Emperor's Blood - Concept Art

People probably wonder why I draw concept art for my books, but the reason is, is that it helps me visualize them. It puts my thoughts on paper, so that instead of me going back to read boring notes, I can simply look upon my concept art, which can be of anything from future scenes, to the characters themselves and sometimes even their environments. My library of concept art for EB will likely never be equalled, as the book as been in production nearly as long as AOH has been in editing (about four years) but its libary is important to me. Through it I have a window into how I used to draw and I look upon scenes which no longer exist within the canon story. I can look at these and dream of new ones inspired by them, taking from what was old. I never completely scrap an idea. The cast of Emperor's Blood, while a bunch of guys with some pretty bad problems, are very dear to me and have taught me more about art than any of my other characters. These guys taught me to draw humans (even though they themselves are not.) They taught me everything as I have struggled through the years to draw a good face, or a good body in general. I'm only now beginning to draw good human poses and as my anatomy improves, I'm looking forwards to finishing my goal of making model packs for the entire cast of EB.

Why is this such a delicious porject for me? Because nearly all the guys in EB are the same species and racially, look much the same. I get to work with their anatomical guidelines, finding ways to make them individuals while still sticking to my rules. For instance, Ki's really scrawny and he's shorter than the rest of the cast by about a head. In EB, he's described as being about 4"5. He's got a bit of a Napolean complex. (Napolean was freaking awesome.) His hair is short and clean; he's like a well groomed horse, only drakoon. He's refined and a bit girly, just a little. In dragon form Ki's the same and his teeth do not overlap his bottom jaw. In contrast, Alkane is a literal tank of a guy. He's barrel chested, brawny and he's got mean little eyes like a stereotypical drill sergeant. He could whoop your ass and not break a sweat. He's also really hard to draw, because he's the exact opposite of catty little Ki. It's like putting a draft horse next to a pony. It's fun. Then there's Kelveniska, who looks like Ki because they're related, but who is taller, stronger - he's what Ki should look like, even though he doesn't. This project is teaching me more about character design than anything else ever has, especially since these characters aren't just characters to me. They're my buddies, my friends. I want to do them justice. That's what being a writer and also an artist means.

I hope you guys like today's dump of concept art. :)