Secret confession time: If I ever got a tattoo, it would be the Flame of Tar Valon. I've seen lots of great Wheel of Time body art over the years. It's surprisingly popular. We had a henna artist at JordanCon this year and she spent all weekend painting chapter icons on anyone that would hold still long enough. Hopefully we'll have her back next year and even more people will get to sport some awesome body art.

Most of these are from the "Wheel of Time Tattoo" thread on our forums.

Lord Zupka posted this awesome colored version of the Snake and Wheel logo that a friend did. I love the detail and the shading on this one. The artist did a great job.

NicholasFallon has the Dragon on his calf. He says he decided to get a Wheel of Time themed tattoo after hearing about Robert Jordan's death in 2007. If you go to the thread, you can see pictures of his other one.

Our very own Wheel of Time Admin, Luckers has these on his wrists. He uses them to get free drinks from fanboys.

Norienne really, really likes the Aiel.

In other news, it was announced earlier this week that Micheal Whelan will be doing the "cover" art for the eBook edition of A Memory of Light. Longtime series artist Darryl K. Sweet will still do the cover for the US hardback and paperback editions.

One of our more popular requests for Fan Art Friday is the Children of the Light. Disparagingly known as "Whitecloaks", this is an independant military organization dedicated to wiping out the Shadow and hunting Darkfriends where ever they might be. Their symbol is a golden sunburst.

This is Galad by ToranekoStudios Galad is free from many of the prejudices that plague the Children. His own sister is an Aes Sedai and he trained for a time in Tar Valon with the Warders. While Galad is notorious for always doing the right thing, no matter the cost, he knows the difference between a regular adversary and one sent by the Shadow.

This is a pretty cool version of the Children's sunburst. It looks like it was done in neon lights. It's by LMSP

This is a great comic book inspired version of a Child by Glenn Art. I love the pose. It looks like it's about to real where ever he is.

And that's all I've got for today. If you've got suggestions, please send them too jennifer@dragonmount.com

It's time for another round of Fan Art Friday! This week, let's take a look at Min, the third member of Rand's harem. Let's get to it.

In the first book, Min is described as dressed like a boy and almost resembling one until you get a good look at her face. Then you realize shes too pretty for a boy. This pencil sketch by emilyseal is perfect for that description. I love how she made Min so drop dead gorgeous, but still played up the masculine aspects of her dress.

I like this cartoony, MS Paint looking version of Min by Caroline Cook. One of the things that stand out to me is that the artist drew Min's visions too. The viewings are such a central aspect to Min's character and one of the tings that keeps her from just being Rand's other other love interest.

Check out this one by kaikonen. The artist depicted Min with her knives that she uses for self defense, and a book. Min has appointed herself Rand's chief scholar and has been researching how he can defeat the Dark One and live. Not a small question as far as she's concerned.

The artist, Onimyaah, describes it thusly:

I really like Min, I like... how discreet she is, she's not an Aes Sedai either and her special gift is pretty discreet too ^_^ She's both quite normal and not really. She's got a nice middle ground, and I also like the tomboy part of her... I see her as feminine too though... Anyway, I wanted to show this side of her but also her "viewing gift"

I could not have said that better myself.

As a side note, the theme this month in Dragonmount's Artists, Crafters, Writers Social Group is "Celebration". So if you'd like to participate, check out our forums.

Welcome back to Fan Art Friday! Last week on Twitter we asked for some suggestions for future articles. One of the most popular suggestions was "Landscapes" or illustrations of the places described inthe books. Since I had a computer issues and a tight deadline for school and didn't get this done in time to run last week, this edition will be a little longer than usual. And if you have suggestions for what you'd like to see in this space, be sure to email me: jennifer@dragonmount.com

Probably one of the most popular things to illustrate is the city of Tar Valon. It's such a central place to the series, the heart of the Aes Sedai power and the most beautiful city in the world. I think it's natural that artists would want to depict it.

This sketch by rayblasdel also includes some of the White Tower. I like his concept of the Tower being topped with glass, even if it's not accurate to the books. It's a cool visual and it seems like the Aes Sedai would have something wondrous like that in their home.

Here's another view of Tar Valon from Gala-maia. One of the interesting features of Tar Valon are the sky bridges. They don't get mentioned much, but it's nice to see them here.

