We’re delighted to be joined by Ellis Bray, artist of “Prata Neptunia” and “ship of living ghosts” in The Future Fire #75, for a quick microinterview about art, forms and letters.
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| Art © 2026 Ellis Bray |
The Future Fire: How did you go about illustrating “Prata Neptunia”?
Ellis Bray: With “Prata Neptunia” I had a really intense visual of the octopus and ink and the sky, and I was trying to emulate what was in my brain. As is the case in every form of art, what you put out never matches what’s in your head. On this attempt, I used watercolor and ink, with multiple layers and gold sumi ink as a highlight. I think next time I will try it with gouache, because it is thicker. Or maybe colored pencil, because it would allow me to put in the fine details. I’ll definitely attempt it again to see if I can get closer to what I’m seeing.
TFF: What was the image that really stuck with you from “ship of living ghosts”?
EB: In “ship of living ghosts” there is the line:
we breathe/ in small dark spaces cast upon the waves/ beneath an infinite sky.
But despite “infinite”, there are “shadows” being cast, so there’s something in the dark to cast the light. And it’s also “small dark spaces”, but “small” and “infinite” don’t really match up in my mind. So what it brought up in my mind was Plato’s Cave, where the whole of existence feels like it’s close by, but it’s really just a shadowcast illusion. So what if the “infinite sky” is just the top of a cavern that is so tall you can’t see it? It feels infinite but you’re still in a tightly enclosed space. The moon casting light and creating shadows is just an illusion. It also fit the very claustrophobic feel that the poem gave to me.
TFF: Is there an artist or an art-form from distant history that you still look at with admiration or awe?
EB: I have been focusing on letter illumination recently, and I find myself in awe of the medieval transcriptionists who spent so long creating a single letter just to do an old school copy & paste for the rest of the text. (I know it was still calligraphy and very carefully written, but the illumination was pure creativity.) My dad keeps bringing up the Book of Kells when he’s looking at my own work, but that’s like comparing a paint-by-number to the original Mona Lisa. Like, yeah, you’re going to get similar results, but one requires decades of training.
TFF: Can you tell us about an artist whose work you're particularly enjoying at the moment?
EB: There is a comic called ExoComic by Li Chen, starring a very snarky kitty and their exasperated human. The art style, though, is adorable. It’s only when I tried to replicate it for my own comic idea that I realized how much effort it takes to make art look effortless. So, I’m enjoying reading through her entire CATalogue.
TFF: What else are you working on now?
EB: ’Tis the season, so I’m doing more conventions and art markets around the Seattle area. I’ve also started working on letter illumination, using gold and silver ink. I find it very meditative, because you have a set number of shapes to play with and a definite desired outcome, so the question is “how do I get there from here?” I’m really enjoying experimenting with it.
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| Art © 2026 Ellis Bray |
Reminder: You can comment on any of the writing or art in this issue at http://press.futurefire.net/2026/02/new-issue-202675.html.
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