Despite digital technology enveloping our entire lives, there continues to be a deep and abiding love for analog audio. At the heart of this world you'll find a humble vacuum tube. The love of these arcane objects has grown to the point that original ones can sell for thousands of dollars. 

To me, the value is their alluring industrial beauty, the very essence of form-follows-function. 

Despite their somewhat complex internal mechanisms, I wanted these illustrations to be simple and reductive - more of a bold portrait than technical illustration. This worked well for screen printing as I would only need to use 2 color and yet still convey a strong sense of depth. 

Some logistical details:

1. KT 66 vacuum tube. A beefy power tube that can be found in many classic rock amplifiers such as the JTM 45 Bluesbreaker. It's still manufactured today and a similar version is standard in some McIntosh amplifiers.

2. 12AX7A vacuum tube is a workhorse high gain tube that has been in production non-stop since 1946.

3. 6V6 vacuum tube is another classic that was first made by RCA nearly a hundred years ago. It can still be found in any number of modern guitar amplifiers. 

Two color screen print on 12 x18 100lb heavy weight Cougar