Jacob Charles Dietz is an internationally published artist and illustrator working in both traditional and digital mediums and usually both simultaneously. His work tends to center around technology, science fiction and that which just doesn’t exist, lending itself to a wide audience and extensive client base. His illustrations have appeared on various book covers, posters and products as well as in several magazines and newspapers worldwide. Bridging the gap between now and then, Jacob’s work is constructed with layers upon layers of detail and almost always includes elements of the 21st century in whatever future he is depicting, making the somewhat foreign somewhat familiar.
He attended the University of Washington before dropping out in favor of a small fine arts finishing school in an old hat factory in Seattle, Washington. The elevator was scary and the building was old and drafty, but the education was beyond compare and he learned to actually like cats. When not shooing cats away, he trained extensively in the art of traditional illustration and the fine arts as a whole, leading him to make a go at painting for a living. After several years and a solid gallery following, Jacob decided to ‘go commercial’ and began illustrating full time. His illustrations slowly became more graphic design than illustration and after a while, he was both designer and illustrator on many projects.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Jacob has traveled throughout the United States and now makes his home in the desert of Arizona. His work is most certainly influenced by his years growing up in the eclectic, international city of Seattle, both in style and content. He goes back as often as possible to replenish his minimal need for rain and to watch the slugs eat the flowers.
Jacob is married with two cats and has a ridiculous collection of Star Trek toys that he still manages to store at his parents house. Other random sources of inspiration include Richard Scarry, Dr. Suess, Mercer Mayer, Dave McKean, Tim Burton, Simon Larbalestier and vintage sci-fi of all forms and flavors.
“With her best friend on point and her weapon of choice at the ready, the courier prepares to make her way down the narrow passage into the city.”The Courier is a scene from some time in the not too distant future. The seas have risen, the levees have failed and dry land is nothing but a memory. As the water went higher, so too did the cities. Built on the decrepit backs of 20th century architecture, the new cities are a complex maze of water processing facilities, natural gas fired power plants and high-density domiciles. While a small segment of the population has taken to the skies in grav-drive vehicles and live in palatial condos in the clouds, the vast majority live at sea level where they are constantly reminded that everything runs down hill.
Traveling the heavily polluted waterways from city to city, couriers make deliveries in some of the most dangerous of zones imaginable. They don’t care what the cargo is, who wants it delivered or who it gets delivered to. They get their fees paid up front and since they guarantee delivery at any cost, they are paid handsomely for their services.
Return to New Seattle
As the Earth grows increasingly less inhabitable, major cities are transplanted to new, more inhabitable planets and rebuilt to maintain much of the original’s charm. This glimpse at Seattle in the distant future is several hundred light years from it’s Earth origins, but even in it’s infancy, it already feels like home.Monday Morning
Far from her spacious apartment on the edge of uptown, the assassin waits on a ledge of a building high above the warehouse district. She waits for her prey. A powerful man with a very high price on his head. Takeshi Kitano - president and CEO of Kaimei Weapon Systems, Ltd.Hidden behind a thin veil of steam and the morning traffic along the Coal Creek Skyway, she’s been eying the private landing pad on the west side of Kaimei Tower awaiting Mr. Kitano’s incoming shuttle for two hours now. He typically arrives between 8:30 and 9:45 each morning, exits the shuttle with his security detail and makes the 1.5 meter walk between the shuttle door and the entrance to the executive offices.
With such a small window, 750 meters and numerous variables between her position and the target, many assassins would call this kill impossible at best. This professional however has no worries and has guaranteed her client that Mr. Kitano won’t complete his short walk this morning.
Dystopian Afternoon
Looking down from atop the massive, high-density complexes that scrape the skyline of this modern world, the city is alive with activity and resembles a mechanized beehive as people come and go from point to point on a round-the-clock schedule. With six lanes and twenty-two levels, the urban skyways move literally countless people, goods and materials in, out and around the concrete and steel monoliths that make up the urban landscape of a city that never sleeps.Caliber City
After California fell into the ocean, the displaced masses that escaped found themselves along the new pacific coastline in a formerly desolate stretch of the Nevada desert. Within months public and private funds flooded the area and just as quickly the concrete and steel reached for the sky. Caliber City was born.Not three years later, the little city that could had grown to epic proportions and was rumored to be the largest city on the face of the planet. With a core constructed of massive, high-density structures and one of the most complex multi-level traffic systems ever built, Caliber City was now home to an estimated 19,073,926 people. And it was still growing.
While much of the city below level 275 exists in permanent darkness, shadowed by the massive clusters of buildings, the topmost levels get glimpses of smog filtered sunlight and occasionally a view of the Pacific Ocean. On the coast desalinization plants run 24/7 pumping and processing water to supply the ever growing city, while 36 subterranean, nuclear power plants beneath the city center produce enough power to meet the ever increasing demand, all the while the steam from these activities work to create a humid micro-climate around the city, trapping pollutants and forming acid rain clouds. Traffic may be a bitch and the weather really couldn’t be worse, but to those that make Caliber City home, it’s heaven on earth.
A Quiet Night at Home
While there are lots of future cityscapes out there, I hadn’t seen many of them done from an interior perspective. With A Quiet Night at Home, I was hoping to accomplish this with a little contrast by placing a bustling, Dystopian city just outside the window of a modern, high-rise penthouse. With the light from the strip, the neon signs and the building-wide advertising displays beneath multiple lanes of sky traffic, one would find it hard to find any sort of solitude, but for the subject of this piece, she seems to be able to block it all out just fine.
Angel
Like an angel from heaven, this femme fatale watches over the good people of Dystopia, swooping down at the first sign of trouble. Modern day superhero? Who knows, but to the denizens of the city she is both guardian angel and savior.
2019 Post Alley
No real story here, just a little homage to the dark, wet, future noir world of Blade Runner and wonderful visionaries Ridley Scott, Philip K. Dick and Syd Mead. The film took place in the perpetually raining, crowded, polluted City of Los Angeles and 2019 Post Alley uses the year the story took place as the address number along with the famed Seattle alleyway, Post Alley, as the street name.
I’m often surprised by how many people have never experienced Blade Runner (1982), especially since it’s been released once already, Director’s Cut (1992), and soon to be released again The Final Cut (2007). Of those that have seen this epic feature, they are just as polarized in their opinions as the critics were upon it’s release with people either thinking it was one of the most amazing pieces of work they’ve ever seen or just walking away with a ‘WTF was that?’ look on their faces. Regardless of which group you think you might fall into, it’s work taking a look.
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