Slideshow:
Big Bro Deymio. Princeps of Rhomatum. Our…romantic lead in ROL. Earthy and down to earth. Nature-loving, athletic, and a dynamite horseman. A natural leader of men, when he can be persuaded to employ that talent.
I was thinking of a Georgette Heyer style Corinthian when I originally constructed my mental image of him. He was going to be the middle brother, Khyel the elder, but I just couldn’t force those rôles on them. They very adamantly argued their point until I conceded and corrected the errors I’d imbedded in the text. This, of course, was before I knew their history. I learned that as I went along.
I also initially perceived Deymio as too perfect for words. He rapidly corrected me on that misperception as well, though Nikki remains deluded, despite Deymio’s attempts to open his eyes to reality.
Anyway, in this one you see the clearest use of my custom “hair” brushes. I made these by stippling on a small “canvas” and saving it as a brush. The give three very different densities of randomized parallel lines. I have found these to be incredibly useful, not just on hair (I was just learning on Deymio’s…I might have to redo it) but on building skin tones/textures as well. You can do really nice, delicate crosshatching that stays controlled, but doesn’t get too realistic. I like some brush strokes in my paintings and this helps me to retain that lively feeling.
Anyway: Heeeeeere’s Deymorin!
All images are copyright © 2009 Jane S. Fancher. Thank you for respecting that copyright.
Tomorrow: Mysterious Mikhyel…(Well, that’s how Nikki perceives him.)
Til then…
Ja ne!
I also really liked your first preliminary sketch of this particular character (the one you showed in Nikki’s post)–it was very expressive. He was really thinking about something when you captured him. Maybe you could sometime develop it as a B&W illustration for the interior.
When you get the time!
Good idea. The next cover, Ring of Intrigue, ended up with too many elements and I’m thinking of using some of them as a frontispiece. I SO LOVE having the freedom to think that way!
I really really really want to do interior illos. We’ve got to have the shepherdess and JD by the mountain pond, yes? And chicken feathers, most definitely. Oooo… Hmmm..I feel a post coming on: What would make a good interior illo?
Time…I work on the design problems during the day and the brainless work at night while watching TV. I’ll do things like play with filters and fonts. That’s the joy of being able to work on my laptop.
Even so, each of the elements (in this case, each of the boys) takes at least a day, then there’s putting them all together. And as you know, sometimes, I end up rethinking the whole cover design, thanks to clever input!
Once I’ve got the basic elements and the problem, tho, I can usually do a redesign like I did for Harmonies in … a couple of hours? Maybe it took longer, but it was all in one evening.
Oh, the sheer ecstasy of layers! I had a terrible time trying to figure out how to use them, when I was just doing the occasional messing around in the program, but now that I’m seriously working…I’m in artist heaven!
The is actually a really great question. Nobody has the luxury of doing interior illustrations anymore. Sometimes there is a little decoration at the start of a chapter–some little safe spot illustration that adds to the charm of the book. That’s pretty much it.
Or, maybe if its a short story collection, then each story might get one illustration each.
So what should we do? Do people even like illustrations in their books now? I wonder. They are so out of fashion. (OOhhh, would I personally love to see a resurgence of such a luxury with e-books!)
I would guess that in the days of old, there was probably two choices. A small series of illustrations in the middle of the book that showcase only the most dramatic points…..I’m reminded of a turn of the century children’s bible my grandma had.
Or…an illustration each chapter, across from the chapter starting page.
A very modern way: perhaps an index at the end of the book with illustrations, if you were just to do something like character sketches or the like. Then they don’t interrupt the flow of the story if you aren’t actually illustrating events.
If I were faced with the idea of illustrating my own book that I had written as well, I’m really not sure what I would choose, but I do know one thing. Illustration that tells a story is the best of all kinds of illustration. It would be very very cool to see something like that come to a life of its own.
I wanted to do some for the Ring books, but DAW wouldn’t even consider it. Claimed it was YA, as I recall. Yet whenever I’ve mentioned it to readers, they all seemed extremely enthusiastic.
Time-wise it might be impractical. OTOH, a companion book of illustrations, eventually, might be a possibility. Or another edition of the book, if I can figure out how to make it available as an “upgrade” to those who’ve already purchased a copy. Maybe make both available and see which one people download.
So many things are possible.
Personally, I go for the “opposite the chapter heads” notion. Both series have sections as well as subchapters. A major illo…maybe even in color, for each section, and a sketch for the others?
Time…if I could just clone myself. I haven’t even started the Rusalka cover and I’ve got all the covers for my new books…that’s six more! Sheesh!!!!
Running back to the Wacom board….
I learned Photoshop, sink-or-swim method, back about 2000 when I worked at Kinko’s and we got a public scanner – it automatically fed the scanned image into PS as a new layer. I had no idea what layers were, not that they even existed. All I knew was that if I scanned two images into the same file, after I scanned in the second, I could no longer access the first! Finding the LAYERS palette was an incredible revelation. (user’s manual? what user’s manual?)
User’s manual? Hah! you don’t even have useful help files in Photoshop! And roll-over clues as to what the various buttons are for? Forget it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good and powerful program, but user-friendly, it’s not. I just didn’t have the time to spend figuring it out, so I’m doing it all on PSP, even tho I know a few things PS does that PSP doesn’t that would be useful. I’ll “trial” it again on this computer once the time pressure is off. Right now, I just want to get some stuff ready for the CC site.
When I decided finally to get my own legal copy, I got PS Elements, which was under $100 and does everything I have so far wanted, plus innumerable things I have never heard of (and probably will never).
Hmmm…maybe I should download it on trial and see if it does what I need. Thanks