Sci-Fi Illustration, Micro-fiction, and Informal Jam Sessions

The Earth's Bad Roommates

Publisher, writer, and podcaster Jacques Nyemb setup a cool experiment about collaborating with folks only connected in the social spaces. He wrote a collection of micro fiction stories and asked who would be interested in contributing visual art. I like the idea of informal, playful jam session kinds of collaboration and was able to join for this illustration.

Imagine a future Earth that gets abandoned instead of healed. That's the action behind this and the feelings I was hoping to evoke are mixed curiosity and a sense of what may be next, inviting the viewer to explore and consider. What forces and feelings are left behind and what may come after?

The collaboration is on hiatus, but that's okay. That's part of the point of playing and jamming is to try. The experience of connecting with someone else's creative expression is worth it.

I miss informal collaborations. My kids were asking me recently about my experiences playing music in a few garage bands growing up. They asked how many bands I was in, what things did I do in each, did we have a name, why that particular name. Pretty solid interview.

Some folks I'd jam with and we never gave it a name. Getting interviewed by my kids reminded me of the times when I also had informal get togethers with musicians. Show up with your instrument and be willing to play. See what happens.

Those informal get togethers didn't become ongoing band projects, but they could have. Sometimes we made good sounds, other times it was a bit awkward due to extreme differences in styles and wants. But in each case I never thought it was a bad experience. I had a chance to creatively play and learn more about some folks.