New artwork: Sturm Brightblade

✨🎨 “Sturm Brightblade – The last stand” – A new fanart dedicated to the Dragonlance books, commissioned by A.B.

✨ Link to the artwork page

“For a moment the sun-drenched sky was empty, then the dragon burst up over the edge of the wall, its horrifying scream splitting Sturm’s eardrums, filling his head with pain. […] Sturm’s sun shattered.” (From Dragon of winter night, Ch. 13. M. Weis & T. Hickman.)

I was asked to create a painting dedicated to Sturm’s last moments. Well, “that moment”, the one in which Sturm sacrifices himself to challenge a dragon and his rider alone, in order to gain precious seconds that will allow his companions to win the battle of the High Clerist Tower.
This moment has already been represented by the great Dragonlance painters and by many fanartists. I chose, in agreement with the client, a particular point of view. This is a close-up of Sturm as he is about to strike at his enemy. It is “that moment” of great courage, where the knight is literally staring his own death in his eyes, yet he challenges and conquers his own fear for the greater good.
The point of view of the painting is that of the blue dragon, Skie, who is about to glide over Sturm so that Kitiara can deal a killing blow.
The books talk about the blinding rays of the sun profiling the dragon and dragonlord, whose shadow is cast over the tower behind Sturm. For the rest, I chose a milder color scheme, which could coordinate with another great painting, Larry Elmore’s representation of Sturm’s death. My artwork seeks to be a “prequel” to that moment, that great painting, forever in the hearts of all Dragonlance fans.

_{“The last stand” – Copyright 2024 Elena Greenedera Zambelli, all rights reserved #noai}