Another very popular place in fan art is the Stone of Tear. Here's a great 3D render of the Heart of Stone where Callandor was kept by Lahooligante. I really like the lighting on this one.

My friend Art Guy Joedid this 3D model of Caemlyn several years ago. Caemlyn is often considered the second most beautiful city in the world. I think this image really gets across that sense of scale and grandeur you'd expect.

I'd be remiss if I didn't show an image of our namesake. Here's Dragonmount by UidinDragonmount is supposed to be a mountain taller than Everest, that juts out of a rolling plain near Tar Valon. I think this piece really captures that alien feeling, that Dragonmount isn't a truly natural feature of the landscape.

And that's all for today. Feel free to post your favorites in the comments below.

First up is this digital painting by Shenku-Netsou This is Rand's dream of Tar Valon from near the beginning of The Eye of the World. (Is anyone else amused that most of the plot of the first book was "Let's go to Tar Valon!" and Rand doesn't make it there until Towers of Midnight? Just me? Okay.) Tar Valon is always described as a very beautiful, very clean city.

Richard Boyetook his inspiration for this pencil sketch of the White Tower from the Vatican. Which makes sense, because the medieval Church was one of the inspirations Robert Jordan used when creating the Aes Sedai and their culture.

Well here we are again with another ediotion of "Fan Art Friday". There's been requests for Shawdowspawn artwork this week, so that's what we'll do. Remember, if you have requests or want to point me at something to use, just email me: Jennifer@dragonmount.com

First up is this great action shot of Rand filching the Horn of Valere from the trolloc camp in The Great Hunt.

Liruichen has done a great job of depicting the trollocs with animal faces, but human eyes. They look scary. (And really, when was the last time we were scared when our heroes encountered trollocs?) It's a great picture.

Behold the true terror that is Chibi Myrddraal!And those aren't eyes, those are eyebrows according the artist, Jonmkl.

Here's an actually scary one from Qoo42 I picture them as not quite so ghostly, but I'm not going to quibble.

Here's a fantastically creepy digital render of a Draghkar attacking a woman by karibous-boutique That's hella creepy.

And I don't know if he really counts as shadowpawn, but here's Padan Fain. Apparently Mandersen did this on an iPod Touch. I had no idea that was even a thing you could do. This version of Fain is suitably creepy though.

And that's it from me this week. Feel free to share your own favorites in the comments.

Welcome to another edition of Fan Art Friday! We've spent a lot of time on the heroes of the series recently, so let's take a look at the villains. Since there's so many of them, there will be some extra images this week. Shall we begin?

Check out Seamus Gallagher's incredibly creepy Aginor. Aginor is the "mad scientist" Forsaken and was trapped near the surface of the Bore. He was one of first to emerge and one of the first to be destroyed by Team Lightside at the Eye of the World. He is later revived by the Dark One in a new, less rotted body and named "Osan'gar".

This portrait of Lanfear was done by Mandersen. I think of all the Forsaken, Lanfear is probably the one that spends the most time thinking of her image. Unless she's in disguise (and sometimes even then), you never see her without her trademark lunar themed jewelry. I'm saying this girl primps a lot.

Here's a really striking group portrait of of Ishmael, Mesaana and Demandred from Gala-maia. I really like the bold colors in this one. Demandred looks just as snotty as I pictured him. That's a punchable face if I ever saw one. Mesaana's outfit is a little fancier than what I imagined, but maybe she's tired of slumming it by masquerading as an Aes Sedai?

This is a great pencil sketch of Sammael by googooliniI love the scar. It's just perfect. Also his eyes really do seem to burn with frustrated evil, don't they?

Here's a really fantastic Graendal by Ruben de Vela. Now, not all the details are correct. Her hair isn't curly and I don't think she's curvy enough. But check out that throne she's lounging on. Yup, she's sitting on a pile of naked, oiled thralls. None of the other Graendal portraits I looked at had that detail.

And that's it for this week! If you want to suggest artwork or themes, please email me at Jennifer@dragonmount.com.

