The Fifth Head of Cerberus, for Alzabo Soup

A few years ago I was contacted by the podcast Alzabo Soup to make an illustration for their website. They analyze the works of Gene Wolfe, who is incidentally my favorite author. They asked me to make an illustration based on The Fifth Head of Cerberus, one of his earlier and more well known novellas, which also happened to be one of my personal favorites. It is science fiction, but the story feels antique, aged, dusty and ornate. To fit that, I used an etching/crosshatching based technique. This piece is a little old now, so I'd consider the technique to be out of date compared to my current abilities, but I still think it's a kinda neat piece. I had a great time picking out details and scenes from the story to include.

https://www.alzabosoup.com/category/the-fifth-head-of-cerberus/