This was a super interesting project, illustrating the entirety of the February 2021 issue of WIRED. I received a call from Design Director Roger Gurbani and Creative Director Maili Holiman about this special issue containing four chapters of the upcoming novel “2034” by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis.
The novel bristled with locations and details, so sketching thumbnails as I read it became the natural strategy. Building up rough ideas for story beats as they evolved also helped to build connections that could potentially link the six spreads. The cover sketches also began to develop in the margins, eventually landing on four ideas.
We then went over the roughs to discuss mood and pacing and how to best group the illustrations in sequence. Once the final series was selected it became a research and reference crunch to pull together the six scenes as authentically as possible. One of the highlights of this project was the rare chance to speak with authors as a part of my research, gathering technical details I usually can only guess at.
One aspect of my development process I enjoy is the opportunity to study how other artists interpret and design the world. In this case the understated reportage of Martin Lewis was very much on my mind, the gravity of documentary photography by Jacques Lowe as the story developed, and the beautiful atmosphere of Christian Alzmann (among many others) on The Mandalorian art department.
Martin Lewis
Jacques Lowe
Christian Alzmann
The issue is on stands now and is being released online weekly at WIRED.com