RAVENHEART NOMINEE: THE CARDINAL'S BLADES - JON SULLIVAN

"The word inspiration is pretty broad for me.I think when you are working constantly on commissions throughout the year your mind is constantly active and "inspired" so starting a new work will just be a matter of how I can reset from all the ideas & images I have created on the last job..getting an equilibrium back is the hard part..channeling all the ideas from the last job away from what your working on at the present ..Reading a manuscript or brief -synopsis, even a phone call with the Art Director on the title of the book is all it takes.The art is to make it as different and original as you can and most importantly make it eye catchable.So a small pet sized dragon clinging to a sword its blade made from dragon bone ,then you know where you are and all systems go. Maybe its having done this for many years but you have the finished picture in your head in a blink of an eye ,its instant you get an image its now a matter of bringing that to life .Desingning a dragon almost cat sized as the usual depiction is huge, bulky ,with spikes and horns massively commanding in its scale so I had to hold back and make it look much more delicate.I came up with the idea of having him coiled around the sword -watching as a cat does his surroundings..taking in everything..being careful not to make it look too similar to a lizard..It would be easy to make it look just like a lizard with wings( easy enough to blag that and get away with it),but that's no challenge and wouldn't have interested me in the least and I love a challenge .And in the context of the book as areader would it be as interesting to refer back to when reading the story.The easy part is coming up with the ideas the hard part is to put those ideas down in such a way to make the image believable in the context of the story and to grab the readers and viewers imagination."
Jon Sullivan

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jon had his first art exhibit at a World Science Fiction Convention in 1995.

During the previous years he had been developing a portfolio artwork based on self taught skills.

Since then, Jon has worked for everyone from TSR to Tor and has had his work appear on a great many covers.