Ok time for kind of a giant update post here. I was lucky enough to get a job doing some book illustrations in the fall last year, and the release of the book is due out in spring this year! The book is called Jamython, written by Kirsten Laulainen, and it is anything but a typical vampire story. As you can imagine I was very excited to be involved in creating art for anything vampire related :P and Kirsten was very easy to work with: I think both those factors contributed to some really great illustrations. It really reminded me how rewarding it is to create work that "tells a story" as opposed to just some random shit for fun.
The characters and heroes of this story are a-typical and that makes it all the more interesting. Let's not even bring up the dreaded T-word and celebrate a novel bringing vulnerable social groups to the forefront for once and showing us they are more than capable of contributing relatable, interesting, and real qualities to a fantasy novel.
I'm afraid I will give too much away if I give background info on the context of these images...BUT hopefully they are enticing enough to still be enjoyable...and possibly convince you to buy a copy when it comes out ;)
I think my favorites are the mirror and the last two...but they were all fun to do! And also as far as medium these are all pencil drawings with some tweaking in Photoshop.
If you would like to find out more about Jamython and its release you can check out the
Facebook fan page. I will be sure to make mention when it becomes available as well.
Going to end by stealing a quote from the fan page: one of the review comments of the book from a test circle of readers:
"That an anti-heroine could come from the angst of the socially challenged, the alleys of closed-minded culture, and retain individuality, but also weakness: that’s the part that seems real to me. The lack of perfection, the character flaws, and mangled, fucked-up social and family life that each mortal has. Immortality can save your life, but not make it better."
