I just got word from my editor, Ross Lockhart over at Night Shade, that the artist that’s been assigned to work on the cover for Winds is Thomas Scholes. Not knowing terribly much about Mr. Scholes, I quickly googled him and came across his blog (love the name: Crayon Box of Doom) and his corner over at CGHub. He apparently likes doing environments and landscapes and such. And I can see why. He really excels at it. I love the orange and ochre landscape below with the clouds above it. He also uses light and darkness very well. Many of his pieces have this dark and serious tone that perfectly matches Winds. He does these livestreams of his artwork where you can watch him work on some of his artwork. I think he believes in the chaos theory of artwork, trying a million things on for size and seeing what works. It’s very interesting to watch.

I have no idea if I’ll be involved in any of the decision making. I’m perfectly fine if I’m not. Night Shade and Mr. Scholes certainly know what they’re doing. But I’d also be perfectly happy to help if I can. If there are character’s in the finished piece (which is not a given), I have a lot of pictures I’ve dug up while researching the costumes, etc. If it’s purely a landscape shot, there are several places in the world that would match up well with Tom’s strengths. The eyrie is one such. It’s a massive cliff face where there are dozens of stone perches on which the windships of the Grand Duchy can berth.

Here are a few of my favorites: