Halfway to Better, a solarpunk short story collection
Eddie Spaghetti Art
Eddie Maier is a print-making artist I discovered at a local art fair, where I fell in love with the style and methods he uses to make his nature-themed art. I’m so grateful he was willing to lend his talents to this project, especially given the complexity of taking elements from each short story and weaving them into an integrated image for the entire collection. Once the design was finished, he set to work, carving and print-making.
Eddie Carving the Cover
I am just absolutely fascinated by the way Eddie takes his drawing and turns it into a carving.
(click on image to start the video or click through to Eddie’s Instagram)
From Eddie’s website: “Linocut is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum is used for a relief printing surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife or V-shaped chisel. The linoleum sheet is inked with a roller (called a brayer), and then impressed onto paper. The actual printing can be done by hand or with a printing press.”
Eddie Inking the Cover
Inking was a separate step, and Eddie made both a black-and-white version as well as the gorgeous color-inked version that became the cover for the collection. This is a whole artistic process unto itself.
The Finished Result
The result is just spectacular. I’m committed to never using AI in any of my creative work, which means doubling down on supporting human artists, and this is why: it’s a joyful collaborative process that results in gorgeous art.
Eddie not only makes his print art, he also teaches print-making classes. Please check out his website for his workshops and prints: https://www.EddieSpaghettiArt.com/
The cover for the collection was turned into six separate covers (by cover designer Steven Novak), one for each of the short stories:
The Halfway to Better collection publishes on Earth Day (April 22nd) 2024. Preorder now!
Please Share: Video about how the cover was made!
Plus you can buy the covers as cards!
One of my fav things to do is to support artists, and I usually do that through commissioning cover art, but often through buying cards of various artists, even when I can’t afford to buy their work.
This is the first time one of my commissions has been made into CARDS!
I love it.
You can check them out here: https://lnk.to/HtBcards
