UPGRADE SOUL

Ezra Claytan Daniels. I’d commit that name to memory. As many of you are probably familiar with, he created an extraordinary piece of graphic literature called ‘Upgrade Soul’ that saw publication as a single-volume graphic novel on September 18, 2018. Prior to that, ‘Upgrade Soul’ began public life in 2012 as a serialized graphic novel for iOS (this was four years after he drafted a first script for the story in 2008). 'Upgrade Soul' then saw publication in 2016 and 2017 via three serialized graphic novels in print. Along the way, ‘Upgrade Soul’ received numerous accolades and awards and was exhibited in many art centers and museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. So, the guy is clearly talented. But not just in graphic literature – he already has a unique career comprised of collaborative multimedia projects ranging from video games, animation and feature documentaries. His most recent collaboration, 'The Golden Chain', is an animated short film with experimental video artist Adebukola Bodunrin. The Whitney Museum of American Art acquired it in 2017 for their permanent collection. Daniels is clearly a visual artist first and that makes me wonder where graphic storytelling ranks among his favorite means of artistic expression. Which brings us to ‘Upgrade Soul’. ‘Upgrade Soul’ tells the story of Hank Nonnar (heir to an entertainment fortune) and Molly Teel (a brilliant geneticist) who elect to become guinea pigs in a very dangerous (and likely illegal) experiment to create ‘upgraded’ versions of their aging selves from their own genetic material. It’s an attempt not just to clone themselves and extend their existence, but also to create better versions of themselves while doing so. They mess with nature, which, of course, leads to things spinning completely out of control in a very complex way. Daniels tells an incredible science fiction story, both visually and in written word. It gets better with subsequent rereads. From an art standpoint, Daniels drew the latter 70% of the book digitally. ‘Original art’ only exists for the first 90 or so pages of the story. And, to make things really interesting, the pages he drew by hand were drawn for a screen ratio because the book was originally designed for an iPad. Therefore, these pieces are about 8.5 inches x 7 inches on standard Bristol, drawn with non-photo blue pencil and Micron pens. Since the app also featured layered depth effects, some of the art is also just one layer - either foreground, middle ground or background. Daniels worked in trial graphics for a few years, creating info graphics and medical illustrations for court cases – he feels this experience rubbed off on him artistically, as reflected in the ‘flat, clean, almost instruction manual-like quality of [his] linework and layouts’. As a final interesting note, Daniels changed the design of the clones toward the end of production, and redraw them digitally, so these originals actually feature some art that has been drastically altered in the final printed versions. As you might guess, I’m a fan of ‘Upgrade Soul’. If you get the chance, I would highly recommend you pick up a copy and read it. Either way, hope you enjoy the art!

There are 16 Pieces of Art In This Gallery.    

Switch View to Alphabetically by Title

There are 16 Pieces of Art In This Gallery.    

Switch View to Alphabetically by Title