The Divine Text (Blue Jeweled Book)

I've gotta say, I'm super proud of this one! If you know me, you know I'm absolute trash at photoshop but I'm great at physical artworks. So I drew what I imagine the Divine Text to look like that Aylith needs to find in the Athenaeum in about 4+ hours. Then I spent an additional 3+ hours tweaking it in photoshop (brightening highlights, deepening shadows, and adding some color).

The method in traditional painting is called "grisaille" painting. This is where you paint in 1 color to do all your shading (gray or brown or sepia) then you come back with washes of color and it looks like a regular painting!

This was much easier for me than painting in photoshop. I could have painted it for real but doing pencil is a lot faster for me.

I want to say that the size of the book while sitting on a "human" library shelf is approximately 14x17x5 with an open wingspan of 33 inches! But depending on where it is located or who is holding it, the book can alter its size to better fit the reader. When Aylith holds it, the book shrinks to be more manageable for her (maybe about 9x12x4).

So considerate!

The pressure behind her eyes continued as she looked on down the shelves. The throbbing in mind pulled her. She rested on it. It was a large book bound in deep brown leather with a blue gem embedded on its cover. The leather was embossed with intricate designs. The spine was layered in three parts with a strange serpent decorating the center. The edges of the book were wrapped in a thin metal to prevent the leather from wearing.

She grabbed hold of it and rubbed her thumb over the gem, cleaning it. The book seemed to almost shrink in her hands. The sapphire sparkled in the white light. It glinted with intrigue at its new holder. It wanted to be read.