New Tribute Art: The Spook under the Starblaze

This artwork is a tribute to a character named Telzey Amberdon. Telzey, the creation of famed American sci-fi author James H. Schmitz, is a powerful psychic prodigy from the human-colonised planet Orado, and she appears in several stories in which her special abilities frequently get her both into and out of trouble. The scene I chose to illustrate is from a story titled Goblin Night. In this story, Telzey finds herself being hunted by a powerful beast known as a spook, which is under the control of an evil individual. (Incidentally, because of their appearance, spooks are also referred to as goblins, hence the story’s title.)

Although Goblin Night was originally published as a standalone short story, it was later incorporated into the novel-length version of The Lion Game. If you are into cool, sci-fi heroines having adventures akin to those you find in spy thrillers, I definitely recommend reading this novel. As well as, of course, Telzey‘s other stories!😊

New Tribute Art: The Little Mermaid and her New Legs

This illustration is inspired by the famous story written by the great Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid. I’m sure most people are familiar with the plot: a young mermaid princess falls in love with a human prince and she decides to win his love, no matter what it costs her. My drawing depicts the moment when she awakens and realizes that the magic potion (which she had drunk the night before) has successfully transformed her mermaid tail into human legs.

I’ve taken a couple of liberties with the little mermaid’s appearance; I don’t think Mr Andersen imagined the little mermaid with blue-green hair, but I think it gives her a lovely exotic appearance. And in any case, I personally love hair that colour.😋

New Tribute Art: Die Sterntaler

Die Sterntaler (The Star Money) is a German fairy tale made famous by The Brothers Grimm and it tells the story of a poor but kind-hearted orphan girl named Amelia, who gives away all her possessions (including her clothing) to help others. The reward for her kindness are stars, which fall to the ground around her as gold coins.

New Tribute Art: Dejah Thoris

Time for another piece of tribute art. This one is of the very lovely (and very naked) Dejah Thoris, the titular heroine from A Princess of Mars.

A Princess of Mars was one of several stories written a century ago by Edgar Rice Burroughs about the adventures of John Carter, an earthman on the red planet. Dejah is Carter’s love interest and is a perennial favourite amongst pin-up artists. I myself have been dying to draw her ever since I first read A Princess of Mars, a few years ago.😁

New Tribute Art: Pool of Tears

As no doubt many will realise, this illustration is a tribute to Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s story Alice in Wonderland (which, incidentally, I read for the very first time this year!). The title comes from the second chapter of the book, The Pool of Tears, in which a weeping Alice creates an impossibly large pool solely with her tears. In my illustration, Alice has only just started weeping, so that’s why the pool is still quite shallow.😋