Commissioned by Owen Tyme (2024) for book three The Wizard’s Scion, The Third Wish.
Art by Ryan Johnson (2024 – Digital – Charcoal)
For the cover of The Third Wish, I’d like something similar to the AI generated cover, with some differences and greater detail:
Levi sitting on a rock on the mountain top, deep in thought, as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders. If you want to put something in his hands, one of his blasters might be a good choice. Those are the revolver-like blasters he inherited from his father. I can dig up a description of them if you like.
I like the golden sparkle of Levi’s robe from the AI image of him, so if you can work some of that in, I would find it pleasing. Also, the hat and robe were made for a larger man, so the over-sized brim is a must.
The view would be looking west, toward the setting sun.
The city of Heart Forge is in the valley, below, a futuristic city of skyscrapers, but nearly every building has been colonized by intentionally-planted greenery, so balconies with big trees would be a common feature. Grass and other greenery may actually grow from the side of the buildings. For those few buildings that aren’t covered in greenery, they should look like massive works of art, possibly illuminated by colored lights.
Shuttles and other air/spacecraft would be flying through and around the city, coming in all shapes and sizes, but the most common variety would look like a silvery insect (yes, they have six legs).
Beyond the city is a hill of considerable size that marks the other side of the valley and a river goes through the city, after passing into view, flowing from the other side of the hill. The hill should have small trees and grass, but nothing too large. Beyond that is the rather dense forest the Elves used to live in, so buildings in the trees would not be out of the question. The forest is temperate, but think big for the scale of the trees. Big enough you could hide a whole village of Elves among them, at least from the ground.
Beyond the trees would be an open plain/prairie and then all the way off, at the horizon, another mountain range, which the sun should be just above.
Most of the features of Heart Forge from the old map of Winzon’s Village still apply. Place Levi’s vantage point above the point in the mountains marked “Caves with truck”. The farms would have been long since moved to the south, beyond the river, to make way for more buildings, but a reservoir and hydroelectric dam are possible features you could include, if you want to, or you could just as easily have the river trail off to the left and leave that out of frame. There’s a big stadium somewhere in the city, but it need not be in frame. The goblin wasteland need not be in frame, but just to sate your curiosity, it’s a rocky/hilly desert (think Cedar City: green, but dry).
If you want to limit details of the ground, to make things easier on yourself, you can fill the city with fog and let the skyscrapers poke out through it. I actually think that might look really cool.
This is a piece where the details matter less to me than conveying the idea that the weight of the world rests on Levi’s shoulders, when he’s barely even an adult, because all the people that used to rely on his father and mother now look to him. It’s too much for him, but there’s no one else that can do what he can do for them.
In short, most everything I’ve described is a suggestion, rather than a requirement. Draw and paint what catches your fancy, but try to make Levi look as stressed as possible, because he’s got big shoes to fill and doubts aplenty.
You might be able to use the slant of the rock Levi’s sitting on, along with the path of the river to create that diagonal vibe we’ve been shooting for.
-Commission Description Provided by Owen Tyme
