Artwork
Right off the bat, I’m going to say that this isn’t “artwork.” It’s not really art, and I did essentially no “work” to make it, as I used AI. (Ideogram, if you’re curious).
I don’t like AI. Like, at all. My day job doesn’t let me use AI, I will never use it in my writing, and I even tease my wife when she uses it for something that, back in my day, Google used to be able to handle. I think AI is essentially a get-rich-quick scheme, and it’s making a lot of people rich at the expense of the health, resources, and livable lifespan of the planet.
So why do I have this section here at all? Consider these images placeholders. I’m a very visual person, and when I write something, I’m essentially trying (sometimes poorly) to translate my mental picture into words. I really want to share the grandeur of my mental pictures with the world, and I really, really want to pay someone to help me, to turn this slop into true artwork. (I just need to, um, sell some copies of my book first, to afford what I want).
If you’re interested in helping me, hit me up at the email in the lower-right corner of this page.
In fairness, I will say that it was really easy to make these images. (And, I’ll confess, more fun than I thought it would be). It took me at most five refinements of my initial prompt to get these results. So hopefully I didn’t cause too many trees in the rain forest to be cut down for my own selfish purposes. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself….
My daughter’s favorite image (and maybe mine too). Here we see the Shunars — Kazdan, Kaztal, Kazgir, Kazla, Kaznerit, and Kazfet — on a ridge overlooking the ghost army in Chapter 6, with Ylgant’s Veil in all its glory overhead. That’s the Karluk Forest lurking in the background.
In my head, the Shunars are much more distant, and the ghost army is marching towards the Karluk Forest, rather than threatening our fearless family. Oh, and Kaznerit isn’t so small. But other than that, I like how this one turned out.
Here’s Kazdan, Kazgir, and Kaznerit dully regarding the mysterious black outpost they discovered high in the Tamar Mountains in Chapter 12. In my mind, Kazdan isn’t quite that old, and Kazgir is definitely not that handsome. Also, the outpost doesn’t have those odd ridges. (Trying to get rid of them made the AI shine the walls of the castle like a roller rink floor).
Not pictured: Kazdan’s trusty cast iron skillet.
This is Chapter 1, of course. There’s Giltan Crozdar being escorted to see the new Divine Vassal, Socrates — er, no, that’s Targan Vitsayr. Standing next to him is Iystes Farastyr — although Iystes on the cover is much closer to what he “actually” looks like.
The AI was actually really, really good at coming up with different depictions of the Plaza of the Throng itself. The images did a nice job of showing the beauty and majesty of Davana. But then again, when I asked for the Arm Martial soldiers to be wearing scarlet armor, it clad them in orange. It was a nice reminder that AI can’t actually “understand” anything.
This one didn’t turn out particularly well. I tried to describe Dabur’s squad facing off against the Vumogh in Chapter 4, but the AI essentially ignored my descriptions of the characters. (It was enough of a challenge just to get six Kalanthim depicted at all).
Don’t try to map the soldiers in this image to members of Dabur’s squad. I suppose the redhead could be Zira, but the elf in the front? The Viking with the spear? The fat guy with two swords? Never seen ‘em before in my life.
This is Carsten squaring off against his second foe in his final exam at the Academy of Sciltmyr in New Davana, as seen in Chapter 3. As dictated by tradition, the foe — obviously a man with a great deal of Falaran blood in his lineage, given his size! — is not wielding a sword, but instead a giant eff-off battleaxe.
I could not, however, get the AI to get the giant to hold the battleaxe in two hands. It was kind of funny seeing the various ways it interpreted that, however. I especially liked him wielding two of that same giant axe, one in each hand.
Another image that didn’t quite turn out like I had hoped. The clearing in Chapter 24 should be much larger, and while this was the closest I could get to the number of Kalanthim I envisioned, it’s still too few. Still, while it wasn’t quite what I originally had in my mind, I actually kind of dig Jyhadir’s lunatic face.
(Actually, I’m just glad that the AI didn’t make my “savages” dark-skinned. I did not want to deal with racist AI! Sorry Elon.)