Cover Artwork Reveal - Wings of Fate

This.

This image right here represents the culmination of a very long and very arduous battle for me. I can't even begin to tell you how long it took me to paint this, and that was after months of struggling to come up with an acceptable sketch concept. I can already see several things I need to fix on this image, as well. I welcome constructive critique, if you would like, as this has been a huge learning project for me.

So yeah, you already know, but this is the cover artwork that will be used for the new edition of Wings of Fate. Yay! I literally had to dig my old and seriously cantankerous laptop out of cold storage in order to get an internet connection through my phone (which is slower than dirt) so that I could post this. I can already smell that the laptop is overheating, which means that I need to wrap up this post shortly and get it posted, then shut 'er down. But don't get me wrong, I'm just happy to have a machine that can connect to the net at home :)

So my goal was to have this image totally finished and uploaded and everything by last Friday, which was when I had surgery. Yeah, obviously that didn't happen. I've been working on it since while hopped up on painkillers and recovering, and am now to the point where I am adding all of the pretty text to prepare it for printing. Like a boss.

As soon as I post this, I'm off to scan the updated Legends of Destiny logo so that I can color it and slap it on the cover, then finish tweaking one of the interior maps that somehow escaped my attention until a week ago. Hopefully I don't have to fight with my other laptop too much to get that part done, because seriously, there were some heated words being exchanged during progress on the cover image.....

Simple Laiuna Color Chart

Quick post tonight, since my laptop no longer gets ANY internet from my phone and I'm piggybacking on the wifi at work. Whipped up a color reference chart, yay. Done in Krita, assembled in Gimp.

Nighteye

Another Wings of Fate character! This guy is actually one of the four original original characters that I ever drew in the Legends of Destiny. The other three are: Kuma, Cenme, and Himni. Since then, I have not redrawn Nighteye. It's good to see him again!

This was a learning piece for me. I discovered several tools that I hadn't yet played with, including the airbrush tool. I'm extremely pleased with how the piece came out, although I didn't originally plan it in a nighttime setting. I didn't draw the character's trademark knife harness, either - there was already too much going on with his gear. I'm not that talented quite yet.

And again, a bit of trivia for you: The black scale pattern apparent on parts of Nighteye's body is in fact a dark coloration that appears at the edge of some of his scales. Nighteye is a squadron leader who has worked under General Cenme Duforthia for some time, making him one of the longest-standing soldiers to be employed at the Fortress of Roses at the point in time that the book takes place.

Done in Krita. As always, character and the Legends of Destiny are copyright W. A. Johnson.

Inktober - Dragonskull Emblem

It was time to create a new emblem. Not sure what to do with it yet, but I have a couple of ideas.

Swift Peilos

This is a supporting character who appears in Wings of Fate. She plays a fairly minor role in the story, and I've never drawn her before now.

A little background on her character for you: Swift is a member of a family of lesser nobility. Like many of her relatives, she is skilled at cartography and navigation. She was originally exposed to work at the Fortress of Roses by her elder sister, Arathinja, who is also employed there. Her mask is blue steel, a detail not mentioned in the book.

I'd like to say that I'm super pleased with this picture, but ........ not really. My hands wouldn't stop shaking while trying to ink, so the line art is a travesty. The smooth quality of coloring that I was seeking after is also lacking. As an excuse, I claim the side effects from coming off of my meds and my nasty cold.

Started in Krita, then switched to Gimp for shading. Gimp reminded me why I don't use it much anymore -_____-

Escora the Blue

Tonight, for your viewing pleasure, I'd like to present a non-canonical character from the Legends of Destiny series. I've been wanting to draw her for a little while, and after much wrestling I finally completed a concept of what she looks like. I apologize if the color is inordinately bright; I still can't seem to tone down the saturation of color on my screen to where it looks normal on other computers. Done in Krita.

Bios:

This is Escora the Blue, sole surviving nestmate of the black dragon Shadowsilk. There was a third nestmate at hatch, but he did not survive to adolescence. Escora is about the same size as her sister, placing her at a length of one hundred and twenty feet from nose to tail tip.

Escora chose to leave the safety of her father's lair at a relatively young age and moved to the eastern coast of Kura-Cora, where she now controls her own small territory along the seashore. She is well known to her neighbors as being tenacious and fierce, having ousted a violent faction from the land she claims as her own. She is fairly adept in magic, particularly with the element of water. Her breath weapon consists of green-tinged fire. It is rumored that she can also produce a lightning breath weapon at will, an attribute which would make her unusual among dragons.

Despite her territorial reputation, Escora is known to be quite civil with parties or persons who travel through her domain for trade or protection.

Escora's name is pronounced: eh-SKOR-uh

Drake head concepts

Sunset speedpaint

Just blowing off some steam before work. I'm really getting tired of job applications and interviews that lead nowhere.

Done in Krita.

Blue World

Been a while. Here's a little landscape I felt like drawing tonight for an art challenge a friend has going. The lore drake figure looks ......... doofy. Ugh. Whatever, he's just there for scale.

This actually has to do with the Legends of Destiny, but I don't want to give away any spoilers. Sorry. Tired tonight. Been really busy lately and dealing with a lot of stuff.

Done in Krita while listening to Desert Realms by Rudy Adrian.

Thinking of You

Love is in the air, and I wanted to do a fun little doodle of a couple of my characters.

Done in Krita.

Art Trade - Jarkul

My half of an art trade.

I very much enjoyed drawing this character! The perspective didn't come out quite how I wanted, but meh. This particular character is very bad, and I ended up listening to "Bodies" by Drowning Pool while working on her. Seemed fitting.

Jarkul is the creative property of S. A. Thorup. Done in Krita (oh, how I love it!)

Blayde card

Another one. Hey, I already had the image art done.

YES, yes, I know. I'm going to bed.

Blayde

Practice piece done (for now) I am getting more familiar with my new tablet, as well as the program Krita. This is the colored version of a sketch I did of one of the gods from my fantasy series.

On to book covers!

Here, Have a Griffin!

I woke up yesterday and wanted to draw a griffin. This piece was good practice for me with Krita, as I'm learning how to better use the tools available to me. This is the first time I've been able to do line art with the program, and it's pretty much required me to draw my lines backwards from how I'm used to inking them. It was challenging, but fun. I'm so thankful heavenly father has blessed me to be able to draw the things that are in my head.

About 3.25 hours. Done in Krita.