Author Sketches

It's typical for me to do sketches while writing, a sort of mental doodling as I work out events and character arcs. These sketches are not intended to be the final word on what the characters look like! In fact, I usually have trouble pinning down people's looks; notably in this section of the canon, for several years I confused Lisinthir and Jahir’s face shapes. (Jahir is the one with the square jaw and Lisinthir’s the one with the pointed face, but for a while I had it backwards.) Anyway, though I don’t have as much time to draw as I like, I find I work better when I'm thinking with a pencil as well as a keyboard. I've selected a few of the sketches I've done of characters relevant to the Princes’ Game series, and hope you enjoy the peek into the artist brain.

 

1. Vasiht’h with Scarf: As the most difficult to visualize, I present images of Vasiht’h first. I always liked this one for the way it makes the big-cat-like body clear. (Bonus: that’s a scarf Sediryl knitted him.)

2. Jahir and Vasiht’h at home: Unfinished, but typical, and one of my favorites of them together in one of their most habitual poses (Jahir on couch, Vasiht’h on the ground.)

3. The Slave Queen: Moving on to the Chatcaava, of all the images I’ve drawn of the Slave Queen this remains the one that I think of when I think of her. Also, don’t ask me how I did that shoulder yoke with the multiple ball sockets. (And don’t ask me to do it again!)

4. Imperial Thorns: This is the other Slave Queen image that works best for me (and gives you a close up of the wing perforations).

5. The Emperor, Flying: I think this might be the only drawing I’ve ever down of a Chatcaavan in flight. It is naturally the Emperor. (I also like it because of the suggestion of the towers of the palace behind him.)

6. Marks: The Emperor isn’t particularly easy to draw, but this is the image I think of when I think of him. It was a bookmark I drew to go with Even the Wingless, and in fact was on its first edition cover.

7. The Ambassador: Segue then into Lisinthir, this was one of the first drawings of him that looked like him in my head. (Nose like a blade.) I like it particularly for the jewelry: on the right breast, the Galare unicorn and the Imtherili drake; on the left, the Alliance’s ambassadorial crest. That is also typical Eldritch attire; the coat goes over it.

8. The Duelist: The other Lisinthir image I think of when I think of him was this one of him at Ontine, dressed for a duel, with Imtherili’s swords. This is the young man Liolesa looked at and said, "Yes. Him."

9. The Dragon and the Unicorn: While writing Book 2 of this series I did a handful of abstracted drawings symbolizing Jahir (as the Galare unicorn) and Lisinthir (as the Imtherili drake). This was the first, and responsible for my mental conception of Lisinthir's gift to Jahir. (You can see all the others in the Dragon and Unicorn folder on my DeviantArt account.)

10. Alive in Your Arms: This piece is so old. SO OLD. That you can tell how long this book has been waiting to be written. (The date is 2002, if you can’t read it.) It’s also the piece that gave me Jahir’s jawline. (“Ah-ha!” said young artist me. “He’s the one with the square jaw!”) Years and much experience and skill later, I still like this piece... and I’m glad I finally wrote the story it belonged to.