The Art of Abhorsen

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Table of ContentsPreface ................................................................................................3

Abhorsen House ..................................................................................5

Clayr Observatory .............................................................................47

Chamber of the Oak Tree ..................................................................63

On Style .............................................................................................79

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PrefaceOne day during my early teens, my mother

came home with a present - a brand new book for me to read. Being the novel-loving child that I was, it didn’t take long for me to start the book, and I was hooked. Sabriel by Garth Nix got me yearning for the rest of the series, even though I wouldn’t get my hands on the second and third book a while later. However, after all these years the books have still stayed in the back of my mind as a great source of inspiration and an original concept. As a result, when I came up with the idea to create an artbook as a graduation project, the Abhorsen series was an obvious choice, even after reviewing other books as an option. The Abhorsen series seemed more suitable than other books because it was relatively unknown and there is no film based on the books (yet), and therefore I would not be so influenced by an established image, and be free to come up with my own world.

This book displays the art for a hypothetical movie, going through visual development and experimentation inspired by the art books already out there, especially Pixar’s and Disney’s artbooks for Tangled and The Princess and the Frog. The book will display a range of experiments and thoughts on paper, fleshing out the characters and their world though sketches and paintings.

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It was Abhorsen’s House.”

The Great Hall | Digital

“Sabriel stood on a narrow ledge that projected out from the bank of a river at least

four hundred yards wide. A little to her right, a scant few paces away, this mighty river hurled itself over the cliff, to make a truly glorious waterfall. Sabriel leaned forward a little, to look at the waters crashing below, creating huge white wings of spray that could easily swallow her entire school, new wing and all, like a rubber duck swamped in an unruly bath.

It was a very long fall, and the height, coupled with the sheer power of the water, made her quickly look back to the river. Straight ahead, halfway across, Sabriel could just make out an island, an island perched on the very lip of the waterfall, dividing the river into two streams. It wasn’t a very big island, about the size of a football field, but it rose like a ship of jagged rock from the turbulent waters.

Encircling the island were limestone-white walls the height of six men. Behind those walls was a house. It was too dark to see clearly, but there was a tower, a thrusting, pencil silhouette, with red tiles that were just beginning to catch the dawning sun. Below the tower, a dark bulk hinted at the existence of a hall, a kitchen, bedrooms, armory, buttery and cellar. The study, Sabriel suddenly remembered, occupied the second to top floor of the tower. The top floor was an observatory, both of stars and the surrounding territory.

Abhorsen House

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Lighting Key | Digital

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The Abhorsen’s House is an important location in the first book of the Abhorsen

Trilogy. It provides Sabriel and the reader with her first bits of informationn about the world beyond Ancelstierre, and provides a starting point for Sabriel’s transformation from a schoolgirl looking for her father to the Abhorsen, who has to lay the Dead to rest.

The House is a haven, the home that Sabriel would’ve grown up in if times had been kinder. It’s entrance is described as something that could almost be a little yellow-brick cottage in the hills, and is a sharp contrast to the chase-scene that takes place beforehand:

“There was more light now, heralding the advent of the sun, and she could see a sort of wooden landing stage leading up to a gate in the white wall. Treetops were also visible behind the walls, winter trees, their branches bare of green raiment.

Birds flew between trees and tower, little birds launching themselves for their morning forage. It was a vision of normalcy, of a haven.

The gate swung open, pitching her onto a paved courtyard, the beginning of a red-brick path, the bricks ancient, their redness the color of dusty apples. The path wound up to the front door of the house, a cheerful sky-blue door, bright against whitewashed stone. A bronze doorknocker in the shape of a lion’s head holding a ring in its mouth gleamed in counterpoint to the white cat that lay

coiled on the rush mat before the door.”

However, when Sabriel has recovered from her flight from the Mordicant, the house takes on a more mytical and serious mood. Sabriel awakes to candlelight and when she enters the dining room, the leaded glass in the windows makes Sabriel wonder whether they are made of glass at all. Later on, Abhorsen’s House becomes the place where Mogget makes Sabriel realise how little she knows about the world, and how grave the tidings for her father and the Old Kingdom are.

