Fanart for Auryn Hadley

As of the current time, Auryn Hadley‘s ‘Rise of the Iliri‘ series is my absolute favorite books series.  Now, this does shift around a bit as some of my favorite authors release new books, but it’s stayed pretty consistent for over a year.  (And no, this is not an affiliate link.  Regardless, BUUUUUUY IIIIIIT!)

In her latest newsletter she put out a call for fanart.

And I was like, “I can totally do that!” until I remembered that I hadn’t drawn ANYTHING since I moved into our house.

In 2013.

I’m not kidding.  Drawing is painful with the disorder I have, and while I’m okay at it, there’s a lot of effort and sore hand for each piece.

But I lurve me some ‘Rise of the Iliri’ so I put the time in.

I decided to draw Sal and her bestie Rayna because, well, I’m all about strong female relationships.  Now, I’ll note that this is set on an alien world where humans colonized and subjugated the locals and bred them into what they thought was the idea soldier.  The locals were originally white and furry, and so the new race are white with animal ears when they’re pure bred.

Sal is pure bred.  Iliri and humans have been interbreeding for a while, so for the humans, however, the darker their skin the more pure the heritage and the more desirable they are.  (My assumption is that the colonizing population was primarily black.)

Anywho, the pencil sketch:

It had some promise, so I continued.

Here are the rough inks.  Note that I haven’t weighted any of the lines yet, and you can still see where my hand had started shaking.

I gave it a day and then did the weighted inks:

This makes the image MUCH livelier.  Also, I have no scanner, so sorry about the quality.  I haven’t bothered to buy a new one since the old one died because I wasn’t drawing.

Then I was torn… I could do water color pencil, which is my favorite, but even with my alcohol based inks it can smear and, well, I’m not the best at getting them evenly applied yet.

Also I have a new-to-me Prismacolor set that was begging to be used for the first time.  I bought it off of ebay and never used it because I wasn’t drawing.

Yes, I collect art supplies even when I’m not drawing.  Sad isn’t it?

So here’s the colors:

The light reflected of it a bit.

Rayna:

I used my blending pencil extensively, but with colors this dark it’s SO HARD to get the smooth!

And Sal:

That’s the complete piece.  I sent it to the author’s Facebook group, but I should have known that it wouldn’t get much attention – the group is mainly reverse harem fans, and see the lack of hot guys?

Ah, well.

I’m working on another piece now, one that involves a guy and a six pack.  *smile*

Do you draw?  Do you have any hobbies or talents you’re proud of?  Are there any authors you fangirl?  Inquiring minds want to know!