Columns and Features

    Hello, hello!

    As the last rays of the Scadr-- er, Northern Hemisphere's summer touch down upon the land, and fall's rains and mists come to conquer the land, we have a (mostly)... somber piece for you. Our patrons wanted to see Wax's breakdown from the end of Shadows of Self, and that's what we have here.

    August's art commission comes to you from the ever-amazing-to-work-with Eli Gardor, who not only did a fantastic job at capturing Wax and Steris, but managed to sneak a bunch of little details in the background too, for the thorough observer. See how many you can spot :)

    On this stream, we will be answering questions from our patrons over on Patreon! We probably won't be able to answer many questions in chat, but hopefully you find this Q&A stream fun! Our patrons have sent in some pretty good questions so far. But everyone can watch this, and it'll start Sunday September 19th at 10am Pacific.

    Round up, round up! Come one, come all to the amazing Two-Armed Brits Chouta stand!

    This time, we'll be going through the lovely menu of chouta flavours that we were provided from the Way of Kings Leatherbound Kickstarter exclusive drinks coaster. We decided we could definitely give making these a go. Let us know how you think we did! Leave a comment down below on what you'd do differently!

    It feels like it's been some time since we did a bigger piece here, with the May one taking a while (while we'll stop bringing up; it's shaping up to be as good as many of the paintings you see inside the leatherbounds, so it'll take as long as it needs to), and the June one being a series of small subjects. So why don't we slingshot in the other direction and go big?

    Our patrons voted for New Seran in the July art poll, and New Seran we deliver! The city is not awfully important for the plot of The Bands of Mourning, and is usually mostly known as the location of The Hotel Scene (though it is also where Wax meets with Kelesina Shores), but it is a visually stunning location, with its tiers of rocky plateaus and cascading waterfalls. We've wanted to get Lyraina (Twitter) to paint an environment for us for a long time, and this was as good of an opportunity as we were ever going to get - especially since she graciously gave us a massive discount for this one piece. So, enjoy the city whose people think that Harmony must've been showing off when he was shaping it.

    All good things must come to an end, friends, and - since the June commissions have definitely been good - we must bring this art reveal season to a close.

    So feast your eyes upon the Bands of Mourning, which are definitely bands that were definitely worn by the Lord Ruler, everything about the legends is true, don't worry about-- hey, what are you doing with that statue's spearhead?! Oh well. Wayne broke it, sorry. No Bands, I guess, but have this nifty definitely aluminum spearhead - plus one of ReLuur's photographs evanotypes, as a bonus over on our public Patreon post.

    This final June commission is brought to you by a fan artist who needs no introduction, it's Shuravf (Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr), whose work already graces many a Coppermind page. You know the deal, go give her thumbs ups and hearts and stuff.

    Another week goes by (not that we are committing to a weekly schedule!), and another June illustration rises over the horizon. Like a moon. On planets that have one. Of which Sel is one.

    Anyway, no one comes to these posts for the witty commentary, so as you’ve likely cleverly deduced, this piece is the Moon Scepter of the Rose Empire - a subject we absolutely had to give to Botanica (Twitter, Tumblr) whose iconic work has been in the fandom since its very early days, and you can most recently find in the Kaladin album (digital) art book. They are present on pretty much every art-related website, so go give them a thumbs up and a heart!

    Those June art pieces just keep on coming, don't they? Let us know if you'd like us to do more of these simpler but more numerous art commissions in the future - we were thinking we'd those maybe once or twice a year, but art reveal season is fun season!

    And speaking of, this week we've got the King's Drop for you all! Paintweaver (Instagram, Tumblr) is another artist we've wanted to work with for a long time, and the relative simplicity of this illustration (plus scheduling luck) finally gave us this opportunity. The illustration is absolutely gorgeous, and the shifting smoky images inside it are an amazing representation of the captured Thrill. Fingers crossed that the Kholins keep this safe and don't go and, I don't know, throw it in the ocean or something!

    Friends, this week we have a treat for you! Nozomi Matsuoka (Instagram, DeviantArt) might not have the largest of Cosmere fanart portfolios, but the quality of her work speaks for itself. You might have seen the commissions she’s done for Argent (Jasnah, because of course he is going to commission a Jasnah, but also this excellent Maya from a critical Rhythm of War scene), and this time we wanted to see what painterly wonders she will come up with if we gave her what was arguably the most challenging June commission - the gems and spheres from Roshar.

    It’s but a few days until JordanCon, and with a lot of the Staff going, we thought the time was right to treat you to another one of our June art commissions. We’ve been fans of Elisgardor’s art (Instagram, Twitter), and have wanted to commission her for an illustration (i.e. Argent has been itching to get his greedy grubby grabby hands on some of her art), but she’s been busy… until recently. When we approached her with the list of winners, she immediately gravitated towards the idea of painting Vindication on a backdrop that looks like her blueprints, and friends, she blew our socks off! Not only was her artwork incredible and timely, she was also a joy to work with, so make sure you press all the Internet buttons on her socials.

    Hello again everyone! It’s been a little while since we last showed you art, so let’s remedy that.

    Tied for 5th place in our June poll, with 11% of all votes, was the [click on to the main article to see] from Rhythm of War. We chose a friend of our site (and a patron), Connor Chamberlain (Instagram), and he delivered - plus, he threw in a fancy soul-harvesting dagger in there as well. Go give him your love!

    Hello everyone, the wait is finally over. Last month you voted for a scene from the climax of Elantris, where Raoden saves his people from the Derethi. Without further ado here it is.

    For this we reached out to the amazing Shuravf who has done a ton of terrific cosmere fanart. For this piece she set out to do something a bit outside her comfort zone and so in addition to the standard piece above she did a comic-layout remix of the scene. It turned out amazing and you can check out a fully realized version (with text!) over on her Twitter! If you like her art you can also follow her on Instagram and tumblr!

    Thank you again for all of your continued support.  And check out our Patreon for a few more variants of this piece!

    Hey everyone, earlier this month you voted on our next Coppermind Art piece and it is officially ready to share! Your choice was a scene from Part 1 of Rhythm of War where Renarin saves Kaladin from Moash. We reached out to rspixart (who fans of the podcast may remember as the artist for the glorious depictions of Rlain and Renarin we fawned over  in our Rlainarin/Corrupted Truthwatcher episodes earlier this year). Unsurprisingly, she did an amazing job and we are so glad to be able to share it with you!

    Hey everyone, guess what! Our very first Coppermind Commission is ready to be revealed. After our patrons voted last month to see the interior of the honorspren stronghold, Lasting Integrity, we reached out to friend of Shardcast, Connor Chamberlain. And as always, he knocked it out of the park. 

    Welcome to our How to Play: Call to Adventure Stormlight Archive edition!

    Have you been wondering how to play Call to Adventure Stormlight Archive edition? Do you own the game but don't know how to read? Maybe you're just curious about the game and want to know how it's played before you buy! Maybe you just want to listen to me and Lucy blabber on about a board game. Whatever you are, come watch our video!

    Happy New Year everybody!

    We're honored to say that 17th Shard has been nominated for a few of their annual Stabby Awards! Our community as a whole was nominated for "Best Fantasy Site of 2020"  and our Interactive Map of Roshar has been nominated for "Best Related Work of 2020"! We want to thank you all for your support, Patreon patrons in particular!

    There are several Sanderson-related creations and artists that have been nominated for various awards as well! And that's to say nothing of all the other amazing fantasy content produced over the last year! If you've got a Reddit account, we recommend checking out r/Fantasy and casting your own votes!