I'm working on a new book of drawings called AURA. BEETLE IN THE BOX is intended as the first illustration and serves as the portal into the world of the book. AURA will encompass all aspects of my aesthetic: fantasy, surrealism, humour and horror. It is a journey, but not a structured narrative, as in... Continue Reading →
The Nameless Flower, 2024, ink on paper, 30” x 22” I posted a detail of this piece a few days ago. Here is the completed drawing! It’s a large one (for me) and took many weeks of on again, off again work—the original graphite underdrawing was done back in August 2023. I posted a few... Continue Reading →
Cover Illustration by Richard A. Kirk for “The Dinosaur Tourist” Pictured above is an illustration I did for the cover of a short fiction collection by Caitlin R. Kiernan. It was rendered with a 0.18 Rotring Rapidograph for people who are interested in such things. I’ve always enjoyed working with subjects from natural history. This... Continue Reading →
A detail of my new drawing The Nameless Flower I’ve been working on this piece called The Nameless Flower for a few weeks now and I am getting close to finishing. When I do, I’ll post it in full and include some details. For now, here is a little timelapse video of me working on... Continue Reading →
Many of you that follow my work will have seen the images I created earlier this year for the vinyl reissue of KoRN Untitled—KoRn's 8th studio album. In this post I will show you some of the production shots I took while I was working on this project. It's my practice to document my work... Continue Reading →
The Stranger Greets the Dawn, 2023, ink on artboard, 10" x 11.5" I finished this drawing on September 10. It started life as an endpaper illustration for a forthcoming book project. In the end we chose another image, so I expanded the this original drawing and rounded out the composition. It is very much in-line... Continue Reading →
I recently started a Substack newsletter called Radiolaria Studios. It's intended as a companion rather than a replacement for this blog. My goal for the newsletter is to post weekly, on a specific theme related to my creative life. To date I've done posts on silverpoint, illustrating Dune and the vinyl reissue of KoRn's 8th... Continue Reading →
Past the Light is a new work in ink and watercolour, which explores some of my favourite themes of transformation, decay and natural history. I've included a few close ups below. This piece is available for sale on my Big Cartel webstore. Past the Light, 2023, ink & watercolour on board, 14" x 10"
I just finished rendering this new piece. Below the final image, you can see the graphite underdrawing. I changed little of the composition as I inked beyond removing the line on the right that was intended to signify distant clouds or trees. It felt like a distraction from the flow. During the rendering of the... Continue Reading →
Dance of Spring, 2023, graphite on paper, 10" x 10" A small drawing completed a few days ago. Where I am in Ontario, Spring has been slow in coming and the sky has been very grey. With luck, the sun will soon come from behind the clouds and things will warm up. Regardless, things are... Continue Reading →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 