Joie
CREATOR
2 days ago
Project Update: Update 2: The Amazing Cover Art by Anya Chalina
Last time I shared the moodboard and art direction for the project and today, it's (tentative) cover art reveal day!
The talented Anya Chalina has helped create this beautiful artwork that will sit both on the cover of the book as well as in the interior as a spread without any of the text to distract from her work. Here's a small mock up of the cover:
After studying Joie’s references and ideas, I immediately knew the piece needs to have some stylistic elements inspired by Medieval art. We wanted the piece to feel timeless and not have any direct attachment to specific cultures to allow the viewers to draw their own ideas. Animals with scales can be spotted throughout the piece with a large dragon cascading in the background, a water serpent swimming through the river and a snake coiling around a tree in the middle. They anchor the space in the artwork and symbolize different elements. For the character, we chose Artemis as the inspiration but decided to portray her differently from her original image. She is surrounded by majestic animals and lush greenery, and her palace can be seen in the background. I felt much joy working on this piece and Joie allowed me so much space for self-expression that this piece easily became one of my favorites.
- Anya Chalina
When commissioning this piece, one of my only specifications was that it was to show the multi-cultural aspect of the game to reflect the many pantheons and mythologies that are in the game. The flowers in this garden were also chosen specifically for their godly-associations. I gave Anya a lot of freedom and trusted her fantastic eye and talent to just do her thing. Having Artemis be dressed the way she is was a fantastic surprise for me and I love it :)
You can see the larger piece on Anya's Bluesky post and please leave all the nicest things to let her know how great this piece is! I'm already planning to commission a second illustration featuring Apollo as a companion piece if the project goes very well.
Meanwhile on my end, I've been very busy working on client work to pay the bills and planning on making a small scenario of The God's Favourites as a preview of the new mechanics. If you haven't already checked out its precursor projects, you can get a lite version of the game FOR FREE in the form of Cryptid Keepers (cryptids, need I say more?) or Prehistoric Keeper (dinosaurs, also very cool).
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