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May 15, 2008
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:iconagent-elrond:
The Summoner looked up at Irian. Slowly he raised his arms and the white staff in the invocation of a spell, speaking in the tongue that all the wizards and mages of Roke had learned, the language of their art, the Language of Making: "Irian, by your name I summon you and bind you to obey me!"

She hesitated, seeming for a moment to yield, to come to him, and then she cried out, "I am not only Irian!"

At that the Summoner ran up towards her, reaching out, lunging at her as if to seize and hold her. They were both on the hill now. She towered above him impossibly, fire breaking forth between them, a flare of red flame in the dusk air, a gleam of red-gold scales, of vast wings—then that was gone, and there was nothing there but the woman standing on the hill path and the tall man bowing down before her, bowing slowly down to earth, and lying on it.

Dragonfly, by Ursula K. LeGuin


Finally!

For those of you wondering at my lack of art — this is why. It is another installment in my on-going series of pieces covering all the items listed under "Fan Of" in my old deviantID, which I have been working on for well over a year now.

Anyway, tis fanart for Ursula K. LeGuin who has been a big inspiration to me and my writing. The story this is from, Dragonfly is the culmination of her Earthsea short-story collection Tales from Earthsea, and serves as a bridge (a dragon bridge) to the latest novel in the Earthsea Cycle: The Other Wind. Anyway, I highly recommend them all: those of you tired of the Harry Potter books will no doubt enjoy her introduction to Tales from Earthsea.

Oils on 14"x20" gesso'd masonite panel. Took months. Excerpt from Dragonfly © Ursula K. LeGuin, art © myself, some rights reserved.

Here is the complete list:
Anime/Manga:
Inu-Yasha
Ranma 1/2
Naruto
Fullmetal Alchemist
Movies:
The Matrix
Books:
The Lord of the Rings
The Chronicles of Narnia
Writers:
Diana Wynne Jones
Miyazaki Hayao
<strike>Joss Whedon</strike> Neil Gaiman
Patrick O'Brian
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:iconthorskegga:
*Thorskegga Sep 17, 2012  Hobbyist General Artist
Beautiful work :)
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:iconsuliel:
This is one of my favorite parts in all the six books, and I really love the colors you use! I wish I knew which is Azver in this picture. Maybe the first one on the left :)
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:iconagent-elrond:
*Agent-Elrond Aug 3, 2011   Traditional Artist
:) Thank you so much!
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:iconobsessedwithcolour:
Wow! this is almost exactly how i imagined it in my head! the only part of earthsea that beats this for me has to be the part in The Other Wind, when she lifts Lebannen into the other wind, i always picture this breathtaking scene in my head, with her all in fiery oranges, and him in pale whites and blues as he is lifted out of his body
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:iconagent-elrond:
*Agent-Elrond Jul 6, 2010   Traditional Artist
=D Thank you do much! It's always gratifying when my illustration manages to live up to the prose. :)
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:iconszarosen:
~szarosen Jan 18, 2010  Hobbyist Digital Artist
Beautiful fanart, wow. I like the vizard in the middle and the sky.
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:iconagent-elrond:
*Agent-Elrond Feb 20, 2009   Traditional Artist
=D Thanks so much!
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:iconfrodo-lives:
*frodo-lives Jan 21, 2009  Professional General Artist
Ha! I ought to have told you *why* I like this...
apart from being a very cool illustration for one of my favourite series of books, *and* a scene that doesn't seem to have gotten illustrated a lot...

Well, to me it has an almost medieval feel, like some religious art by Giotto or one of those fellows, which I think is very appropriate to the Earthsea books, especially the later ones (they are entirely spiritual though perhaps not entirely medieval, but still... it seems to fit for a fantasy world) - but at the same time the dramatic choice of colours, and the painting style make me think of modern graffiti.

I think the simple composition is very effective in this case, and really draws the attention to the main action, but there is lots of detail to discover when looking closer. I really like how you can see Irian's dragon face in the flames, while she is still just in her human form, and how the power/light around the wizard seems to bounce back on him. Extra brownie points for great dramatic sky!

Yeah, that's what I think. :D
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:iconagent-elrond:
*Agent-Elrond Jan 22, 2009   Traditional Artist
:hug: THANK YOU!

This was such a great scene, I felt rather intimidated when I went to paint it… but then I just sort of threw myself into it and tried not to worry. Ah yes, and if you look closely at the sky you may be able to pick out the shape of wings in the clouds. I wanted to give the impression of Irian's dragon half sort of coming to the front, but she's not entirely changed yet. Like her human side is on the surface, and the rest is just beneath and only just becoming visible to the wizards.

I also wanted to make the Knoll very prominent in the piece, since it's such an important place, so I made it almost hyper-real in the way it swells up and frames the action. Because it wasn't just Irian that defeated Thorion, but the Knoll as well.

Once again, thank you!
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