Tales of the Creepy Dragon

For the last few months I've been reading Tales of Goldstone Wood, a series of fantasy-fairytale stories by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.  I recently finished Book 3, Moonblood, and hopefully I'll soon read Starflower once it's available to me in the library system. (I know, I'm cheap when it comes to books; I only buy books I really like, and when we have the funds :P)

I finished a piece of fan art based on one of her stories, and it has made me happy completing it.  It's entitled "Sacrifice."  It's based on a scene near the end of the first book, Heartless, where the Dragon gets his come-uppins from the savior/god-like/faerie prince figure Aethelbald.  I love his character, full of goodness and no-nonsense.  I also love-hated the Dragon, because he was such a "good" villain.  Utterly awful character that toys around with the lives of people alongside his shady, evil sister.  Whee!

This picture was a learning experience for me.  I started this picture with black line art, and spent some time doing the Dragon's scales.  There are three main light-sources: the sun in the background, the dragon's flames, and the sword Fireword.  For the background, I wanted it to look like the sky was getting shrouded in the Dragon smoke.

The Dragon reflects little light, even from his flames; the way I interpret him, his black scales absorb a lot of light.  I purposely wanted him to be shadowy, and when I started coloring him, I colored his eye first.  Creeped me out!  I felt shivers.  I'm glad that feeling I got from the story translated into this picture.

So I did the raging flames and the red and yellow glow on his belly scales.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to fit the details of his scales into the colored picture, but it worked out when I put in the poisonous smoke that belches from his mouth.  At the same time the Dragon remained shadowy.  He also has black teeth complete with drool and blood.  I just wanted him to look unhuggable, you know?

Aethelbald was much easier to do, and I looked forward to coloring him because the cool blue color of his clothing would contrast with the hellish warm colors coming from the Dragon.  I tried not to make him look terribly handsome, as Stengl describes him as being plain in the story, but he still has a powerful figure and a face of courage, ready to drive that sword into the Dragon.

Fun picture to do!  I have an idea for another digital piece, although it may be some time before I complete it.  These days, I have to either edit or write or draw, but I can only do one of them and do it for the day if I want to complete my goal.  I traded any time to edit or write today for the chance to finish this picture, and I'm glad I did.

Meet a Mormon Part 2

This is a continuing article from Meet a Mormon Part 1, where I address misconceptions people may have about LDS doctrine and practices.  I may or may not do more parts on this subject, but for now we just have the two parts :)

Just to briefly sum up, in the last article I addressed Christianity, whether or not there's more than one Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith Jr. and the Book of Mormon, and Temple practices.  Also see my disclaimer in paragraph 2 of that article before you decide to comment on this article.

Onward!

Defining Character

Few things are better than singing and dancing pastel ponies to
pick up your day, except when they're flying around in your
head in the middle of the night.
source: mlp.wikia.com

So I've been having a hard time sleeping tonight.  My thoughts just won't shut-up; I have stuff from a My Little Pony song to sharing my testimony with someone buzzing through my head.  So I am posting at an ungodly hour while I wait for my melatonin pill to kick in and knock me out.  I apologize in advance if any of my statements seem loopy.

Recently I've been following a series of blog posts by author Anne Elisabeth Stengl where she defines her personal methods for writing characters and her stories.  You can read the first article here.  Reading these articles has gotten me to thinking more about how I look at my characters.  It has especially gotten me to thinking about how to define my main character in the trilogy I'm working on.

So how do I define character?

A long time ago...

A long time ago I started drafting a book called Incarnate Dream.  It was the second in the Legacy Incarnate series after Incarnate Journey.  In it continue the adventures of Sabra the Incarnate, 9 years after the end of Book I.  Like its predecessor it was enjoyable to write, especially when I introduced a new major character that appears a few more times after Book II.

Her name is Deborah.

Book Pages!

The book pages have all been updated, and all information on those released should be available.  If you have any problems accessing the book pages, please leave a comment and let me know!  Thanks!

~Xen

Meet a Mormon Part 1

I usually don't do blog posts like this. I normally reserve Xenithar's Musings for updates on my writing and Xenithar's Lair, or for art and book reviews. However, I feel the need to express my beliefs as a “Mormon,” or a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to address some common misconceptions of our beliefs.

But I need to make a disclaimer before we begin. First, my opinions don't necessarily reflect the views of the Church. Second, if you really want to find out what our church is about, please speak with missionaries; it's their job to teach people and address questions like these. You can even chat online with a missionary at mormon.org. You can get on LDS.org and actually look up doctrinal topics. Also, read the Book of Mormon. I believe if you want to learn about any religion, you need to go to their scriptural resources and compare their fruits to their written word, and that includes the LDS church.

So what made me want to address misconceptions about my church that nonbelievers or even church members themselves may have? Well, I was recently looking at review blurbs for “Meet the Mormons,” a movie the Church recently released exploring the lives of various Church members (which I'll address as “Saints” from now on), and most of the reviews weren't very positive. One reviewer expressed disappointment that the movie didn't delve into more doctrinal stuff that outsiders may be curious about.

Welcome

Welcome to the new home of Xenithar's Lair!  Due to some difficulties with my previous website host, I decided to move the site to a new, free, and simpler platform.  Besides, I get the impression people run across regular blogs on Blogger more often than the sort of website I had.  I'm excited to finish getting all the pages up, and I hope my readers enjoy the new Lair.  I apologize in advance for pages still under construction.

Who am I?  I am an author of fantasy and science fiction who goes by the name S.A. Thorup, although my friends call me Sarah :)  I've been writing novels for about 13 years now, and have had many adventures in and out of my imagination.  I self-publish on Lulu.com, although I hope to get with a traditional publisher.