The books themselves provided a fairly good start in terms of the layout of the house, especially since Garth Nix provided a plan of the House and its gardens with the books. More than that, though, his descriptions of the characters’ surroundings have always been ample, but leave enough room for interpretation.

The hardest part would have been the exterior design. The rooms were well-described and even when some liberties were taken in terms of the design of the rooms themselves, the props and functionality stayed largely the same.

The top-down view provided by Garth Nix, however, seemed a bit unsuitable for this image that a house in the middle of the waterfall conjured up. Garth Nix’s design is very symmetrical, with one thick tower jutting up in the middle of the House.

With the river raging on both sides and wild landscape for miles, a symmetrical design would make the house seem stark and boring in comparison. It needed to be a whimsical, welcoming home, though still full of mystery and potential for exploration.

Coming Home

| 9 |Concept | Digital

Concept | Digital

Sketch | DigitalSketch | Digital

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“I spent some time entertaining the idea of the Abhorsen’s House being in the middle of two waterfalls, but in the end it didn’t really work with story elements presented in the later books,

so I let the idea go.”

Concept | Digital

Concept | Digital

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Final Leaded Glass Design | Digital

Optional Leaded Glass Design | Digital

“Abhorsen House is a house full of history. The stained glass windows were an important part of the Great Hall,

displaying part of that history.”

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Lighting Study | Digital

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Initial Sketches | Graphite

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Furniture Concepts | Digital

“The Abhorsen is an important figure within the Old Kingdom. The furniture should display wealth, but also have a certain soberness

to them.”

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Furniture Concepts | Digital

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“A tall, curiously pale young woman stood over the rabbit. Her night-black hair,

fashionably bobbed, was hanging slightly over her face.

They pulled a thin, cotton-like undergarment over her head, and a pair of baggy drawers up her legs. Next came a linen shirt, then a tunic of doeskin and breeches of supple leather, reinforced with some sort of hard, segmented plates at thighs, knees and shins, not to mention a heavily padded bottom, no doubt designed for riding.

A brief respite followed, lulling Sabriel into thinking that might be it, but the sendings had merely been arranging the next layer for immediate fitting. Two of them pushed her arms into a long, armored coat that buckled up at the sides, while the other two unlaced a pair of hobnailed boots and waited.

The other sending waved out a gleaming, deep blue surcoat, dusted with embroidered silver keys that reflected the light in all directions. It waved the coat to and fro for a moment, then whipped it over Sabriel’s head and adjusted the drape with a practiced motion.

Last of all came sword-belt and bell-bandolier. The sendings brought them to her, but made no attempt to put them on. Sabriel adjusted them herself, carefully arranging bells and scabbard, feeling the familiar weight—bells across her breast and sword balanced on her hip. She turned to the

Sabriel is the protagonist in the first book of the Abhorsen Trilogy. Right off the bat, she

is portrayed as a responsible, down-to-earth kind of girl, but throughout the book she also realises how little she knows of the world she is burdened to protect. She starts as a senior and prefect with top grades and a lot of respect from the younger girls, but as soon as she leaves the school to seek her father, it becomes clear that the Old Kingdom is a dangerous place, and she has no idea how to sufficiently protect herself. The first book is mostly about her finding her way in the Old Kingdom and fitting herself to the new role she is supposed to fill: that of the Abhorsen.

mirror and looked at her reflection, both pleased and troubled by what she saw. She looked competent, professional, a traveler who could look after herself. At the same time, she looked less like someone called Sabriel, and more like the Abhorsen, capital letter and all.”

Sabriel | Digital

Sabriel

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Abhorsen’s Sword | Digital

Headgear Concepts | Digital

Bandolier Concepts | Digital

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Sabriel’s Mother in Death | DigitalSabriel | Digital

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Early Concepts | Digital

“Working on this project completely changed the view I had of most of the characters when I first read the books. The project made me take a much closer look at all the character descriptions, and their characteristics in their behaviour

as well.”

“It took a while before I got to the essence of what

Sabriel felt like to me. That’s what it is about for me - not if

they fit the description exactly, but if they “feel” right to me. When their personality shines through in their face, stance and clothing, then I’ve done

my job.”