Sorry about last week everyone. It was one of those perfect storms of obligation, plus another round of illness. The last month and half or so for me has been pretty busy and last week was the culmination of quite a few things. But enough of that. You don't care about me. You just want some sweet, sweet fan art.

Faile seems to be one of those love/hate characters. She's pretty young, even compared to the other protagonists who are in their late teens and twenties, and she's not a big of the direct, open, honest communication thing. Her marriage to Perrin isn't always hugs and puppies and a good portion of that comes from her stubborn refusal to just tell Perrin why she's upset.

But despite those flaws, Faile truly loves her husband. She's brave, intelligent and cunning. She is fiercely protective of her people and feels a great responsibility to them. Perrin may have earned his lordship through brave deeds, but Faile that teaches him what that means and how to perform the role.

This fantastic watercolor by Seeshi_suin captures some of that strong character. Faile is never described as "beautiful" or even "pretty". But even with that, she would be someone you'd still look at and pay attention to. You can see her strong nose and slightly tilted eyes. The pose the artist gave her, especially that little head tilt, indicates a strong personality. I think this really captures her well.

This version of Faile by anti-ignoramus also includes her totem animal, the falcon. "Faile" means falcon in the Old Tongue and it's the nickname her father used for her and everyone always says it suits her better than her given name. I like the detailing on her dress. It seems like a very Faile kind of outfit. Rich, without being elaborate or impractical. She is a woman of action.

aiconx's version of Faile is dressed a little sexier than I imagined, but I think still does her justice. I like the inclusion of the fans. It almost looks like she was interrupted in the middle of dancing the sa'sara.

Before I close this up, one thing I've had questions on lately is "How do I get featured on Fan Art Friday"? There's really no process. I just take an hour or two each week and Google like crazy until I have three or four pieces I like for whatever theme I'm going for. If you've got something you want to make sure I see, either upload it to the Dragonmount Gallery. I always check there first. Or, if you have it somewhere else, email me a link. My email address is Jennifer@dragonmount.com. If I can fit it into a theme, I'll use it. I also appreciate suggestions for themes you'd like to see. I've also been known to post things I like, but decide not to use on Tor.com's official Wheel of Time Facebook portal, which I am the host of. So either way, it'll be seen by a lot of fans.

This week on Fan Art Friday, we're looking at Nynaeve al'Meara, one of the main characters of the Wheel of Time series. Nynaeve is a powerful channeler, who grows from ill tempered village Wisdom to ill tempered Aes Sedai and all around bad ass. Nynaeve's character arc is one of the most interesting to me. It ranges from romantic, to funny, to dramatic with everything in between.

RoseMuse agrees with me, looking at her "Stages of Nynaeve". Look at all that stuff she does. For awhile, I was convinced that Nynaeve was the female lead of the series, not Egwene. I still think you can make at an argument for her. Egwene might get to be Amyrlin, but Nynaeve was going toe to toe single handedly back when Egwene was still playing Wise Ones' apprentice.

One of Nynaeve's defining physical characteristics is her braid. Not just a fashion statement, the braid is also a barometer of her moods. She tugs it when she's annoyed, and deliberately sets it aside when she's trying to project an aura of calm. This piece is by vild.

This is another really nice version of Nynaeve by RainfeatherPearl. Like many Aes Sedai, Nynaeve tends to wear her Ajah color (yellow). But she also favors colors like green, blue and white since those her husband's favorite colors.

Oooh! Check out this great Nynaeve miniture by laundryhamper! I'd love to see a "making of" to go with it. I'm not terribly crafty myself, but I love seeing how folks put together things.

And that's all I've got this week. See you next week!

Welcome back to another Fan Art Friday. This week, I'm nursing a pretty nasty cold, so my comments will be brief so I can go back to bed. See how I suffer for you, Wheel of Time fans.

This one just makes me go "Oooh!" It's a very nice painting of Perrin and a wolf by TheKarelia. Despite Faile's attempts to clean him up a bit, Perrin still thinks of himself as a village lad. Fan art tends to reflect that, placing him in rural or rustic settings. Perrin just belongs out in the woods somewhere.

Another gorgeous painting, this one by Dragonmount member Seeshi_suin. This is Perrin pre-Failoe, obviously. Note the lack of beard.

