Story illustration made for the fantasy novel Forgesang by Thierry Marcotte. It features Artan, one of the main characters, fighting two Draugars, rather gaunt and grotesque creatures.
The idea was to capture the first chapter of the book and set the tone for the rest of the story, since the illustration is to be used as a marketing visual for the saga. The client allowed me to freely design the Draugars, between zombies and vampires, while drawing inspiration from the book cover to illustrate the main character Artan.
To better reflect the tone of the book, it was decided to create a rather gruesome atmosphere, with lots of blood and darker details. Artan is seen drawing energy from his blood to form a red blade, while the Draugars are suffering from various wounds caused during the fight.
The environment, a simple ruin of a forgotten temple, is lit up by a single lantern on the ground: the world of Artan being devoid of any natural light, I had to find another means to create contrast in the scene.
To learn more about the book, follow the author: https://linktr.ee/thierrymct