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Early Concepts | Grahpite

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Behaviour Sketches | Digital

| 23 |Sabriel in Death | Digital

Concept | Digital

Concept | Digital

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Early Silhouette Concepts | Digital

Abhorsen’s Bells | Digital

“The Bells are the Abhorsen’s tool to lay the dead to rest. I didn’t want to end up with the standard bell silhouette, so I used Alchemy to help me break away from the conventional

shape.”

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Storyboard | Digital

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“There, between gusts of snow, she saw a figure leaping from step to step;

impossible leaps, that ate up the distance between them with horrible appetite. It was manlike, more than man-high, and flames ran like burning oil on water where it trod. Sabriel cried out as she saw it, and felt the Dead spirit within. The Book of the Dead opened to fearful pages in her memory, and descriptions of evil poured into her head. It was a Mordicant that hunted her—a thing that could pass at will through Life and Death, its body of bog-clay and human blood molded and infused with Free Magic by a necromancer, and a Dead spirit placed inside as its guiding force.”

Mordicant

Mordicant | Digital

“The Mordicant’s design was a challenge. It had to have a recognizable shape, but I also wanted it to be fluid or not entirely solid, since it’s an otherworldly creature that actually belongs in Death. At the same time though, it had to be

threatening and strong.”

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Early Concepts | Graphite

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Chase Through the Forest | Digital

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“A bronze doorknocker in the shape of a lion’s head holding a ring in its mouth

gleamed in counterpoint to the white cat that lay coiled on the rush mat before the door.

Sabriel lay on the bricks and smiled up at the cat, blinking back tears. The cat twitched and turned its head ever so slightly to look at her, revealing bright, green eyes.

“Hello, puss,” croaked Sabriel, coughing as she staggered once more to her feet and walked forward, groaning and creaking with every step. She reached down to pat the cat, and froze—for, as the cat thrust its head up, she saw the collar around its neck and the tiny bell that hung there.

The collar was only red leather, but the Charterspell on it was the strongest, most enduring, binding that Sabriel had ever seen or felt—and the bell was a miniature Saraneth. The cat was no cat, but a Free Magic creature of ancient power.

“Abhorsen,” mewed the cat, its little pink tongue darting. “About time you got here.”

Mogget

Mogget | Digital

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Cat Studies | GraphiteEarly concepts | Graphite

“Mogget is a cynical character, a god of sorts trapped in cat form for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Thinking back to Disney’s Lady and the Vagabond, I felt that a Siamese would fit this character best.”

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“I considered a few different races as well as going for a mix of, for example, a cat and a fennec. However, since the book

didn’t feature any fantasy creatures such as dragons, I decided against

the mix.”

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Gesture Studies | Digital

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Mogget | Digital

Mogget’s Collar | Digital

“The collar keeps Mogget in cat form. Without it, he can turn back into his original forms. The bell on the collar determines his way of serving. With Ranna,

the Sleepbringer, the cat mostly sleeps.”

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“She approached nervously, her curiosity tempered by the need to be wary

of strangers. He looked different dressed. Older and somewhat intimidating, particularly since he seemed to have scorned her plain clothing for a kilt of gold-striped red, with matching leggings of redstriped gold, disappearing into turned-down thigh boots of russet doeskin. He was wearing her shirt, though, and preparing to put on a red leather jerkin. It had detachable, lace-up sleeves, which seemed to be giving him some problems.

Two swords lay in three-quarter scabbards near his feet, stabbing points shining four inches out of the leather. A wide belt with the appropriate hooks already encircled his waist.”

Touchstone

Early Sketches | GraphiteTouchstone | Digital

“Touchstone is a serious guy, who is carrying around a lot of guilt. He feels he has a duty towards Sabriel and has

to protect her at any cost.”

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Concept | Digital

Concept | Digital

Royal Bural Ground | Digital

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Portrait | Digital

Touchstone | Digital

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Concept | Digital

Swords of the Royal Guard | Digital

| 41 |Behaviour Sketches | Digital

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Touchstone | DigitalSketch | Digital

“I was always wondering if Touchstone was pulling of the kilt. I toyed with the idea of just giving him pants, but somehow this seemed to fit his sense of doing his duty as royal guardian at all costs, even if it meant his clothes would be

gaudy.”