The composition on this one is really interesting to me. Perrin would normally get the focus, since he's one of Our Heroes. But instead liruichen focused on Aram, the underling, who saves Perrin's life during the Battle of the Two Rivers.

To round things off, here's a study done by Toraneko. This Perrin is suitably shaggy.

By the way, if you aren't in the habit of coming back to these after I post them, several posters (especially SaraV) have made it a habit to find and post their own favorite fan art based on whatever theme I picked that week. Since I have a self imposed limit of just three or four pieces in every article, this is a good way to see things I might have missed. Also, we recently updated the software for Dragonmount's Gallery. It's easier than ever to find artwork, or even upload your own to share with friends.

And now I'm going back to bed.

Well, I'm finally back from JordanCon. If you haven't had a chance yet, check out the excellent episode the Dragonmount Video team made about it.

This week, we're looking at the Aiel. Next year's JordanCon will be "Car'a'con", so it's never too early to start getting ideas for costumes.

This is an excellent group portrait of several Aiel by Jeremy Saliba. The Aiel form of dress is based on Arab tribesmen and I think this illustrates that. The clothes are flowing, with lots of pockets and layers that allow for cool air to be trapped inside and protect the skin from the sun. But since the Aiel are also warriors, it takes the form of loose trousers and shirts, rather than flowing robes and caftans. Jeremy is one of two officially licensed fan artists, but unfortunately this piece isn't for sale.

This Maiden pencil sketch is done byNelly Lozanova. Far Dareis Mai is the only all woman warrior society in Randland until Elayne creates her bodyguard. The Seanchan army seems to be gender neutral, and the forces of Randland proper seem to be predominantly male, with the exception of a few women mercenaries. I like the shading and the lines on this piece.

This sketch of the Wise Ones by Gala Maia is a little rougher than the other pieces, but I still think it does a good job of conveying the strength and power of these women. Sorilea (in the middle) in particular looks like she could kill and eat me.

This is a very lovely digital painting by fee-absinthe called "I have toh". Aviendha lies about her feelings to Rand, and has to meet her toh. She chooses to be beaten by the Wise Ones, though she does not tell them who she lied to or what about. The colors in this are amazing and I love that the background is unfinished. It lets you really focus on the subject. Really nicely done.

Would you believe that I had this done and then something hiccuped and I lost everything? So annoying. I had to redo this from scratch in a hurry. But I think I found even better art this time around for you.

This week, we're looking at the women of the White Tower. The Aes Sedai are a huge part of Robert Jordan's story. The Tower itself is the backdrop of many plotlines and a good chunk of the female characters are either Aes Sedai, or have trained at some point to be Aes Sedai.

First up is this portrait of Leane by Fee-Absinthe. Leane was Siuan's Keeper of the Chronicles until her stilling. Not knowing if she's ever be able to channel again, she turned to being a sexpot for something else to fill her time. It's kind of fun watching a woman who had denied herself sexuality for so long, decide to complete own it. This portrait captures that transition I think.

Elaida, by sicilianvalkyrie Elaida is a Sitter for the Reds, who masterminds a coup against Siuan Sanche and becomes Amyrlin herself. The Tower coup is the shattering that sets a good deal of the plot in motion making Elaida a key character. She has now held prisoner by the Seanchan and by all reports, she is NOT a good damane.

Ah, Liandrin. She pretty much drips "Black Ajah" from the moment we see her. This is by ravenwing136

And that's all I've got time for today. I'll have to do this theme again and see if I can find some of what I originally used.

Speaking of time, I'll be Chairing JordanCon next weekend. I may not have time to write this column ahead of time so it can run while I'm gone. So if you don't hear from me, you know what's going on. And if you'll be at the convention, be sure and say "Hi" to me.

Orly? Yah rly. This week's Fan Art Friday is all about the lols. Last year, Theoryland started a "Wheel of Time Lolcat" thread that was pretty amazing. The meme migrated it's way to Dragonmount not long after and here I have culled the ones that made me laugh the hardest from both threads. If you like what you see, definitely check out both threads to see what didn't make the cut. Since there won't be much commentary this time, I'll even through in a few extras.

Noes!11 They be cleansin may Taint!

You really can't go wrong with a classic videogame reference.

Mat works strangely well as a cat.

