Garanos

[Updated!  See below.]

So after brainstorming and going over some of your suggestions this week, I’ve come up with a drawing I’m happy with.  This is what will be on the new cover for Volume I:

I was inspired by the painting Dragon Reflection by British artist Anne Stokes, which was in a book of fantasy art I picked up at the library this week.  The idea of using Garanos’ sword in a reflecting fashion was particularly evocative, and this image went through several revisions.  You can see some of my false starts below.

The first drawing was originally what I wanted to go with for the cover.  It’s a very dynamic pose, but also very complicated.  The second image was an attempt to close in on the face of the first drawing, but the final image wouldn’t fit very well in the proportions of the cover.  The third image is a very rough sketch in preparation for the final drawing, above.  I liked the more stoic quality of Garanos holding the sword vertically over her eye.  I also wanted to draw it in a style similar to what I used in Volume I (more anime) so as not to potentially mislead those unfamiliar with the contents.

So I’ll be working on this today and tomorrow.  Hopefully, the book will be ready to go to Ka-Blam for printing by the end of the week.

UPDATE!

It’s finished!

This is easily the most work I’ve put into coloring an image in recent memory. ^_^;  It was surprisingly hard to do the reflection in her sword.  It looked too much like glass at first.  I had all sorts of detail on the reflection of Garanos’ skin, with the black oily stuff, but unfortunately it had to become lost in order to make the blade look like metal.

Here’s the mockup of the actual cover: