Stephen Embleton's Blog, page 3

Cover Illustration & Design – Waypoint Seven

 

Final Cover – Stephen Embleton 2024

It was a pleasure to create the cover for Sauúti colleague Xan van Rooyen's aetherpunk novella "Waypoint Seven" being published by the newly established Mirari Press in South Africa. It gave me the opportunity to explore my digital illustrating to the extreme by incorporating my design and drawing skills – and it would not be the same if I didn't have an understanding of how physical illustrations (brushwork, pencils, paints and textures) really look.

It was daunting to start – particularly wanting to deliver Xan something that did their story justice – no pressure. But with Mirari Press' Marius du Plessis having a love and understanding of design, he gave me so much free reign to play. And with each of the phases below, he encouraged and gave feedback (mostly Wow! and keep going). This is very rare with clients. And it was with this collaboration that the illustration and design blossomed over ten days.

GET YOUR COPY OF "WAYPOINT SEVEN" HERE JULY 2024

The brief was excellent, with more details coming as I needed them to build the character and the themes of Xan's world.

The Brief:

A character focused, hyperstylised illustration of the main character, Runo [Runo, is transgender], from a side angle. Runo wears a wooden sparrow around a thong on his neck. The illustration should take inspiration from tarot cards. 

This was enough to have ideas popping, and I was eager to start – even before I was given the go ahead I had the character sketch done :)

First: NO AI!

Beginning with a character sketch (in the suggested pose – side on), I decided what the hell and did it digitally, to explore my pencil brushes in Photoshop, and get more used to drawing on the Wacom tablet (while looking at the screen not at my tablet!). Body straight on gave us the opportunity to show the wooden sparrow necklace.

"Runo" – Digital Pencil Sketch

Even a rough pencil thumbnail layout (to show the client) goes a long way. This gave me the shapes and positions I wanted.

Using Magic Poser's free model tool allows you to get dimensiosn, pose and even lighting as right as you need.

It starts with a background: so much fun with colour and brushes. Even though 80% of it is covered, it's those textures and colour experiments which set the tone to start with.

Building the background paint texture


Loosely combining a whole lot of the main elements gives a quick idea of the layout. This is the semi-sign-off stage you need from the client before you dive in. But having layers on photoshop means you still have the flexibility to shift things, delete, and redo.
Phase 1: Rough layout for sign-off

Gold overlays, clothing.

Face/Portrait detail

Hair, necklace, hand, belt.
Always a nice touch to customise the typography. Starting with the Winsel Variable font, adding flourishes to the W, Y, V and N, as well as the inner line.


Typography. Adding final side panel details and patterns

Ten days, and over 630 layers later (half deleted)...
Final Cover – Stephen Embleton 2024


Detail (Stephen Embleton 2024)



Detail (Stephen Embleton 2024)

The full illustration canvas:

Stephen Embleton 2024

"Undulation" Makes the 2024 HWA Bram Stoker Award Reading List

 

I'm really pleased to have my 2023 novella, Undulation – from the first Sauúti anthology, Mothersound – included in the HWA Bram Stoker Award Reading List along with 5 others!

6 Sauúti stories, featured in the Mothersound Anthology were included in the 2024 HWA Bram Stoker Award Reading List.

Short Fiction:

Lost In The Echoes – Xan van RooyenThe Grove’s Lament – Tobias S. BuckellThe Way Of Baa’gh – Cheryl S. NtumyUndulation – Stephen EmbletonXhova – Adelehin Ijasan

Long Fiction:

A City, A Desert & All Their Dirges – Somto Ihezue & Oghenechovwe Donald EkpekiRead the full HWA Bram Stoker Award Reading List here.

COVER REVEAL: Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction

 A huge congrats to all involved, especially Eugen Bacon for pulling it all off🙏🏼❤️💫👏🏼

Pre-order now. 

