Before you Begin: Things to Be Aware Of....
Yes, this is for a real book in progress. I have written over 250 pages so far and I predict that the length will increase dramatically. *cough* Although I'm a little embarrassed about the quality of the writing I've presented to you for this contest; I admit I'm kind of 'skimping' because I'm really busy with my college papers...Sorry about that!
*Please visit the rules and read before you start to draw for this! It's crucial!*
*You are free to take creative license with anything on here, even if I've provided preferences. If you have an idea that you think will totally 'wow me' -go for it. I won't stop you. ! X3
You should also know, that these characters, the plot, and anything else such as names are MINE. I hate to have to point this out, but if you copy anything of mine and I find out we're going to have serious issues. Although I'm only giving you the bare bones, I'm still leery because *this* project has been my 'heart and soul'. So unless you have lawyers in your family, I'd be extremely careful. Okay? Got it? Good! No problems then. X3 heart
Lahkian Characters
Lahkians' Culture
These are wolf-like bipedal beings. I would
strongly advise to look at "Goldenwolfen" (online artist) for
inspiration/
reference as to what they look like. They are more mammal than mankind, and are always on "two" paws instead of four UNLESS they're younger. The younger ones tend to walk on both four's and two's- just depending on if they feel like it or not. Their people hunt and gather for food, they barter, and their governmental system is a monarchy that was established hundreds of years ago. Like humans, the males are typically the hunters, and the females tend to stay inside the villages.
clothing? : Not in the way we think of it, no. They do have a sort of 'loincloth' thing going on. The males typically wear a 'belt' at the top of the loincloth, and inside the belt they have everything from a place to hold the hunting knives, to small pouches to carry objects. Lahkians do not have shoes. They do not have hats, scarves,sunglasses, etc.
Further Questions: If you have any more questions about Lahkian culture; as in is it appropriate to draw x,y,z please ask.
Physical Appearance
The human equivalent of her age is : 12-14
Fur color: Snowy
Nose color: Pinkish
Eye color: cerulean
Claw color: very very dark brown, or black.
Personality :
, Azura seems to find her way into mischief wherever she goes-including listening in on a “leaders’ meeting”. She is supposed to be Queen someday, but she’d like to not think about that right now. Can't she just take her time with that? Her mother is doing just fine as it is, and it's not like she's old or anything!
Azura is generous and extremely curious. If there's a new fruit she's likely to try it without asking first, and unfortunately she'd probably share with a friend. She means well though, she really does! Her favorite pastime is watching her brothers spar when she's supposed to be cleaning their 'house', and her least favorite thing to do is running errands. In a word: Dreamer.
Scene Excerpt
“Alone…” She said to the trees around her as she strolled. “It would be better this way, don’t you think?” She ran slightly off trail, to a very lovely dark, reddish tree and planted her paws against the base.
Head tilt. Tail sway. Childish grin.
“Mother told me that the god Ĵüji’s mate speaks to us through the trees in times of need. She says I can learn from you.” She smiled and waited for a couple seconds.
“I know she doesn’t mean it that way, but I wish you could talk to me.” She said to the tree. It seemed to listen; it groaned and swayed. The leaves rustled and some of them fell against her nose. She snapped at a couple of them, just for fun.
“Anyway, I think I’d rather be here, with you.” Azura said after more moments of silence. “I could run in the forests, scavenge like our ancestors and run free. A new home. Every day. Nothing expected but to be there with your parents and siblings. I like that.”
She paused and looked around. “You’re so alone, mister tree….”Azura frowned, “There are no other trees that look like you. Aren’t you lonely? You’re tall and big, though, maybe you’re not afraid…” She shoved. “And strong… How did you get here?”
She felt spots of water falling from above. She looked back at the tree before leaving. It wasn’t a person, but she had talked to it. It wasn’t listening, but she had shared so much that she felt bad about leaving without a small ‘goodbye,’ so she mumbled one.
side note : "Juji" is the name of their masculine deity. Lame name, but, I'll work on that later. I'm in the first couple phases of writing as you can tell.