Aww. Poor Logain.

Hee!

And this one is just cute.

How about you guys? Any that I missed that you enjoyed?

This week Fan Art Friday we're going to deviate a little bit from strictly fan art and show off some pieces from the Japanese translations of The Wheel of Time. We are, of course, very saddened by the recent earthquake in Sendai and tsunami that affected the Pacific Rim. We hope that any Japanese fans out there reading this are safe and know where their loved ones are.

For those who aren't aware, the entire series has been translated into Japanese and published with new covers and interior art by Toshiaki Katou. As is common with translated books, each one has been split into several smaller volumes. The Japanese editions average between four to five volumes per book. The official website for the Japanese editions is hosted by Japan Contents.

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This is from the second volume of The Eye of the World. It's Moiraine and Lan, looking spooky and foreboding. I'm sorry that we don't have a better resolution scan of this. The detail on these pieces is incredible.

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This is from the second part of The Dragon Reborn. Nynaeve is pretty easy to pick out with her braid, but did you notice that Elayne is rising out of a lily? And her personal sigil is a golden lily? Like I said, attention to detail. I don't know what those feathers around Egwene are supposed to be though.

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Rand, from towards the end of A Crown of Swords. If I was a guy, I'd totally use this as my forum avatar. FEAR ME!

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And finally, Moghedian, the Spider. Chilling, huh? Too bad she's such a wussy Forsaken.

To see more Japanese covers check out our recently upgraded Art Gallery. And if you'd like to donate money to help fund relief efforts in Japan or the Pacific, the White Tower Social Group has helpfully collected some links.

http://american.redc...ainDonateButton

http://www.redcross....id=2372&tid=032

The UK red Cross

Or you can donate via text message:

America - text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10

Canada - text ASIA to 30333 to donate $5

This week for Fan Art Friday, we're going to take a look at the Black Tower. The Asha'man uniform is a black, high collared coat. As they gain rank, they earn pins that can be worn on the collar. Don't ask whether the Dragon is on the right or the left, because that topic has completely derailed every discussion on men's costuming we've ever attempted at either Dragon*Con or JordanCon. Seriously.

But fannish arguments aside, let's take a look at some art:

A nice, generic Asha'man by Katerina Borovikov. Note that the Asha'man pin is silver in this piece, instead of the canonical gold and red enameled described in the books. That's something you see in Wheel of Time costuming as well, because the sterling silver version of the Dragon pin that Badali sells is far more affordable than the red and gold version.

I love this one. It's pretty simple and to the point. "Asha'man! Explode stuff!" DeviantArt user liruchen describes this as "Saldeaen Asha'man", which explains the mustache. Pretty fabulous use of line and form on this one too.

This one is a really nice study of an Asha'man. I think one of the reasons the Black Tower has become so popular in fandom isn't just that you get to dress in black and set fires with your mind, it's the sense of struggle the Asha'man have. To save the world, they have to embrace the part of themselves that's terrible and destructive. They risk madness to learn how to channel. It's a tremendous sacrifice they make. This piece by solitarium captures that feeling.

Another juxtaposition you see frequently is Asha'man with sisters of the Red Ajah. The Reds as a whole get a bad reputation in the books. They come off as man haters, even though there are several Reds who enjoy men and one even openly wishes for a Warder. The Reds, however, are the first Aes Sedai to really understand what the Black Tower means and offer to bond them as Warders. This is without knowing that saidin has been cleansed or what might happen to a woman bonded to mad man. It's an incredible act of courage for them to say "Men who can channel are our responsibility" and take that so seriously.

Anyways, I'm editorializing and it has very little to do with this picture by gala-maia of Logain with one of the Reds he bonded against her will. I personally prefer the idea of the Reds and the Asha'man standing together against the Shadow, rather than one side victimizing the other.

This week. let's look at the central figure of the Wheel of Time series: Rand al'Thor.

Rand, from the beginning of the series. This is one of the early chapters of The Eye of the World, where he first sees the black rider. It's by James Beveridge, who once had a project to draw an illustration for each chapter of the series. He only got through the early chapters of the first book, but the art was incredible. You can see the whole project here.

