Picture it–How the Author Sees Gateway to Aviandria

I’ve been thinking and thinking for a couple of months at least about what to do this week on the blog because as a fifth week, it is a wildcard post. I just wasn’t able to come up with any perfect ideas. I finally decided to share some of the drawings I’ve done that depict scenes from Aviandria. It’s something I didn’t really plan on doing for several reasons, but somehow, it just seemed right for this occasion. I do have a confession though. The title may not be quite accurate. The drawings are my best attempt to portray how I see the scenes on Gateway to Aviandria. They are super far from perfection. (After all, I’m a writer, not an artist.) They are drawn across a fairly wide space of time, so between that fact and the fact that my drawing skills are still not quite there, the characters don’t always look consistent from drawing to drawing. But still, I had fun, and that’s what matters most to me. (You can find more of my thoughts on this subject in this post.) I have done more than I posted here, but to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read the book, I only included pictures from the first half of Gateway to Aviandria. So, for what it’s worth, here is my personal portrayal of a few scenes.

Ashlynn arrives in Aviandria. I’ve actually attempted to draw this scene multiple times because it is really probably the most important scene in the book. This one is certainly not the first, but it isn’t the last either. It’s just the one I had in the collection with these others.

Ashlynn is discovered by the Traders. Let’s just say they are a bit happier with the discovery than she is.

Ashlynn, Alder, and Dillyn’s river walk. I actually have an updated, slightly better version of this one too, but it isn’t scanned in, and I’m not at a point I can do that at the moment.

Ashlynn rescues Gwen from our “friends” the Traders.

Ashlynn, Alder, and Dillyn meet Alvorach. Alvorach is probably my very least consistent looking character. Perhaps this is because I have a hard time picturing him (I didn’t make him up. He’s a character my friend gave me). It doesn’t matter here, however, because his back is to us.

Dillyn escapes. Ashlynn is in the picture too, but she’s hiding. Can you find her? (P.S. It helps if you’ve read the book.)

I know everybody pictures the people, places, and events in a book slightly differently, so if this isn’t how you pictured things, no worries. That’s the magic of a book. You can always create your own pictures. (And as I’ve said before, stick people totally count.) If you do, it would be totally awesome if you shared them on the Aviandria Facebook page (as long as they are G-rated, of course). I know some of you out there could do an amazing job.

What did you picture differently than these? Does seeing pictures influence how you picture things afterword?