Wayne Anthony Reynolds was kind enought to give us a little insight into the creation of the cover image for
Illustration by Wayne Anthony Reynolds
Layout by Claudia Burgos
I have an interest in East Asian history so was immediately intrigued by the concept of Lands of the Jade Oath when Frank first contacted me in 2006. At the time Frank wanted me to create a Letterbox format image. (sized 11" x 33") However, it had to be made so that it could be split into three separate (triptych) images. I was given a list of characters and monsters that would feature in the illustration and a considerable amount of reference material consisting of written descriptions, concept sketches and weapon reference. I found the reference material to be very inspirational and a powerful impetus to begin working on the sketch image for the cover.
The section that is shown on the Heroes of the Jade Oath cover features a Demon Hunter and Enlightened Scholar characters fighting a vampire and some zombies. I was provided with an extensive written description for each character class - especially the Enlightened Scholar! The Scholar character also belonged to the mandragon race and as there were a lot of mandragon concept sketches to accompany the description too. The amount of source material for that character was extremely comprehensive. Combined with my own research images the reference material I'd amassed for the image ensured that I had plenty of information to draw upon.
The challenge was to take the source material to a new level but still keep the imagery culturally recognisable. I love this sort of work!
I recall that the Demon Hunter was fairly straight forward as a spell casting fighter type. I liked the idea of the character casting spells in the form of magically enhanced ofuda which made the concept delightfully oriental. Drawing upon my own references and knowledge I was able to indulge in adding lots of costume detail to this character too.
I had to make a number of corrections to the Scholar character at sketch stage as I was depicting a character from an entirely new race concept that I'd not seen before. However, I really enjoy world-building and find this sort of design work incredibly fulfilling.
I think the vampire was my own design and was a culmination from a written description and my own knowledge.
The Heroes of the Jade Oath cover image was an amazing project to work on. I got an opportunity to create new characters, creatures and monsters using extremely imaginative descriptions, inspired from a fascinating culture and mythology. I immensely enjoyed working on the painting and am thrilled that I was chosen to contribute the artwork for this game concept.
-Wayne Anthony Reynolds
Check out Heroes of the Jade Oath at the Paizo store today.
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