I wanted to start with this one, because when you Google "Rand al'Thor", pretty much every single picture you see is of the PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS Rand. I wanted to see the farm boy from the Two Rivers Rand too.

See, this is what I'm talking about. Fire! Explosions! Shirtlessness! Still, I really like this picture by DeviantArt user Dmantz. There's a nice level of detail to it. He's got the wound that never heals, the Dragons on his forearms and everything is nicely textured. It's a good portrait.

Another shirtless Rand. This one by fan favorite Seamus Gallagher. The reason I comment so much on the shirtlessness is that I just don't recall Rand wandering around half naked all the time. But according to the fans, he's the Matthew McConaughey of ta'veren. I guess it's like Mat and his green coat, you get described that way once in this series and that becomes your default outfit.

Ah, good old Mark Bray. I knew I could count on you to draw some clothes. I also like the detail on his tattoos.

And because I've been awfully silly in this update, let's go for broke with this amazing video.

Be sure to check out the new and improved DM Gallery!

This week, for Fan Art Friday, we're looking again at the artists who post their art on this site. If you don't know already, Dragonmount is host to the Artists, Writers and Crafters Guild, an online club for creative types. There's lots of stuff going on there every month, you should check it out. The Guild's theme this month was "Love" and all of the art featured this week is on that theme.

This is a really nice wallpaper of Perrin and Faile by kirbalouga. I like the way she works in Perrin and Faile's totem animals, the wolf and the falcon.

A nice portrait of Moiraine and Siuan from New Spring by Mercutia. Mercutia calls this one "Accomplices" which I think is an accurate description of Moiraine and Siuan as Accepted. I can't be the only one who wants to see a reunion between those two, especially now that they are all het up.

That is, unfortunately, all the Wheel of Time art that was posted on the forums last month that fit the theme. Hopefully next month will have more for us to enjoy. Since I usually like to post three or four different pieces each week, here's a little something to round things off.

Some fan on Youtube has put together a nice montage of fan art set to music from the official Wheel of Time soundtrack, which was composed by Robert Berry several years ago. Enjoy!

This week, we're looking again at a specific artist. For those of you that read the comments here, you may have noticed one artist in particular gets linked fairly often. That's RoseMuse.

RoseMuse has a cartoonish style that seems very inspired by anime to me. Her characters have clean, simple lines, but don't skimp on detail. I love this portrait of Rand with his three ladies, especially the facial expressions. Aviendha looks adorably angry.

I think she has a way of capturing the essential of a character, or a moment, even if her characters are a bit "cute". Egwene looks really, really angry in this picture of her calling lighting against the Seanchan. But she also looks cute enough to eat with a spoon. I like the dichotomy.

But she also shows real emotion and poignancy. Elayne looks truly haunted by her royal ancestors in this portrait.

She can also be freakin' hilarious. I highly, highly recommend clicking through to her gallery to see her "Stages of" series. Each is a character going through the stages of development we see in the books. I was going to feature one here, but I just can't pick one. So go look at all of them.

As a reminder, this is the last week for, the Artists, Writers and Crafters Group on Dragonmount this month. The theme for February is "Love", so if you have a piece of Wheel of Time fan art that fits that theme and you'd like to see it here, post it on the forums and I'll choose my favorites to post next month.

This week, let's take a look at everyone's favorite rogue, Mat Cauthon. Mat is one of those characters that really grows on you as the series progresses. I remember not really caring or noticing him too much at the beginning, except as a plot MacGuffin in The Great Hunt. But after you see his first POV in The Dragon Reborn, you become aware of his sly wit. I like that as the characters gain more and more social standing in their world, there's still one guy who is all "Yeah, what ever. I knew you back when, Miss Hoity Toity." Let's see how he pops up in fan art.

This is what I think most of us think of when we think of "Mat". He's got the hat, he's got the scarf and he's holding dice. What's funny is that Mat does really become "Mat" until later in the series than the other ta'veren. Rand starts dressing like a lord in The Great Hunt after Moiraine steals his clothes. Perrin's clothes never really change, just Faile makes sure they are nice now. And they both figure out their unique abilities early on as well. Mat doesn't realize his luck until the third book, and his skill as a general doesn't come until after he encounters the Ael'finn and Eel'finn in the fourth book. This portrait is by solitarium on DeviantArt.

