Game of Thrones – Approaching Lannisport
First off, in reply to some, I know the Amazon title says “Volume One”, but I know nothing of it. I haven’t been contacted for a second volume yet, so I know as much as you guys.
Approaching Lannisport is set, like all other illustrations in the book, before the time of the Game of Thrones books.
It depicts king Aenys’ trip to the port city of Lannisport together with all his court.
Lannisport is protected by a ring of walls, high and strong. The city
is renowned for its goldwork and goldsmiths and produces a spiced
honey wine. Lannisport is policed by the well-trained City Watch.
The city has a great motherhouse. Like King’s Landing, Lannisport has
higher quality brothels. Merchants from Lannisport often trade with
their counterparts in the Free Cities.
This one still had lots of people in it, but at least they weren’t all supposed to be crammed in the foreground. As a result, the composition was a lot less troublesome than End of Regency.
Obligatory list of known characters: Aenys is the guy riding far away in the distance, with his King’s Guard knights at either side.
The lady on the far left is Princess Rhaena, and the girl at her right is her favourite Melony Piper.
All others are randos of the court.
Excerpt: It was on this journey that the young Princess Rhaena, now
fourteen, drew increasing attention from would-be suitors—though her
behavior was sullen for much of the progress, as her dragon [text cuts
off here]
Once again, I’ve been a good boy and I have kept the sketches. Well, at least the one that got approved.
Like literally every time I look at one of my illustrations after some time (this was completed about a year ago), I’m not at all satisfied with it.
Lannisport in the background should be affected by a lot more atmospheric perspective, whereas its values are pretty much at the same level of the bushes next to King Aenys.
Damn that really bothers me now.
Also, I could have managed the level of details A LOT better, focusing them more around the characters in the foreground and making the background more painterly. Again, this bothers me a lot. It’s something that happens when you stare at a picture for too long, and you stop noticing the mistakes.
Long story short, I would spend another day on it al least. Oh well.
Note to self: start scheduling a couple of weeks between the time you finish an illustration and when you submit it.
I say it all the time but I never do it.
In other news, The Rise of the Dragon made it to the New York Times best sellers.
It’s not like people bought it because of my drawings, I suspect George R.R. Martin’s name, or the Game of Thrones franchise in general, had something to do with it.
But still, the fact that it’s there is still a big source of pride somehow.
It’s still not clear to me why it’s been put in the “Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous” category though.
I guess How to Train a Dragon would have been more suitable for it.
i mean, we had to compete with the winner and runner-up Go-To Dinners and Atomic Habits, which doesn’t sound fair to me.
Anyway, nice to know that my Approaching Lannisport is there, in a respectable fourth place between The Woks of Life and The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse.
More Game of Thrones stuff next week.
by Paolo Puggioni
Game of Thrones – End of Regency
Like most of the work I get to publish, this bunch of illustrations was commissioned a little over a year ago. Since the book has just been published, a little ahead of schedule, our embargo has been lifted and we are now allowed to share our images.
I say “we” as, like The World of Ice and Fire which I did back in 2014, The Rise of the Dragon is a collaboration of many of the best artists around.
Some of them I know by reputation, others, like Marc Simonetti, or my old friend John McCambridge I’ve worked with in other projects, including the first Game of Thrones illustrated book, World of Ice and Fire.
There are already a few articles about this new one, and here’s a list of all the art credits.
If you’re tempted to buy Rise of the Dragon and fancy reading a little bit before you do, here are a few places where you can start:
– Obviously George R.R.Martin’s blog;
– A Wiki of Ice and Fire, still in progress by the looks of it;
– Empire: The Rise Of The Dragon – Exclusive Illustrations From George RR Martin’s New Targaryen Tome;
– Forbes: ‘The Rise Of The Dragon’ Review: A Beautiful New Book By George R.R. Martin;
– IGN.com: The Rise of the Dragon: Preview of the House of the Dragon Art Book;
The book is a 700+ pages coffee-table beast, filled with art, covering the rise of the dragons in Westeros along with the House who mastered them, good old Targaryen.
It’s really a must for Game of Thrones fans, as it covers many events that were just hinted at in the books and the series.
My first illustration, End of Regency, depicts the moment when young Aegon Targaryen, backed by his best and most loyal knights, walks into the council’s room and conveys strongly that the time of regency is ended and he is now the king on the Iron Throne.
As always, there’s also the super polished final sketch.
I have to confess that I struggled a bit with composition for End of Regency, as it featured a lot of characters that needed to be in the scene, one of whom is a short boy and another a 2.3m tall giant.
I’m still not convinced the tilt of Aegon’s head is 100% correct, but hey, it was approved so if it looks right to others then it’s right.
Before my beloved Game of Thrones nerds – or even journalists – start to speculate like last time and poke me on different platforms to ask for details, the characters in End of Regency are as follows:
Sitting: Right from Aegon (the blonde guy at the center) is Torrhen Manderly, the Hand of the King. Further right is Grand Maester Munkun and bottom right Lord Grandison.
