Scott Bakal | Tor.com
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Scott Bakal

Creating the Art for Tor.com Story “Feature Development”

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.

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Creating the Art for Kathryn Cramer’s “Am I Free to Go?”

I really enjoyed and love the piece I did earlier in the year for Irene Gallo at Tor—in fact, it is probably one of my favorites this year. A few weeks ago, Irene emailed me to create a new piece for another upcoming short story called “Am I Free To Go?” by Kathryn Cramer.

After the first go around of the 55 page story, I was all over the place. The story is written in a rather fragmented way so the second time around, I really had to hone in on what was going on in the story. I finally found a few visual cues that I thought would work very well together. Not to give too much away because you should read it, there was a connection with jail, inmate clothing and long stem roses that were perfect for a neat visual.

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Creating the Art for “At the Foot of the Lighthouse”

Most of my work over the years deals with current events and is largely based in some sort of reality. Jobs that come from a fantasy and fictional point of view are sometimes a nice relief to that. It gives me the chance to get lost in a world or visual that can go anywhere—like for “At the Foot of the Lighthouse,” where I got to illustrate a girl sitting in a bathtub moments before she explodes the tub with her mind!

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