A Gift From a Friend

So I fully intended for my next post to be either serious or a tag post . . . but I've got something I just have to share. Recently, a friend of mine, Lalaithiel, started making collages and agreed to make me two for some of my characters. She sent me the finished product a day or two ago and they're just beautiful, as you'll see in a minute.

 This first one is for Lianna, my brainkeeper/muse. (If you want to know what a brainkeeper is, the short answer is that they're kind of like the emotions in Inside Out, but for ideas and such instead of feelings, and the long answer can be found here. They're kind of an inside thing with The Potter School forums.) Anyway. I love how this collage fits Lianna, with all the books and the one picture at the top of the girl in the library (my personal image of a brainkeeper is a librarian in your mind) and the arrangement, and how it (in my opinion) captures her association with books and notebooks and also clipboards (because she's a disordered-sort-of-organized person) and her "No project's too big; let's DO THE THING!" attitude.

 This second one- my favorite of the two- is for Kaitlyn, my main character of Between Two Worlds. I love pretty much everything about this collage- the pictures and the colors and the arrangement and the quotes Lalaithiel picked (I gave her some suggested quotes, mostly from my story but also the one in the bottom left which is from Golden Daughter and has considerable significance in the story) and just everything. There's the "I am no Shadowwalker" quote on the dark forest, which is insanely appropriate for Spoilery Reasons, and the eye (which, for some reason, reminds me of Kaitlyn's longing for Aralan or at least to belong somewhere) and the one picture with the sparkly lights, and also the one at the very bottom with the holding hands because Aedon and Katelyn are pretty much my favorite couple I've ever written. I fangirl over them, no joke. And I'm also fangirling over these collages, because they're just so pretty and awesome and Lalaithiel is amazing, ok? And not just for her collages, for her poetry and writing and her personality and her friendship.

Anyway, I hope you liked seeing these. If you did, please leave some love for Lalaithiel in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 -Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)  

Top Ten Tuesdays: Book Covers I'd Frame as Art

http://www.brokeandbookish.com

Suilaid, mellyn nin! (I feel like speaking Elvish today, all right?) It's time for another Top Ten Tuesdays post, this one about book covers- specifically, book covers that are worthy of framing and putting on one's wall. I'm really excited about this week's theme; book covers are awesome, and there are plenty that I'd use as artwork in my eventual house. (I'd say my room, but the walls are already taken over by Hobbit posts, pretty much.)

1. The Errant King by Wayne Thomas Batson

This is pretty much my favorite book cover in the history of ever. I love the crashing sea and the scroll and the people on the scroll. You can see right off what Loch is like and one of the main choices before him. As for Raudrim-Quevara, she's perfectly creepy and I love the way she seems to be coming off the scroll. The color scheme also does a really good job of creating an exciting, mysterious mood.

2. The Silimarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I love the illustrations in this version of The Silimarillion (which happens to be the version I own). The one on the cover is probably one of my favorites. I want to step right into the picture, be on one of those ships as they're sailing towards what I assume is Numenor.

3. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

What can I say? It's Rivendell; it's beautiful. The colors in the version I have are a bit lighter and more pastel-y, which gives it a dreamier look, but the darker colors are still nice. And you know that I'd love to have a picture of Rivendell on my wall. (Maybe someone should make a Lord of the Rings calender with places on it instead of just people . . . Thoughts, anyone?)

4. Shadow Hand by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

I love the bright, beautiful colors and the way the cave above and the thorn branches below frame Daylily and the woods behind her. This also happens to be my favorite of the Goldstone Wood covers, all of which are quite lovely, so there's that. (As a side note, I finally read this book a week or so ago and oh. my. pumpernickel. It was amazing. I thought I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen. I was so. incredibly. wrong. But in a good way. Also, Time, and implications of what might've happened if certain characters had made different choices. It makes my head spin, so I'm trying not to think too hard about it, but I can't help wondering.)

5. Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

This is my second favorite Goldstone Wood cover. I love the way that Una is framed in the dragon's eye, and the colors- with the deep, cool, blues on the outside and moving in to the warmer reds,  yellows, and golds on the inside is just lovely.

6. Beyond the Reflection's Edge by Bryan Davis

This is a very stark, mysterious cover, which I really like. I think it looks cool, with the ripples and the music and the 'reflected' city. It does give the impression of seeing something in a mirror that's not in the 'real' world, so to speak, and of being able to somehow cross between the 'real' world and the world in the mirror.

7. The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K. Paul

This is another pretty cover, and I think that the distant tower with the dragons flying around it adds just a hint of mystery. The minor dragon peeking over the cover plaque is, of course, rather cute, and a bit funny too.

8. Matched trilogy by Allie Condie

 I haven't read these books yet, but I really like the covers. I like the bright colors against the grey-white background, and the girl's progression of being trapped in the bubble, breaking out, and finally free. Very cool. If I were hanging them on my wall, I'd put them along a flight of stairs, with Matched at the bottom and Reached at the top.

9. Entwined by Heather Dixon

I really wish that the title/author were elsewhere on the cover; that's my only qualm about putting this book on this list. But I like the silver vines framing the image, and the way the girl seems to be looking for a way out as the world tilts and twists around her. (If you look at it, you can see that the shore of the lake is skewed.)

10. Dragons of the Watch by Donita K. Paul

Cute dragons and books. Yeah. I want to cuddle the green one and then have at books . . . without disturbing the sleeping purple dragon, of course. But yes, this is mostly on the list because it combines two of my favorite things in the world and I'd be quite happy to have it on my wall.

 
Well, there's my list. What do you think? And what book covers would you want on your wall? Feel free to tell me in the comments or make your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)