Illustration No. 10 (Tenth of a Series)

       This will be my last illustration for "The War of the Stolen Mother."  It depicts the death of A'bir'zha'tai, who is the Laocoön character.  There's an error in it, unfortunately, which I would have to correct if I ever actually published this.  In the actual myth, Laocoön and his two sons are strangled by two serpents.  And in my own story, I also mention two reptiles attacking A'bir'zha'tai and his two assistant priests.  However, when I went to do the drawing, I forgot there were only two serpents and I showed each of the priests being attacked by a separate serpent, making three in all.  Anyway, I'm not redrawing it just to display here.  I think it's fairly effective if you can get a large enough view of it. 

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Illustration No. 9 (Ninth of a Series)

SO ... WHAT? -- YOU EXPECTED A HORSE?

 

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       At last -- the Trojan Horse! Except termites never heard of horses or of any other large domesticated animal that can be ridden or used to pull vehicles.  I won't tell you what they actuallty came up with -- what that strange-looking object parked before the walls of Thel'or'ei is supposed to be.  You'll have to read the book to discover that!

       This is a recent version of the Trojan Horse subject.  I have another version, the second drawing I ever did.  It's pretty awful, although it has a certain interest, so I may present it here next.  (After looking at it again, I'm not so sure about that.)  When I drew the first one, I still had no clue as to how to use the vector drawing tools (I doubt I had even discovered what the Edit Points feature was all about), so it's a wonder it came out looking like anything.

       You will note that I originally intended this to be the cover for v.1.  (Also note that the title and author are couched in the original form, which was to omit my own name, as if it really were a 30th-century publication.)  I changed my mind and used the "Ki'shto'ba Stands Guard" picture instead because I never was completely satisfied with this drawing.  Now I kind of wish I'd used this, since the one I did use is a night scene and doesn't show very well on Kindle.  

        Here are some of the things that don't suit me about this drawing.  I had trouble with the perspective.  How large should the characters be in relation to one another?  The wall doesn't seem high enough.  Et cetera.  Also, the rocks don't look right.  I like the rocks on my other drawings, but these seemed to elude me.  I wanted a reddish glow from the volcano, but then the foreground rocks ended up looking like they had lava running down them.  I also think I should have used a different color for the typography -- the red doesn't show up very well.  And that cotton-pickin' stone wall needs better definition. 

       Otherwise, I do like this.  That's Za'dut capering around at the front, of course, and the pale- winged Alate is Ta'hat'a'pai (Cassandra).  And I'm sure you'll notice the Highest-Mother-Who-Has-No-Name, peering down over the shoulder of the volcano, watching her manipulations unfold, just as Zeus and Athena did in the real Iliad.

 

Illustration No. 8 (Eighth of a Series)

Here is the second version of the picture I posted as No.7.  We see that A'zhu'lo finally got its head through and pretty much fell rather than jumped into the chamber below, knocking over the Holy Image in the process.  Za'dut is clutching the stones it had to remove from the lip of the Eye in order to allow its big-headed companion access.  Again, the picture could use some work.  I no longer use black to outline the termites; instead I use a dark orange.  But in spite of flaws, I think this one is pretty funny.

 

By the way, while you're here, you ought to back up and read my last couple of posts, which deal with characterization in my termite stories and also give you a glimpse of what's coming in v.2 ("The Storm-Wing").  I've almost finished the cover for that one, and I'll post it here as soon as I'm fully satisfied.

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Illustration No.7 (Seventh of a Series)

YOU MISSED OUT ON THE SALE,

BUT MY E-BOOKS ARE STILL RIDICULOUSLY AFFORDABLE! 

Monster Is in the Eye or the Beholder: $1.99

Any of the three "big books": $3.99

How much do you pay for a cup of coffee?

 

       This illustration belongs with Chapter 22 ("The Theft of the na'ka'fi'zi|") of "The War of the Stolen Mother."  I published that chapter on the Ruminations of a Remembrancer blog as an entry in the Third Sunday blog Carnival for August and it's had quite a few page views.  I also put a second version of this illustration there, but now I'm at a point where I want to discuss those illustrations, so we'll start with the original.  na'ka'fi'zi| means "holy stone image" -- think of the Palladium (the statue of Pallas Athena) whose presence was supposed to keep the citadel of Troy safe.  In the myths Odysseus steals the Palladium.  In my version, Za'dut the trickster plays the part of Odysseus the trickster.  However, Za'dut is a Worker and doesn't have the strength to carry that big stone image, so he elicits the reluctant assistance of A'zhu'lo, who is Ki'shto'ba's twin.  Then when they get to the apex of the fortress, where they know there is an opening, they discover that it isn't large enough for the Warrior's big head to fit through.  At one point, A'zhu'lo gets stuck.  That's what I'm showing here, in a cut-away view.  It's all very farcical.

       Now to discuss the technique.  As you can see from the date in the lower right corner, I produced this back in 2003, so it was among my earlier drawings and it was done on my old computer, which had Word 97.  At that time I was using a lot more textural fill -- note the stone texture on the image and the hatching on the floor.  Those aspects never worked very well with  Word 2007, which I have now, so I discontinued using them, but they remain on these converted drawings. 

