Artists we’ve worked with

Where would any author be if we all had to not only write the story, edit the story and then also draw the story? Or, at the very least, the cover-art for it? Aside from exhausted that is?

There are a few, truly amazing, talents out there who can, possibly against the very laws of the universe, actually manage to do all three (and then throw in marketing as a fourth) and not feel like they’re trying to bash their way through a solid brick wall with nothing but their fists, wearing a blindfold, balancing on a bowling ball.

They’re not many. And I think I can safely say that I’m not one of them. I’ve tried it, back in the day. And if I could do it all over again, I’d take a deep breath and tell myself that asking others for help isn’t a bad thing.

So, over the years, I’ve found some incredible freelancers who can work wonders and weave stories with an entirely different fabric than words; art. Until now, most of these have been private commissions. For instance, I have a particularly lovely painting of my dog that I love to bits, but I digress. Some of the artists in question you will be, hopefully, seeing here at DragonQuill in the future.

Nightpark

  

I ran into Nightpark’s art several years ago and she always manages to blow me away with her images. To say nothing about me wanting  to dive straight into them and experience those worlds she creates for myself. She’s especially good at creating creatures and atmospheres.

A few years back, I was fortunate enough to get to work with her directly and not only is she one of those wonderfully talented people who is skilled beyond belief in taking some written suggestions and then turning them into the image you wanted but just couldn’t describe to save your life, but she’s also a great and professional person to work with.

For DragonQuill she’s done several of the the cover-art as well as our lovely logo and for me, personally, she’s done a host of lovely images featuring some of my most beloved characters (some whom you can see right here in this post).

If you’d like to see more of her artwork, you can find her at Nightpark Art

Mesteno

Mesteno is a talented artist with an incredible ability to bring out a character’s personality no matter what style she works in. Or, for that matter, whether the character in question is human or animal. Her style is personal and with a lot of heart and expressions through motions.

It’s no surprise that she’s a professional book illustrator by trade and I for one hope to one day see her name attached to a big budget production.

In the meantime, we all get to enjoy the drawings she creates for fun and while neither of us have as much time to spend on art RPGs as we’d like anymore, it’s still a great way to relax.

It’s Mesteno who’s done the character studies for the first three novels scheduled here at DQ and they always make me smile when I look at them.

Elizabeth-Rose Best

Is someone I feel very, very lucky to have gotten to know. I

absolutely adore her books and she’s plenty talented in other fields too – especially drawing (did you know she does all her own covers? Wow).

Not to mention, she’s a lovely person and an absolute joy to work with. I was so happy I got to work with her for the two illustrations in “The Damsel and the Dragon” and I hope we have a chance to sit down and do some serious plotting in the future.

In the meantime, I’ll (impatiently) wait for her next book – I want to know what happens 🙂

Mae McKinnon

Is someone you should already be familiar with by now (if not, do please browse through the rest of the website to find out). They do all the cover “designs” and have been finagled into having to do several of the most recent bits of coverart as well for … reasons.

Once upon a time, a decent enough artist, RSI has forced them into more digital domains such as Daz3D rather than outright painting – or at least painting the whole piece rather than adding details.

Others 

include Ateliae who has an eye for a more anime inclined style and who has done some lovely chibi versions of the characters from Seven of Stars’s  and Samira-Eos. Not to mention the wonderfully talented Diannederjarjays who did the art for Lin and Sera who appear on the mini-poster rewards for TDATD’s kickstarter campaign.

Good work wrestling those uncooperative characters onto the page.