Behold Sandor Clegane — the Hound! You’re looking at a closeup detail from my 2012 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar art featuring him with Sansa Stark (not pictured here). This sneak peek’s for the legions of rabid Sandor Clegane fans. The Hound beat out Arya and Melisandre in this past weekend’s fan poll, but fans of the latter shouldn’t fret. I think there’s an excellent chance you may see sneak peeks of both before the end of June. Keep your eyes peeled to my Twitter feed for when that might happen.
And for those who missed last week’s preview of Bran Stark, here it is. And of course, the cover features Ned Stark. The calendar will be available the week of San Diego Comic Con. George R. R. Martin and I will be signing calendars at the Bantam booth at SDCC and I’ll have some for sale at my own booth (#4600) that I’ll be sharing with Star Wars artist Dave Seeley. If you can’t make it to SDCC, no problem — Amazon is already taking preorders for it.
Can anyone guess what month Sansa and the Hound will be in the calendar?
Can anyone guess why the green and orange light on his face?
Lemme know what you think of Sandor here!
(Wild)fire, possibly? 😀
This has amped up may excitement! Great work!
Oh what a beauty!!! It’s really him!!
Oh, this is going to be awesome!!
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RE: Why the green and orange light on his face?
Anonymous had the guess, but Darth Nerdicus nailed it specifically. Both of you are correct. Yup, for the moment I’m depicting in my artwork, the Battle of the Blackwater is happening outside Sansa’s bedroom window. So the room is bathed in the green and orange light of the blazing wildfires outside.
As for the month, Darth is close. Anyone wanna guess with confidence? 🙂
Jenny and Momma Zen (and Anonymous): Muchas gracias! Glad you’re digging it. 🙂
I’m hoping to have more sneak peeks for you in June.
Thank you for giving us Sandor fans this sneak peek. Your Sandor looks amazing – I’m especially in awe of his eyes.
Apologies both to you, Mr. Picacio, and my daughter, as I’d accidentally posted under her Google account (the Darth one, but we’re both fans!).
Love the picture, and I’m glad I got the Blackwater guess right! I’d hoped it was the February one, though…
This looks amazing! I cannot wait to get my hands on this calendar! 🙂 The burns and the angry intensity in his eyes are just perfect. You do amazing work, sir!
Ohhhhh looks really good. love Sandor <3 great work!
Just saw your post over at Westeros, so I thought I’d swing by to say the Hound looks amazing! You definitely have an incredible talent for eyes: your Ned’s look piercing and your Hound’s look terrifying.
I’m looking forward to the Arya and Melisandre sneak peeks, though I’ll admit I’m most excited about seeing your Sansa, who is far and away my favorite character in the series. I’m so glad she will be included in this calendar.
Enjoy SDCC! Wish I could go, but alas, not this year. 🙁
Redcandle, Elaine, Valerie, James & Trackrunner — good to hear! Thanks very much! 🙂
I’d totally sing him a song.
Hehehehe.
Beautiful work as always. I can’t wait to see the rest of this image, but already have a feeling I’ll be having you sign this page in particular so it can be framed for my work-room. Hahahaha. Love love love.
I have no guess as for the month though.
I never thought I’d see the day where I was this excited for a calendar. But I am! 🙂
The first sneak peek made me think that I *should* buy the calendar. Now, it’s pre-ordered on Amazon, along with my _A Dance with Dragons_. My rabid-the-Hound-fangirl’s heart was conquered. Wonderful art, Mr. Picacio! We, fans, are lucky to have you work on the calendar.
Hi, Jenn…hi, Lochin —
Thx very much! I appreciate it. If the Hound could blush, I’m sure he would. (Well, maybe one of his cheeks could..)
See you at SDCC, Jenn!
Orange and green lights? Must be October. Sansa and the Hound are celebrating Halloween.
If it’s San/San, the month in question is *obviously* February.
Valentine’s Day and all that.
And yes, the green and orange light from the fires in King’s Landing during the Battle of the Blackwater, wit hthe light coming in throught the window in Sansa’s Tower cell.
Joel — Exactly. Elaine was close but not sure. You nailed it. Sansa Stark and the Hound will be the October art in the calendar. I chose October for this one because:
1. Green and orange says Halloween and fall to me.
2. With a face like that, how can the Hound belong to any other month? LOL
Would be great if all of the cool kids in 2012 wear Hound faces like this for Halloween just like so many were doing Heath Ledger’s Joker a couple of years ago.
Gotta love ASoIaF fans though — I think it’s brilliant that several (including Steel_Wind) wanted Sansa and the Hound for February because of Valentine’s Day. You people are twisted geniuses. I love it. 🙂 LOL
This is the best preview yet! Sansa is my favorite girl, and Sandor is my favorite guy. I’m so pleased we’ll have a month of them together in this calendar (even if it’s not February).
I love the detail of his face and his intense expression. Great work! I’m dying to get a peek at how Sansa fits into the page. After seeing this I’ve pre-ordered my copy from Amazon… although it’s too bad I’ll never have the chance to get it signed.
Thanks very much, Katharine! I’m glad you like what you see so far.
You say you’ll never get a chance to get it signed? Never say never. 🙂
I’ll be doing appearances at San Diego Comic Con, Worldcon (Reno, NV), Bubonicon (Albuquerque, NM), and World Fantasy Con (San Diego, again).
Not exactly sure what 2012 holds, but I do know I’ll be in Chattanooga, Seattle, and Chicago for sure.
Bloody hell.
You did it again. The very image I had in my head, brought to paper – and I want to say “brought to life” too, because it is a very vivid image. The eyes in particular, very intense.
Bloody amazing play of light and shadow once again, and the fine detail in the scars… brilliant. Man, I love your work. It’s like Phantom of the Opera meets Freddy Krueger, it totally rocks. XD
Also, it looks fairly realistic. While the desciption in the book certainly is intimidating, it isn’t exactly realistic (except if the scarring is fresh, which it obviously isn’t) – oh well, Sansa’s POV, and we all know what a goose she can be. *lol* Arya just sees “a man with a burned face” the first time they meet and isn’t frightened by it – I guess Sansa exaggerates the colouring, particularly because the close description is set at night, and in the flickering light of a torch, which can make even scarless faces spooky (oh, and, obviously, because she’s an exciteable goose *g*).
So, extra props to you for making it so realistic =)
Looking forward to any other upcoming sneak peeks 😉
Regards, Max
Hi, Max —
Sorry for the tardy reply. Been working on several new things here. VERY MUCH appreciate the kind thoughts on the Hound. I’m glad you’re digging him. Much more where this comes from. I’m hoping either Bantam or me will have more sneak peeks soon. Stay tuned. 🙂
It’s a really amazing pic. I found it by chance in google but I didn’t know that it was yours until now, when I’ve been looking for it again! I preordered 2012 SOIAF calendar two months ago and cant wait to have/see it.
Marvellous work, really!
Ali —
Thank you very much for the kind words. I’m glad you dig the Hound! Let me know what you think of the calendar when it comes out in July. 🙂