Monday, February 10, 2014

Sketches for "Digging Leviathan"

Here are some initial concept sketches for the cover of a 1984 science fiction novel called Digging Leviathan by James Blaylock.  


The sketches are drawn in pen and marker. I was trying to stay loose, letting ideas happen with each iteration, like a musician's multiple takes in a recording studio.

In the story, the hero makes a machine that can dig under modern-day Los Angeles in search of Pellucidar.

Blaylock is widely regarded as one of the originators of the steampunk movement. I loved the way he introduced fantastical elements into the banal reality of the modern world.
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See an unused color sketch for this cover at the previous post, "Digging Machine"

3 comments:

Adam Stolterman said...

Beautiful! And i have to thank you so much for this post because you just changed my whole perspective on my painting process. I've always felt that i fail every time i don't get the idea right and have to try again. But it's strange because i also work with music, and when i need to do one more take i never feel that it's a failure. I wonder why i feel there is a difference between doing another take in music and doing another sketch in painting. So thank you! Now i feel exited about the next sketch!

/Adam

David Glenn said...

Interesting. But why was it that the goal Digging Leviathan was to try to find Pellucidar? Isn't that using someone else's work?

crumblydonut said...

I love to buy a high quality print. Any idea of where the original landed?
Best,
Crumblydonut