The Rise of the Electric Car

Imagine the day when the promise of the electric car is fulfilled. Wouldn't it be great to move beyond our petroleum-soaked economic model and finally emerge into the future?

I received the call for this assignment from Tracy Cox at Sierra Magazine. I wanted to portray a sense of transformation and metamorphosis in the illustration. Creating the rust-covered heap of fossil-fuel detritus was interesting and a bit of a guilty pleasure. So much rich material to mine. The electric vehicle needed to be equally captivating and rich, in a technology and design. I used a Luna Moth as a model for the emerging vehicle, one of my all-time favourite insects. Yes, I do have favourite insects, I was a Lepidoterist in my youth.

For electric vehicle technology to succeed, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome. Coal still remains a leading producer of electricity, and if that remains there will still be a lot of pollution and co2 released as a result. This is one of those cases where the future looks brighter, and there are alternatives that can be used to create that reality. Ending our dependence on fossil fuels won't be easy, but it may be possible.

Here is a detail of the fossil fuel collage

Detail of wings and car

A handful of sketches