What I'm looking for in general : I want someone who can capture the personality and physical nature of Azura, that much is obvious. But what I really want from you is to be able to show a 'hint' of sorrow in her expression, somehow. There's been an "evil" (to summarize) work at force, and she knows that her family might be in danger. She's choosing to ignore it and enjoy life because she's young and a little naive, but Azura is not "stupid". Azura's story is really one of 'coming of age' and accepting duty. I don't want anything drawn that makes her look like a ditz, she's my main character.
I understand it's a challenging balance to work with, and I'll keep that in mind
Physical Appearance
Relation to Azura: Mother
human age equivalent: late 40’s
Fur color : Silvery white
Nose: darker pink
Eye color: Cerulean, like Azura’s but aged softly with wisdom and experience
Personality:
Zainah is the current ruler of Lahkia, she has seven children total with her mate Raemus, and she’s secretly extremely concerned about her only daughter, Azura. Zainah hasn’t spent much time with her family because she has other duties to attend to in other villages. She’s very tired, and weary because she cannot figure out what the “Saghki” (species) are behaving so erratically, and now lives are in danger. She wants so badly to help Azura succeed, but she cannot afford to spend that one on one time with her. She is a Queen who has fought bravely for her people; she loves Lahkia as much as she could ever love any of her children. She is warm, personable, wise, brave, and kind, but this weariness is something she’s been striving hard to hide recently.
Scene Excerpt:
Zainah stood in such a way, so subtly powerful that her very presence was enthralling as she breathed.
Silence.
Everyone sat without a word, and stared.
Her snow shaded fur fell softly around her muzzle as she calmly eyed her old comrads with her patient, cerulean irises. Her fur draped in layers over her chiseled, perfected body, her lusciously long and pretty tail, and her small but fierce paws and shoulders. The symbolic, ancient crown of Lahkia rested just over her right ear upon her head and it tilted slightly; the gem-speckled item glimmered in the light that spiraled into the humble tent.
What I'm looking for... So I've already said that Zainah travels a lot. You might want to depict her traveling, or you can choose to have her looking over at Azura from afar as she's leaving (once again) , or maybe you'll decide to show how she is behind that metaphorical 'mask' that she's portraying to the rest of the world. Maybe you want to write out /this/ scene- all of those are completely okay with me.
*
IF you're going to show Azura in her in the same scene, you should know that Azura has a bittersweet feeling about her mom. Her mom is hardly ever around...she loves her deeply, but she doesn't 'understand' why she can't be there. So be careful with how to depict their interaction... They both love each other a lot, but Azura is hesitant and Zainah is secretly longing to be there more when she can't be.
Raemus:
Relation to Azura: Her father
Human equivalent to the age: 45
Nose: charcoal
Eyes: dusty emerald
Fur: as dark and glossy as the night sky
Personality: Raemus loves order and he'd like to get his way all of the time even though he knows that's impossible. He's the head hunter of the Nikiran village and don't you damn forget that he happens to be King, too. He's annoyed by his younger sons who don't show the promise of being good hunters, but he's outright angered at how weak Azura is- even if she IS a female. . He's like a prince charming gone rouge....He's extremely charasmatic when he wants to be, and is quite persuasive, but recently he's been stressed out by the rebellion and his 'darker' side is showing more
. I mean, his mate's gone all kooky from trying to figure out how the rebellion started, and his best friend is acting odd. He simply doesn't have time for such foolish things. His daughter, Lahkia's heir, is
obviously incompetant, and yet you expect him to stand idly by and whistle some happy tunes? Eff that. (Raemus would never actually use the phrase "eff that" because the diction is 'below' his royalty status)
Raemus feels most comfortable when he's in control and kinda pushing people around a bit. People should certainly know their places and keep things how they
should be! Bah! Society would be better off if people understood their places.
What I'm looking for: Some ideas: I'd like an image of him leaning up against a tree, looking somewhat annoyed. Or, I'd like him sitting on a stump with his hunters' blade out. (they're kind of short and have. Bone handles) I have a less strict guideline as to what I'm looking for for Raemus.
