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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

The illustration job for “Feature Development,” an upcoming Benjamin Rosenbaum story on Tor.com was a tough one. I was surprised that Irene, the Tor.com creative director, thought of my work for this story. I took it on, but was sort of wishy-washy about the idea for a long time. The story is about a disease that turns people into zombies, but it’s written as if you’re reading an email thread and Facebook entries. It’s pretty amusing and it took me out of my comfort zone a bit—which creatively, at the time, I desperately needed.

I eventually had this vision in my head of a dark figure or face that seemed to be pushed back into shadow. I was worried because I thought it may be too simplistic, but the image never left my head.

By illustrating it, I wanted to recreate an image that had haunted me when I was young. I would go to bed in my dark room and start freaking myself out by seeing figures and shapes within the blackness. Is it a figure? Is it my imagination? The typical “monster in the closet” sort of thing. Only with the illustration for the story I wanted one shadowy figure that stood out by having teeth. (In the story, you become a zombie by being bit by another zombie.)

Scott Bakal

Irene immediately went for the head-shot image because it reminded her of a profile picture. Originally, I was envisioning a gray background but as soon as I Scott Bakalthought I “finished” it, I saw it wouldn’t work. Since there was a psuedo-Facebook thread to the story, a rich blue would not only be appropriate, but would help the piece immensely.

In the end, my fears about this piece were unfounded—it turned out to be one of my favorite paintings this year and probably the most creepiest I’ve ever done.

“Feature Devleopment” will be available on Tor.com this November.

 

Scott Bakal

Scott Bakal

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Scott Bakal

Author

Scott Bakal is a nationally recognized artist and illustrator first doing his undergrad at School of Visual Arts in NYC then a decade later earning an MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford.

Bakal has won over one hundred recognitions for his work from American Illustration, 3x3, HOW, Alt Weekly Awards, Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, Communication Arts, Spectrum and is included in Luerzer's 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide. He has also received a Silver Medal from the prestigious Society of Illustrators. In 2010, he received the Dean Cornwell Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators for "conceiving and implementing a customized website portal for the Society, changing the method in which all competitions are judged."

Clients have included the HarperOne, John Wiley & Sons, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Yoga Journal, Businessweek, PlanSponsor, Discover Magazine, The New Republic, Runner's World, Oprah, Natural Solutions and Penthouse Magazine and many others.

Bakal is on the Board of Directors at the Society of Illustrators in New York City and chairs the Student Scholarship Competition and Zankel Scholarship which are the largest illustration student competitions in the world. He was also elected to the Sanford B.D. Low Illustration Collection as a Committee Member at the New Britain Museum of American Art.

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