Book Two Illustration Feature: Part I

Sep 2

3 min read

New Drawings Underway

I have been immersed in long hours of drawing, creating the new illustrations for Keeper's Burden: Book Two of The Stone Guardians.

I use graphite powder for mood and shadows, erased back to the grey-toned paper, then apply additional detail layers with pencil and white pencil crayons.

This process of bringing the book to life visually is long and involved. Sometimes I create drawings, which ultimately do not convey the feeling I am looking for, so they get cut from the book.

I return to the drawing board to begin again, taking with me what I have learned.

Back end paper original painting of hand on sword pommel — Dalemar in the ancient records room of Pellaris Library.

The vision for the book's images appear slowly, revealing themselves to me gradually as I work. My list for the drawings I would like to create for Book Two is long, nearing 40 illustrations!

The Besieged City

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Exploring what the places in the book look like visually is always a joy, but it can also be challenging to make sure that my drawings match what I see in my mind's eye as I write the passages.

The late afternoon sun gleamed upon the copper roofs and spires of the city. It was as grand as Torrin remembered, streets lined with houses and shops marching up the hill toward the citadel––the city's crown. The red, blue and gold of Pellar's flags and pennants snapped in the cold wind, fluttering atop towers and battlements, a contrast to the city's stone construction.

graphite drawing of a walled city fantasy art for interior illustrations for The Stone Guardians — The Walls of Pellaris

Creating different styles for the architecture of different places is huge part of the world building process. Ensuring that each place has its own distinct look and feel, is part of what makes the realms of Eryos and Myris Dar feel real.

Pellaris is a besieged city, so the main draw bridge is broken and soldiers stand upon the battlements above a rubble-strewn moat.

Torrin & His Warhorse

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this drawing. As many know, I grew up with horses and understand them intimately, an aspect of the writing that makes the world I am creating believable.

image of a drawing of a warrior and his warhorse with a leather bound book a candle in a glass lantern a pencil and a wax seal — Work in progress: Torrin and his Warhorse

graphite drawing of a knight and his warhorse in a forest setting — Torrin and His Warhorse

New Character Drawings

New portraits of Rowan and Torrin are underway. The first portraits of these characters from Book One are iconic, and really beautiful.

I wanted these next ones to be pulled back to show more of them, and also to convey more emotion, atmosphere, and mood.

Portrait of Torrin, drawing of a man in armor adjusting his arm vambrace. — Revenge or Justice: Torrin

Book Two of The Stone Guardians is set to release this winter, in early 2027. If you are interested in getting a copy, you can pre-order it through the website.

Book Two: Keeper's Burden

Buy a copy of Book One here

Decorative element with two swords and a design between them.

Enter the pages of Book One with my Free Opening Chapters.

This download is a PDF of the actual book layout for the first 30 pages.

Complete with the Maps, Legend of Places and Characters, Prologues, and the first two chapters of the book, and the illustrations from those pages, this is a perfect way to enter the story and see what it is about.

Read the Opening Chapters of Book One!

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Book Two Illustration Feature: Part I

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Book Two Illustration Feature: Part I All art work and illustrations by Kindrie Grove. All written content and characters related to The Stone Guardians Books by Kindrie Grove are protected under copyright law.