New paintings and new publications: 3 new manuals by The Dragonlance Nexus!
Dragonlance update #1
My Sturm got a new cover! “Encounters: Tier 1” by the Dragonlance Nexus on DM Guild.
Dragonlance update #2
Coming soon: “Huma: Before the Lance – The dak patrol” – A new collaboration with Richard Knaak and the Dragonlance Nexus for a new manual (Short story + adventure)!
Inside, you will find 3 of my new paintings that will be revealed in the coming months…
Dragonlance update #3
Another Dragonlance Nexus project coming soon: “Preludes” – and, inside, other 3 new paintings!
Article written on 06/08/2024 – Elena Greenedera Zambelli #noai
Several other paintings are brewing up, news about them will come in the next weeks!
Work in progress
“Raistlin, tea and books” is my new digital painting. In occasion of Raistlin’s birthday, on 17 June 2024, I drew “something” about him as I did in the past 3 years. A personal challenge, a reminder I should draw something for myself. Raistlin Majere is a character from the “Dragonlance” books by M. Weis and T. Hickman, this is a work of fanart.
Raistlin’s “day of life” is often the occasion of weird ideas from his friends – like surprise parties for him and his twin, silly and embarassing gifts he has no use for. So we should ask, what would the perfect birthday gift be? The answer is: a quiet day. A quiet day of tea and books. Perhaps holed up in Lemuel’s house, like a friend suggested.
“The coppers have a proud ancestry, dating back to the matriarch Querrasian. The offspring of her first eggs included Blayze and Hyaniss, who mated to create the eggs of the next generation. The survivors of that clutch were Tharn and Sithtillaxx who, upon their flight from the grotto, grew to maturity and survived to become the procenitors of all copper dragons living today.” (from the Fift Age Dragons – manual)
Digital paintings of of Lilith Hallmark, Aesthetic and librarian from Solamnia, and Basalt Fireforge, hill dwarf and nephew of Flint in the Dragonlance fandom. Created as an internal illustrations for the game manual “Untold Quests” [coming soon on Dungeon Master Guild].
Lilith Hallmark had the honor of leading the recovery expedition to the library of Tarsis after its destruction. She cataloged and rearranged books and scrolls, and became one of the most influential aesthetics after Bertrem.
Basalt Fireforge is the nephew of the more famous Flint Fireforge, character of the Dragonlance books by M. Weis and T. Hickman. A neidar (hill dwarf) born in Hillhome. Trained as a smith, after much personal growth and adventures he became the Major of Hillhome and innkeeper.
This paintings will be interior art for an upcoming manual:
Untold quests: a new game manual by the Dragonlance Nexus for playing Dragonlance in Dnd5.
More info: coming soon!
Support my work by supporting the Dragonlance Nexus on Patreon
🗡🐲 Finally I can share a painting I was keeping under cover: “Kitiara Uth Matar and Myrtani the Aurak” – Dragonlance Fandom. The war is lost, the battlefield a disaster. Kitiara, dragonlord of the blue army, is giving a killing stare to her ally Myrtani the Aurak, currently ranting about the recent disaster. Commissioned as cover art for the upcoming DnD 5 manual by the Dragonlance Nexus “Champions of Krynn”
My new painting for the Dragonlance Nexus! The war is lost, and Kitiara Uth Matar is not happy. The fact Myrtani the Aurak is there, ranting and complaining about his new orders, doesn’t improve the situation. Commissioned as cover art for the upcoming DnD 5 manual by the Dragonlance Nexus “Champions of Krynn” – available…
🍄🍄 I’m excited to show my new painting of the Big Bad Mushroom Dragon. From pencil sketch to digital painting using cintiq and Photoshop: finally, a personal work.
My new painting of the Big Bad Mushroom Dragon. From pencil sketch to digital painting using cintiq and Photoshop. Personal work. Work in progress Is this a series? Perhaps This is the second of my mushroom dragons, a Very Responsible Adult. The first instead was the baby version: Details Video Art process video: recorded, final…
Artwork created on: 23/02/2024 – article 27/02/2024 Copyright 2024 Elena Greenedera Zambelli, all rights reserved #noai
“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 year started with 7 new dragons! Check each of them on my website by clicking this article. 🎨🐲
This is now the third year I have participated in Matt Stawicki’s ”Dragonary challenge”, an opportunity to spend a month drawing dragons. “But couldn’t you draw them any time of the year?” you might ask me. Yes, and sometimes I do, but other times a kick in the butt (in this case, the decision to commit to the challenge) is what is needed to overcome laziness, distraction, or having a thousand new ideas and then not following them through. Or artblock.
Last year I found the strength to draw 31 new dragons (really, I don’t know how I did it), but this year I decided to focus on 7, thus dedicating a little time every day to the four main phases of creating my paintings: 1) sketch 2) lineart 3) creation of flat shapes 4) painting and rendering. Specifically, since there were no prompts from Matt Stawicki this year, I used this opportunity to “draw again” some of my (very) old dragon sketches. Comparing the old and the new gave me a lot of satisfaction.
Forcing myself to draw these seven dragons helped me restart after a period of (more or less forced) break from painting. In the meantime I have started working on several new projects again, which I hope to share soon.
One of the “extra projects” that I love the most is an expansion and retouching work for a dragon created last year, and that I love very much: the Grumpy sentinel now has a horizontal format, perfect as a desktop wallpaper, and a finishing softer for rendering lights.
Article written on 03/01/2024 – No unauthorized reproduction. – Elena Greenedera Zambelli #noai
31/10/2023 ✨🎨 “The Irda Sorceress” – Another illustration for the novel series “Children of Hell” by S. Weber aka Winterhawk! A close fight, an epic spell, tons of details!
