Trying To Craft A Design That, From A Distance, Would Just Look Like A Line, But Upon Closer Inspection

Building some strong momentum over the last few days, and we’re now one-sixth of the way there! So many thank yous to everyone who’s already joined!

Let’s keep it going! Join the independent publishing party, and show your support for non-traditional science fiction storytelling experiences! Check out the link below:

This.

I uploaded this on my ArtStation a while back, but for some reason forgot to put it up here. Simply called, “Icosahedron,” this digital piece pretty much sums up my favorite design aesthetic. Monochrome with a pop of color. (And, of course, injected with some abstract sci-fi feel for good measure.)

Mitosis.

This is a logo, or "tag" if you will, that I made for myself a little while back when I really started into experimenting with physical mediums of visual art. When I tell people what I do, though, they ask where they can see my work, and I've never really had a good answer. It only seems right that this should be that place. Because this blog is ArtificeLux...

So there it is: this blog stretches back to a time I don't even recognize sometimes, but let's call this the beginning...

Back with another look at the soundtrack! This time featuring “Closer to the Dead” (as always, by ultra-talented Josh McCausland)!

The video on this one is a little different than those that have come before… still abstract, but really hinting at certain elements of the book as well. Secrets abound…

There’s still time to back the Kickstarter for the exclusive vinyl release of the soundtrack, and the deluxe-hardcover novel, all with designs by me. There are other rewards (including digital copies and softcover) as well, so hopefully a little something for everyone!

It’s gonna take a big push this final week to get it over the line, but I’m holding out hope it can happen. Every little bit helps, so if you’re interested, I’d be thrilled for you to check out the link below:

UI.

When I did this one, I had been seeing a lot of pictures posted from Ash Thorp’s LearnSquared “UI and Data Design” class... recreating a UI look with pen feels difficult (kind of a cool challenge) but anyway, some of the design elements I’ve seen in his work are the inspiration behind this one. Hopefully I’ll take his class one day.

@ashthorp

Beginning of a Totally Unrelated-to-Anything Scene

The place was called “Executive Hotel”—it took a conscious effort to keep from thinking what sort of low-life executive would choose to stay in such a pisspot.  It looked more like a prison compound than the “Most Comfortable Stay,” as the sign out front bragged.  Sleeping beneath an overpass might have been better.

White paint peeled from the exterior walls, streaking the dingy surface with scars of brown.  Either it was the paint peeling to reveal half-rotted wood beneath, or it was mildew caused by some awful roof runoff.  I was certain to stay far enough away so the distinction couldn’t be made.  And the cars parked in the lot were in much the same condition, nearly every one of them a beater joint fit to throw a piston and clatter to a stop at any moment.  Paint jobs all dull tans, beiges, and sickly olive greens—or at least they had been, before the rust had begun to corrode the old steel frames—did nothing to improve my already low opinion of this fine establishment.

It was enough to make a man rethink the choices he had made in his life.  And as the shoddy suspension of my loaner car—only earlier that day, I had saved it from the scrapper with a quick exchange of five, crisp one hundred dollar bills—bounced over the broken cracks of the uneven lot, rolling like a drunken mule into the space outlined by two non-existent yellow stripes, I found myself doing exactly that...

The Alchemist.

This Creeping Suspicion.

Delayed Reaction.