This is the bookcover for the Jadeclaw expansion set. The request was for a piece showing the phoenix, the dragon, the tortoise and the tiger on the front, with a large circular portal onto a landscape. I had to leave room on the left and right for the front logo down the side and text on the back. This is a wrap around design, so the book's spine will split the circle down the middle. The clutch of bamboo in the upper right was pretty risky, but I figured on the logo covering it up anyway, so I did it. I think it looks really cool and fills the space nicely. The tigress on the back was originally the kirin, I think this was to fit in with the elevated nobles/deposed nobles imagery, but then in the final instructions the kirin was swapped out with the tigress. She's pretty much playing out the same visuals as I would've done with the kirin. And I guess 'tiger' parses more easily than 'kirin' at a glance or to those not necessarily familiar with the mythology. whatever the reason, I just work here, and she looks cute anyway. The dragon on the front is curling over this magical pearl of some sort, The Pearl of Abundance, I'm told, but I have no idea what it is really. He's backed by sharpened bamboo stakes, as opposed to the thick organic tangle that backdrops the phoenix. Anyway, this is the largest drawing I've ever worked on, and it took a few days from start to finish, which was really taxing for me since I normally like to do everything in one sitting.
Rafferty wanted me to draw pictures of a few creatures using some environmental visual hooks to evoke the five elements, earth, fire, wood, metal, and water. Each image is a half-page individually, but looked at together they sorta all belong in the same scene and end up making a much larger picture. Here's a list of each, click on the name to see it close up:
The banner is apparently going to be used at conventions, etc. and is oriented vertically(!) to measure three feet wide by twelve feet tall. This kind of scaling is exactly what Illustrator is good for. So I drew and scanned it in and colored it, etc. He wanted a picture of a phoenix from the Jadeclaw game and the female wolf from the cover of the Ironclaw book. So here ya go. Fun to do!