just can't now. Three weeks until the end of the semester. Too much to do.

I don't want to spoil too much of the plot of the novel, so I won't go into too many details. This is a strike scene for the Remade railway workers (in Mieville's setting, if you're convicted of a crime the authorities surgically and thaumaturgically rework your body with animal parts or steamwork pistons and things; those are the Remade, the lowest of the low on the social ladder). This is the sketch. I'm currently painting this one because I'm an idiot. Choosing the most complex and difficult piece to work on out of everything is my trademark, apparently. I refuse to realize my limitations.


This is a study of an Inchman, which is a mutant caterpillar person (communists and mutant caterpillars; this book was written for me).

Here is a sketch of an Inchman menacing a sleeping camper. The finish is below.

And here is the finish, in graphite pencil. Once again, Phil is being menaced in his sleep by something horrible. It's amazing the guy can sleep at night after what I put him through in my artwork.
If I explain this one, I seriously ruin a surprise in the story. But, anyways, this is the finish for this guy. It's too big for the scanners at school, so I had to put it back together in photoshop. It looks okay for the first time I've had to do this.

That's it for this particular installment. I have three finished paintings due by the end of the month, a paper, a presentation and twelve slides to shoot before I can graduate. Tick tick tick.