Sitting left from Aegon is Lord Merryweather, while bottom left is Lord Stackspear.
The HUGE knight behind Aegon is Sandoq the Shadow, while the other four are unspecified Knights of the Kingsguard.
End of Regency:
“Lord Manderly,” King Aegon said, in the sudden stillness, “pray tell
me how old I am, if you would be so good.” “You are ten-and-six today,
Your Grace,” Lord Manderly replied. “A man grown. It is time for you to
take the governance of the Seven Kingdoms into your own hands.” “I
shall,” King Aegon said. “You are sitting in my chair.”
This is the book, in case you couldn’t be bothered to click any of the links above:)
I’ll post the remaining illustrations over the next few days. Obligatory thanks to the art directors at Ten Speed Press: Elizabeth Strongberg and Claudia Sanchez, and obviously to the people at Random House.
Working with them was super positive and fun.
by Paolo Puggioni
Game of Thrones – Blue Graces
At the cost of repeating myself, I have the memory of a goldfish, so I have no idea whatsoever of what particular expansion this belonged to.
I have to confess I was curious at some point, and I didn’t want to start yet another post with “sorry”, so I did check the throng of packs I’ve worked on.
Long story short, I couldn’t find this card in the first 80% of packs I individually opened and browsed.
So, well, I stopped because I had other stuff to do and I ran out of time to do it. I guess we’ll never know.
Like that joke of the inmates who escape prison and climb 99 of the 100 fences to get out, and then go “fuck it I’m tired, I’m going back”.
Anyway, for those who never heard of the Blue Graces and are itching to discover what they’re all about, say no more! I’ll explain.
The Graces are priestess of Slavers’ Bay in Mereen.
They live in the majestic Temple of The Graces, and they are divided into different orders, conveniently identifiable by the colour of their robes.
All of them have made a vote of chastity, a part from the Red Graces, who serve in the Pleasure Houses and whose job description demands no chastity at all.
The Green Grace is the head priestess of the temple, and I happen to have drawn her as well at some point.
The Pink Graces are the personal attendants of the Green Grace, while the Blue Graces are healers and surgeons.
For this illustration in particular I meant to depict a common scene, almost of routine, with no drama.
That’s why I chose warm fuzzy colours for the background and the skin tones, which also made a good contrast with the robes of the Blue Graces.
The wounded guy they’re tending to is just a random soldier who’s being patched up after a fight in the arena, so I made him turn around and shifted the focus on the healers, who are the main characters of the composition.
And lo! I even found the sketch I did for this. Nothing ground breaking, but that’s how I started this illustration..
And since I went through the trouble of upsetting all the Game of Thrones packs on my shelf, here’s a picture of it for bragging rights, once it was back in order.
by Paolo Puggioni
Game of Thrones – Desperate Attack
As always, I have no memory whatsoever of which specific expansion pack/rulebook/product this was made for.
And as it happens regularly, this had been sitting in my hard drive for several months, until the day I did some housekeeping and went “aw, I don’t think I posted this on my website, shame”. So here we are.
Now, Desperate Attack describes the fruitless attempt of Loras Tyrell to take Dragonstone, which – if memory serves – ended with his ass being handed to him, and his pretty face being disfigured forever.
I remember being mildly displeased by Loras Tyrell’s demise back when I read the book. But considering the massacre of major characters occurred up to that point, I have to place this about mid-height in my list of favourite dead Game of Thrones personalities.
In fact, the list goes abut this way, from most emotionally devastating to least.
– Robb Stark
– Ed Stark
– Catelyn Stark
– Hodor
– Khal Drogo
– Lord Varys
– Jorah Mormont
– Oberyn Martell
– Edd
– Pyp
– Yoren
– Ygritte
– Rickon Stark
– Syrio Forel
– Jory Cassel
– Maester Luwin
– Jeor Mormont
– Beric Dondarrion
– Lyanna Mormont
– Osha
– Myrcella Baratheon
– Robert Baratheon
– Maester Aemon
– Shireen Baratheon
– Mance Ryder
– Loras Tyrell
– Danaerys Targaryen
– Jojen Reed
– Olenna Tyrell
– Theon Greyjoy
– Rodrik Cassel
– Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun
So, all in all, sorry for Loras Tyrell, but at least he wasn’t beheaded in front of a crowd, or burned alive by a dragon, or gutted by a boar, or had his throat slit by an betraying ally, or ran over by a crowd of undead, or skinned, or torn apart, or poisoned, nor had his head crushed barehanded by an impossibly strong dude.
He died doing what he loved: storming a castle with his sword held high and all that.
Good for you Loras.
Game of Thrones – Ser Gerris Drinkwater
As usual, I giggled with delight, both for the free stuff aspect of the thing and, I have to admit, for the good memories that the smell of newly printed cards evokes in nerdy old me.
Anyway, Ser Gerris Drinkwater below is one of the characters I illustrated for Shadow City, here he is.
Again, I didn’t trash the sketch:
As you can see, the coloured version changed a little bit from the sketch, it was flipped, his position changed and so on.
