FeatherWriter Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 After completely refurbishing the Renarin article, I decided that what was needed next were some good pictures. Thankfully, the tumblr Cosmere fandom has quite a few amazing fanartists, so I decided to see if I couldn't use some of the lovely portraits that we've seen around. Exmakina has some of the most professional looking character art that I have seen for the Cosmere, especially in her headshots and portraits. I thought these would be perfect for character page images, and that using them would be a great idea! I sent her a message on tumblr, asking if she would be okay with this. Here is her response: With her permission, I've uploaded some of her character portraits and have begun using them as page images. The pages for Dalinar, Renarin, Adolin, Navani, Jasnah, and Shallan now feature her art! I have also uploaded her portrait of Kaladin and Syl, however, because Kaladin's page already had an image from Ben McSweeney. However, as that image is concept art, I might suggest that the portrait be used at the top, while the sketch be used as an image beside the text? 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 (edited) "And so the Writer of Feathers was Loosed upon the Mind of Copper, and the Wiki was ne'er the same. For it was Transformed, and lo, 'twas Beautiful." Edited October 16, 2013 by Kurkistan 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeiryWriter Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 I'm scared now... FeatherWriter is reading my mind, where's my aluminum foil hat when I need it! I had spoken with Joe about messaging people on Tumblr about fanart just the other day... But this is fantastic, which other fanartists should be approached about this? I think we should be showing off the unbelievable talent of the artists in the fandom. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 I assume that, being a part of the Tumblr fandom, Exmakina is aware of the character descriptions in this post? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeatherWriter Posted October 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 (edited) I believe so. Tumblr's been fighting the "Most Rosharan peoples are not white-looking, stop doing that, you're being racist" battle since the cover for WoR came out. These portraits were mostly done before this signing though, specifically. As for others, Botanica Xu (http://botanicaxu.tumblr.com/) is wonderful, and has pictures of quite a few characters. Recently she's been doing cute little stylized pictures of just about every named character in Way of Kings, which she calls "Stormlight Kindergarten." She has also done pictures of people all over the Cosmere. Also, she draws me shippy Shallarin fanart based on my fics sometimes, so she's kinda one of my favorite people ever. (http://botanicaxu.tumblr.com/post/59101775254/shallan-renarin-oh-my-theyll-be-so-cute). I'll send her a message! She's super nice! Paper Pie hasn't done anything recently, but she did a character lineup a while ago. (http://paperpie.tumblr.com/tagged/brandon-sanderson). She might be amenable, so I'll ask her too! As for other artists, I'd recommend Adonalsium's art tag (http://adonalsium.tumblr.com/tagged/art). Any of those artists might be up for asking! I can do so if you guys see one you like! I may throw a call for artists to donate on Adonalsium as well, if you all like! EDIT: Oh, and sorry about the ugly links. I'm on my iPadand don't have the nice editor. Edited October 16, 2013 by FeatherWriter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windrunner Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 I want that Rysn image so much. I love the way the artist imagined the Thaylen eyebrows. I'm making the executive decision to move the Kaladin concept art further down the page and using the colored portrait for the main image. You rock Feather, we needed you! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeiryWriter Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 I want that Rysn image so much. I love the way the artist imagined the Thaylen eyebrows. Yah, that's one of the ones I like too. I also liked the ones she did of the Heralds. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeatherWriter Posted October 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 Glad to be of service! Upvotes, comments, monetary contributions and blood sacrifices are all appreciated. I've got classes and then I'll be on the road for a few hours, but after that, I'll see what I can do! And thanks about the Kaladin pic, Windy! Exmakina's also got a scruffier, bearded Kaladin without Syl, but I like the one that's up now the best! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 An upvote and two sacrificed goats from me - you should be thankful for the goats, since I already kept an eye on those artists! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExMachina Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 Hey guys, exmakina here. It's a real trip seeing my art on the wiki, thanks to FeatherWriter for approaching me about using the portraits. Though it does make me self-conscious about the pieces and want to refine them and make sure they're accurate, heh. I assume that, being a part of the Tumblr fandom, Exmakina is aware of the character descriptions in this post? Yup! I've tried to be conscientious about giving everyone (save the Shin) epicanthic folds, though it doesn't always come through because of wacky thick lineart stylizing. I keep loose notes about physical descriptions when reading just about any novel, but I might go and track down all specific passages that cover each character's appearance and list them in the interest of having a resource for artists who want to double check on details. Y'know, to answer those burning questions that we get like "what was that character's eye color again?" or "wait, that guy is Herdazian?" Looking forward to seeing more fanartists participating and contributing here. I really hope Botanica gets on board too, I love her Shallan and Jasnah in particular... and her Heralds piece is perfection. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 ExMakina (and Feather for prompting it), Thank you so much for contributing. Seriously, this stuff is awesome and improves things so much. I'm so happy! It is excellent artwork. The fact that you aren't yet totally happy with them both astonishes me (because they are great) and excites me, because that means even better stuff might appear? I would love to see that and continue to be amazed. Please feel free to upload any other art you do, if you so desire. It really does help. Welcome to 17th Shard, by the way I hope you chill here occasionally. And also you can show off your art in our gallery section too, if you like? Er. That was not meant to sound sales-pitchy. Really, everyone needs to give you lots of upvotes for this awesomeness, and I'd love to see it happen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeatherWriter Posted October 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2013 It's great to see you over here! Thanks again for helping us out! Your stuff is wonderful and you're awesome! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExMachina Posted October 17, 2013 Report Share Posted October 17, 2013 @Chaos: Thank you! I'm definitely going to keep drawing Cosmere fanart in the future but I dunno if it'll necessarily be better, haha! I'll be sure to share them here nonetheless. From my experience, every artist is never 100% pleased with their work... you stare at a piece for so long while drawing that all the mistakes jump out at you. Honestly, I started doing these portraits for fun during my WoK re-read as a kind of palette-cleanser after each part, so there are a lot of fixes and tweaks I'd like to make before considering them finished. I'll definitely upload some work to the gallery on the main site... though probably after said touch ups. @FeatherWriter: *waves* Aw, so many exclamation marks! Thanks again for helping me get more involved with the Cosmere fandom and uploading my stuff to the wiki, I really can't stress how cool it is to see my stuff there. *.* 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeatherWriter Posted October 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2013 Hehe, you deserve all the exclamation marks I can give! And I think I'm going to talk to Botanica as well. She's always been so wonderful and I think she'd be on board with helping us out. (Though with all she does for the Chinese Cosmere fandom, she may not have time to do much.) I think I may put out a call for artists on Adonalsium, though we'll see what kind of response we get there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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