Concept Art: Part 1

With the recent launch of my author website and the blog I have started, I wanted to share the process I go through developing the character concept art that has become a highlight for the content I am bringing to the site.

After shifting gears toward the new story as my first focused effort at a debut title, my desire for new concept art has demanded new content. Over the next 1-2 months, or however long it takes the artist I work with to complete the project, I am creating a mini-series following the progress from conception to completion.

On August 23, 2020, I drew a very rough sketch for the picture I wanted to create. Instead of recreating a scene from the novel I want to write, I am looking to construct an image that represents the essence of what the book is about. If you navigate to page four in under the art tap (current as of September 2020), you will find the conceptual design representing what book 2 in the series I am also working on, but being put on hiatus for the moment. I placed a lot of symbolism into their actions and emotions that will translate into the story itself.

The artist replied to my message and notified me she was out of town and could not start till September. Today she notified me of her potential work schedule, starting from the rough sketch, to the basic shading and digital painting in the full details.

This project will include four full size elf’s, a fox, magical beast, a shadow of another magical beast and a blood moon large and in the middle of the image in the sky with the head of a hooded man filling up most of the moons surface with only his orange fire eyes showing.

During this last part of the initial phase, I will send the artist a document describing the different characters/aspects of the design and provide images to use as reference if possible.

I like to give the artist creative flexibility, so I look at image results for armor, body, facial features, and weapons that can be used. If there are alterations from the reference, I state so in the written description for each.

Here is the written information I initially provided the artist:

Lyra: She is the same elf that you created in the last project. I provided a new armor setup, but I would like you to use the same colors from before (how you do so is up to you) Her body proportions, hair, skin color is all the same.

Ruven: Lyra’s magical fox companion. I provided an example. What makes him magical is that I want you to turn his tail into a flame tail that is always burning but catches nothing on fire. He is not there to fight with her, only support and be friendly. If you want to have some fun, you can add small flames come from the tips of the ears and paws.

Tinesi is a pro at tracking prey in the wilderness and is an excellent marksman with a bow. I provided an image for her armor and the elf features in a separate image. She has the same skin tone as Lyra/Windweaver from the previous project. You can use the same bow design for her from the head ref image, or design one on your own.

Kailu: This is Tinesi’s partner. They tortured him for many years and now prefer to keep everything covered up but his eyes. I like the weapons in the ref image, but instead of the black smoke, they give off a small glow around the edge of the blades/different color for each blade (one is red, and the other is blue). You can have fun with the design of the weapons, as long as the length is the same. He has gorgeous blue eyes.

Kivessin: He is the villain and you can only see him in a hood with his orange flame eyes showing from inside with the backdrop the blood moon.

Monster on the left: Think of it this way. An elf grew a lot of muscle, hair and claws and became a magical beast on 4 legs. I provided a ref to get an idea of what I am looking for. It’s alright if you only have half of its body in the frame so you can make it larger. It needs to look like it is charging 

Monster on the right: This is only the shadow of the monster, but I provided an example so you could think about what kind of shadow it would provide. Since it is nighttime and the moon is in the sky in the center, there is no natural light source that would explain the shadow being shown towards them, so Lyra has tossed at least one fire ball already that missed and set the forest behind the monster creating a light source.

Nasir: well built and fit, tallest out of everyone in the image. Kind of guy in love with himself. I have 2 ref images. One showing full body that is the armor and weapon he has. The other shows his face/hair and skin color. I want him in the middle, directly under the moon, looking up with his sword raised in the air.

When I get the rough sketch, I will provide an update to this mini-series.