Visual Art/Photography

There's a simple reason why this section appears close-to-last: it really is the absolute "least"!

A quick anecdote. In early high school, my mother met with my Art teacher for a generic "parent-teacher meeting". Apparently, the words went something like this:

"In the first few weeks of class, I gave Michael a pencil. The promise shown by his rendering of a mere school bag was enormous; I honestly thought I'd found an amazing new talent...

"...Then I put a paintbrush in his hand. And it was all over."

Perhaps I could have pursued something like comic artistry, and hopefully the very select illustrations I've included here - from a time long past, and including that legendary schoolbag drawing! - aren't too shabby. But I really can't draw for shit unless I have a model or photograph in front of me; my imagination regrettably fails me when it comes to this realm. (Though that teacher was evidently full of crap about my painting skills: observe the visual evidence, below right, of my seven-year-old self being accepted into an international art exhibition in Holland, of all places. I think the highly personalised instancing of my name in the letter speaks volumes.)

I still occasionally dabble in the "visual arts", though mostly to support my other artistic endeavours, such as promo for my projects and imagery I hope to include with imminent interactive novels. Enjoy, by all means, but please don't judge me too harshly! Consider this the "bonus" or "complementary" section of this website, as opposed to the main reason we're here...

(PS Please forgive the "encore" appearance of the dungeon image from the Interactive Fiction page. It's one of my prouder visual efforts, so why not flaunt it?!)

(Artwork Copyright © Michael Bowser; title image produced with the aid of Virtual Battlemap.)