The Inspiration

Nikola Tesla is widely considered to be the father of modern technology. He created AC current, radar, recorded radio waves from space, and even created what he called an earthquake machine. His ideas led to the invention of the cell phone and wireless technologies and basically everything we take for granted today. All of that started the day he was born during a lightning storm when his midwife thought his birth was an omen of darkness, to which his mother cried out “No.. he is a child of light”

The Illustration

I created this piece as a compliment to my Edgar Allan Poe illustration, after taking it to several conventions and having so many people request that I follow it up with Tesla. I had tried a few other companion pieces but none had the response that Tesla provided. As with the Edgar Allan Poe illustration I worked digitally and used intricate line work and crosshatching to pull grays out of midtones. Dark brushy blacks help to give the piece a frantic painterly feel of a hand drawn ink piece.