James Reekie Illustration: Infinity

Crop from "Infinity– LHC" illustration for April issue of BBC Focus

Robbie Bennie, Deputy Art Editor on BBC Focus, commissioned me to illustrate a feature based around the concept of "Infinity". As per usual, it's always so much fun working with the guys at Focus and I had a blast drawing mad scientists, planets and apes! Sadly, not all in the same image...

Robbie sent me the draft spreads for the feature. For the illustrations he'd created very rough photomontages that I then worked from to create the final illustrations. For me, the advantage of this way of working is I know where all the text will be and can compose the images accordingly.

The first image was based on the German mathematician George Cantor who discovered "Absolute Infinity... This number is so vast that it is literally indescribable: indeed, its definition is based on the idea that any attempt to describe it always describes something smaller. Not surprisingly, Cantor’s discoveries sparked huge controversy, and he found himself attacked by fellow mathematicians – and even some theologians, who accused him of encroaching on the concept of God. The criticism plunged Cantor into depression and led to frequent spells in asylums."

Rough sketch and linework created in Manga Studio

Final artwork, linework coloured in Photoshop.

"How infinity can turn a chimp into a genius – Imagine sitting Bubbles the chimp in front of a standard computer keyboard, which has around 100 keys. How long would it take for Bubbles to bash out the famous phrase “To be or not to be”? Assuming he hits the keys at random, there’s just a 1 in 100 chance of getting the first letter right, 1 in 100 of the second and so on. Even typing at the rate of a keystroke per second, getting just this bit of Hamlet right would typically take Bubbles far longer than the age of the Universe."

Rough sketch and linework created in Manga Studio

Final artwork, linework coloured in Photoshop.

"The Multiverse – Do we live in an infinite universe – or universes? The basic argument comes in various guises, but they all start by assuming that our Universe is just finite in extent, so that somewhere out there lies the edge of space itself. But an edge only makes sense if it marks the boundary with something else, and as the Universe includes everything by definition, the ‘something’ must also be part of the Universe."