Alex Heberling

As the first bit of art I actually got done after my Week of Rest, I’m really happy with how this cover turned out.  I’d had thumbnail sketches in my sketchbook done that never really captured the gestures and mood I wanted, but when I actually sat down with the full sheet of paper to attempt a final drawing, it came out pretty easily, and on the first try, no less!

I wanted to attempt some more interesting lighting than I usually use, so I went for an extreme-overhead light source, which I think also helps with the overall mood of this piece.

The color-shifting effect is a seperate layer with the Blending Mode set to Color, with rust red, purple, and blue painted in by hand with a soft brush.  It’s set to about 45% opacity, so the ‘natural’ colors are just tinted a bit, rather than have them be very very saturated with the color overlay.  It produced a very nice effect that I really like with the symbolism of Ethre, Gara, and Styx’s respective colors.  She has this choice between the two men presented before her, and yet both are equally a part of her, and important to her in many distinct ways.

All in all, very evocative, and I’m proud to have this as the cover for the final chapter of Garanos.