Page Layout 2

As promised, here is the next in the series of "finished" page layouts for The Curse of the Rhinegold. As before, you can click the image to visit the host page at Fantasy Castle Books, where additional notes and art elements have been posted up, detailing some of what went into creating the image. I have also started posting detailed credits for all the elements used in making each piece, from digital models to Photoshop brushes used.

As for the text, we're now getting a bit into the story, so maybe a word or two should be mentioned here. While overall this is a very dark and violent story of mayhem and destruction, this opening sequence is right out of a children's fairy tale, and I've written it intentionally to feel that way. Don't let it put you off. This is not a children's book, and many pages will be splashed with blood before we're done.

But every conflict begins with relative stability, so my goal in creating these first few pages was to visualize a lush paradise before the fall, so to speak. I wanted the colors to be vivid and dynamic. In addition, it felt only natural to use a watercolor motif, given the setting. (On that note, I also posted an alternate version of the first page spread which used a watercolor splatter effect that I ultimately removed, for reasons I make note of there).

This image was particularly difficult to finish, for a wealth of reasons, not least of which is the several hundred models and layers involved. Virtually everything that could go wrong did, and it's a wonder it ever got done at all. Of course, I have no illusions that it's actually finished, but for now it's close enough. Final color adjustments and printer's proofs must wait for another day.