ROI: Art Project: The Dragons of Offworld

One of the things, as a writer, that I've always wanted, but never seemed to find anyone with any interest in doing, was to have someone do some fan art for any number of my books I've created. One of those fanart projects I'd love to see happen would be to have someone draw the Dragons of Offworld. They are among my favorite characters in my latest book series, and thus hold a very special place in my heart as a writer. To give you an idea of what they look like, here's my description of them from the book:

It's head was like that of a fennec fox with a large canine muzzle, great big, furry ears and large, beautiful, opal colored eyes which sat upon a long, muscular neck. On its back were a set of large, feathery wings that were graceful in their form and design just like those of an eagle. It's arms and legs were both long, and its front paws were almost hand like and appeared just as dexterous as his own, despite the large, fearsome looking claws that protruded from them. It's body, in turn, was like that of a large cheetah, or even perhaps a tiger; and yet was very clearly built for flying with a large, pronounced, muscular chest and a wide, fan like tail that flared open and shut effortlessly like that of a peacock's. But what intrigued him the most was the glistening, ruby like armored scales that covered the creature's body from eartip to fantail. These, in turn, were covered by soft, gentle feathers of the same, brilliant red color, which gave the creature an almost furry appearance.

That's the basic description of the dragons, as presented in The Offworld Chronicles 2 - Dragon's Gambit. The only correction to this description I would make is that I missed describing an important point that someone else brought to my attention after the fact. With the dragons, their face and mouth aren't Fennec Fox. It's ears are like one, but their mouth is more akin to that of a Golden Retriever. So basically its head is like a blend of Golden Retriever, and Fennec Fox. I'll likely correct that in a future update of the book as I get the chance, as that distinction is kinda important. Especially when you're talking about dragons that can spit fireballs. :)

Now, that being said, given my description shown above, as well as the minor correction provided afterwards, is there anyone out there who might be interested in doing some fan art for me? And no, this isn't me being a lazy bum, not wanting to pay someone to do some actual official art for me. I mean, I'm cheap, but I'm not a darned scrooge. When I want professional art done, I'm more than happy to pay for it. What I want to see is how YOU picture the above described dragons. How you picture what we create, as authors, is something that every author loves to know, to understand, to see. Why?

Well, on one side it shows us if we're doing our job right and getting across to others the vision we see in our own minds when we create our books. So, it's sort of a litmus test for our own writing abilities. Authors like me also know that everyone is a little different, and sometimes a LOT different, in how they picture something that they've read. Some of that is flavored on past experiences, some on who they are, and some on the words we write. So, seeing a tiny piece of how you view the world, and our books, is part of the fun of being an author. That's why I love fan art. It helps me see what parts you liked, how you view the story, the characters, etc.

So if you're interested in creating some fanart for me, I'd appreciate it. And I promise I won't use it in any official capacity (other than maybe to brag you up if I really like it) without compensating you for it. It'll remain 100% your property, and under your rights, until I buy it from you. So why am I mentioning this? Because I know some people who do art are really touchy about that, so I figured to quench the idea of the "Grinch stealing Christmas" right off the bat in case anyone like that wanted to participate. But, if you can ignore the whole money thing, please do. This is meant as a fun project. I just want to see how you, as fans, envision the characters in my writing; specifically the dragons in this case. :)

So please, post your fanart here in the comments for everyone to see. I know we'd all love to see how each of you views my work. And, if you're really shy about it, then just email it to me and I can post it anonymously for you. :)