the Artwork
^of ALAN BELLOWS!

Isabel Godin Crossing the Amazon

Cover art for the article Welcome to the Jungle. The woman’s face is based on a contemporary painting of the article’s subject, the background is a photograph processed to resemble a painting. Jungle creatures and many other details added by hand.

Tools used: Photoshop, Artrage on iPad

U.S. Grant

My pastiche portrait of U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant for the article The Reconstruction of Ulysses S. Grant.

Tesla's Tower

A fantastical vision of Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower.

X-ray

My rendering of an x-ray of the mysterious device from the article The Zero-Armed Bandit.

Tools used: Photoshop

Japanese Underground

The cover image for The Japanese Art of Self-Preservation, made to resemble ancient Japanese art.

Tools used: Artrage for iPad, Photoshop

Night Launch

My impression of the nighttime launch of a home-made hot-air balloon used to escape East Germany. It is included as an image for Up in the Air.

Tools used: Photoshop

Scientist Propaganda

A series of propaganda-style posters I designed to commemorate famous scientists.

Tools used: Photoshop

Condamine/Voltaire

A pastiche of portraits of Condamine and Voltaire for the article The Enlightenment Guide To Winning The Lottery. I also added the frame, lighting, and wallpaper to improve the effect.

Tools used: Photoshop

Uptown Motel

A photograph I took of a sign and then heavily modified to appear more dramatic and dilapidated.

Sir James Dewar at the Foot of Mt. Hydrogen

Cover art for my article Absolute Zero is 0K; the one used in the article is a “diorama” style with animated background clouds.

Tools used: Photoshop

We Three Kings of Kings

Simulated stained glass image I created for Three Thrown Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Tools used: Photoshop

MicroKonzo

Cover image for the article The Curse of Konzo. The objects are bundles of roots from the cassava plant seen from the bottom, which I processed to resemble microscopic organisms under a microscope.

Tools used: Photoshop

Inverted Jenny Express

A play on the famous “Inverted Jenny” postage stamps for my article Aches on a Plane.

Tools used: Photoshop, Artrage

Armstrong Exposed

Cover image created for my article Outer Space Exposure. It is a combination of a NASA photo of an astronaut on the moon with Neil Armstrong’s head.

Tools used: Photoshop

The March of Progress

The cover image for the article On the Origin of Circuits meant to evoke the idea of evolving creatures crawling out of the sea.

Tools used: Photoshop

Playing Chicken

A portrait of young Harland “Colonel” Sanders for the article Colonels of Truth. On the live article, this image simulates a “dolly” zoom, which is much niftier than the static image. The service station in the background is Sanders’ actual service station, and the old man in the background is a photo of Colonel Sanders from later in life.

Tools used: Photoshop

Morrison at Sea

A play on the famous Japanese painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa for the article Otokichi’s Long Trip Home.

Tools used: Artrage on iPad, Photoshop

A Point

An example of work with physical media; Prismacolor pencil on black paper.

Prescription Potato

A cover image I created for the article Cry Havoc, and Let Slip the Spuds of War.

Tools used: Photoshop, Artrage for iPad

Trippy

Surface Tension

A pastiche I created for the cover of the article Surface Tension.

Tools used: Photoshop

Donut in Watercolor

Switch Face

My painstaking rendering of the switch face on mysterious device from the article The Zero-Armed Bandit, used as the cover image for that article.

Tools used: Photoshop

Beale's National Treasure

The cover art for the article 89, 263, 201, 500, 337, 480. It is designed to resemble the poster for the movie National Treasure, and it contains a number of secret messages.

Tools used: Photoshop

Transportation

This image is a “cinemagraph”–a kind of seamless looped animation–on the live version of the article No Country For Ye Olde Men. It is much more interesting while in motion.

Tools used: Photoshop

Archeology

The oldest digital illustration I could find in my archive, ca. 1993. Back then, popular drawing apps used 320×200 at 256 colors (like this image), or one could draw at 640×480 if willing to limit oneself to 16 colors.

Tools used: Deluxe Paint 2