This is a photomanipulation by PollyUranus on DeviantArt. I like the way she incorporated images of the Band with Mat. It's an unusual piece.

Another Mark Bray piece this week. This is Mat with the Ael'finn in The Shadow Rising. Most of the Mat pictures I've seen are portraits of him all Matted Up. It's nice to see something a little different.

And to do something a little different this week, here's a Youtube video I found while looking for something else. Eye of the Tiger, baby!

As a reminder, if you're interested in having your art featured on Fan Art Friday, the Artists, Writers and Crafters Group on Dragonmount is doing a challenge this month. The theme for February is "Love", so if you have a piece of Wheel of Time fan art that fits that theme, post it on the forums and I'll choose my favorites to post next month.

This week we're taking a look at fan interpretations of the Seanchan. The Seanchan are a multi-ethnic invading force we first meet in The Great Hunt. They were presented as mysterious foreigners with two defining characteristics. One, they keep "exotics", trained beasts seen no where else in Randland and with no real world counter part. Two, they leash women who can channel with the a'dam, a ter'angreal that prevents her from channeling without permission from a sul'dam. We've learned a lot more about them since that first appearance.

This is Mark Bray's version of a grolm and it's handler. Mark Bray was one of the most popular fan artists when Dragonmount first came online in 1998. It's great to see his art is still available.

This is another by Richard Boye, we've mentioned his art on Fan Art Friday before. Richard has always had a gift for capturing the clothing as described by Robert Jordan. I think he does a particularly good job of that in this portrait of Tuon and Selucia. For Tuon's outfit especially, you can see the Egyptian influences in the heavy gold collar with gems and the pleating of her linen skirt.

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From JordanCon" rel="external nofollow">https://picasaweb.google.com/jennifer.liang/JordanCon2010SaturdayNight?feat=embedwebsite">JordanCon 2010 Saturday Night

This is one of the costumes from last year's JordanCon. It's my friend Kelcey as High Lord Turak. Check out those pleated pants. Those took him forever to make. He even did the finger nails. It's a pretty detailed costume. You can see more detail up close. Kelcey also does a pretty bitchin' Asha'man and is working on Uno for this year's JordanCon.

As a reminder, if you're interested in having your art featured on Fan Art Friday, the Artists, Writers and Crafters Group on Dragonmount is doing a challenge this month. The theme for February is "Love", so if you have a piece of Wheel of Time fan art that fits that theme, post it on the forums and I'll choose my favorites to post next month.

Instead of a theme this week, I thought I'd just browse through Dragonmount's Gallery and see what's been posted recently. If you don't know, Dragonmount's Gallery is free to use and lets you display your art to an appreciative community of fans. So if you've got Wheel of Time art, consider hosting it here.

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This one caught my eye because of the title: "Young Moiraine, Keepin It Real". I don't think it's a particular scene from the books (if it is, it's probably from her testing for Aes Sedai), but I like the idea of an action scene with Moiraine and the composition is very nice. It's a very good sketch overall. You can see more of Liriuchen's art here.

This next image has small spoilers for Towers of Midnight. Nothing that would ruin your enjoyment of the book however. I just feel obligated to give the warning.

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This one has been making the rounds on Facebook and Twitter since Towers of Midnight was released. It's the details, I think, that make it such an instant classic. You have Perrin with his hammer, Mat with, well, he's just being Mat, and Rand holding Callandor, maimed hand behind his back and green grass growing around his feet. You can see the rest of Demander's gallery here.

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This is a scene I don't think I've ever seen illustrated before. It's Perrin verses the Whitecloaks in the stedding. You can see Egwene huddled behind Perrin under Hawkwing's hand and one of the slain wolves (Hopper?) at his feet. The style on this one is interesting. The pen and ink style always looks very old fashioned to me. This is by isamux.

If you're interested in having your art featured on Fan Art Friday, the Artists, Writers and Crafters Group on Dragonmount is doing a challenge this month. The theme for February is "Love", so if you have a piece of Wheel of Time fan art that fits that theme, post it on the forums and I'll choose my favorites to post next month.

