Animals and alchemy: part one

I've been designing a set of Darkhaven-themed bookmarks to go in my fabulous mailing list giveaway. Originally I'd hoped to have them completed by now, so I could share them with you, but that didn't happen because … well, life. But I have drawn the basic designs, so I thought I'd talk a bit about them now and post again when they're done.

(That way I get two blog posts out of it as well. Cunning, eh?)

The first thing to say is that trying to design stuff whilst wearing a baby is not the easiest thing in the world. Tiny likes motion. I basically have to stand there swaying from side to side (except when I'm walking up and down the room), which doesn't really contribute much to the accuracy of my lines. And for the same reason, I can't use anything more high-tech than … well, a notebook and a biro.

(To be honest, I'm not sure why the biro. Even in the realm of low-tech art materials, there are better things than biros. But it's what I had to hand.)

Still, none of that should matter, because the next step is to scan the designs and use them as a basis for a set of computer graphics – at which point I can refine and tweak them as necessary. Of course, that also requires time away from Tiny, which is why I haven't got round to it yet.

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So what is the relevance of these designs to Darkhaven? As you may know if you've been following my ramblings for any length of time, the ruling class in Mirrorvale – the Nightshade family – have the ability to shapeshift. Traditionally, each of them takes the form of one of five creatures: firedrake, phoenix, unicorn, hydra or griffin. Thus there will be five bookmark designs in total.

That covers the animals. But what of the alchemy? Well, each creature is said to embody one of the five material elements of Mirrorvalese alchemy: flame, wood, ice, steel and wind. In alchemical notation, each element has a colour and a sign associated with it, which will be incorporated into the designs. But for more on that, you'll have to wait for part two of this post!

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