I got a commission from fantasy author Jacqueline Lichtenberg to illustrate a book she was writing, which was to be published by an avant-garde press somewhere in California. They asked me to do a more "edgy" and modern style for the black and white illustrations. I am not so good at "edgy" stuff but I did my best.
Lichtenberg's story involves an Earthman in a future interstellar civilization, who is a "Boxmaster," a kind of techno-magical practitioner whose powers derive from a link to a shard of living crystal. The future Boxmasters must brave hostile desert and mountains to carve a shard for themselves. After they have attuned to their crystal, it is placed in an impregnable box, hence the "Boxmaster" role. Lichtenberg's Earthman is paired with a young alien of indeterminate sex, who is an aspiring Boxmaster. The book tells the story of how they find the young alien's shard, how the alien bonds with it, and later on, how the alien (who is really female) falls in love with her manly Boxmaster partner.
This "Boxmaster" concept is not to be confused with the country band the "Boxmasters," in which the movie actor Billy Bob Thornton plays.
I did a whole series of illustrations, plus smaller design headers for the first pages of chapters. Jacqueline herself paid me for it, not very much but better than nothing. And then the whole project dropped into oblivion like a stone into a desert cave. It has never been seen or spoken of again, until now.
"Boxmaster" illustration of an outpost village. Originally ink on Bristol board, 8 1/2" x 11", September 1994.
1 comment:
Not sure how edgy it is, but it has an odd but interesting feel. I would love to see more from this.
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