Expression: Is very close to this :
[X]
Book Covers (3) : Lahkia Series
Lahkia has been my heart and soul since I was around thirteen years old. Now, at twenty-two and a senior in college, I aspire to make the story a reality. Although I am only currently in the first phase of drafting the novels,I aspire to publish sometime in the next three years. If I want to self publish, I would also like to have some wonderful cover art to go with my books.
Therefore,
I will keep the name and contact information of the winner, so that if I decide to use your art, I can contact you and we can discuss copyright information, payments, and that sort of thing if necessary.
I would like my real name(not Kianah), and the title on every cover entry
Book 1:
Title: Lahkia
Author: Suzanne Ripley
Background :
Here’s what you need to know about the story in order to make a decent cover: The story is a coming of age tale of a reluctant queen to be (Azura) in a time where a rebellion is lurking on Lahkia(the title, and name of planet). No one knows why this rebellion is happening, who is leading it, and why people are disappearing and dying. Azura must come to terms with the fact that she must grow up in the face of this elusive danger.
Azura hasn’t “come of age” yet. She doesn’t have an adult body and isn’t legally allowed to assume her position until that has happened. How does one obtain their adult body? By the coming-of-age ceremony at the Festival of Juji (their deity). Prospective youths are gathered into a tent like area where they are one by one shuffled under the light of the full red moon, and their god deems if they are ready to be adults or not. Azura really should have “come of age” by now, and many are wondering what’s wrong with her…Will she finally transform this year when everyone needs her to most?
Scene:
I would like a scene drawn where Azura is standing in the moonlight, looking up to their deity(the red moon) with almost a fearful but longing expression. You can choose to show her entire body, or just her face. I would like for the top of the cover to be blackish with starlight and to have “Lahkia” at the top. You can have my name, Suzanne Ripley, at either the top of bottom. It’s your choice if you want to show a distant “dangerous” thing in the background, or if you want to have crowds of Lahkians around watching anxiously. You can have either, both, or none of that.
Book 2:
Title: The Benevolent, at the top. My name can be either at the top or bottom again, it's your choice
Background: I can’t give you much background without spoiling plots in book one.
Scene: This one has more artistic leeway. I want the shadow of a lahkian surrounded by Saghki in a half-circle, his eyes should be dark crimson and I would like him to appear extremely ominous and threatening. The readers still don't know who this person is. I'd like for this to take place in a wooded area...
Saghki description*: They’re dark, musky creatures with one red eye and one yellow eye. They can take solid shapes or appear like scattered pieces of a torn black cloth. They don’t have faces and they don’t “hole” mouths either ( So don’t ‘think dementors’). They have a ‘circulatory system’ that is comprised of ‘energy’. You can get a glimpse of the energy sometimes, and it appears like veins inside their ‘bodies’. But if they’re not powerful ( and more “black cloth”) like, you won’t see it as much. It’s very difficult to see in the dark, but I suppose you can if it helps you with your drawing.
The color depends on the person they attacked and killed. They have the ability to kill someone by sending an “orb” of energy, taunting them psychologically by presenting a pleasant image, and then plunging the orb into their esophagus until it finds the location of their soul. ( Ugh, I know .__.)
You should also know that they’ve been taking children hostage and enslaving them, but the characters don't really know that yet. You don’t have to include that in there, but I figured it might help you?
Book 3
Title: Heir of Kalia, again preferably at the top. ( I’d like a bright silver title, if that works well with the colors, awesome. If not, don’t force it, please. )
Scene: Adult version of Azura, eyes focused, with a blade lifted so that her eyes are seen on either side of the “Sword of Kalia”(don't write that on there). I want you to show me pain in her eyes, but a determination to move forward. She’s a reluctant fighter, but she has a heart and passion to make sure this horrible rebellion is stopped . In the background, I want the image of a desert land on one side, and the image of a battleground on the other side. You can also take some artistic leeway with what you want in the backgrounds, and how you want them to "merge" if at all.
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