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Finished! Or as finished as it can be at this point! I did two versions. In the beginning I got frustrated with the clutter of the full battle scene, so I resorted to abstracting the element of the fight between Lug'tei'a the Warrior Priest and the Demon Warrior Sho'choi'jik'a and adding a border and a few thorn bushes to reflect the title. Then I decided to go ahead and finish the first one after all -- the one with the valley wall, the lookout up in the Awl's Eye, opposing armies, identifiable characters, etc.
SO LEAVE A COMMENT! WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER SEE ON THE COVER?
Definitely the one on the left. The red and pink make it look like they're kissing, not fighting. It'd be cool if they were kissing though.
ReplyDeleteI don't suppose Ki'shto'ba gets any termite tail being a soldier.
I'm favoring the one on the left, too, because it's more in keeping with the covers of the earlier volumes - a true scene, not an abstraction. I could make the background on the right a different color - I chose the shaded red to make it look a bit hellish, but I guess I wasn't successful in that! LOL
DeleteKi'shto'ba doesn't appear in this drawing - it's off leading the vanguard during the battle. But Ki'shto'ba does have cerci (tails). See the covers in the sidebar for TQ v.2 and Labors v.1 (on Labors v.2 Ki'shto'ba has its tails tucked under to avoid damage from the feather darts). Having tails depends on which species of Shshi you are, not your Caste.
I prefer the one on the left as well--the larger context works better for me, rather than the relatively isolated figures on the gradated colour background.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think the left one, showing surroundings/context is more consistent with the look of the other covers and therefore creates stronger associations between the works and makes them more identifiable as part of the same series, at a glance even if it is possibly even just at an unconscious level.
Hi, Kat, haven't heard from you for a while! I agree with you - the "pink" one was a bit of a lazy woman's cop-out! I do think keeping the cover styles consistent is the best way to go. I have a terrific cover already drawn for the 4th volume, although it will need a bit of reworking.
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