I was trying to come up with the inspiration for the cover of a fantasy story we're about to publish, and though the cover art I'd been hoping for didn't magically appear before my mind's eye, this one did. We'll just call it "Horseman," and leave it at that.
The character is SAV's Atlas; the costume is the Euros kirtle, plus the strapping from the shirt, over the Journeyer Scout pants and boots, and that's the Spartacos hair, also by SAV. I used Merlin's pine tree in the background, and a couple of Greek columns for depth. The Millennium Horse is wearing one of the CWRW textures, and the Western horse tack ... but I changed out all the leather textures, the saddle pad and so on. The background is hand painted in Photoshop using a variety of brushes: Mystikel's clouds, Ron's birds, Hawksmont's moon, Designfera's trees ... and the mist in the foreground was painted in with Ron's Smoke and Steam. I have about six lights set up on this, with the object of creating moonlight. I really like the effect.
You can tell this one was intended as a book cover, but since it's a long way from the art I was originally looking for, it's not going to wind up on one, unless someone is struck by the inspiration to write a piece to accompany this! It's nice, though, so what the hey ... here it is.
Jade, December 18, 2011 (Golly, is it Christmas next weekend?!)
