Uncle and Baby Lyla

I got to draw this one while proctoring an AP exam, which I've been doing all week. It is intended to be Uncle holding baby Lyla, but it looks a bit like some other Sorcerer... or wizard, I should say. Yes I used him as reference, and it was quite fun to draw someone I've admired for so long.

Young Uncle & Vines

This is the most complex illustration I've done yet. I took many elements from numerous places and drew from those. I tried painting it in Photoshop but I preferred the non-painted, but adjusted version I did in iPhoto. This scene is looked upon in a book by the tyrants of Lyla's homeland, showing a sorcerer's potentially dangerous powers, one of their reasons for sending Lyla away.

Baby Lyla in a Basket

This is a drawing of baby Lyla on her homeland just before the cloaked tyrants send her off to Gorlen. This is definitely my most realistic drawing. I used many references for this one, which often causes issues when you combine them, problems with perspective, lighting, sizing, but I'm quite pleased with how this one came out. I adjusted the colors and things in iphoto to give it the usual Shipwreck darkness. Now I'm working on my Shipwreck Music & Co. logo, at the request of Aaron Folb. I'll post it when I finish it. I may color this one in photoshop so if I do I'll post that too.

The Ancient Witch of Gorlen

After reading a comment on Paul Lasaine's blog about a matte painting he did that he uses references when he paints, I decided to try the same thing. This is my first drawing that I used references for; The Witch is a combination of many images I found, some on Deviantart.com, some just floating around on the Google. The face is Eva Green. Her last name uses the Swedish pronunciation, Grain, which in Swedish means tree branch. I didn't find that out until after I finished the drawring.


This is an early sketch.

This is an almost finished version enhanced in iPhoto.

This is the final product painted and head scooted to the left in photoshop with an added background of a forest pic, and then painted again. She is supposed to be hidden in a very dark forest... hence the darkness.

Recordings from The Sorceress

These are all demo recordings from The Sorceress.

UNCLE MY DEAR - sung between Lyla and Uncle. Recorded all with real instruments. Lyla is sung by Alanna Lin.

Lyla on The River Gorlen

This is just after Lyla sets out on her journey. She is having her first adventure, rushing down The River Gorlen. In the revised story, she is on a floating chunk of wood instead of a raft. This one didn't come out as well as the others, drawing trees is easier to fake proportions, and I think tree details come more naturally to me. And my scanner has a glitch so there are some bright spots that aren't supposed to be there. I suppose that's what I get for a $20 Craigslist scanner. A drawing of Lyla's Uncle's demon is coming soon...

Page 1 of an abandoned version

This is the first page of a version of the story I have decided not to use. Some day I'm sure I will revisit this version, repair the massive problems and perhaps turn it into a novel (accompanied by music and pictures), or perhaps a screen-play, or both, but in the meantime, I have distilled a small portion of this 50,000 word story and am creating the current version of the operetta (for lack of a better term) out of it.

The sound of a bitter wind blowing along white mountain peaks echoed through a secluded ice-cave. The ice walls within the cave had a subtle glow, emitting light enough to show the contrast of the crystalline, bluish ice against the jagged rotting stone. At the center of the great cavern, appearing nearly as ancient as the cave itself, stood what remained of the last living person of The Sleeping Forest, The Moornal Witch, as she had been known among the forest’s inhabitants. Her body had all but entirely transformed into a crooked and leafless tree. Held within the branches of what were once her hands and arms, was a large book, its cover and pages weathered, each letter and diagram inscribed by hand. The only human qualities that remained were of The Witch were her mouth, seemingly carved from the textured tree bark, and her sickly, cataract eyes. In a haunting, uneven voice she began the tale…

“Two paths are there in life, one toward the truth, and one away from the truth. A great struggle shall be found for those who seek the truth, but much greater a struggle shall find those who seek not the truth. Long has it been since my departure from The Sleeping Forest, deep in The Land of Gorlen. In its unadulterated state the forest offered protection from famine, weather, even the most intense pain. From within it grew unusual and powerful things. The Empire from the distant lands sought to harness these powers. It bribed the Tree-Folk to grow many things for The Empire’s use. It abused what the forest offered, sucking the life from the whole Land of Gorlen. And so the forest protected itself. Thorned vines bearing The Curse of The Tree grew all throughout. In their greed, the Tree-Folk lost sight of reason and they would not abandon their agreement with The Empire even in light of the dark and cursed place the forest had become.

“I left it and all of its people behind, for if I remained then all who were within the forest would have perished, and the secrets of its enchantments, good and evil, would have been lost. The enchantments would have remained a hidden danger to any that enter. I sought to document the secrets of the forest, to pass them on to the coming generations who remembered not its mysterious collapse. Though many of the lands have become corrupt, still are there honest folk about. When Gorlen fell, a ship brought me clear across The Sea to reach the high mountain peaks. My hopes rest in folk of their kind to keep watch over Gorlen. Many a generation shall pass before the forest returns to the green haven it once was, but not an eternity could prevent its nectar from drawing once again the desires of those who have lost their path.”

Forest Exit

This is an older drawing many of you have probably seen. It was used for the cover of The Hour of The Shipwreck Album, The Hour is Upon Us, but it comes from the same world of The Sleeping Forest so I thought I would post it. At one point I had a concept to turn the album into a series of short films where the visuals are set to music, much like Fantasia. This picture came from one of those ideas for The Chandelier Suite where the character is exiting a forest and entering an area of floating trees.

Inside Lyla's Tree-Home

Lyla's Tree Home

For well over a year I have been writing the story for the next phase of Shipwreck: Music, Story, Visuals. When I hit a wall with writing or composing/orchestrating, or when I am inspired to draw, I draw images I imagine from the story. It has been inspired at least as much by visuals as it has by music, story, character, so it only makes sense to be creating that visual world as I go along.

This is the front of Lyla and Uncle Ivan's tree-home in The Sleeping Forest deep within The Land of Gorlen. It is a pencil drawing on paper. I adjusted the contrast and exposure in iPhoto.

It takes me a long time to finish a drawing, in part because I spend most of my time on the story and the music, and in part because I really don't have much drawing facility so it takes me a long time to get onto paper what I see in my head, and a lot of trial and error. I have one other drawing that I just completed today so I will post that soon, but after that hopefully I will have more drawings without too much delay, but only time will tell...

-Richie