At E-scape Illustrations (“E-scape”) the mission is simple; to close our eyes and have fun imagining, designing, illustrating and writing about futuristic cities, off-world places, and how we travel on Earth and beyond in the future. As an architect and urban designer by training, I like merging structure, urban design, and futuristic transportation systems into a futuristic genre to come up with fun structures and cityscapes of tomorrow. I like conceptualizing and illustrating space stations, inter-stellar vessels of all sizes and the docking platforms that serve them.
At E-scape, I celebrate the “traditional art form.” I don’t use computers to borrow from existing photographs or futuristic art to generate new ideas. I imagine the worlds I want to visit, and I go there! I capture it the old-fashioned way; using a pencil, pen and a 5x8 inch sketchbook. All of my larger, primary illustrations begin from a new or pre-existing sketch hiding in one of many sketchbooks lying around the house. Once I decide which sketch grabs me the most, I start hand-crafting each detail on a larger board, using any combination of pen, marker, acrylic and maybe airbrush until I arrive at that unknown destination that is a completed work.
Whether it’s tomorrow’s cities on Earth or to a distant off-world place and back in the blink of an eye, E-scape allows me to take my audience on a trip to some of the crazy, futuristic and sometimes fantastic places that I get to visit all day long.
I would be interested in talking to you about how my work and concepts could enhance your projects, be it a book, movie, video, etc. I also speak pro bono to school groups in the DC/MD/VA area about my work, following one's dreams and imagination, and embracing what makes one different. If you are interested in either, please let me know by clicking on the "Contact" link to the left. We hope to hear from you!
-James K. Russell