Thursday, February 16, 2017

Darkovan Title Page Action


I enjoyed making Darkover fan story title pages because I could use different kinds of type and experiment with styles. In this story, the plot is kind of weak: a Darkover-human wilderness dweller or "mountain man" discovers a super-weapon lost by the high-tech Terrans. It looks like a simple writing pen but can deliver blasts of power. In this scene chosen for the title page, I have the shaggy woodsman sneaking up on a bunch of bandits who are torturing a youth, to save him with the unusual device. 

Since most of the action takes place at night, I had to image scenes done in darkness in the deep woods. There is a little campfire for light around the action area but for the woodsman I created a dark forest with ink and brushwork. I often wonder what happened to my Darkover friends, fans, and creative clients. Faded into a darkness mightier than the pen.

Black ink on illustration board, 8" x 10", summer 1985.

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