Over the last few days I showed you some of my illustrations, drawn to illustrate some of my stories! Here are another five for you to enjoy! Or, alternatively, if you don’t like them, it’ll be a torturous experience!
Just a little necessary repetition here – many of these pictures were included in a number of multimedia projects related to my writing, such as book trailer videos I used to promote my books! I also need to point out again, that none of these images appear in the books themselves.
The process of completing these illustrations was quite a lengthy one – before I even got to the making of the book trailers! First I had to sketch each image out in pencil, then in thick or thin markers. Then I had to scan them in digitally and edited out little blemishes or other flaws on my computer. Sometimes I’d add glow effects or other refinements. After that, I’d save the black and white images to use in future coloring-book projects – and used a graphics app to color them in digitally!
Again, I realize I’m no Michelangelo – I know my limitations, but at least I didn’t make a couple of stick figures with speech bubbles and call it “art” – so save the criticism! Otherwise, enjoy! 😉 Comments welcome as always.
“Cemetery Hall” (from Panic! Horror In Space #2: “Life Signs“)
Aboard a crashed ship found on a long-dead alien planet, Captain Stuart Flane of the I.S.S. Mercury, his Exo Commander Chapman and Dr. Killian discover a large chamber which appears to have been where the trapped crew entombed their dead, respectfully laid out facing the same direction and covered in blankets. They move through the cemetery hall to another part of the ship, where they encounter – quite surprisingly, a single living member of the crew. Or is she?
“Flatular Canaries” (from Quantum #5 “Prodigal Sun“)
Flatular canaries are native to Deanna. Like all Deana’s bird species, they are “reverse-birds” meaning that the ball-and-socket arrangement of their joints is reversed. Flatular canaries, as their name suggests are full of flatulence and fart almost continuously – and very tunefully. In fact, this is how they communicate since they have no vocal chords! They are just one of many weird and wonderful idiosyncratic life form to be found on Deanna.
I based their appearance on a photo I saw of some exotic “frogmouth” birds, because they look quirky and even a bit constipated!
“Plague” (from Panic! Horror In Space #2: “Life Signs“)
Aboard the space liner Demeter, a mysterious disease breaks out – one which causes the ship’s sickbay to be swamped by casualties. This scene shows passengers struggling to reach the sickbay.
“Sandpaper” (from Quantum #1, “Black Sunrise“)
In “Black Sunrise”, the Captain of the loderunner Alliance shakes hands in farewell with Fred the Arborian – a sentient and locomotive plant creature from the planet Arboria. Bran Johannsen has issues with Fred – mostly to do with resentment, mostly relating to Fred saving the day by intervening in the attack on Deanna by hostile aliens and saves the day when he drops a huge cargo container holding several hundred tons of Samorian sherry on the invading warship – which blazes on the tarmac of Deanna’s space port for days afterwards. Fred receives a medal – pinned to his ceramic pot – and Bran suffers from intense jealousy because he’s just along for the ride as the captain of a completely automated cargo vessel, feeling totally useless! In parting on the boarding ramp to the shuttle taking him down to Deanna, Fred offers a prehensile branch to Bran. Bran accepts it, but the creepy feeling of having his hand clasped by foliage freaks him out and he leaves the hangar bay to look for sandpaper…
“The Gates Of Xanadu” (from Quantum #6, “High Steaks“)
In High Steaks, the revolutionary fascist Deannan Republican Army deliver truckloads of “undesirables” rounded up in the three largest cities of Deanna to the concentration camp called Xanadu Re-education Facility. This is meant to be a bleak picture to inspire dread simply by the barrenness of the landscape, with no shelter nor cover, just towers and fences of barbed wire – and the elements.
P.S.
I included links to the titles these illustrations appear in, in the headings – leading directly to the books pages on Smashwords, where they are all currently available at massive discounts (up to 60%) during the lockdown season. 😉
If you’d like to review all the previous images, visit the Illustrations page on my website!
More to follow soon!
Stay home and stay safe!
Cheers!
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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2020.