Kaladin: a Stormlight Archive Album + Art Book

Kaladin Art Book: Artist Feature - Ari Ibarra
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Feb 09, 2021 at 07:42:15 PM

Hello everyone,

We hope you've had a lovely week! Things keep moving along wonderfully on the Kaladin album art book, and we have so much we want to share with you!

For today's "Stormlight Tuesday" update, I'd love to introduce Ari Ibarra as our featured artist. Ari is on board for providing two brand new illustrations - one for Honor Chasm and one for Shallan's Lullaby! Ari will also be extending two of his existing illustrations for the book: a lovely illustration full of emotion of Tien for Hearthstone and his Kaladin illustration (shown below) for Warrior.

Ari is a fantasy artist from Mexico. A huge fan of Sanderson's works, including Mistborn, Elantris and of course, the Stormlight Archive. His work is a fan favorite among the community.

Ari was an immediate pick for the project, and working with him has proven to be both easy and extremely fulfilling, due to his knowledge of the Cosmere and also due to the professionalism with which he approaches every illustration.

Here are a couple of Ari's existing illustrations to give you a sense of his style:

And for a bonus, here is an early sketch of his work on Shallan's Lullaby:

This piece is turning out to be - not just one of my favorites for the art book - but one of my all time favorites. As Petar will attest, I just cannot wait to show you the final version of this!

That's all for now. More soon!

Take care until then,

Michael and Petar

Art Book Update + Artist Feature - Esther Schrader (Zirael Art)
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Feb 02, 2021 at 10:08:44 AM

Hi all,

We hope you're doing well! It has been quite a flurry of activity over here at The Black Piper, and it's time for another weekly update!

Artwork has been coming in at a rapid pace. We have a good number of works in a variety of states, from sketches to works-in-progress to completed and approved pieces. Things are moving along nicely, and the artists are working hard on some amazing visual creations!

This week, we'd like to introduce artist Esther Schrader (aka Zirael Art), who has signed on to provide artwork for Alethi Codes of War, Sas Nahn, and Three Glyphs (Wind, Beloved, Protection) for the Kaladin album art book. Esther, as you can see by her Instagram page, is an avid fan of the Stormlight Archive. She specializes in digital and traditional fantasy art and portraiture.

To give you a sense of her artistic style, here is some of Zirael Art's pre-existing artwork:

All three of Zirael Art's pieces for the art book are in progress, and her sketches have been approved. Here's her initial sketch for Sas Nahn for the art book, which visually depicts the scene that is musically adapted in Sandra Schnieder's composition of Sas Nahn on the album:

I have a feeling that this piece by Esther will be a fan favorite! (At least, I'm loving it!)

We hope you're enjoying the updates - we're certainly loving the process of working with such great and professional artists, and we're so happy to be able to share such great artwork with you!

More coming soon!

All the best,

Michael and Petar

Art Book Update: Artist Feature - Clara Kim
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 12:23:58 PM

Hi all,

We hope you are well!

This week, we have something special to share with you. We've commissioned Clara Kim (@clarinking) to enlarge/enhance an existing illustration of Sylphrena for the Kaladin album art book. Clara is a digital painter who hopes to focus on character painting and capturing emotions. We thought her work on Sylphrena was so beautiful and captures much of what we feel is the essence of Syl, and it fits so well with the emotion evoked by the Sylphrena theme by Philip Klein on the album. We're excited to have her on board for the extension. 

You can see the original artwork here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CFSi2A7DppG/.

And here is her completed expansion:

You can check out some of Clara's other work here: https://www.instagram.com/clarinking/

There's more coming soon, but we sure hope you love the Sylphrena piece as much as we do!

All the best,

Michael and Petar

Art Book Update: New Work-in-Progress From Caio Santos
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 11:54:42 AM

Hi all,

We hope all is well with you!

Time for a quick "Stormlight Tuesday" update with a new Work-in-Progress for the Kaladin album art book! Caio Santos - whom we've previously introduced - has signed on to provide commissioned artwork for Honor is Dead, The Day of Recreance, and Rhythm of Mourning. Caio is currently hard at work on Rhythm of Mourning, and we're excited to share this with you!

Check it out!

Even in this early version, we feel like Caio is really capturing the essence of the Rhythm of Mourning track, composed by Kristina A. Bishoff.

That’s all for now, but more coming soon...

Bridge Four Salute!

Michael and Petar

Art Book Update: Artist Feature - Katie Payne
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 09:21:42 AM

Hi all,

We hope all is well with you!

We want to share some exciting news. Katie Payne, an amazing artist many of you may already have heard of, has agreed to come on board to provide illustrations for The Assassin in White, Tien, and Highstorm! According to her website, Katie is "a digital painter who makes work all about the Book of Mormon and also epic fantasy." Check out her website/portfolio: http://www.katiepayne.com.

And as a bonus treat, here is a rough sketch from Katie for what Tien might look like:

That's all for now, but we're excited to show you more soon!

All the best,

Michael and Petar