The Silent Deal

For the past month or so, I had been working on a commission for a book cover for a self-published book called "The Silent Deal".  The author, Levi Stack, got in touch with me because he enjoyed my "Save the Date" image from my wedding so much.  I had used Vladislav Erko's playing cards as inspiration for the Save the Date, and Levi was looking for a similar style for his cover.  He wanted the two main characters to be shown on the king of spades card.  Levi had wonderful descriptions for the way the characters looked and how the personalities differed.  He was a great help, and made making the image an extremely painless experience.  I hope "The Silent Deal" is a success and we can work together again on the next book in the series.

Here is an image of the finished painting:

The Silent Deal, 13.25" x 20", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2013. ©Owen William Weber

And here is the final cover image.  I personally think this looks awesome, and I'm very happy this came out looking so tasteful.  So please pick this book up when it is released, I will add a link when you can order it.

Wolves of Winterfell - Ghost

Finally, wrapping this series up is, personally, my favorite direwolf, Ghost.  Ghost is the runt, sort of.  He's the odd man out.  He's albino, and a perfect companion to Jon Snow.  He makes Jon more terrifying to his opponents, and he makes Jon look like a leader to his brothers in Black.  Ghost is one of the only animals in "A Song of Ice and Fire," that moves the story along.  He finds dead bodies in the snow, he brings Jon to save Commander Mormont, and much more.
Here I have tried to show Ghost at his most ghostly.  In a snowstorm north of the wall, his body blending in with the landscape, and all you can see is his deep red eyes.
So here concludes this series, hope you have all enjoyed it.  I will put these images on my website soon and then put prints and originals on etsy.

Wolves of Winterfell - Greywind

Today's wolf is arguably the most ruthless of all the Direwolves. Robb has trained Greywind to be a warrior and all of Westeros knows this. Greywind is known as being Robb's right hand and a force that has to be dealt with in order to defeat Robb.
Here I have shown him in the middle of the battlefield, looking his angriest.

Wolves of Winterfell- Summer

Today's wolf is Summer. Here I show him when he was still in Winterfell under a weirwood tree. Summer is a wolf that I really loved from the beginning when he killed Bran's assassin. I love how protective he has been and how connected he and Bran have been from the start. Now they have almost become the same character.

Wolves of Winterfell - Lady

Today's wolf is Lady.  She was the first one to die and so we never quite knew what role she would have played in Sansa's life and how things would have been had she stayed in the story.  Would Sansa have been a fiercer character? Would Lady have played a part in killing any main characters? Or would she have been the lamest of the Direwolves and been kept in a life of ribbons in her hair and had a vegetarian diet?  We'll never know.  I like to think she would have made Sansa stronger and made Joffrey fear torturing Sansa so much.
Here we see Lady just a few moments before her impending doom.

And a Happy New Year Everyone!  Last year was the Best Year of my life, so I'm hope this year will be only slightly less good.

Wolves of Winterfell - Shaggydog

This is my second of six posts showing my series of the Direwolves from the "A Song of Ice and Fire" books.
This is Shaggydog, Rickon's wolf. He is quite a fierce protective pet, but I wanted to show him in a calmer state, wandering the snowy terrain.

Wolves of Winterfell - Nymeria

This is the first of the series of Direwolves portraits from the " A Song of Ice and Fire" series of books by George R.R. Martin. These are meant to be seen as portraits of the characters but also they can be seen as just portraits of wolves, coinciding with my series of other portraits of mammals. Here you can see Nymeria with her pack roaming through the woods.
Each of these paintings are only 5" x 5".
Everyday this week I will unveil another wolf, and once that is done I will put them on my etsy page for purchase as an original or as prints.

Ragnarok: Fenrir Swallows Odin Whole

Yay! I FINALLY FINISHED! Sorry folks, that took way too long.  If memory serves we started this project back in november? Awful, simply terrible.  But I have been doing a couple commissions and arranging my wedding preparations, which include a bit of design work.  But I have finished.  This is my depiction of a small event that happens during Ragnarok, the Norse Armageddon, where Fenrir, a giant wolf, swallows Odin, the Norse Zeus, whole.  Don't worry, because later one of Odin's sons, Víðarr, cuts Fenrir's belly open, freeing Odin.  I love Odin, he's got one eye, carries a spear, has wolves and ravens at his bidding, and has a great big bushy beard!  I painted a portrait of my professor, Dennis Nolan, as Odin back in college.  I am Danish, so I have Viking blood in me, or at least I tell myself that every night before  I sleep, so I loved doing this piece.  I had been a little while since I had done something so big, 18" x 24", which I thought this painting deserved.  Hope you all like it!

Ragnarok: Fenrir Swallows Odin Whole Sketch

Sorry for the quality of the picture, this was as good as I could do right now.  Fenrir, the huge wolf, eats Odin whole as Valhalla is destroyed in the background by falling meteors or fireballs or something epic like that.  In the final I'm thinking Fenrir will be tones of red, pretty much the entire pice will be in a reddish hue.  Snow will be falling, people will be running out on the gates of Valhallah.  It's gonna be fun.