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“Curiously for mail, it made no sound, no jangling from the flow of hundreds of

steel links. A strange body under it too, Sabriel saw, as the black dots and the red wash faded, revealing that her rescuer wasn’t human at all. He had seemed solid enough, but every square inch of him was defined by tiny, constantly moving Charter marks, and Sabriel could see nothing between them but empty air.

He... it was a Charter-ghost, a sending.”

Sendings

Sending | Digital

“Sendings are beings that exist to serve. The sending featured here is also featured in the storyboard further on. She had to appear stern and purposeful for the comic effect, even though she is

a servant.”

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Sending Thumbnails | Digital

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“The Sending’s skin is made up out of thousands of little magical marks, and because of that it’s basically transluscent. It took a lot of experimenting with shapes, colors,

sizes and amounts of the marks.”Early Concepts | Graphite

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Early Concepts | Graphite

Skin Close Up | Digital

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Clayr Observatory“Light was the first thing Lirael noticed,

and space, and then the massed ranks of the Clayr, silently standing in their white, rustling robes. She stood in the center of a huge chamber carved entirely out of ice, a vast cave easily as large as the Great Hall she knew and hated so much. Charter Magic lights shone everywhere, reflecting from the many facets of the ice, so that there was not a hint of darkness anywhere.

Lirael instinctively looked down when she saw all the other Clayr, so she couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. But as she cautiously peered out from behind her protective fall of singed hair, she saw that they were not looking at her. They were all looking up. She followed their gaze and saw that the angled ceiling was perfectly smooth and flat, one single enormous sheet of clear ice, almost like an enormous, opaque window.

“Yes,” said Sanar, noting Lirael’s stare. “That is where we focus our Sight, so all the fragments of the vision can become one, and everyone can See.”

“I think we may begin,” announced Ryelle, looking around at the massed, silent ranks of the Clayr. Nearly every Awoken Clayr was there, to join a Watch of Fifteen Sixty-Eight. They stood in a series of ever-wider circles around the small central area where Lirael, Sanar, and Ryelle stood, like some strange concentric orchard of white trees that bore silver and moonstone fruit.”

The Observatory | Digital

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“The Observatory is the space that has transformed the most. What started out as an arena of ice became a space more reminiscent of a cathedral.”

Early Sketches | Graphite

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Concept | Digital

Concept | Digital

Concept | Digital


Concept | Digital

“There should be a sense of mystery in the images concerning the Observatory. It’s the one place where Lirael is forbidden to go, because she

does not yet have the Sight.”

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Concept | Digital

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“Lirael hated sharing the mirror, because it made yet another difference

more obvious. Most of the Clayr had brown skin that quickly tanned to a deep chestnut out on the glacier slopes, as well as bright blond hair and light eyes. In contrast Lirael stood out like a pallid weed among healthy flowers. Her white skin burnt instead of tanning, and she had dark eyes and even darker hair.”

Lirael

Lirael and the Disreputable Dog | Digital

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Costume Concepts | Digital

“The first character I started sketching out when I started the project was Lirael, probably because she was part of my favourite book out of the series. I think it shows in the process, since it was much more rigid and less

creative and free-flow.”

| 55 |Early Sketches | Graphite

“Lirael started out as a moody, goth-like girl. Later on, when rereading the scene I chose to storyboard, I discovered

she has a determination and intelligence to her that should shine through as

well.”

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A Typical Clayr | Digital Style Concepts | Digital

“Lirael is part Clayr, but she gets her looks from her Abhorsen blood. This creates a stark contrast between the girl and her cousins,

further emphasizing her inability to fit in.”

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Sketches | Graphite

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Lirael’s Waistcoat | Digital

Whistle | Digital

Lirael’s Dagger | Digital

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Clockwork Mouse Sketches | DigitalEmergency Clockwork Mouse | Digital

Metal Flask | Digital

Key Bracelet Sketches | DigitalKey Bracelet | Digital

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Braid Structure | DigitalConcept | Digital

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Color Keys | Digital

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“The corridor didn’t lead outside, but Lirael saw how she had been misled. It

opened out into a vast chamber, bigger even than the Great Hall. Charter marks as bright as the sun shone in the distant ceiling, hundreds of feet above. A huge oak tree filled the center of the room, in full summer leaf, its spreading branches shading a serpentine pool. And everywhere, throughout the cavern, there were flowers. Red flowers. Lirael bent down and picked one, uncertain if it was some sort of illusion.

