The Gathering Storm, volume twelve in Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, will be available in ebook form on Spetember 28th. In celebration of Jordan’s work, we have commissioned fourteen artists to interpret one of the Wheel of Time books in their own style. (Previous editions can be seen here. The first eleven ebooks can be purchased at the Sony eReader Store.)
Todd Lockwood had to be in this series. No doubt. He is the master of flying creatures and great with action. When Leigh Butler threatened bodily harm suggested this sequence, I knew it would be a cover that would come together smoothly, and it did.
To the newbie, the cover promises a book full of action and magic. For Wheel of Time fans, however, this book was a long and tragic wait. Being the first book in the series to be partially written by Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan’s successor, a cover depicting a moment of triumph seemed fitting. As Leigh says,
Egwene’s coming into her own—as Amyrlin and as a force for the Light to be reckoned with, but also simply as an adult, fully-developed character—has been a long and sometimes tortuous progression that has spanned the entirety of the series, and, in my opinion, ultimately ranks second only to Rand’s himself in its centrality to the series. Her triumph, at the moment depicted, is awesome not only because of how much ass she is kicking right then, but because it represents a fundamental turning point for her character—and, therefore, for Tarmon Gai’don itself.
The White Tower, the supposed ultimate bastion of the Light against the Shadow, has teetered on the brink of succumbing to corruption and collapse for so long now that we hardly remember it doing anything besides sucking. And then here comes Egwene, proving herself a true leader and fearsome warrior, and being everything that the Tower is supposed to be, and isn’t, and the Aes Sedai know it. Her courage is what turns it all around. She’s saving the Tower right here, in every way possible, and by extension, saving the forces of Light themselves.
And that, my friends, is how you do a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
Todd Lockwood switched from oil painting to digital before many other artists did. Perhaps his early conversion is why he has retained a very pure painting method. He starts with a sketch and builds his way up through the painting without the use of Photoshop layers or textures, utilizing digital painting’s flexibility by nudging items around more than paint would allow. Here you can see his progression from start to finish.
To keep up with all of our Wheel of Time posts, including information on the ebook releases, check out our Wheel of Time Index.
To see this cover larger, please visit the Dragonmount feature.
To see more of Todd Lockwood’s illustrations please visit his website and Tor.com gallery.
