Gooday everyone,
Welcome to the Deacon Corner. If you’re new here, these galleries dive into the inspirations behind the images you’ll find throughout the books posted on these pages. In these issues, I also like to share the commission details for each project, so readers can follow along with how these images came to life.
If there’s a particular piece you’re curious about, you can find all previous issues under my journal entries or linked directly beneath the images within each chapter.
Now before we begin, none of these beautiful art pieces would exist without the incredible talent of Sickjoe who is the creative force behind all the artwork in these books. Quite literally the heart and soul of this visual world. If you appreciate his work as much as I do, I encourage you to visit his gallery and explore more of his stunning creations.
Now, without further ado, let's take a look at the featured image and the commission details below.
This time around I’m going to need another Bastion piece. It’s been a while since we’ve had him appear, but I need to have illustrated a few key moments with him. The one I’m requesting this time around occurs between Bastion and Alexander.
Alexander: So, much like the sisters of fate, we’re going back in time for this one and he is a teenager in this scene though much of his features remain as messed up as when he is an adult. Hunched back, swollen features, poorly fitting rags for clothes. His family has poorly treated him and he has lived in a wine cellar for most of his life. A monster in the dark treated only to scraps.In this scene, Alexander is laying bricks, walling off a portion of the wine cellar. His father is tied up and gagged, chained against the cellar and sealed inside brick by brick. There will be no escape for him, and his corpse will become a part of Alexander’s structural design. It is a promise that Bastion made to him. Build your tower on the back of a giant and it shall never fall.
Alexander’s father: He is a hawkish man in his early fifties. His hair is graying but his face is clean-shaven and he is very lean and almost emaciated. He was a military officer from an antiquated era obsessed with discipline, balance, and order. Needless to say, he doesn’t care much for his son who was born misshapen, but now his son has grown and is much stronger than he. He was overpowered and dragged into the basement where he was strung up against a wall and slowly sealed inside with a new layer of bricks. He struggles against his bonds, staring pleadingly at Alexander who shows no sympathy.
Bastion: He appears in this scene dwelling near Alexander, whispering from his shoulder as he lays his bricks. His appearance is much the same as the previous commission with long leathery bellows for a neck and a camera lens for a face. I always thought it would be cool to depict this scene as if Alexander had metaphorical strings hanging from his hands, neck, and shoulders, tied to Bastion, metal fingers outstretched from many hands, who is manipulating him like a ventriloquist. It’s meant to represent Bastion guiding all these characters down a pre-ordained path as if he is the true god of fate… Maybe he still is.
Background: Here we are in a wine cellar with many wooden shelves, aging barrels, and cobwebs. There is a worn mattress within a shoddily built tent of patched sheets and cork that Alexander and Decima built when they were children. The only light down her comes from candles that burn down to the nub, wax dripping across cellar bricks and pooling on the floor. Expensive bottles of wine are stacked on shelves arranged by vintage with a new brick wall being constructed around Alexander’s bound father. Not a great way to go…