But it was real enough. She felt no magic, just the crisp stalk under her fingers. A red daisy, in full bloom.

Lirael sniffed it, and sneezed as the pollen went up her nose. Only then did she realize how quiet it was. This huge cavern might mimic the outside world, but the air was too still.

There was no breeze, and no sound. No birds, no bees happily at work amid the pollen. No small animals drinking at the pool. There was nothing living, save the flowers and the tree.

And the lights above gave no warmth, unlike the sun. This place was the same temperature as the rest of the Clayr’s inhabited realm, and had the same mild humidity, from the moist heat distributed via the huge network of pipes that brought superheated water from the geysers and steam plumes far, far below.

Lovely as it was, it was a bit disappointing. Lirael wondered if this was all there was to find on her first expedition.

Then she saw that there was another door—a latticed gate, rather—on the far side of the cavern.

It took her ten minutes to walk across, longer than she would have thought. But she tried not to tread on too many flowers, and she gave the tree and the pool a very wide berth. Just in case.

The gate barred the way to another corridor, one that went into darkness rather than light. The gate, a simple metal grille, had the emblem of a silver moon upon it, rather than a sun. A crescent moon, with much sharper and longer points than could be considered usual or aesthetically pleasing.”

Chamber of the Oak Tree

Lirael and the Stilken | Digital

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Chamber Concept | Digital

Lighting Alternative | Digital

Chamber at Night | Digital

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Thunbnails | Digital

Twisted Bark Sketches | Digital

“The oak tree is the centerpiece of the Chamber, and therefore should have an interesting silhouette and shape. The twisted bark, reminiscent of trees found in Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in California provided

something extra.”


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Concept | Digital

LIghting Key | Digital

Concept | Digital

Binder - The Chief Librarian’s Sword | Digital

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Sample of the Floral Diversity | Digital

Gate | Digital

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“Does the walker choose the path or the path choose the

walker?”

- Garth Nix, Lirael

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“It stands higher than a tall man, generally taking the shape of a comely woman,

though its form is fluid. Often the Stilken will have great hooks or

pincers in the place of forearms, which it uses with facility to seize its prey. Its mouth generally appears human till it opens, revealing double rows of teeth, as narrow and sharp as needles. These teeth may be of a bright silver, or black as night. The Stilken’s eyes are also of silver, and burn with a strange fire.”

Stilken

Stilken | Digital


| 72 || 72 |Initial Concept | Digital

Early Sketches | Graphite

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Body Marks Concepts | Digital

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Portrait | Digital Concept | Digital

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“At first the Stilken was just a woman with claws. At one point I got very frustrated with the mundanity and lack

of scariness.”

“I wondered, how can I make her scarier without deforming the silhouette of her face? And then suddenly I thought of the beautiful yet creepy face paintings of Dia de los

Muertos.”

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Storyboard - Page 1 | Digital

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This project has been a learning experience for me in all sorts of ways. Though

I was a bit stumped at first, I learnd as the project progressed that, for me, style is something that develops, not something that comes at the snap of a finger. Along with developing the characters, environments and props I’ve been devloping a workflow and a way of sketching and painting, a way of shaping my characters and environments.

I am by no means done developing my skills, but this project has given me a start in developing an attractive, original style.

On Style

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“Phobs has been a huge influence in the later stages of the project. Her strong use of line and great differentiation in character types, as well as her immense attention to historical detail have

inspired me a lot.”

Phobs | Digital

Eugene Schmidt | Digital

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Donglu | Digital

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“Looking at other people’s work has been a great help to find a starting point. Sometimes I’d look at an image and see an element of Abhorsen framed with that composition, or

drawn in that style.”

Nick Thornborrow | Digital

The Art of Abhorsen

Documents

art books

brand new book

abhorsen series

big island

mighty river

abhorsens house

great hall digitalsabriel

limestonewhite walls