Sneak Preview

Gutenmorgen Herren und Frauleins,

I have no idea why I wrote that in German. No wait, I actually do. I'm giving you a sneak preview of stuff already happened in the book. I use a lot of visual aids in writing the book (not that I'm necessarily working towards a screen adaptation...heh heh) and thought: wouldn't it be nice to show you what I work with without actually lifting too much up from the curtain? So here goes:

Our heroes will arrive at a fairy tale city in Germany inspired by great forest kingdoms ala Endor (Star Wars), Rivendell (Lord of the Rings) and other less mainstream influences. But my greatest influence strangely enough came from: Chicago. Yup. A city that has less in common with forests than Jabba the Hutt with South Beach diet. For some reason walking through the canyons of windy Chicago I got the impression of giant powerhouses of industry. My fairy tale city has been around for centuries in a nature-respecting environment, so what better way than to transform the great city of Barack Obama to a Grimm Brothers version:

 

And so I've done with a lot of the pictures shot in Chicago until I got a good representation of my vision. The characters inhabiting the city would be inspired by a mix of various sources, but most importantly: I wanted to get away from the standard representation of mythological beings. So say you have a dwarf. I sure as heck don't want it to look like a Lord of the Rings dwarf, or (shudder) a Disney dwarf (no offense guys, but we're seeking something a little edgier for today's urban youth). So I went to literary sources (Clive Barker's Abarat and Holly Black's Ironside), comic books (Mike Mignola's Hellboy, Andreas and Bachalo) and even role-playing games (TSR's Dark Sun, Shadowrun). Google Image Search any one of these names and you'll get my drift. Of course these all remain influences only, as I was looking for a specific unique vision. I have a whole library of images (which I can't show you), but rest assured once I get drawing the illustrations I hope you'll be blown away.

Here's another something to keep you busy. The map of the city. Sorry, I had to blur out some parts as not to give away too much and also had to keep it small, so you wouldn't see a famous amusement park, which ties in to the city's history. It's all 'Chicken and Egg' stuff, but let's not explain that any further right now and leave you nice and confused on this Sunday.

 What? It's Sunday? What are ya doin' sitting behind your computer, ya lazy bum! Get out there and do stuff. Go shop if you're in America (the patriotic thing to do apparently), go for a bike ride if you're in Holland (cuz all the shops are closed) or hang out at the pool (any applicable Equator type country). Sheesh.