I had the pleasure of being commissioned to make art for author Marie Parks and her upcoming debut solo novel, Flightless.
Y’all, the EXCITEMENT of watching your talented friends reap the amazing results of their consistent work on something that matters to them.
What a high.
In her most recent email newsletter: “Flightless is a heist story. But it's also about striving. Navigating an unjust world. Asking ourselves what possibilities we can create if we release the dregs society offers us.”
Pre-order Marie Parks’ book Flightless here. If you send Marie your proof of purchase, she’ll snail mail you the sticker sheet that has all the artwork I helped her create!
Heists in a fantasy setting with an ace main character
SAY LESS.
BUT ALSO TELL ME EVERYTHING.
Aside from just being a big fan of Marie as a human being — did you say HEIST. In a fantasy setting. An aro/ace main character??
Something you may not know about me from the emails I send: I’m a fan of friend group shows (Parks and Recreation, How I Met your Mother), best buddy tropes (RDJ and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson, Captain America & Bucky, basically Charlie and Hurley in Lost), and heist movies (Logan Lucky, Oceans). Not to mention The Lies of Locke Lamora was one of my favorite books, ever.
I had the unique chance to take my ONE SHOT at each of the characters in Flightless to try to convey what they’re all about. (imagine the 8 mile riff here!)
Capturing Unique Personalities in individual portraits
I loved reading about each of the crew members’ unique personalities.
Marie sent me snippets of her book plus some extra narratives to get the vibe of each character, and my challenge was to capture them in a face-only portrait.
So. Much. Fun.
So challenging and creatively satisfying at the same time.
It was like being able to flip through a movie’s “art book” except the art doesn’t exist yet and the movie hasn’t come out but you just know THIS MOVIE IS GOOD and also your friend made it.
I’d absolutely do it all again.
I will let the talented storyteller Marie Parks tell you all about them, but here are some the portraits I made for the amazing crew members she’s assembled in Flightless:
Drawing & Design Process Coming Soon!
I don’t want to spoil anything about the book, but expect an update (or another blog post) some time after the book releases where I’ll go through some of the design decisions for each character!
Pre-Order Flightless!
Marie is sending the stickers I designed plus some more awesome swag to anyone who sends her proof of purchase!
I gotta know!
What happens??
Does that person betray them after all?
Will the butting personalities, grudges, and social biases ever get set aside or will it be their downfall and heartbreaking reason for the sequel?
How do they hug if some of them have flying squirrel wing flap anatomy?? (For real though. Go read about the new species that Marie created!)
In the meantime I’ll have to wait patiently with all the other Flightless fans for the book’s release in April.