Part II
I started playing that game some authors play, who would you get to play your characters in the movie of you book. I crawled the internet for photos. I searched on artists sites like Elfwood and Deviant Art. I found a Teara, but I never found my Falion. I liked Matt Hiddlestone’s Loki (who doesn’t?), Hugo Weaving’s Elrond, Lee Pace’s Thrandruil (oh heck, I just like Lee Pace!). I found interesting drawings and styles, but none that spoke to me like the Teara picture.
I was playing the movie game with two other writer friends, Melissa Snark and Sheryl Hayes, and I showed them the Teara pict on my smart phone. I said, “I love this. I’d like to get the artist to do Falion in a style that coordinates so I can hang them together.” But I had two problems with that: (1) from being in the publishing biz with big companies, I knew how expensive covers and art were, and (2) I had no idea where I got it (Lesson one in the process of meeting your characters, always include the Web site in your filing of the picts you find).
Turns out I was dining with the perfect companions. Melissa Snark hires her own covers for her novels, and she let me know what the new financial landscape for art was in the age of the internet. More indie covers and more artists available from around the world meant lower prices. Sheryl Hayes knew how to search the internet for images. “You can do that?” I asked incredulous.
So I went home and I searched. I found my Teara: I found Sunlight.
I also found a name…
See more art by Liiga Smilshkalne on her Deviant Art Gallery.
Meeting Your Own Characters Series
Part I, Falion
Part III, Finding Liiga
Part IV, Falion’s Ghost
Part V, Face to Face
