beautiful. though, i had hoped for one plate from the upcoming second volume on the Imperial Army of the Thirty Years' War.
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Thanks Joe, brilliant stuff as per usual. I especially like what Jim Laurier has done for the Nordwind volume. I'm curious to know his methods, is this a traditionally produced illustration or digital?
Also, I've enjoyed the mini blogs from the illustrators in the past (mostly Peter Dennis) where they show the various stages of the evolution of artwork. Any chance of some more of these?
And no, I have no idea what's happening in the third illustration either....
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E.S. - Glad you enjoyed the preview. Jim Laurier has worked with us for a long time, mostly doing aviation artwork (check out some of his amazing work on Duel covers!). In the past he has used both traditional painting and digital effects in his artwork, but I believe he's using more and more digital these days.
Wurttemberger - its just a little early for artwork from Thirty Years War. The book is not due until November. I'll try to remember to show off a plate once I've seen it!
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Those are some good images (as usual).
Seconded on the illustrator blogs. As a hobby artist, I'd love to see more of those, if the opportunity arises. I think there's quite a bit of digital use in the Laurier picture, as far as I can tell from the preview image. Digital artwork sometimes has a certain smoothness to it, without the texture or imperfections you might get with real paint.
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The Nordwind plate is amazing. My expectations for that book are very, very high, and I'm confident Steven Zaloga will meet them.
As for the Samurai Women plate, I assume the lady in the picture has somehow put a bronze bell/bowl/whatever over her head so that she'll quickly sink and drown on the moat she is seen walking into so as to avoid capture by the meanies seen climbing the wall in the background.
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but then, wouldn't the air held in the bell keep her alive for quite some more time? i mean early diving equippment used this technique. pretty inefficient way to kill yourself or avoid capture, if that's the intention.
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I think the third picture refers to the death of the wife of the keeper of Sakasai castle who drowned herself by placing the castle's bronze bell on her shoulders and jumping in the moat.
Steven Turnbell mentions it briefly in an article posted on the osprey website
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/articles/eastern_warfare/knights_and_samurai_brothers_in_arms_part_2/
Chivalry and Bushido section end of 7th paragraph
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