This week, rather than focusing on a character, I thought we could look at an artist. If I had to guess, I think I'd say that Seamas Gallagher is one of the most popular Wheel of Time fan artists right now. He has a very distinctive style that's been seen in many places, from this website, to official licensed prints, to comic book covers.

I think part of what makes Seamus so popular is his distinctive style. Rather than the realistic style you see in most Wheel of Time fan art, it's much more stylized. The characters are instantly recognizable by trademark clothing, or expressions.

I think he does a great job of capturing the essential of a character.

According to his website, Seamas is a professional illustrator who has done concept art for video games, like Bioshock 2 and Tomb Raider: Underworld. And as I mentioned before, his artwork graces the covers of the The Eye of the World comic book adaption.

I'm starting to run out of things to say that don't make it sound like I'm slobbering on the dude. So I'll just pick out one more and send you to his website.

Seamas's website

Seamus's Wheel of Time art

I had so much fun last week finding pictures of Moiraine and Lan, I thought I'd do another character themed entry. So here's some art depicting Egwene in the various stages of her development.

This is a nice sketch I found on DeviantArt by *fee-absinthe. I'm assuming that this is meant to be from the beginning of the series, as this looks like the sort of outfit an innkeeper's daughter might wear. There's no hint yet of what's in store for her.

This is a great water color by Helena Zeegers. Helena used to have a very large amount of fan art available online, but it went down with Geocities. I found this on a site that had archived some of her work. Anyone have working contact info for Helena so we can ask her to put her WoT stuff online somewhere?

I like this piece because it shows Egwene pretty early in her story. We know she's headed to the Amyrlin Seat someday, but right now she couldn't be further. And Min is with her. You don't see much of Min and Egwene together in the later books, so it's nice to see this reminder of how deep their friendship goes.

Another picture from DeviantART. This one is by Vulcan82. This one is the closest to how I picture Egwene when I read. It's the stubborn jaw, I think. I love the look of oil pastels that was achieved here. It looks like something that might actually exist in Egwene's world.

Another of Egwene, the Amyrlin. This one is by Richard Boye. Richard was one of the first people to start posting Wheel of Time fan art online and for a long time was considered the gold standard for fan artists. I actually used this as an avatar here at one point, back before I knew you needed permission for that.

And one last piece...

This is by RoseMuse. It needs no commentary.

Are there any depictions of Egwene that I missed? Post em in the comments for everyone to enjoy.

Hi folks,

We're launching a new feature on Dragonmount today: Fan Art Friday. Jason and I have always wanted to do more to showcase the wonderful creativity of the Wheel of Time community and this seems like a good way to do that. Some weeks I'll showcase a particular artist. Other weeks I'll focus on different interpretations of characters or scenes. If a post will have Towers of Midnight spoilers, I'll be sure to say so.

This week, since we're running the New Spring giveaway, I thought I'd pick out a few portraits of Moiraine & Lan.

This piece is by Cicely Combs. Long time fans of Dragonmount will recognize a portion of this piece. It was one of the rotating corner icons we used in the previous site design. One of the things I've always liked about this Cicely's art is the way she uses lines. The thick, dark lines give it the feel of a stained glass window to me. Your eye follows them, and it gives a sense of movement. You can almost see the cloaks flapping in the wind. It's a great piece.

This one I found on DeviantART by an artist who goes by "Manweri". This is a really nice, classic interpretation of the two. With Moiraine wielding saidar and Lan hefting that big sword, you get a sense of how dangerous these two are.

Here's a really nice pencil sketch of Lan by himself. The proportions are a bit off, but I really like the way the artist did the color shifting Warder's cloak. You can just barely see the outline of it surrounding Lan. This one was found on Elfwood. It's by Greg Scott.

Check out this stunning portrait of Moiraine by DeviantART user "Westling". One of the nice details I notice is that she has thin stripes of red, white and green, the Damodred House colors in the trim of her bodice. It's a detail that you don't usually see in fan art. The dark blue over gown has an incredible richness to it. The texture looks like velvet. And the lighter colored underskirt looks patterned, like lace. It's an incredibly textured painting and it adds to the realism for me. This looks like a costume you might see at JordanCon or Dragon*Con.

Well, that's all for this week. Did I miss your favorite version of Moiraine and Lan? Feel free to post links in the comments section.