Additional Artwork for the Cowry Catchers Artbook

For the last few weeks, Cowry Catchers fans have been voting on 3 additional illustrations for the Cowry Catchers Art Book. There were two rounds, once among 30 sketches that were created but never finished, and then another vote among the 8 favorites from that set.

The votes were impressively even in their distribution. I'm tempted to do one final round, but I think we do have clear (though narrow) winners. They are 1-1, 2-8, and 5-1. You can view the eight finalists and winners here.

So Rah will be finishing these pieces for the artbook. One will be watercolor and the other two ink. I will leave which ones to her judgement. In addition, I am going to purchase 3-2. It's an important scene, and I originally had it illustrated by another artist, whose style is so different from Rah's that it wouldn't make sense to include it in the book. Consequently, there's a gap in the illustrations at that point.

Composition of these pieces may evolve and change as Rah works on them. This happens frequently, and I hope no one will be upset if angles and such get shifted around as the sketches evolved into finished pieces.

I did want to ask one question. I completely understand why 1-1 and 5-1 were chosen, but I am mystified as to why so many people wanted 2-8. It's a very sad, very dark point in the story. Composition for that piece is nothing spectacular. You can't even see anyone's face. I suspect this is an image that Rah will want to re-arrange. Those of you who voted for it - can you tell me why? Is it just that you wanted to see that particular moment illustrated (the broken windchimes that remind Gerard of Thessalyn's death and haunt him for the rest of the story), or was there something about the specific composition of that image which appealed to you? I'd like to keep the element you voted for, so I need to know what it was!