Tome Raider: Treasure Greater Than Gold

"They're not wrong when they say a dragon is attracted to treasure, we are. Many of my kind pride themselves on their grand collections of gemstones and gold, and the way that the light dances off of them is like a siren's beckoning call. But,... not all dragons are the same, and not all treasure is gold. I should know, as I am one such dragon. A different sort of dragon, and the treasure that I seek is not found in the depths of the earth or in the vault of kings, but in their words, for I, Aecaris of Libredinn, am a Book-Wyrm."

No matter how many times I look at this painting, I am still so incredibly pleased with how it turned out! I started painting it back in late December of 2018, but I didn't finish it until last October. For a long time, I've wanted to do an art piece of an abandoned old library and always thought it would be funny to do a play on words of the nickname 'bookworm' for anyone who love's books (which I do!). And, as I'm sure some fantasy lovers out there will want to point out, I know, technically speaking , a 'wyrm' is generally used only of legless and wingless dragons. However, if countless artists, authors, and film-makers can get away with using a wyvern in the place of a dragon, I think it's only fair that I be allowed some creative license with my pun. At least, in my case, it is still a type of dragon and not a totally separate mythological species. (Apologies, for the mini-rant! the prevalence of calling a wyvern a dragon is very much a pet peeve of mine!)

Anyway, back to the painting. This was actually my first time painting a dragon, hence the reason I took so long, and I'm very pleased with how it's turned out! I didn't create any rough pencil sketch beforehand, and just freehand painted it in Corel Painter with my graphics tablet. I started with just laying down values of tones and the general forms that would, eventually, make up the tile floor and the background bookshelves and then starting roughing in the pile of books building it up slowly and, finally, adding in more distinct details so that what it would read clearly. Next came adding in the actual dragon, again, just roughly at first, before refining the shape and details. Finally, the shadows and lighting were added and everything got the last bits of cleaning up and extra finishing details until it got to where I decided it was 'finished' and any further fussing with it was liable to mess it up rather than enhance.

How do you like him? With my fantasy art, I like to write little stories to go along with it and give the piece more depth. Sometimes, I also use these little one or two paragraph stories as 'seed stories' to use for full-length novels or novellas later on. I hope you enjoyed the one I wrote for this piece and, if you'd like to see me expand on it, please let me know!

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