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.
In the hidden archives of the Scholars, Star Charts breathe and pulse like living creatures, organic parchments imbued with the restless will of the devourer. When unfurled, their surfaces convulse with subtle life: veins of mucus ooze like slug-trails, and constellations drift beneath translucent layers of shifting ink.
Felix receives a sacred scroll depicting Ursa Minor. To a Resonant like him, the stars loom in three dimensions, as real as the dusty shelves and antique tombs that surround him. He can feel the void between the points, a bone-chilling emptiness that creeps along his spine.
Because Felix is bound to Leviathan Sitis—the monstrous wyrm coiled in the Bear’s belly—he can decipher the beast’s path. The ritual is as grim as it is precise: with a knife, he scores the flesh of the scroll. The parchment bleeds, and where the crimson scab forms points the way Sitis will stir next among the stars.
As the fresh wound seals itself, the chart twists, and realigns. Felix’s heart hammers as he traces the glistening scar, knowing that each map is both guide and oracle, an unpredictable, living thing that can heal, shift, and even rebuke its reader if misused.