I had no memory of Ser Gerris Drinkwater from the books, so I had to resort to A Wiki of Ice and Fire this time as well.
Gerris is tall and lean and comely, with blue-green eyes and sandy, sun-streaked hair.
He has a swordsman’s grace and a courtier’s wit.
His confidence is often close to arrogance.
Gerris does not speak the Volantene dialect of High Valyrian as well as Quentyn Martell.
Gerris wears an expensive cloak of soft brown wool lined with sandsilk.
Ser Barristan Selmy thinks Gerris is shallow and a worse warrior than Ser Archibald Yronwood.
One thing I’m chuffed about is that Ser Gerris Drinkwater was picked for the bunch of cards displayed in the product page.
Although, I have to say, my favourite illustration of the whole pack is the guy right above and to the left, Scheming Septon by Aleksander Karcz.
Anyway, as always here’s the Shadow City Chapter Pack in all its glory, look how pretty it is. Look at it!
Next week I’ll post the other illustration of the pack, Aegon Targaryen.
by Paolo Puggioni
Game of Thrones – Peace and Prosperity
I actually received the box set quite a while ago, but I got distracted by something shiny and I forgot to brag about it.
Look how pretty it is:
I LOVE everything about the fact that illustrators get to receive an actual physical thing to put on a shelf and look at.
I like the smell of the new cards when you open them, I like too browse the other illustrators’ work, I even like the postman going “something from the States for you”.
You kind of loose that working in video games, with Playstation online store and all that.
Anyway, Sands of Dorne has been sitting on my shelf for a couple of months now, so it’s about time I share the illustrations in it.
The one below is called Peace and Prosperity, and it depicts one of the gates of King’s Landing, during on of those brief hiatus when people weren’t killing each other.
It’s a bit of a bummer that the final version of the card cropped a lot from the original, but hey, it happens.
For the guy in the foreground I took as a reference an old master’s painting, if I remember correctly.
Unfortunately that’s as far as my memory goes, so in lieu of more details about it I can only offer the original sketch.
As part of the feedback, I had to move things around and rearrange various elements, so the coloured version differs from the sketch a little bit.
Interestingly, I wasn’t really sure about what kind of crest the banners at the gate of King’s Landing would display at this point of the story.
This is when Geoffrey was king, and I didn’t know whether the flags of the city would fly the Lannisters’ flags or those of the Baratheons.
The art director was very happy to start a discussion about it, and as it turns out, at that time they would use a hybrid banner with the crests of both houses.
The more you know..
Anyway, more Sands of Dorne illustrations next week.
Oh, as usual, made with Krita.
By Paolo Puggioni
Field of Crows
It’s also probably the Illustration where I’ve put the highest number of human figures all together at the same time!
Now, I wasn’t supposed to work on this piece.
My assignment for The World of Ice and Fire would have ended at this Illustration.
Then the project was scaled up a bit, and I was asked to work on three more pieces.
Field of Crows was the most challenging of the bunch, so, as always, I started with that one.
The Illustration depicts the battle between the Dothraki and the Tall Men.
Cities after cities had already fallen to the assembled powers of four Khalasars, led by Khal Haro, Khal Qano, Khal Loso (the Lame), and Khal Zhako.
Eighty thousand riders between the four of them.
Let’s not forget, they would have looked pretty much like this.
To stop their advance, the Kings of Sarnor put aside their quarrels and gathered by the walls of Sarnath, with more than a hundred thousand men.
The battle seemed to be in favour of the Sarnori at first, who trampled the first lines of the Dothraki with their chariots, and going as far as killing Kal Haro in their first attack.
Unfortunately for them the Dothraki, who were already super cool back then, feinted a retreat, and then using their superior mobility eventually surrounded their enemies and cut them to pieces.
For some reason, the battle was remembered as Field of Crows.
Maybe because there were scores of fallen men once it was over?
Anyway, I wasn’t really sure of what moment of the battle I should focus on.
The retreat? The final winning attack of the Dothraki? The moment when they seemed to be losing?
I eventually decided that the first charge would have been the best bit to depict. Still all potential, and the uncertainty of who’s going to win.
I have to confess was a bit concerned of the point of view. Too close and the image would have lost the sense of scale. I had to convey the idea of two BIG armies, after all.
Too far away and the armies would have been two indistinct large groups of people.
This seemed to be the best compromise, and in the end I’m quite happy about the result.
Also, despite it being quite a challenging illustration (lots of people! And horses!) the first sketch was immediately approved, so Field of Crows went as smoothly as it could ever go.
by Paolo Puggioni
Another Game Of Thrones Illustration, A Sellsword
There are several rogue warriors and sellswords in Game of Thrones, I guess this would be a generic, less important villain.
The brief was about a sellsword showing off a severed head (which I would assume he dutifully separated from the rest of the owner).
I took the chance to experiment with lighting, I’m quite happy about how it turned out.
by Paolo Puggioni
- Copyright © 2012 Paolo Puggioni. All rights reserved | Privacy policy / Cookie policy | RSS Feed - Subscribe!
