Internets, I give you: Kendis! Marie! Thompson!

[annathepiper]

Active negotation continues with my cover artist, ladies and gentlemen, and she just offered for my pleasure and delight these rough sketches of my girl Kendis, fiddle in hand!

Kendis Sketch #1

Kendis Sketch #2

We’re going to be going with something more like sketch #2 as Kiri, solarbird, and I proceed with the cover design, since it seems a bit more dynamic and better suited to Kendis as a character. And. Oh. My. God. I cannot wait to see a full color treatment of this!

I invite you all, O Internets, to imagine a more detailed version of this, in color, with Kendis’ golden eyes alight. And imagine what this same artist is also going to do with Elessir and Christopher. Now be thinking about that, because this, oh my yes, is going to be part of what that Kickstarter on the way is ALL ABOUT. You all can help me make this happen. And it is going to ROCK.

Internet, I am EXCITE!

ETA: And, having just posted the cover art, I have been immediately asked: does Kendis play her fiddle right handed or left handed? Faerie Blood never said whether Kendis is right handed or left handed, so it’s fair to assume she’s right handed. Therefore, fiddlers out there who haven’t already seen me post this to Facebook or G+, my question for you: she should be holding the bow in her right hand when she plays, yes? Because the fiddle will be resting on her left shoulder? This will of course impact the final art since Kendis needs to be holding the instrument correctly!

ETA #2: Just for everybody’s reference, while I tend to use the words ‘fiddle’ and ‘violin’ interchangeably in casual speech, I have been advised that there IS a difference between ‘bluegrass fiddle’ and ‘classically trained violin’. So Kendis, who learned to play in her school orchestra, should clearly be considering herself a ‘violin player’. Doublechecking Faerie Blood, I see that I used the word ‘fiddle’ twice; once was in a bit of dialogue of Christopher’s, so that can stand, but the other was Kendis in the narrative. So I’ll need to fix that in the second edition release.

I’m also being told that EVERYBODY pretty much learns with the instrument on the left shoulder. I’ll make sure this is appropriately reflected in the final art.

And I’m also being advised that the difference between ‘fiddle’ and ‘violin’ matters for how the bow is held as well, so I’ll make sure Kendis is holding the bow correctly as well.

Thanks to all who’ve advised me on this!

Mirrored from angelahighland.com.

Comments

[zeborah]

I play violin rather than fiddle so couldn't swear to the latter, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone playing with bow in left hand. (For violin at least, even if you were left-handed you wouldn't.) It looks astoundingly weird and wrong.

[valancy]

ditto in that I don't fiddle nor do I know much about fiddle directly, but I have seen lefty string-instrument players who look like the bottom picture though it's very uncommon. I'd say as a righty, she's gonna bow with her right and have the instrument on her left shoulder.

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I'm hearing this from multiple directions--that even if you ARE left-handed, you're taught to have the instrument on the left shoulder, the bow in your right hand.

I'm also hearing that holding the bow is different between bluegrass fiddle and classical violin. And while I tend to use the words 'fiddle' and 'violin' interchangeably in casual speech, Kendis says 'violin'. She learned to play in her school orchestra, so that'll matter with how she holds the bow. I'll need to make sure my artist knows!

[annathepiper]

See my above comment that I just left! I'll definitely have to make sure my artist has the instrument on the left shoulder, and we'll need to make sure Kendis is drawn holding the bow correctly as well! :)

[zeborah]

Oh right, then she's definitely a violinist. I think then the fingers should be on top of the bow, not curled around, and the thumb inside it; but I've never looked at how this looks to others, only how it feels/looks to me. :-)

[annathepiper]

I've had the good advice of using some images of some current well-known classical violinists as guides for my artist, so I'm going to point her at those. I found a couple of neat ones of a violinist called Midori that show some great active poses. :D