Hello everyone!  Bagheera and I have been busy with year end craziness and as the result we"ve neglected to upload art to FA for a while, but we figure on first day of this new year, we would take time to bring you another illustration for our upcoming book, The Leopard Sun!

This image was inspired by the song "Final Frontier", from Thomas Bergerson"s album, Sun (those who are unfamiliar with this composer likely have heard the track from the trailer for Christopher Nolan"s Interstellar).

I was having a hard time visualizing a starting point for the art we wanted to accompany the written novel and so I decided to spend some time visiting and revisiting music that encapsulated many of the emotions and themes embodied in The Leopard Sun.

I wanted to capture the emotion of this sweeping track from Thomas Bergerson, the sensation of motion and light that it conjured in my mind"s eye. I set out to paint this in a much more freeform manner than I usually approach a piece.

I started with no idea what I would paint, only that I would explore something from the Leopard Sun with music as my vessel. The image began as a black canvas with no intent of subject until I saw the cover art for the album "Sun" and immediately set to painting. I decided to forego doing a series of thumbnails or even an under sketch to help guide the piece. Instead I set out to carve the image from silhouettes until some element stuck and I could follow it to it"s end.

I cannot say which character, among the cast of leopards in the novel, this leopard is. Perhaps it is the essence of them all, a creature born to walk the light places and the dark.

Wish to learn more about The Leopard Sun? Come check us out on PATREON for more information!