I'm right in the middle of reading Katherine Kurtz's most recent Deryni fantasy book, "THE KING'S DERYNI." The Deryni are folk with magical powers who co-exist in conflict with the ordinary un-powered multitude, in a medieval world set in about 1300. There is plenty of court intrigue, religious persecution, royal processions, squires and knights, and scheming bishops. There is also, to my advantage as an illustrator, lots of costume description.
This guy is named Duncan McLain. He is one of the magical Deryni and in the current book story he is a teen-ager and the cousin and companion of the main character, the noble half-Deryni youth Alaric Morgan. Duncan lives a secular life, contracts a secret marriage and begets a child who he can never acknowledge, when he goes into the Church as a priest and eventually a Bishop. (See K.Kurtz' book THE BISHOP'S HEIR.) This character portrait is from the later timeline when he is a Bishop.
I had plans to do a graphic novel based on some of Katherine Kurtz's stories, but any projects I would do are on hold now that I am doing freelance professional work for other authors. Some of my preliminary sketches or early pages are actually quite good and when I get my new scanner (just purchased) installed I will show them to you.
Duncan is ink and watercolor on illustration board, 6 3/4" x 7 3/4", September 1989.
1 comment:
Swooning here. Duncan is my favorite Deryni character! I do Deryni action figures (along with their costuming). Katherine has a few of my figures. Duncan is one of my favorite figures to create wardrobe for, so it's wonderful to find someone else's take on him. Yours is (as ever) gorgeous!
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