Last week, J Edward Neill shared a History of the Ur, where you had the opportunity to learn about the villain of his fantasy trilogy, Tyrants of the Dead.
They move from star to star, swallowing every planet in darkness, building black towers on every surface, and turning oceans to deathly broth. Once a planet is blanketed in shadow and every living thing smoked out, the Ur eject clouds of star-snuffing darkness from their towers. The darkness consumes the planet’s star, and the Ur move elsewhere.
I had the pleasure of painting one of these diabolical interstellar shadows last year for the cover of the final book in the trilogy. What you see above is only a fraction of the painting Devourer of Stars. You’ll have to wait just a bit longer to experience all of his beautiful darkness. In the meantime, here’s small playlist of some of the songs that inspired me along the way.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2b0lSyo9d8o0R41FSs8_PWiPJ8-fhzE5
That’s a great villain, Amanda! Creepily beautiful. I love the way you handled the smoky swirls, as if the life is being sucked out of the planet.
Thank you, Annie!
Ah…
Bringing my monsters to life…
Hired.
Forever.