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#1 |
Member
Journeyman
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Arkansas
Gender: F
Fan of: Dragonsong
Now Reading: A Storm of Swords
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Just found out this morning that artist Eric Deschamps has created new illustrations for the Harper Hall trilogy which look geared more toward middle grade/younger YA readers. Yes, I noticed that these are wyvern-style dragons and do seem influenced in some part (those wing patterns) by Cameron's movie "Avatar" -- maybe. But I think it will intrigue new readers for Anne McCaffrey and Pern. Regardless, the first image released looks lovely!
![]() ![]() If the above link doesn't work, you can see it on his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater |
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#2 |
Crafter
![]() Craftmaster Join Date: May 2006
Location: Wolverhampton
Gender: M
Fan of: Favorite?
Now Reading: avidly
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The only problem with 'Menolly' is that she wasn't wearing a dress when she was on her own: she got mistaken for a 'lad'.
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"Truth is stranger than fiction: fiction has to make sense." Leo Rosten. "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." C. S. Lewis "I find television very educational. Whenever somebody switches it on I go in the other room and read a book." (attributed to Groucho Marx) The Pedants are revolting! (against bad grammar) |
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#3 |
Member
Journeyman
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Arkansas
Gender: F
Fan of: Dragonsong
Now Reading: A Storm of Swords
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Eric later posted some of his concept sketches for the project (can see via the FB link in the original post above), and she was wearing a tunic and trousers there. I'm not sure why he didn't have that also in the final illustration. *shrug*
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#4 |
Member
Welladay Whale
Join Date: Feb 2005
Gender: M
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the fire lizards are missing their front legs and their colors are off. Do the people who draw these covers actually read the books?
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#5 | |
Member
Journeyman
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Arkansas
Gender: F
Fan of: Dragonsong
Now Reading: A Storm of Swords
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Here's a quote from the artist when I asked Eric about some of his thinking behind the firelizard redesigns:
Quote:
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#6 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Gender: F
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What on Earth did the publishers tell him to paint? "Teenage girl standing on seashore with nine small brightly-coloured dragons flying over her head"?
And is he actually claiming that he's read the Harper Hall series, where the colors of Menolly's fire-lizards are listed and they're described using their fore-paws? |
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#7 | |
Member
Journeyman
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Arkansas
Gender: F
Fan of: Dragonsong
Now Reading: A Storm of Swords
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As a stand-alone illustration, the artwork is lovely IMO. It's just not Pern specific. And just an FYI, I did ask and found out that this new edition will be targeted to younger audiences and new readers rather than general SFF or YA/teen readers who may already be fans of Pern and its dragonriders. On the other hand, there's always the option to complain to the publisher if there's issue with the latest edition's cover art. ![]() |
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#8 |
Senior Member
Nathi
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: U.S.A.
Gender: F
Fan of: Dragonriders of Pern |
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While I do admit they're very pretty, the firelizards are WAY off- and Menolly in a dress (to be fair though, she had a dress in one of the old covers too). O_o *sigh* I've also been seeing the "missing forelegs" thing happen a lot with dragons in movies after Reign of Fire.
![]() I don't know why but it just really bothers me. >_< Harry Potter's dragons were designed as wyverns for the movie! So was Smuag! And now the firelizards?! Please tell me they'll at least get the number of limbs right for the Dragonriders of Pern movie! |
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#9 |
Member
Glow
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Gender: F
Fan of: Pern and Talent series
Now Reading: Lives of the Caesars - Suetonius
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Ooh! I forgot that they'd made progress on the movie front - don't suppose anything new has been released?
As for the cover ... pretty, and I do quite like it in and of itself, but it isn't what I'd have automatically pictured if someone said 'new Menolly covers'. Does anyone else think Menolly looks very young here as well? I don't know if anything is said in the books but I always pictured her as sort of 14-16. Here she looks more 8-12. |
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#10 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Gender: F
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In Chapter 4, where the firelizard queen gets Menolly to help her save the eggs, it says she rolled an egg "with her forelegs". Four paragraphs later, "the little queen appeared, one front talon resting proprietarily on the egg". In the course of the novels, they do a lot of things that would be difficult or impossible with only one set of legs. The rear legs are probably more designed for perching (and occasionally attacking people) --- and the ones on these new dragonets don't even look good for that. Actually those little claws on the wings might be good for climbing up trees or clinging to walls (bats have something similar but I'm not sure what they use it for). |
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#11 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Gender: F
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Menolly tells Felena (at the Weyr) that she's fifteen (DragonSong, Chapter 11).
