Heretic Spellblade 5 - Cover
Added 2022-04-20 14:28:15 +0000 UTCI'm still in fairly early stages of Spellblade 5, but here's the cover regardless. My current focus is combing through all four books and updating my messy notes (I pulled together Book 4 based off a reread and old notes, which is why it had so many references, but there are a few slip-ups as a result). Now that we're entering the second-half of the series, it's important to tie up any loose plot threads, explain away any inconsistencies I may have created, and lay the groundwork for a firm finale based on the plot I established in Book 4.
These notes also help with the Kadria backstory, as I'll need to iron out the background of multiple Messengers.
As for the cover, a few of you saw an incomplete version of this months ago. For everyone else, say hello to Ciana.
This is a fairly understated cover (armored woman taking up most of the cover), but there's a lot I love about it. Ciana has a slightly darker look, which matches her character arc's planned progression. The armor and weapon end up being re-used in the final cover. The overall theme establishes the religious theme of Omria (wings, gold, royalty), which is central to the book. Also, there's something about this cover that reminds me of the Warcraft 3 cutscene where Arthas kills his father - it might be the roses.
And, yes, those are horse ears. My artist proposed the droopy ears instead of the pricked ones most common in anime, and I felt they looked cute, so said yes.
As a sidenote, it's possible Cipher is my next book. I should have the cover soon and focusing on something different might help my creative juices run better. We'll see where I go over the next week and a bit.
Comments
I actually find 4 ears to be more disturbing personally, ears on the top and hair over where the ears should be looks more natural than two different sets of ears that look so very different. All that being said, as things stand I do like how Ciana looks so it doesn't matter all that much anyway.
hawkshe .
2022-04-21 04:44:33 +0000 UTCShe looks really great and the overall scene and lighting is gorgeous.
Hugo Kater
2022-04-20 17:08:34 +0000 UTCI kind of get the analogical feeling to the Arthas killing daddy scene. Might partly be because of the darker look to Ciana's face. The Warcraft scene very much emphases how much dark badness Arthas is bringing in by being who he was at the time while keeping the rest bright, good and holy.
Kartaal
2022-04-20 16:02:16 +0000 UTCLooks awesome. I can see how the more upright ears would make her head pretty crowded with the horn and pony tail. I would be very excited if you ended up doing Cipher next. Spellblade is my favorite ongoing series but I am intrigued to see where that story goes from what we have seen so far.
Eric Arthur Blair
2022-04-20 15:25:21 +0000 UTCIt gets brought up a lot whenever animal-eared girls are shown with 4 ears (I don't think I've ever seen the opposite?). So yes, Ciana gets to be more anatomically correct than Fei.
K.D. Robertson
2022-04-20 15:11:42 +0000 UTCAbsolutely beautiful art. Love it
version93
2022-04-20 15:11:31 +0000 UTCI am looking forward to them, especially as Seraph was great in book 4. (Though a dark elf cover would've also been amazing) Totally understandable. If it wasn't about the costs of art commissions I would already have a lot of my OC's as portraits here.
GhostPhil
2022-04-20 15:08:12 +0000 UTCYeah, I'm extremely happy with the new artist. Especially as I know how amazing Books 6 and 7 look (Seraph and a mystery harem member, respectively). Asking her to redraw the old books comes with a huge opportunity cost, however. Time spent on old covers is time not spent drawing new ones, and I don't want to count on my backlog lasting forever.
K.D. Robertson
2022-04-20 15:00:22 +0000 UTCmy thought exactly! I love the droopy ears and they are great on the side of the head. I find it always a bit weird when Characters need hairstyles to hide the blank side of the head. Not sure how cat girls would look like with the ears on the side though.
GhostPhil
2022-04-20 14:44:15 +0000 UTCHoly hell! Ciana looks amazing! (Not gonna lie I am curious how the first 3 covers would look with the new artist. At first I was a bit sceptical about the new artist, because I really loved the old one, but this artstyle actually fits way better to your writing in HS and DT)
GhostPhil
2022-04-20 14:41:51 +0000 UTCI want to come out and say how much I appreciate that her ears are relatively where they should be. It is always difficult seeing beastkin ears on top of heads, and hair is covering the sides to hide how disturbing it would appear otherwise. I know that's being nitpicking, but I had to say it.
Mation Amalga
2022-04-20 14:39:12 +0000 UTC
