Hi, I make Dune Art!
Posted: 13 Apr 2014 07:58
Hi peeps,
My name is Devon Cady-Lee, A.K.A. Gorrem, and I love the Dune series. I've been lurking on this site since 2012 for information and now I've decided to reveal myself! During the day I work as a concept artist and illustrator for video games, but at night I am driven to illustrate my vision of Frank Herbert's series. In my spare time over the years I've made a few paintings and pieces of concept art for purely personal reasons (some of which have even been featured here before!), but now I would like to pursue this effort with some more gusto. I've decided I am going to make enough pieces of Dune art to make up at least a small art book.
I've lurked these forums for information gathering on visual descriptions of characters. Any sort of wiki has been rather weak at describing the characters visually in detail, and I myself am pretty bad at remembering small text notes no matter how many times I reread passages. Often i resort to audio books, since I have to spend so much of my time painting. On one hand I do take artistic license with the descriptions... you probably won't catch me painting navigators that wear black leotards and utility belts for example, and it's fun to make Vladimir fatter than how he's described in the books. On the other hand, Frank does describe some things very specifically and usually with reason, like yellow representing the color of death for Fremen since it is the color of the sun. I'd rather have all the details in front of me before I make decision on what to emphasize and what to tone down.
random information about Dune and me:
-My first Dune piece was in 2008 and I've been maker-hooked (haha...) every since. I felt there was a big gap missing in quality Dune art, compared to other influential works of fiction like LOTR. Dune needs love too!
-I am less interested in the politics of Dune, so much as the unique mood and characters Frank crafts. Most of my pieces explore the quality of the characters than anything else.
-I've only read and made art for the first 6 books, which I consider to be the canon. If any of the ones past Frank's are worth reading, let me know!
-I have a signed copy of a first edition print of God Emperor. God Emperor is my favorite book, and Leto II is my favorite character.
-I've shown Brian Herbert my work. it did not go well considering he was very concerned about me selling it, but he did like it enough to try and get me to do art based on his newest novel.
Here are some examples of my work. I'm sorry if they don't fit everyone's minds eye, it is intimidating to show Dune work to a huge number of Dune fans! These images reflect my personal interpretation, I can't expect to meet everyone's expectations.
My latest piece, an interpretation of the God Emperor.
This was my first full painting, which was done for a tutorial. An more mature version of St. Alia, like in Children/Heretics timeline.
Leto II cleansing Arrakis after gaining the Sandtrout skin.
concept art for the Fedaykin.
My first ever Dune piece! Not quite Chani, but inspired by.
I have more paintings and sketches, but I figure I should start a separate thread in the Dune media section.
I love talking about Dune, and I'm sure people on this forum are way better at remembering character descriptions than I am... I could really use your help! Thanks.
My name is Devon Cady-Lee, A.K.A. Gorrem, and I love the Dune series. I've been lurking on this site since 2012 for information and now I've decided to reveal myself! During the day I work as a concept artist and illustrator for video games, but at night I am driven to illustrate my vision of Frank Herbert's series. In my spare time over the years I've made a few paintings and pieces of concept art for purely personal reasons (some of which have even been featured here before!), but now I would like to pursue this effort with some more gusto. I've decided I am going to make enough pieces of Dune art to make up at least a small art book.
I've lurked these forums for information gathering on visual descriptions of characters. Any sort of wiki has been rather weak at describing the characters visually in detail, and I myself am pretty bad at remembering small text notes no matter how many times I reread passages. Often i resort to audio books, since I have to spend so much of my time painting. On one hand I do take artistic license with the descriptions... you probably won't catch me painting navigators that wear black leotards and utility belts for example, and it's fun to make Vladimir fatter than how he's described in the books. On the other hand, Frank does describe some things very specifically and usually with reason, like yellow representing the color of death for Fremen since it is the color of the sun. I'd rather have all the details in front of me before I make decision on what to emphasize and what to tone down.
random information about Dune and me:
-My first Dune piece was in 2008 and I've been maker-hooked (haha...) every since. I felt there was a big gap missing in quality Dune art, compared to other influential works of fiction like LOTR. Dune needs love too!
-I am less interested in the politics of Dune, so much as the unique mood and characters Frank crafts. Most of my pieces explore the quality of the characters than anything else.
-I've only read and made art for the first 6 books, which I consider to be the canon. If any of the ones past Frank's are worth reading, let me know!
-I have a signed copy of a first edition print of God Emperor. God Emperor is my favorite book, and Leto II is my favorite character.
-I've shown Brian Herbert my work. it did not go well considering he was very concerned about me selling it, but he did like it enough to try and get me to do art based on his newest novel.
Here are some examples of my work. I'm sorry if they don't fit everyone's minds eye, it is intimidating to show Dune work to a huge number of Dune fans! These images reflect my personal interpretation, I can't expect to meet everyone's expectations.
My latest piece, an interpretation of the God Emperor.
This was my first full painting, which was done for a tutorial. An more mature version of St. Alia, like in Children/Heretics timeline.
Leto II cleansing Arrakis after gaining the Sandtrout skin.
concept art for the Fedaykin.
My first ever Dune piece! Not quite Chani, but inspired by.
I have more paintings and sketches, but I figure I should start a separate thread in the Dune media section.
I love talking about Dune, and I'm sure people on this forum are way better at remembering character descriptions than I am... I could really use your help! Thanks.