Author name: Michael

Ramek the Machine Slayer

Aegeon, Digital, Illustration /
Ramek the Machine Slayer sitting on a destroyed mechanical predator with an anti-materiel rifle propped up next to him.

Ramek the Machine Slayer first appeared in Aegeon #1, in the short story “Ramek, Machine-Slayer” by Buffalo Jenkins. Since then he’s become a mainstay of the publication, answering fan mail and offering short commentaries on each of the stories.

I’ve decided on a whim to create a fan illustration of Ramek, resting after a successful hunt. The publisher of Aegeon was kind enough to feature it in the fourth issue. As usual, Ramek was drawn in ProCreate on my iPad Pro M1. This time I’ve saved several versions of the drawing in progress, allowing me to show you this slideshow:

Ramek01
Ramek02
Ramek03
Ramek04
Ramek05
Ramek06
Ramek07
Ramek08
Ramek09
Ramek10
Ramek11
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Ramek13

Ramek thinks you should check out my merch.

The Map of Heaven

Aegeon, Digital, Illustration /
A pen & ink surrealist image showing da Vinci's Vitruvian man from the front and behind with a superimposed whaling harpoon. In the middle, there's an inverted pyramid with a human eye at its base, above a muscle car. In the background, there's a geodesic dome, and behind it, the Arizona desert.
The first illustration in what is hopefully going to be a long collaboration with the Aegeon publication. This one is for the short story “The Map of Heaven” by Jason Lupus appearing in Aegeon #3. Drawn in about 24 hours in ProCreate on an iPad Pro M1. The final version in the book has a slightly modified layout. Several products featuring this illustration can be found in the shop.

Giornale E Caffè

Digital, Illustration /
A pen & ink drawing of a street café in the historic city center of Verona.

This is probably my best work so far, if I do say so myself. Drawn in ProCreate on an iPad Pro M1 in about 40 hours. It shows a real café in the historic city center of Verona called Giornale & Caffè. In front of it, there’s our family (seated) and our two friends who run the place. This work was printed in a limited run of three A2-sized prints on 300gsm Hahnemüle rag paper.

Pebble

Illustration, Traditional /
A pebble with the image of ponte di Castelvecchio in Verona drawn onto it with brush pen and white gouache.

We found this flat, almost perfectly rectangular pebble while on a walk under ponte di Castelvecchio in Verona. I decided to draw the very same bridge onto it in brush pen (Kuretake Bimoji) and white gouache.

Flower

Doodles, Traditional /
Elaborate abstract pen & ink doodle with a flower in the middle and mechanical structures radiating out from it.

My second elaborate doodle drawn with the specific goal of creating art rather than killing time. This one was drawn using a Platinum fountain pen (with Platinum carbon ink) on watercolor paper. Available in the shop as well, if you’re interested.