Behind-the-Illustration: The Elf Queen

“The Elf Queen rules the Court of Stars, the one place where wood elves, dark elves, and high elves come together as peers and allies instead of as rivals or enemies. Honed by centuries of experience, the Queen’s innate magic at least equals the Archmage’s spells.”–From the 13th Age icon teaser description.

I am left with the final two Icons for my behind-the-illustration posts, and evidently I’ve been reluctant to finish them off (astute readers may have noticed that postings were delayed for two weeks).  But there are so many 13th Age illustrations yet to be revealed that I need not hesitate.  The show is just beginning, in fact!

The Elf Queen is Lee Moyer’s favorite icon, and I think that passion is easily recognized in his digital painting.  She’s a wonder to behold, and if Lee hadn’t already claimed her she would probably be my favorite illustration — but I’m going to be a tease and say that next week’s icon is my favorite.

The Elf Queen was another icon that took some “ratcheting up” on my end.  The progression of thumbnail to final pencils ends up looking  like a narrative of the elf queen from adolescence to queen.  Lee and I had a chuckle over the thumbnail of the “schoolgirl” elf queen that I knew wasn’t going to work, but submitted because she was just so darn cute!  Take a look at the thumbnail and try to tell me she’s not about to burst into song.  She’s the Snow White of elfdom in that stage, but as you can see her true form is much closer to The Queen, minus several degrees of vanity, one would hope.