Overbury Ink

Myke Amend is an Illustrator, engraver, and painter of strange weird-fiction and pulp-inspired works, combining a strange brand of pop surrealism, fantastic realism combined with landscape styles drawn from the 1800′s era American Artists movement.





His illustrations have been published in, or as covers for Weird Tales Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Gatehouse Gazette, Kilter Magazine, the art collection “Gothic Art Now” (and two more upcoming collections yet to be disclosed).





Myke has commissioned artworks for many names in Steampunk Music, Entertainment, and Literature including Dexter Palmer, The Pickled Brothers Sideshow, Vernian Process, and Captain Robert of Abney Park.





Myke has also been featured in many popular online resources such as IO9, Elfwood, Dark Roasted Blend, WarrenEllis.com, Fantasy Art Magazine, Lines and Colors, and Brass Goggles.





About my work:

I seek to present a great amount of activity, drama, and even chaos, in the most tranquil and serene settings -and through hidden imagery both large and small, I aim for each piece to present something new to each viewer with each and every viewing.





My goal is not only to present a scene, but to place the viewer within the scene, and to provide them with many interesting new worlds within worlds to explore. Of late, my most common vehicle for this sort of exploration has been airships. I hope to round out this series this year, to complete a table-top book this year called “Airships and Tentacles”. My reasoning for this mix includes my love for the sea and ocean life, as well as for old maritime paintings; My surreal fantasy/horror blend is heavily inspired by old pulp fiction, weird tales, and tales of terror from a number of 1800s-era writers in the field, such as H.P. Lovecraft, Robert W. Chambers, H.G. Wells, and Mary Shelley. I am also inspired by classic tales of exploration, adventure, and human ingenuity from authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and of course Jules Verne.





My primary inspiration for the airships series however, is my dream of seeing the human race lean towards a more fuel-efficient and eco-friendly means of travel and shipping. It may be hard for most of the US to bring back the sort of relaxed travel that train-lines once offered, we were foolish to ever have sacrificed such a valuable network, and doubly so to not have an abundance of light rails in between, around, and within our larger cities. The difference in fuel needed per-pound to move people and freight by train, vs. that used for semis, is astounding.





Airships, not relying on the rebuilding of this infrastructure, are good solution for the mean time; This, especially now that we have reached the age where not only can their engines be fueled by algae, but the balloons themselves could possibly even be lifted by bio hydrogen.





I suppose I could try to do my part for the world, as an artist, by pointing fingers at the oil industry, and spotlighting the horror that humanity creates for itself; Okay, I actually have, many times… but such works, they do not look good in most people’s living rooms; Such works are also rarely featured on any site worth mention for fear of polarizing one’s reader base. I have found that it is better to try my best to leave others inspired by the idea and the notion, to put the possibility or at least the dream into visible, sharable form, and to hope my fascination infects others.

Links:

MykeAmend.com
Ettadiem.Etsy.com
TheMiskatonicArchive.com
Facebook.com/mykeamend
Twitter.com/Mykeamend
Flickr.com/Photos/MykeAmend
MykeAmend.DeviantArt.com
MykeAmend.Livejournal.com
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Are you a Steampunk artist or writer? Be featured on SteamTuesdays – Contact us with your info. Got a Steampunk Blog? Join the tour!
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This week’s Steampunk Blog tour:

O.M.Grey’s Caught in the Cogs Steampunk Spotlight
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Join Mike Perschon for his Steampunk discussions on The Steampunk Scholar
July is Canuk Steampunk month – Starclimber
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On Steamed: The Steampunk Novel Diary: Why Steampunk?? by Author Marie-Claude Bourque

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Matthew Delman at Free The Princess.com -Your resource on Steampunk background — history, science, culture, and more:
Messr Delman’s Aetheric Linkapalooza

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