Last month I showed you the portrait of Rathma by Panji (who goes by Panjoool). Well, that ended up hitting the front page of imgur.
When it did, I had some amazing responses to it — so amazing, in fact, that I decided to commission another piece from Panji.
Working together — again
I knew that I was going to want to depict a scene from Gift of the Shaper, but I wasn’t sure just what. I took a look around Panji’s portfolio for some inspiration. One of the pieces that I really liked was called “Titan Sword.”
I loved the scale and the epic feel of it, and it made me think of a scene in my own book. Right then, I knew what the piece was going to be about.
Moving forward by looking back
While I loved Panji’s depiction of Rathma, I knew that I wanted to have a “scene” for this next piece, as opposed to just a character. I gave him a few options to choose from (I trust the artist’s instinct better than my own; just as my tattoo artist, Devin). The one that he picked was one that I was secretly hoping for: where Olson and Dailus first saw the Spire of Annoch:
Olson looked up to see a tall white structure peeking out above the trees. As they got closer, he could see a figure at the summit, with its arms held high in the air, a hammer clutched in one hand.
“I’ve seen that before,” he said, “painted on the inside of the doors of the prison.”
Dailus looked up at the top of the spire. “It is the Shaper of Ages standing atop the Anvil of the Worldforge, where She crafted the chains that have held the Breaker since the Shaping War. She gave them to the Binder of Worlds, who continues to watch from the shadows. Quite a story, really,” he said as he turned to Olson. “You’re not familiar?”
-Gift of the Shaper
When he accepted, I was ecstatic. A talented artist like Panji can do wonders for bringing a story to life, and I’m incredible excited to see what he does with this piece — and hopefully you are too! So, if you’re not a subscriber already, throw your name onto the newsletter to make sure you don’t miss a thing. All I can say is that there is going to be an announcement coming soon, and you’re going to want to hear it.
Want to see some more art brought to life by Panji? Leave a comment below with your favorite character or scene!
