This fella, an astronaut:engineer, currently lives on the homepage of this website. He currently feels like he’s probably the pilot of the Rocketship. I’m already sowing seeds for where to go next: there are “sockets” on the backpack to mount an exoskeleton that already exists in my notes. I don’t know where he is yet: what vehicle is he outside of, and what is he out to repair? What is that tether attached to? In other words, what’s just beyond the picture area? What does the device floating to his right actually do?

Anything illustrative I do is inherently biographical, and often references cultural beats that have had a positive influence. Although I take a solid line towards verisimilitude — I like the idea that an imagined world feels inhabitable — I lean towards the fantastical because I can combine and contrast images in unexpected ways; one can be a slave to realism, and miss opportunities. I also like that viewers can read into things what they like.

Case study: the Rocketship thread

This project page is one in a series on the Rocketship branding theme, which has multiple sub-projects. The whole thread is a case study on my graphic design practice. Rocketship is an evolving super-project, and has its own blog thread.