SALEM – Mark Malloy, an artist and graphic designer who has been teaching art at Salem State College since 1999, is the creator of 138 illustrations in the just-published graphic novel, “Lyrical Life.”

Malloy, from Medford, teamed up with former business associate Casey Jones, of Newburyport, to complete the one-and-a-half year project that tells a love story using the lyrics of famous rock ‘n' roll songs. With dialogue that includes, “Hello I love you” (The Doors) and, “Is she really going out with him?” (Joe Jackson), the story revolves around the lives of characters Luka (Suzanne Vega) and Lola (The Kinks).

Malloy's illustrations are an eclectic assembly of photos, hand-drawings and computer drawings. He used Photoshop to do the bulk of the art and graphics work. With the labor-intensive project over, Malloy says, “I've now lost my primary excuse for the past 18 months.”

An artist who has a bachelor's degree from University of Notre Dame and a master's in art from Tufts University School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Malloy also has had paintings on display around the North Shore.

A former resident of Brockton, he owned a successful graphic and Web design company “Exit 33,” before returning to the “creative end of the business” to teach at Salem State.

Published by Three Rivers Press of New York, “Lyrical Life” can be ordered on Amazon.com. More information is available at http://gis.net/~dublin/lyricallife/new/.