Melisandre fans — today’s your lucky day. Here’s a cropped, closeup detail from my 2012 A Song of Ice and Fire calendar art featuring the priestess of R’hllor.
And for those who missed the previous ones, here’s a detail from the Arya Stark art. Here’s a cropped detail of Bran Stark. And The Hound. And of course, the cover features Ned Stark. Only three more weeks ’til the calendar releases! It’ll be available the week of San Diego Comic Con.
George R. R. Martin and I will be signing calendars at SDCC. I’ve heard rumor that we might both be signing Friday in the autograph area, but I haven’t heard confirmation yet. I’ll have calendars 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.
Alright, Melisandre fans — what do you think?
This image rocks.
Thanks very much, Paul! 🙂
One of the tweeters on my feed put it best “Beautiful, Menacing and hot– as a fire priestess should be.” I think you hit those notes very well.
omg her eyes creep me out. X3
only three weeks to release? I CAN’T WAIT!!!
Wonderfully done — she looks like Ali Larter
Best art I’ve seen of her, bravo ser! I LOVE THE EYES
That is looking very, very good John! Thanks for the sneak peak! This is shaping up to be a must buy calendar.
Great piece, John. These colors are incredibly rich and your gradations are silky smooth. Very lovely, sir.
Looks like Nicole Kidman. I think she could play her in the HBO series: the character suits her, don’t you think?
Nice nice work.
Paul — Yeah, I saw that tweet from @krakencode. Nice one. Appreciated yours as well. Thanks, man! 🙂
Toraneko — Me too. 🙂
Anonymous1 — Much appreciated. I don’t know who Ali Larter is. I’ll need to Google that one later….
Anonymous2 — Thank you! 🙂
Carl — Thx very much. Means a lot coming from you!
A-Train — Muchas gracias, sir! Am I gonna see you and the Sidebar gang at SDCC? Sadly, I won’t be at Dragon*Con this year.
Jordi — Yeah, Nicole Kidman would make a great Melisandre for HBO. No doubt. She’d also completely jack that production budget off the charts, if you know what I’m saying. LOL Didn’t have her in mind at all though.
On the subject “who Melisandre looks like”, I just posted this on GRRM’s blog, so I’ll paste it here:
The art I did for the calendar is based on the way I saw the characters while immersed in the ASoIaF books. So my Melisandre art is definitely based on that, and when I was drawing her, she was based on personal memories and imaginings, referenced from two ex-girlfriends and my wife. A dangerous combination, now that I think of it…. 🙂 LOL
Smokin! ;D
I hope there isn’t a shadow baby coming out of anywhere
Thx, Clay. 🙂
Kevin — You be the judge in three weeks when you see the full art. 🙂
Absolutely perfect; ironically, this illustration is even more sultry than I imagined. Her eyes are powerful and smoldering. Bravo.
Blend of silk and smoke..
Anonymous3 & Adesh: Thanks very much for the feedback. 🙂
awesome. I need this in wallpaper format 🙂
Those lips…
I like neither this nor the previous one. They’re sort of cartoon pictures.
Evgenia — I don’t agree, but you’re entitled to your opinion. Sorry you’re not onboard.
ptz & Anonymous4 — Thanks very much. Glad you like what you see so far!
One day, you’ll travel to Italy too… aren’t you?
Btw, great work!
Thank you, Disegno! I love Italy. The last time I was there was 1990. Visited Venice, Florence, Rome, Siena and many places in between. Venice still drifts through my dreams — one of my favorite cities on the planet. Would love to return someday!
I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but outstandng job as always. Keep nailin’ it…
JD — Ain’t a broken record to my ears. Still sounds like good music, and very appreciated. 🙂 You see a lot of stuff everyday because of the Signal, so when you say my stuff’s good, it means something to me. Thanks, man.
Pretty hot job. Do I need a calendar somewhere in the house… definitly do now.
You said it’s inspired from ex-girlfriends? I wish I dated Tea Leoni too!
Pierre — They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I think that applies when the audience connects a picture with their own memories and associations. You see Tea Leoni. Someone else sees Nicole Kidman. Someone else sees Lucy Lawless. Someone else sees Ali something-or-the-other. Someone else believes all of you are wrong and SWEARS that it’s Phyllis Diller. Someone else believes behind the shadow of a doubt that it’s the spitting image of Cloris Leachman. It goes on and on….
I kinda smile when I hear all of this crazy stuff. It’s part of the art game, I suppose….:)
Phyllis Diller as Melisandre is a very very scary idea, John!
This looks like Amy Adams, which is perfect.
Paul — It’s amazing how many fans see Phyllis Diller when they look at my artwork of Melisandre. 😉
Personally, whenever I look at my artwork for Melisandre, I see Bea Arthur. Doesn’t everyone else see that??? It’s so obvious, right? LOL
My friendly suggestion to everyone — don’t get too caught up in looking at art and saying ‘it looks like someone I know’. It’s like a cat chasing a snake, only to find it’s been chasing its tail. Better to just enjoy it for what it is. 🙂
Ben — Thx for the kind thought. As far as Amy Adams being an inspiration for the art — definitely wasn’t. Had to Google her name to remind myself who she is. Now that I look at her, she would make a great candidate for HBO’s show as Melisandre. That would be interesting, wouldn’t it?
Many thanks to all for this kind feedback. Very fun. I DO appreciate it! 🙂
Absolutly breath taking! Cant wait to buy the new calendar!! 🙂
Thanks, Unknown. Much appreciated. 🙂
Wow – you’ve really brought her to life. I had a similar idea in my minds eye of what she looked like, but your art is a huge improvement. Thanks! Now as I continue the series I’ll have this wonderful image in my head.