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Wildweasel339 — Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra
#ancient #book #cover #history #illustration #palmyra #queen #zenobia
Published: 2014-11-28 23:07:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 119354; Favourites: 2815; Downloads: 1289
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Description
This is an alternate illustration for a historical fiction book:Daughter of Sand and Stone
by Libbie Hawker libbiehawker.com/
Zenobia was a 3rd-century Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria, who led a famous revolt against the Roman Empire. She expanded the empire, conquering Egypt and expelling the Roman prefect, Tenagino Probus , who was beheaded after he led an attempt to recapture the territory. She ruled over Egypt until 274, when she was defeated and taken as a hostage to Rome by Emperor Aurelian . It is said that she was paraded through the streets of Rome, bound by chains of gold.
Zenobia on Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenobia
See the book cover here:
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Comments: 56
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Outstanding artwork.
Queen Zenobia is one of my favorite figures from ancient history, I wish that her exploits were addressed more, she was such a remarkable person.
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Thanks! I became really fascinated with the history of her and Palmyra while working on this.
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I remember hearing that she claimed heritage from both Cleopatra of Egypt and Elissa (aka Dido) of Carthage, though I'm not so sure if the ancestral line should be trusted (it was probably some form of self promotion. )
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This is beautiful! I love the soft colors and the detail. These book covers look like my kind of stories: period dramas and a whole lot of historical fiction ^^
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Thanks for letting me use this image for my blog post! You can have a look at it here: artistichistoryblog.wordpress.…
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Absolutely stunning, as ever! I adore the painterly strokes and the warmth of the colourscheme, so nice
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Especially love your use of RED and other warm colors, very reminiscent of the Brandywine illustrators of our past...
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I love her expression, you really gave her a lot of personality - strength, courage, defiance, intelligence, but also a certain sadness (born of having seen and experience much?) and vulnerability.
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What a stunning picture! Such elegance and fierceness!
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Magnificient work, you've got Zenobia's Middle Eastern look perfect, and her lighter skin color portrays her possible relatedness to Cleopatra VII and Ptolemies very well!
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Oh this is absolutely gorgeous. Again, those fantastic colors you use and such depth--I really would love to see your painting process from scratch one day. Her attitude is completely different in this image, but it's still very much her. I was also curious about that fabric highlight near her shoulder, but I suppose that's the inside of her half-cloak thing. Love this painting.
Very very beautiful.
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Yeah I was going for a velvet-like material where the inside was a bright red and the outside was more subdued. Though it may not read too well. I took a lot of liberties with the outfit.
This painting required several weeks of off and on work. Each time I revisited it, I had a slightly different vision for how it should look, which probably isn't the best way to go. This is why I much prefer when I can start and finish an image in a short time frame.
This isn't as nice as a video, but if you really want to see my process, you can download a PSD file below for the Communion illustration. Each layer shows the gradual progress, starting with a very loose sketch. Like in this example, sometimes I start with just my focal point then gradually expand the image as I go. This one went rather smoothly, taking around 3 days.
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It read well to me! I love the pop of color it added to the overall image.
This is even better then a video, actually, I can mull over your strokes and ponder your thought process while painting it. I really appreciate you putting this together, I love the process! Painting something from scratch and figuring it out from a loose sketch has always been difficult for me to understand, but I think I'd like to give it another shot, maybe. Thank you very much for sharing!
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Do you mind if I ask if you've any advice about picking colors? Yours seem so realistic and vibrant at the same time.
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I try to start with a very limited palette at first, so that I can focus on getting the values right. From there, I just need to keep in mind the color temperature of my light sources. That will determine the colors I add. In the girl/bat painting, I was thinking of the cool twilight sky as the main light for the scene, then the very warm orange lantern to hit surfaces near it. Warm fades to cool on every surface. To keep it simple, I think mainly in terms of cool and warm.
Also, keep in mind that gray will appear very cool next to a warm color like orange. Gray will look warm next to a cool color like blue. For this reason, gray is the a very useful color!
It helps to do a lot of studies from life to really understand how light bounces and effects colors. Once you get familiar with it, it will seem natural and doesn't require as much thought as it sounds. Light become very predictable.
This is a great book to get on the subject: www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Gui…
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Thank you for the advice and the link!
One last question; what are your commission rates for a book illustration/cover like this? xD
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So beautiful. Great job man. I'm not sure about that fabric highlight being so extreme near her shoulder, maybe it needs some toning down?
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Thanks! Yeah that spot does look a bit strange. I was aiming for a velvet-like material where the inside was a bright red, and the outside was more of a subdued tone. Maybe it doesn't read too well though.
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It's looking a bit like SSS atm. It might be a saturation issue or how the light is touching it? You'll figure it out 
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Lovely image! I love the determined look on her face, along with the details of the dress.
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