Empire of Exiles Illustration: My first professional fantasy illustration!

Hello everyone! So this is a really cool story so let me start off with that:

I've been really digging fantasy stuff in the last few years; after the pandemic, fantasy has been my number one genre and I've been working on more fantasy stuff like Illarys, but also making fan art for my favorite characters. I've been drawing a bunch of fan art for the Brimstone Angels Saga, a D&D series about twin Tiefling girls, which is written by the awesome and kind Erin M. Evans! She's shared a bunch of my drawings on social media (which is really cool when you get seen by the creator!) and I learned very quickly that she had a new original fantasy story coming out: Empire of Exiles! She was nice enough to send me an Advanced Reader Copy, so I could get a jump start on the fan arts, and she decided to commission me to create an illustration for this new book!

I'll include my progress stages here, including a TikTok I made of my inking process on this illustration, which was used as a pre-order bonus as a bookmark and a device wallpaper! I'm really excited to have gotten this opportunity and to have my first fantasy illustration be for Erin, who is both kind and amazingly talented. I read Empire of Exiles in like 2 weeks, and I loved it! Below is my interpretation of the inciting incident, as this is a fantasy murder mystery and not all is as it seems!

You can pick up Empire of Exiles from all major booksellers, it's published through Orbit Books, so you can find it at Barnes and Noble or your local bookstores (and if they don't have it, you can ask them to order it for you)! It's also available as an e-book and an audiobook! At the end, I'll include the book description that is listed on Erin's website.

 

 

Here's a link to my ink video on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jorgesantiagojrcomics/video/7154534349751274798?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7159252760539448878

And here are the colors!

"Magic, mystery, and revolution collide in this fantasy epic where an unlikely team of mages, scribes, and archivists must band together to unearth a conspiracy that might topple their empire.

Twenty-seven years ago, a Duke with a grudge led a ruthless coup against the empire of Semilla, killing thousands. He failed. The Duke was executed, a terrifyingly powerful sorcerer was imprisoned, and an unwilling princess disappeared.

The empire moved on.

Now, when Quill, an apprentice scribe, arrives in the capital city, he believes he’s on a simple errand for another pompous noble: fetch ancient artifacts from the magical Imperial Archives. He’s always found his apprenticeship to a lawman to be dull work. But these aren’t just any artifacts — these are the instruments of revolution, the banners under which the Duke lead his coup.

Just as the artifacts are unearthed, the city is shaken by a brutal murder that seems to have been caused by a weapon not seen since the days of rebellion. With Quill being the main witness to the murder, and no one in power believing his story, he must join the Archivists — a young mage, a seasoned archivist, and a disillusioned detective — to solve the truth of the attack. And what they uncover will be the key to saving the empire – or destroying it again."

Check out Empire of Exiles, I'm already awaiting book 2!

Requiem Sonata chapter 3 pencils and inks

Hello! I've been drawing a lot lately and I need to share them on here more. Especially since this is the main site on my business card! Here are some non-spoilery pages of Requiem Sonata which I inked 18 pages of for Inktober!

My tools here are Zebra and Kuretake brush pens, Pentel Hybrid Technica pens in my Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook.

Requiem Sonata ch 2 pages 6-10 inks

Hello again, this time with an update on Requiem Sonata. I've actually finished this chapter and have sent it to press to hopefully have books printed for SPX in September. I hope you all enjoy this sample and if you can, come by the table at the show! I'm also planning to start posting this as a webcomic soon, I'll post up more info when I have it.

Requiem Sonata is about the death of a famous classical pianist, Zhi, and how her friend, Detective Simone Durant, tries to solve the mystery of her death.

Requiem Sonata Chapter 2 Inks 1-5

Here are some pages I've inked of Requiem Sonata chapter 2. I hope to have it finished and ready to print for SPX this September! I'd also love to have Curse of the Eel 4 and Rare Drops 2 out by then too.

Requiem Sonata ch2 pencils 16-20

Here's an update with more pages of pencils for chapter 2. I hope you enjoy them!

Requiem Sonata Ch.2 Pencils 1-10

Here are pencils for the first 10 pages of Requiem Sonata chapter 2. I'm still drawing them in my Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook, which is 9x12 inches and is considerably smaller than my usual working size of 11x17. Still, I find this really comfortable. The panels don't seem to be stopping me from doing dynamic work, so I'm grateful for that, and in fact, working smaller allows me to be more flexible with work anywhere. I haven't been super productive lately due to work woes and life woes, but when I can scribble a few panels I feel a ton better.

