Art: Nagoya Castle and Dog

When I’m not writing, most of my other activities also involve sitting down, staring at a screen [or possibly a page]. In an exciting divergence, I decided to, just casually, try sitting down and drawing some stuff.

This is my effort of the exterior of Nagoya Castle (the original drawing is in the Unofficial Samurai Manual, which I reviewed here).

Fairly pleased with how it turned out. The distinctive curving slope of the stone base is tricky (and I should stress the more slanted tiles on the second highest roof is deliberate rather than cock-up). It’s a pretty simple drawing, using single point perspective.

I should stress I wasn't intending to draw anything beyond the wall, the green is just there to avoid a big blank gap.

As well as the curving stone base (which helps to make it earthquake-resistant) a difference between this and the English/Welsh castles I saw as a child is that the upper parts (here whitewashed) are largely wooden. That’s partly a function of time, earlier British castles being entirely wooden, but I’m not sure if castles in the Far East ever became almost totally stone.

Never going to try doing my own cover art or illustrating my own books, but if I can improve I might try drawing bits and pieces for readers to enjoy, or for promotional nonsense. Speaking of which, here’s a picture, with Egyptian style and Greek colouring, of the heroic Dog battling a monster in The Adventures of Sir Edric.

And, as it was today announced there’ll be a Witcher 3 Game of the Year (GOTY) edition out on 30 August with all DLC on-disc, here’s Triss Merigold looking thrilled at the prospect of once again being passed over in favour of Yen.

Thaddeus