Table of Contents

Preface

The Structure of This Book

Chapter 1. On Afrocentric Futurisms–The Case for an Inclusive Expression

Suyi Okungbowa, Nigeria/Canada

Chapter 2. Cosmologies and Languages Building Africanfuturism

Stephen Embleton, South Africa/UK

Chapter 3. An Afrofuturistic Dystopia and the Afro-irreal

Eugen Bacon, Tanzania/Australia

Chapter 4. The power of African Spirituality in Africanfuturism

Nuzo Onoh, Nigeria/UK

Chapter 5. Black Futurisms vs. Systems of Domination

Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Kenya

Chapter 6. Faith and Fantasy–Afrofuturist and Africanfuturist Spirituality

Cheryl S. Ntumy, Ghana

Chapter 7. Queer Imaginings in Africanfuturism Inspired by African History

Xan van Rooyen, South Africa/Finland

Chapter 8. Afrofuturism and Exploring Cultural Identity as a Process of Becoming

Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, Rwanda/Australia

Chapter 9. Fabulist Imaginings in Tales of the Dark and Fantastic

Tobi Ogundiran, Nigeria/USA

Chapter 10. A Vision for Direct Democracy in Yat Madit

Dilman Dila, Uganda

Chapter 11. A Gaze at Post-Colonial Themes That Re-Envision Africa

Nerine Dorman, South Africa

Chapter 12. Denouement: Autoethnography–the Self-As-Research

Eugen Bacon, Tanzania/Australia

Nov 2023:

Great to part of this! Thanks, to Eugen Bacon, who initiated this over a year ago: Bloomsbury Academic will be publishing this essay anthology covering a HUGE range of topics and insights within Afro-Centred Futurisms, including my essay “Cosmologies and Languages Building Africanfuturism”.

Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction is an accessible work of criticism that will appeal to scholarly readers and broader enthusiasts of Afrocentric and speculative literature. 

British Fantasy Award winner Eugen Bacon (ed.)'s AFRO-CENTERED FUTURISMS IN OUR SPECULATIVE FICTION, an anthology of original artistic essays infused with creative excerpts from award-winning African writers on the futurisms in their speculative fiction; a new kind of African study in an evaluative gaze at African history, African spirituality, Afrosurrealism, 'becoming', black radical imagination, cultural identity, decolonizing queerness, myths, linguistic cosmologies, and more, featuring an introduction by Suyi Okungbowa, to Amy Martin at Bloomsbury Academic, by Jennie Goloboy at Donald Maass Literary Agency.

This vibrant and approachable book is part of the Black Literary and Cultural Expressions, and engages with difference—featuring  stimulating chapters by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Dilman Dila, Eugen Bacon, Nerine Dorman, Nuzo Onoh, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Stephen Embleton, Tobi Ogundiran and Xan van Rooyen.

Out by Bloomsbury in May 2024. 

Read more here.

Side by Side: a Bones & Runes Review

 

Always great to get reviews. A thorough review of Bones & Runes from James Nicholl. ❤️📖👀

SIDE BY SIDE

"Embleton’s tale is engaging and fast paced, his South Africa vividly portrayed. The narrative draws on a diverse assortment of traditions. Rather alarmingly for the protagonists, Mlilo’s is predominant and as the gods so kindly point out to him, in his tradition failure is very much an option even for the best of heroes."

Read the full review here.

The Celestial Machine – Commission

 A recent commission: The Celestial Machine

This was interesting and fun to create. The client (seeing some of my recent work) wanted a type of machine schematic but with specific themes. With their Zimbabwean heritage, they wanted to somehow incorporate the Matsatse/Venus elements from the Dhlo-dhlo monolith – an artefact which records the movement of Venus. I included the pattern-path the planet Venus takes “around” Earth as a design element in the background and expanded from that idea of vectors and movement with other elements from southern African motifs.

Some references

From the full colour finished art, I gave options for duo tone and black and white versions.

Mothersound Anthology 2023 BSFA Award Finalist

 

The British Science Fiction Association announced the shortlist for the 2023 BSFA Awards, with Mothersound; The Sauútiverse Anthology a finalist in the BEST COLLECTIONS category! 

The overall nominations is such a great display of work from everyone involved in so many great projects! 

#BSFAAwards2023

BEST COLLECTIONS: (FINALIST)

Mothersound: The Sauutiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi (ed)  

See the full shortlist of fantastic works for 2023.

ORIGINAL NOMINATED/LONGLIST:

The British Science Fiction Association announced the longlist for the 2023 BSFA Awards, including three of my stories and my artwork (Mothersound anthology). And The Sauúti Collective rightly getting a good number of nominations!

The overall nominations is such a great display of work from everyone involved in so many great projects! 

#BSFAAwards2023

Short Fiction: (LONGLISTED)

Soyinka's Memory  – Stephen Embleton – The Shallow Tales Review – Nzube Nlebedim (ed) Taking Turns  – Stephen Embleton – Languages of Water, MVmedia – Eugen Bacon (ed) 

Shorter Fiction (Novella): (LONGLISTED)

Undulation – Stephen Embleton – Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology – Wole Talabi (ed), Android Press

Undulation  – Stephen Embleton

Artwork: (LONGLISTED)

Cover and interior art of Mothersound The Sauúti Collective anthology – proud to be joined with Akintoba Kalejaye – Android Press

BEST COLLECTIONS (I am involved in above): (LONGLIST)

- Languages of Water, Eugen Bacon (ed), MVmedia (Milton Davis)

- Mothersound: The Sauutiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi (ed)  

 

4x BSFA Nominations – Longlist Announced

The British Science Fiction Association announced the longlist for the 2023 BSFA Awards, including three of my stories and my artwork (Mothersound anthology). And The Sauúti Collective rightly getting a good number of nominations!