On the first page of the novel Yanus thinks of her as "too tall and lanky to be a proper girl", and elsewhere she's described as "tall and strong". The girl in the artwork looks quite delicate. |
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#12 |
Member
The Mil
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Saskatchewan
Gender: M
Fan of: Rowan
Now Reading: re-reading dragon series
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I would say that the colours of the lizards are good. The lizards and dragons would not be monochromatic, and would have distinctive markings (like the blue lizard above her right hand) making them easy to identify.
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#13 | |
Senior Member
Nathi
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: U.S.A.
Gender: F
Fan of: Dragonriders of Pern |
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But, didn't Anne say that dragons and firelizards don't have those kinds of markings? At least, not so distinct? I'm not really sure... This is what I found she said about it:
Quote:
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#14 |
Journeywoman Healer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here and There
Gender: F
Fan of: Pern, Ship Series
Now Reading: Girl Genius (read it!)
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It's far from the worst Pern cover I have ever seen.
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#15 |
Junior Member
Muskie
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Diego
Gender: M
Fan of: Jaxom
Now Reading: Masterharper of Pern
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The poor firelizards look like the spent the night perched in Inglewood and got tagged
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#16 |
Journeywoman Healer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here and There
Gender: F
Fan of: Pern, Ship Series
Now Reading: Girl Genius (read it!)
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I direct you back to this thread: http://forums.srellim.org/showthread.php?t=1016
Example: http://francois.labarbarie.free.fr/c...ages/mdopi.jpg Seriously. It could be so. Much. Worse. |
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#17 |
Senior Member
Heavyworlder
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Las Vegas
Gender: F
Fan of: Moreta
Now Reading: Never Let Me Go
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I'm not in love with the firelizards either but this does capture the spirit of the book very well.
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#18 |
.:. Baroness von Imp .:.
Weyrling
Join Date: Sep 2005
Gender: F
Fan of: I do not 'fan'. I obsess.
Now Reading: The Book of Lost Things - John Connelly.
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Six hundred percent true to Pern or not, I'm absolutely enchanted with the vibe it gives off [because actually, it's the same vibe I got from reading the Harper Hall Trilogy the first time -- funny that], not to mention the fact that it's a stunning piece of art-work.
Seriously, I can think of at least two or three other 'Pern' covers I'd tear apart before this one. And they have the attached front legs y'all are not liking the absence of here.
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#19 | |
Journeywoman Healer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Here and There
Gender: F
Fan of: Pern, Ship Series
Now Reading: Girl Genius (read it!)
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http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...4,203,200_.jpg Or how about that one? Really, this might not be book-accurate, but it's pretty, it's whimsical, it's joyful, and it's WAY WAY BETTER than many previous covers. |
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#20 |
Member
The Mil
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Saskatchewan
Gender: M
Fan of: Rowan
Now Reading: re-reading dragon series
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If you combine the lizards in the cover art with Rex from Primeval (http://www.kcet.org/shows/primeval/a...mages/rex1.jpg), you might get the best idea of a fire lizard.
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#21 |
Junior Member
Muskie
Join Date: Nov 2015
Gender: M
Fan of: Dragonsong |
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Hello everyone. So interesting to hear everyones thoughts on my cover art. I absolutely loved reading this book. One of my favorite reads of all time for sure. I thought you might be interested in hearing how I approached the cover. There has been a ton of covers to these books over the years so I didn't want to repeat what had already been done. I purposefully tried not to look at too much of them actually. I focused on capturing the essence of this book to me personally. I wanted to capture the musical nature of Menolly and her beautiful and delicate firelizards as well as the tenderness the book exudes despite all of the rejection and isolation Menolly endures. A standard dragon body type and plain colored wings wasn't taking the imagery to where I wanted it to be. Also, in the story the firelizards felt so bird-like to me. That is where the elimination of the forelimbs came from. I also thought it fit in well with the scene where the mother has such trouble moving the eggs. I understand that it may frustrate some readers when the imagery is not an exact replication of the wording in the text but if I can get the right feeling across to this new younger audience then I feel it is a success!
Thanks for your honest thoughts everyone! |
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#22 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Gender: F
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The firelizard queen had trouble lifting the eggs because they were heavy, and too close to hatching to risk going between with them --- none of the other firelizards were strong enough to help her lift them.
It's well established in the Pern novels that the firelizards and several other species had 6 limbs, in one form or another. It is a very pretty cover, though. |
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#23 | |
Dolphineer
Craftmaster
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Wausau, WI USA, Central Standard Time
Gender: F
Fan of: Pern, other SF works
Now Reading: Dragonback Bargain
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