[Somnambulist]

Been a bit busy with life, but this is one I've wanted to do for a while.  A total flight of fantasy, but why the hell not?

The enigmatic Witch-King, Su'juroit.

http://spiralhorizon.deviantart.com/art/Witch-King-478409638

[SilentRoamer]

As usual Som you have a flare for capturing the tone of the Gnostic sorcery.

Really like this - one of my favourite of yours yet.

[Aural]

Nice. This, the Fallen, and the False Sun are my favorites of yours yet.

One question though, was that an actual sword or a magical lightsaber?

[Hirtius/Pansa]

Christ, stop spoiling us Som 

Is that just supposed to be some war-paint aesthetic on his cheeks?

Also, if this is another rendering of the copper tree of Siol, I prefer this one much more than the one on the shield of Cujara Cinmoi.  The roots on this one make it look that much more gnarled.  Something more horrifying than regal.  Fitting for a Witch-King.

[Triskele]

I was also going to ask if that was the Copper Tree of Siol. 

Either way, another great entry.  I do wonder if we'll ever learn more about this obscure character or if it was just a way to let the reader know that Kellhus had asked an intelligent question about whether a 2nd inutteral was possible and had ever been attempted.  A Su-juroit Atrocity Tale would be fun.

[Cüréthañ]

This is awesome...
but, as a continuity buff, I must protest because his eyes and mouth aren't glowing.  He's clearly wielding sorcery.

Sorry.  I feel bad because I'm criticizing such a sublime piece.  :,(

eta; In the interests of disseminating Bakker and perhaps getting more exposure for yourself, have you considered sharing on r/fantasy?  They seem to love illustrations there.

[Wilshire]

Haha Curethan, complaining about the eyes/mouth, but you're right.

Either way, looks great. Something about the face looks a bit too angular to be human (nice job).

Love the concentric circles around the hands/fingertips/head. I'm a sucker for complex geometries, and you renderings of the Gnosis make my brain happy.
Great job on the robes as well.

The whole thing exudes power.


As a potential defence of non-glowing eyes:
The eyes/mouth/forehead only glow when casting the sorcery. Holding the meaning in one's soul once it has been cast does not perpetually keep the eyes lit. Example: Surrilic point, Mim holds without glowy eyes. The circles may be some kind of ward or other spell that has lasting effects (thinking of Inrau's speed buffs), and this depicts  Su'juroit after the casting.

[Garet Jax]

Somnambulist,


Love it.  Really like the face and the accompanying youthful look, makes him seem more dangerous for some reason.


We need to start a disseminating Somnambulist thread and make it official!  (This thread is pretty much already doing so...)

[Somnambulist]

Thanks for all the great feedback, everyone.  Cheers, SilentRoamer and Garet Jax.  In answer to various questions:

Ashtinahgma:  Real sword, enhanced with sorcery, like the Nonman in TDTCB prologue whose sword seemed to reflect the light of another sun kinda thing.

Hirtius/Pansa:  Yes, just ritual-esque paint on the face.  I don't know if I meant it to be THE Copper Tree, but I see the correlation now.  I more had in mind the connection that witches seem to have to nature in Earwa.  The golden color was just an attempt to make it stand out against the background colors.  So, unintentionally intentional.

Triskele:  I agree.  I don't think Su'juroit will feature again, but a showdown between Kellhus and the Witch-King would be awesome.

Curethan:  You wouldn't believe how many times I went back and forth with the eye-glow/no-eye-glow thing.  Wilshire's defense on my part is accurate, and his example was exactly the one I was going to give.  The portrait is in that moment after the sorcery has been called.  That's where I ended up going because I wanted to show the face and eyes.

Wilshire:  Back to the face comment, thanks!  That's what I was trying to go for.  The inhumanness of Nonmen features, which is why I decided against the eye-glow.  Tried to show the 'beauty' of their faces, the differences between Man and Nonman.  Also, for this one specifically, I wanted to make the face androgynous.  Su'juroit's title is the Witch-King (female-male monikers), so he/she could have been either in my mind.

Anyway, thanks for listening!  Cheers.

Screenshot of eye-glow version below.

[Wilshire]

The eye glowing is a one of the great mechanics of Earwan sorcery, and I love seeing it added.

I thought the face looked strangely feminine, but still alien. You did a good job with it. And, you were right, the eye glow detracts from the facial structure. I think if the intent was to make the face a focus point, you made the right call leaving it out.

We need to start a disseminating Somnambulist thread and make it official!  (This thread is pretty much already doing so...)

Well we do have the curated art thread that pulls it all together. I wouldn't want to make too many stickies.
Maybe make Earwa Art its own subthread in General Earwa? Then we could have curated works for each artist, which madness/me would maintain, but then have individual topics per work (One sticky for, say, Somna, one for Q, one for Others)? That way the art would be easy to find via search or scrolling through (title of the topic would be title of the piece), the curated topics make it easy to find by author, and discussion are easy(er) to track...

Thoughts? May or may not be better than just having (I), (II,) (III), etc. topics.

As for actually dissemination... Not really sure. Maybe Penguin is interested in an "(un)official TSA artwork companion".?

[Somnambulist]

Curethan:  Sorry, missed the comment about r/fantasy before.  I'm not terribly familiar with reddit, so I didn't consider/know about that one.  Thanks for mentioning it, I'll probably look into it.  I uploaded to r/bakker for a while, but the last few times I tried, I kept getting errors, so I kind of gave up.  It was probably me just being a spaz, but I should try again, I suppose.

As for further dissemination, I dusted off my old twitter account and started posting there lately, as well, but my whopping 11 followers is kinda anemic.     Of course, the deviantart account gets a lot of traffic, and I've joined groups there to get the images in front of more eyes.  Facebook seems like a logical step, but I still rebel against that one for illogical reasons.  Anyway, thanks again, guys!

[Wilshire]

I'd be sceptical about facebook. They have some pretty terrible usage agreements. Posting it there probably gives them permission, forever, to use it in any way they see fit.

[Cüréthañ]

Curethan:  You wouldn't believe how many times I went back and forth with the eye-glow/no-eye-glow thing.  Wilshire's defense on my part is accurate, and his example was exactly the one I was going to give.  The portrait is in that moment after the sorcery has been called.  That's where I ended up going because I wanted to show the face and eyes.

Okay, I can roll with that

[mrganondorf]

Fuck!  Every time Somnambulist!  Really get an eerie vibe and a sense that Witch-King is beyond comprehension 

[Somnambulist]

A.M., as Mallahet

http://spiralhorizon.deviantart.com/art/Mallahet-480242278