The overall nominations is such a great display of work from everyone involved in so many great projects! 

Short Fiction:

Soyinka's Memory – Stephen Embleton – The Shallow Tales Review – Nzube Nlebedim (ed) Taking Turns – Stephen Embleton – Languages of Water, MVmedia – Eugen Bacon (ed) 

Shorter Fiction (Novella):

Undulation – Stephen Embleton – Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology – Wole Talabi (ed), Android Press

Undulation – Stephen Embleton

Artwork:

Cover and interior art of Mothersound The Sauúti Collective anthology – proud to be joined with Akintoba Kalejaye – Android Press

BEST COLLECTIONS (I am involved in above):

- Languages of Water, Eugen Bacon (ed), MVmedia (Milton Davis)

- Mothersound: The Sauutiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi (ed)  

 

See the full list of fantastic works nominated for 2023.

ANNOUNCED: Bloomsbury Academic Acquires Essay Anthology

 

Great to part of this! Thanks, to Eugen Bacon, who initiated this over a year ago: Bloomsbury Academic will be publishing this essay anthology covering a HUGE range of topics and insights within Afro-Centred Futurisms, including my essay “Cosmologies and Languages Building Africanfuturism”.

Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction is an accessible work of criticism that will appeal to scholarly readers and broader enthusiasts of Afrocentric and speculative literature. 

British Fantasy Award winner Eugen Bacon (ed.)'s AFRO-CENTERED FUTURISMS IN OUR SPECULATIVE FICTION, an anthology of original artistic essays infused with creative excerpts from award-winning African writers on the futurisms in their speculative fiction; a new kind of African study in an evaluative gaze at African history, African spirituality, Afrosurrealism, 'becoming', black radical imagination, cultural identity, decolonizing queerness, myths, linguistic cosmologies, and more, featuring an introduction by Suyi Okungbowa, to Amy Martin at Bloomsbury Academic, by Jennie Goloboy at Donald Maass Literary Agency.

This vibrant and approachable book is part of the Black Literary and Cultural Expressions, and engages with difference—featuring  stimulating chapters by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga, Cheryl S. Ntumy, Dilman Dila, Eugen Bacon, Nerine Dorman, Nuzo Onoh, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Stephen Embleton, Tobi Ogundiran and Xan van Rooyen.

Out by Bloomsbury in 2024/25. 

Read more here.

The Art of Sauúti

Sauúti is an all-round creative collective, encouraging any manner of creative expression to represent this shared-world we have created.

Check out more on the released Mothersound: The Sauúti Anthology here.

It was great to be able to write as well as create art (including the co-created anthology cover design) for mine and others' stories in the final "Mothersound: The Sauúti Anthology". And the perfect opportunity for me to play with varying styles and techniques.

Impudu-pudu (lightning bird)

The Impudu-pudu lightning bird

Eugen Bacon created an awesome giant lightning bird called the impudu-pudu. At the time, I was playing with my physical rolled ink work (scanned from 2019) and using them digitally. This was the perfect style to try something textural and visceral for this sequence of Eugen's story “Sina, The Child With No Echo”.

Here is the layered illustration.

Layered elements for the Impudu-pudu bird – rolled ink
The Way of Baa’gh

The crab-like creatures of Cheryl S. Ntumy's “The Way of Baa’gh” were something I wanted to try my hand at. Combining original hand drawn ink, and digitally coloured.

The original hand drawn ink

The Full Illustration

Not too sure about what I could do within the Sauúti world as far as illustrating was concerned, the first image I felt compelled (for a number of reasons) to tackle was the VERY technically difficult spiral village Paramikule Zékunekude (the villages are called paramikules, Zékunekude is a specific one in my story) featured in my novella in the "Mothersound: The Sauúti Anthology" titled "Undulation".

Undulation The final digitally coloured illustration
The original hand drawn ink

I then played with two other scenes within my story – more intimate.

The first is the protagonist – Hmahein – in a "reflective" moment before her auspicious performance as part of the Order of Ruevaagi (the storytellers and historians) initiate.