My pencils now are a lot messier because I like to have room to play in my inks. Instead of refining the lines down to the final one, I keep them loose and let inker Jorge decide which line is best, or if needed, redo the area. This adds a lot to my speed because I'm not sitting and dwelling over problems, the me of tomorrow is a better artist than the me of right now, so leaving things up to his more skilled eye is a great confidence boost. Anyhow, here are the pages!

J is for Jason - A to Z Character Challenge

J is for Jason, from KCNO. If Irene is one of my favorite characters, she rivals or shares the top spot with Jason.

Jason has an extremely popular radio show in his town. Love Me Do is a hit with people of all ages and Jason is known for giving solid advice on love, life, pretty much anything callers have a problem with, Jason can help them. His voice has brought many people joy, but then the people began to wonder who Jason is. What does he look like? Why doesn't he attend events? Why is this man that they love so much an enigma, and why does he want to keep it that way?

If you'd like to read KCNO, you can find it here: KCNO. KCNO is one of my most well received books, it's the only one I can think of that has actually made people cry, and it's one of the books I think I've done some of my best comic work on. The art is dated, but in terms of storytelling and layering and everything else, it's the book I'm probably most proud of. If you read it, I hope you enjoy! Comment to say what you think if you give it a read!

Tools: Pentel Pocketbrush and Copic multiliners
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook

Requiem Sonata 1 and Curse of the Eel 3 on sale at Fluke 4/11/15

Guess who has new books! No it's me! I'll have these 2 for sale, as well as other comics for sale at Fluke in Athens, Georgia tomorrow! Come by if you like, and any unsold books will be added to my bigcartel store after the show! I'll also be doing sketches if anyone would like one, so if you're a fan of my sketches of the day and are in the neighborhood, come on by!

Curse of the Eel is about a goth girl named Connie who is being terrorized by bullies. One day, seeking shelter from them in an abandoned house in the woods, she accidentally summons up an Eldritch-like Eel creature that is like the monsters she has loved to read about since she was little. Can the Eel make her life better, or is it just another nuisance that Connie has to put up with every day?

Requiem Sonata is about a famous classical pianist named Zhi. She has traveled the world playing Mozart, Schumann, all of the greats and she is loved for her skills. After a bizarre performance, Zhi's body is found at the bottom of a bay. Detective Simoné, an ardent fan of Zhi's, takes up the case to discover why her favorite musician died.

Requiem Sonata Inks pages 13-16

So I've been working on pages and other things a bunch lately. I've also gotten more hours at work so my days at a computer outnumber my days at my desk. I'm fine with having a day job especially when it starts really helping me make it through the weeks so comics can come out effortlessly. These pages aren't quite effortless and I think they show it, but still I want to share them. I'm thinking the next batch will be better.

Also I owe a HUGE inktober post. It's almost impossible to keep up with this blog on a daily basis so a lot of my inktober posts went straight to my Instagram which has become my in progress art blog. This one is more scholarly I suppose, but soon I'll compile those posts on here. Or try to. We'll see! Some of these pages were Inktober entries so there is that too.

So these pages are inked with Zebra and Kuretake brush pens primarily. I like using them at this size (7.5x10.5in) over a brush simply for comfort. Holding a brush at this size is murder on my fingers so this is the best way to do it. As usual these pages are drawn in a Stillman and Birn sketchbook, which is a new thing I was trying to keep my comic making mobile. It has its pros and cons but ultimately going smaller was not a bad decision. I feel like I'm getting rid of all of my excess and focusing only on the necessary. This will help when I get back into my 11x17in pages, which I will once the first chapter of this story is in the can.

For now, please enjoy Requiem Sonata pages 13-16!

Requiem Sonata, inks ch1 pg 1-4 and 9-12

I've been working on these pages on and off for a few weeks and I really need to take more time to post them. These are inked with Zebra and Kuretake brush pens and the occasional Copic multiliner. There is a hunk of pages that are missing because those ones will be done with watercolors so I'm saving those all to do at one time. Overall I think it's coming out well, drawing smaller means less time to spend on things that aren't important, so I hope the pages don't seem bare, but instead feel less distracting. I hope you like them!