Here we go again!

One thing I did not want for this trilogy finale was a cover featuring any one of the boys or any one scene. “Destiny” applies equally to all of them, and each one is equally important to the ultimate fate of the Rhomatum Syndicate of Nodes. So…I knew I wanted all of them on the cover. Following the established pattern, I’d need three rings. How about each one holding a ring containing his “destiny”?

Hmmm…But…how to “capture” the individual “destinies” in single images, and without giving too much away, and keeping it simple enough to work as a single impact. Khyel…the ley caverns. Deymio…the rings. Nikki was the hard one, because his is really the most subtle and seemingly ordinary fate. Nikki…not to give too much away, but curiously, his primary function is as a…as Deymio put it, “breeding stud.” It’s not all he does, but it’s his…unique function within the overall scheme of the story.

Fortunately, there’s a lot more to that future than it sounds, considering the child he winds up with. (Not to belittle the importance of being a parent! Don’t get me wrong. But for the purposes of a Fantasy Novel, there’s got to be a bit more than ordinary scrapes, bruises, and acne!) However, Nikki, with a baby he can’t quite touch, a baby in the womb with wide open, very aware eyes…that might be cool.

So…the cover. I began with a really quick layout of the three rings, and as quickly shifted them about. Nikki got center stage/top of the pyramid because the baby in his ring was going to be larger and…heavier than Deymio’s and Khyel’s rings. Got Nikki done (harder than it sounds, tho the layers don’t really show anything very interesting.) Then began to play with the big bros. I began playing with Khyel, and to get the set of his upper body right, I had to do the rest of him…and I fell in love with the body language. I plugged the sketch it into the cover to see how it might look and…well, you’ll see.

Deymio needed to be in his horsey-gear, and to catch his unique approach to the towers and rings, I just let him poke at them, which is sort of his style. Poke and see what happens.

So, without further ado…

All images are copyright © 2009 Jane S. Fancher. Thank you for respecting that copyright.

Ja ne!

More round things!

I always knew I’d have to do the rings one day, and the Destiny cover was it. Thank goodness for graphics programs!

I actually simplified them…no way I was doing a gazzilion whizzing concentric rings! Basically, I just started with a ring, the same as I’d made the others, then I began creating concentric ovals of varying perspectives inside by selecting an oval within the previous one, filling it, then contracting the selection by 15 pixels, or something like, then cutting out the inside of the “donut.” Now, this isn’t exact by any means. Theoretically, the width in the back should appear smaller than in the front, but, y’know…this is going to be itty bitty, so who really cares?

Each ring, BTW, was given its own layer. Read the rest of this entry »