Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author
"there is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion" Sir Frances Bacon, Of Beauty, Essays" 1625
This past week was productive. I handed in all of the artwork for Magpie's Ladder (my forthcoming short story collection) to PS Publishing. Unfortunately I can't show it to you yet, though if you follow me on Instagram you might have glimpsed some of the work in progress. Instead, I am showing you this new... Continue Reading →
This is an illustration for one of Caitlin R. Kiernan's short stories in the recently published Houses Under the Sea (Centipede Press). I'm showing the image in its original state because I like the warmth of the off white Arches paper (the file submitted to the publisher was altered for printing). The finished book is... Continue Reading →
I am showing you an illustration I did for the forthcoming Houses Under the Sea by Caitlin R. Kiernan (the image is shown as a crop in the link). This is the first time I have illustrated a book using carbon pencil instead of ink. It was an interesting process as the medium took the drawings... Continue Reading →
Further to my last post, PS Publishing has just posted its December newsletter. It includes the full wrap around illustration for Odin's Girl by Kim Wilkins, which I share here. It also shows a little of an interior illustration, which you can see by following the link. I am currently hard at work/ play creating... Continue Reading →
PS Publications will be publishing my illustrated short story collection Magpie's Ladder in 2018! I'll post news about that project here as details become available. In the meantime, have a look at these two forthcoming titles from PS featuring my artwork and great cover design by Michael Smith. Give the PS site a visit if... Continue Reading →
The following text is a chapter deleted from my novel Necessary Monsters during the editing process. For those who have read the book, it describes an incident upon Irridis's arrival in the City of Steps. During the revision it was apparent that it wasn't essential to the story, but I thought readers might enjoy it... Continue Reading →
I am shocked to see that I haven't updated my blog since May. On the other hand, I don't feel too bad because I stuck pretty much to my work plan for this year. This summer saw the release of my fantasy novel Necessary Monsters. The earliest drafts of NM go back a few years,... Continue Reading →
This is a new piece called Search Party. I'm taking a break from some large pieces to execute some smaller ideas. For this drawing I used brush and ink for the main subject and a dip pen for the background. It was done on archival Cranson board. I'll probably do a few in this vein.... Continue Reading →
I am very excited to show you the cover of my new novel Necessary Monsters, which will be published this May and is now available for pre-order. I can't wait to share this novel with readers. I re-wrote the book many times over the last few years, refining it to the book I saw in... Continue Reading →
Caitlin R. Kiernan has posted this illustration to her blog, so I guess I am okay to share it here as well. This is for the forthcoming Houses Under the Sea, Mythos Tales. Caitlin has provided details about this book on her blog. The book also features amazing art by John Kenn Mortensen and Vince... Continue Reading →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 