Fell Dragon Book 3 Cover

Hello HIVE! This is a special art post just for Hive account@lex-zaiya. This beautiful person has just completed the second part of Fell Dragon which she is publishing here on HIVE. In addition, her birthday is coming up and I decided it was time to spoil her with some art as a birthday gift and to celebrate the launch of the third part of Fell Dragon.

As such, not only will she get this art to use as a cover for her story posts, but she has been set as a 15% beneficiary for this post. If you haven't read Fell Dragon, what is wrong with you?! Hive account@lex-zaiya's writing is awesome! Here, I'll help you:

Fell Dragon Links

Fell Dragon Book 1: Start
Fell Dragon Races
Fell Dragon Book 2: Start

The character depicted in the art is Saita, the main character that the Fell Dragon story follows. If you read the story, you will have an idea of what the background is about. I will not be giving any spoilers here. Without further ado, on to the process.

The Process

I found a cool photo on iStockphoto.com that I used for a pose reference. The photo can be seen here. I create the basic sketch. After some discussion with Hive account@lex-zaiya who said she envisioned Saita with a side shave Viking-esque hairstyle and some browsing on Pinterest for inspiration, the sketch came together. Then it was time to block in the base colours.

I should mention that I was sick while doing this piece, with a stomach bug straight from hell. One that not only had me running from the back end but throwing up as well. So after being to the doctor, getting injections and being on numerous medications (which are not yet finished) I began doing the line art for this piece. Below are two of the shots in progress, one with the guide sketch visible, and one without.

The next step was blocking in the basic shadows and highlights which you can see in the progress shots below. You will also notice I changed the background colour as I do not like working on a plain white background. The background colour I select here is usually temporary just to enable me to see what I am doing a little easier.

Next, I made use of the Gaussian blur function to blend the shading and started adding more details such as blush. It was also here that I added the lattice under Saita's skin. Normally she would be wearing long sleeve garments to hide them but I wanted to have them in the piece of art, so sorry Saita! Waves around artistic license and hopes not to get punched in the face...

After that, it was time to add in the background. Fell Dragon is a story that ultimately involves the fate of the universe. I cannot give you any more information than that, because of spoilers. But you will probably notice that I did play with the hue a little just to tie everything in nicely.

Of course, I made this with the intention of Hive account@lex-zaiya being able to use this as the cover for her story posts. So I decided I wasn't going to leave it as is. Every 'book cover' needs its title right?

The font I chose is called Game Of Squids by Darrell Flood and is available here.

But I couldn't leave it at just that. As an added bonus, as I know she likes to use them, I threw together a quick matching divider.

All this while sick and heavily medicated. I have no idea if it is any good at all. But I had to get it done so that Hive account@lex-zaiya could continue posting her story.