       You can see the piece could use some work.  I seemed unable to make the cone-shaped tip of the fortress properly symmetrical and I sort of abandoned the individualized stonework on the edges.  Since it's a night scene, I drew the termites' legs in black and made A'zhu'lo's head gray, but I seem to have kept that orangish tone on Za'dut for some reason.  Of course, the two termites are wrapped up in the "magic skins" -- the cloaks of invisibility.  The antennae don't show up very well, and the vegetation growing out of the sides of the fortress needs more definition.  And those shadowy markings don't work very well.  Anyway, I think it captures the sense of what's going on, and I hope you'll enjoy the drawing (do click on it to enlarge) in spite of its imperfections.

       The next illustration I put up will be the second version of this one.

 

 

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Illustration No.6 (Sixth of a Series)

This illustrations belongs with Chapter 19 ("Mourning")  of "The War of the Stolen Mother."  All epic cultures indulge in complex mourning rituals for their dead heroes.  However, here we see a different kind of mourning rite.  Who and why is Za'dut, our trickster character, mourning?  You'll have to read the book to find out.

Di'fa'kro'mi Joins Za'dut in a Mourning Dance

 

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Illustration No.5 (5th of a Series)



This illustration belongs with Chapter 17 of "Stolen Mother" ("Ki'shto'ba Breaks Its Oath").  Why did our Champion break its oath?  What can Di'fa'kro'mi and the Helpers be thinking, daring to jump from the wall?  Why would A'zhu'lo be fighting off attackers on the parapet before it jumps itself?  What is Ki'shto'ba doing while all this is going on? 

Don't you wish you knew?

This picture illustrates my cop-out method of drawing stone walls -- make a monotone background and draw some intersecting lines to represent the stones. If I had been actually publishing this in a book, I would have probably felt impelled to go back and draw each stone individually as I did with the cover for v.2 of "The Termite Queen."

Illustration No.4 (4th of a Series)

       Here we get our first glimpse of a Holy Chamber and of a Shshi Mother!  This picture belongs with Chapter 14 ("The Companions Visit the Holy Chamber") of "The War of the Stolen Mother."  The Companions are at the bottom of the picture.  The Mother of Thel'or'ei is named Ei'tha'ma'na'ta and that's her King, Zha'fei'na'sha'ma, who is clinging to her thorax.  Those two, of course, represent Hecuba and Priam.  Note the little Tenders climbing on the Mother's back.  I couldn't resist showing  them scrubbing her with a rag and a bucket!  Thel'or'ei's Remembrancer is the Alate at the left and the one in the middle who seems to be spinning around is the Keeper of the Holy Chamber, obviously distraught.  The Alate in the upper left corner is merely a Light Maker for the Mother.  The pale Alate at the back is Ta'hat'a'pai (Cassandra, no less) and she is pulling back a curtain to show something  she shouldn't -- a stone blocking an exit.  A'bir'zha'tai the Holy Seer is admonishing her.  A'bir'zha'tai fills the role of Laocoön.
       If you want to know what is behind the stone, read the book!

       Again, be sure to click on the image to see it full size.

Illustrations, no. 3 (3rd of a Series)

This illustrations belongs with Chapter 10 of "The Labors of Ki'shto'bA Huge-Head: Volume One: The War of the Stolen Mother." The title of the chapter is "In the Marches of Thel'orei" where the Companions first encounter the Warriors of "Troy."  The Companions are grouped at the left; Di'fa'kro'mi and the two Helpers are standing on Za'dut to keep it quiet.  (Clearly delineating all those legs is tough!)  That's Cohort Chief Dai'wak'zei at the top, regurgitating the contents of its crop in order to signify its contempt for the Tailless Ones with whom Thel'or'ei is at war.  The sun is setting and the volcano named Yo'oin'zei (Ancient Killer) is smoking sullenly in the distance. (Be sure to click on the image to see a larger size.)

Now, doesn't that make you want to find out what happens next?

Illustrations, no. 2 (2nd of a Series)

Here is the original drawing from which I adapted the back cover art for "Labors of Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head: Volume One: The War of the Stolen Mother."  The title is "The Companions Meet the Tricky Lizard."  If I had published it in the book, it would have been part of Chapter 8, which you can read here on this blog.  I've also posted the back cover version below so you can compare them (this version displays the bleed line but otherwise it's accurate).  Obviously, the orginal was Landscape layout rather than Portrait, and the dimensions of a 8.5 x 5.5 book cover are quite different, so a lot of adjustment was necessary.  I removed the rocks (the actual scene takes place among a group of lava outcroppings) and added the tree so the picture would mirror the front cover.  Unfortunately, I also had to leave A'zhu'lo out; there just wasn't room for another big head!  I also omitted the second "Little One" (domesticated giant ant) and flipped the orientation of Wei'tu and the ant he's clutching.  One nice thing about this Word method of drawing is that you  can group items, figures, etc., and then manipulate their positioning, size, and such.

Illustrations, no. 1 (First of a Series)

I have drawn a number of illustrations for the Ki'shto'ba series, and the latest and best (in my opinion) are the ones for "The War of the Stolen Mother."  I originally intended to use them as illustrations in the books (this was in my days of thinking I would publish professionally), but I think it would make the CreateSpace books more expensive to include colored images.  So I'm going to begin running them as a series here, about two a week.  Today, I'm beginning with the original version of the cover, as it was before I adapted it.  My original intention was to use this as a frontispiece.