"Hmahein" – The original hand drawn ink
"Hmahein" – The final digitally coloured piece

The second piece, a close up of a secondary character – Waioke – as he goes about his tailoring of Hmahein's performance garments and most importantly, depicting his magic. Waioke is part of the Order of the Zéhemgwile – the tailors and clothes makers.

"Waioke"– The final digitally coloured piece
"Waioke" – The original hand drawn ink

RELEASED: Mothersound Anthology

The day finally came! Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology released on 21 November 2023. The entire Sauúti Collective are overjoyed and relieved and excited to have this out in the world and available in both print and ebook in the US and UK, through Android Press and Luna Press respectively. AUDIO BOOK COMING SOON.

I had the privilege of creating 5 art pieces for various stories (including my own: Undulation), and assisting Akintoba Kalejaye with the cover design and title design:

Purchase copies of Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology here:Amazon – paperback and ebook/KindleAmazon UK – paperback and ebookBarnes & Noble – paperbackView and Review on Goodreads

Check out some of the blurbs so far:

The starred review on Publisher's Weekly:

"This shared-world anthology from (Wole) Talabi stands out for both its cross-genre reach and the immense scope of its ambitions. ...this feels like the start of something monumental."

“𝙈𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙎𝙊𝙐𝙉𝘿: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙖𝙪𝙪́𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮, is a rare and distinct Afrocentric treat that hums in the unity of a collective enriched with universal storytelling and the many languages of Mother Africa.” — 𝗡𝘂𝘇𝗼 𝗢𝗻𝗼𝗵, Queen of African Horror, and recipient of the 2022 Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award

“The 𝙎𝙖𝙪𝙪́𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 is a mind-blowing, highly imaginative and deeply compelling sandbox. The wide range and excellent quality of these stories are a testament to that, offering yet another formidable trove of authors of African descent. In 𝙈𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙎𝙊𝙐𝙉𝘿, Talabi and company have offered us something seminal. This book will continue to influence the canon of Afrocentric futurisms for years to come.” — 𝗦𝘂𝘆𝗶 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗢𝗸𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗯𝗼𝘄𝗮, award-winning Nigerian author of David Mogo, Godhunter and The Nameless Republic trilogy

“The 𝙎𝙖𝙪𝙪́𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 is a powerful original collective concept, and this debut anthology clearly shows collaboration can create more than the sum of its parts while remaining firmly true to its African heritage and taking that boldly into the future.” — 𝗜𝘃𝗼𝗿 𝗪. 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗻, writer and editor of AfroSF

 

"Fantastika at its best. The Sauútiverse invites a reader to drown in a poetic world, built with a Tolkenian attention to gripping detail, and full of creatures who excite the imagination in a dream-like rollercoaster. The illustrations are works of art in themselves, adding spice to the stories, and I found myself wishing there were more paintings, more stories, and more pages to keep me up in the wee hours." — 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗮, internationally acclaimed and award-winning social activist, filmmaker and author of Yat Madit stories

Below is the Table of Contents – wait until you read them!

Foreword: I Dream Of Sauúti – Fabrice GuerrierWelcome to the Sauútiverse – Wole TalabiOur Mother, Creator – Stephen Embleton & Wole TalabiWhat Has No Mouth? – Dare Segun FalowoThe Way of Baa'gh – Cheryl S. NtumyThe Grove’s Lament – Tobias S. BuckellXhova – Adelehin IjasanA City, a Desert, and All Their Dirges – Somto Ihezue and Oghenechovwe Donald EkpekiSina, the Child With No Echo – Eugen BaconThe Rakwa Wa-Ya'yn – Stephen Embleton & Wole TalabiUndulation – Stephen EmbletonThe Hollowed People – T.L. HuchuMuting Echoes, Breaking Tradition – Eye Kay NwaoguKalabashing – J. UmehLost in the Echoes – Xan van RooyenHologhiri – Akintoba Kalejaye

The 5 pieces I created for the anthology (more details here):

Impudu-pudu (lightning bird)Eugen Bacon created an awesome giant lightning bird in her “Sina, The Child With No Echo” called the impudu-pudu. At the time, I was playing with my physical rolled ink work (scanned from 2019) and using them digitally. This was the perfect style to try something textural and visceral for this sequence of Eugen's story.

The Way of Baa’gh

The crab-like creatures of Cheryl S. Ntumy's “The Way of Baa’gh” 

Undulation

Three featured in my novella "Undulation".

The final digitally coloured illustration

I then played with two other scenes within my story – more intimate.

"Hmahein" – The final digitally coloured piece

"Waioke"– The final digitally coloured piece