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Brandon Sanderson / Re: Warbreaker Cover
« on: October 25, 2008, 03:38:51 AM »
Hey Everyone,
My name is Dan Dos Santos.
I am the guy who painted the cover for Brandon's upcoming Warbreaker.
I was browsing through here, and saw that there were a LOT of questions regarding my intentions for this cover.
I figured I would register to answer some of them.
The first thing to remember is that a cover is like a visual montage...
it describes concepts, not just literal depictions.
The girl on the cover is Siri, in her silver and blue wedding gown.
Her hair is white to signify her anxiety before the wedding.
I know Siri does not use her breath, but she still possesses it, and I felt it important to depict since it is such a major element of the story.
I am also aware that it looks like a tongue or ribbon.
The Art Director and I toyed around with it a bit, but a more natural (mist-like) depiction of breath made her look like she was smoking.
So instead, I decided to make it a conceptual design element.
I know not everyone's a fan of it, but it was a personal choice.
The sword is NOT supposed to Nightblood.
The sword was placed there to help reinforce the concept of WAR.
(and as someone suggested, it prevented the cover from looking too romantic)
It's purpose is purely symbolic.
Long story short, the book is beautiful .
It would be near impossible to capture everything I loved about it in a single image.
Instead, a Cover Artist needs to make compromises in order to create an image that captures the ESSENCE of the story (while still making a marketable cover).
For those interested,
I am attaching an alternate sketch that was also considered for the project.
Unfortunately, it never made it past the sketch phase.
Again, you can see how one might handle the THEME of color.
Here I proposed a cover depicting Vashar.
Given the title, it was important to decide WHO I felt the 'Warbreaker' was.
Was it Vashar, Viv, Siri, or even Nightblood?
I read a very early version of the book, and I had only suspicions of the direction it may go in.
Thanks for all the kind comments and criticisms... I appreciate them all.
My name is Dan Dos Santos.
I am the guy who painted the cover for Brandon's upcoming Warbreaker.
I was browsing through here, and saw that there were a LOT of questions regarding my intentions for this cover.
I figured I would register to answer some of them.
The first thing to remember is that a cover is like a visual montage...
it describes concepts, not just literal depictions.
The girl on the cover is Siri, in her silver and blue wedding gown.
Her hair is white to signify her anxiety before the wedding.
I know Siri does not use her breath, but she still possesses it, and I felt it important to depict since it is such a major element of the story.
I am also aware that it looks like a tongue or ribbon.
The Art Director and I toyed around with it a bit, but a more natural (mist-like) depiction of breath made her look like she was smoking.
So instead, I decided to make it a conceptual design element.
I know not everyone's a fan of it, but it was a personal choice.
The sword is NOT supposed to Nightblood.
The sword was placed there to help reinforce the concept of WAR.
(and as someone suggested, it prevented the cover from looking too romantic)
It's purpose is purely symbolic.
Long story short, the book is beautiful .
It would be near impossible to capture everything I loved about it in a single image.
Instead, a Cover Artist needs to make compromises in order to create an image that captures the ESSENCE of the story (while still making a marketable cover).
For those interested,
I am attaching an alternate sketch that was also considered for the project.
Unfortunately, it never made it past the sketch phase.
Again, you can see how one might handle the THEME of color.
Here I proposed a cover depicting Vashar.
Given the title, it was important to decide WHO I felt the 'Warbreaker' was.
Was it Vashar, Viv, Siri, or even Nightblood?
I read a very early version of the book, and I had only suspicions of the direction it may go in.
Thanks for all the kind comments and criticisms... I appreciate them all.