Friday, July 14, 2006

Sacrifice

Sacrifice art
This was for a book cover that is part of a series; the author is an ex-priest and the novels are mysteries that involve a "sleuth" priest who uncovers all manner of foul play within the Catholic church. For these covers I try to use religious icons as appropriate imagery and render them as stained glass. I grew up in the Catholic church and always loved the stained glass work in the cathedrals and churches I have been in. The original cover art lacked the spilling blood, but I think it looks better and feels more "sacrificial" with it.

Photoshop

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trippy and tres sacrificial! The stained glass effect is beautiful.

Unknown said...

I love the stained glass effect too!

Edric Hsu said...

Wow your stained glass look is AMAZING!!! And yes, the blood definitely worked in giving this piece added meaning...

Fernanda Guedes said...

Nice stained glass! Matches with sacrifice perfectly.

Anonymous said...

Ooo, I'll have to look for the book now! I like your color choices, and like everyone else has said, the stained glass effect is awesome.

String said...

I really like this...the colour is wonderful.

Robert McLaughlin said...

This is a powerful image.

Tiger Mouse said...

Fantastic - striking and effective!

Tony LaRocca said...

I love the whole Sleuth Priest concept. Awesome pic!

Unknown said...

Wow really nice work!

Da Ghost Prod said...

I love the line render and the color ;) Great work !

Jaimie said...

this is beautiful and grisly at once. I like the symmetry and the dripping blood.

J. E. Morris said...

wow, beautiful image (and a tad gruesome.)

Roz Foster said...

Hey, it's not a sacrifice with out some blood. For that matter, it's not Catholicism without some blood... ; - D Nice cover.

Digital Scott's Illustrationblog said...

What a memorable image! Powerful, beautiful, with a huge impact. Thanks!

carla said...

Rick, this is amazing! I think the blood adds the perfect touch, although you'd probably never see that on an actual stained glass window. I was raised catholic (I think we've had this "conversation" before), and one of my good memories is of the really beautiful church we attended. It's somewhat gothis style with the most amazing stained glass woindows and gorgeous mosaics. We also always had excellent music, so that's what i'd pay attention to:>

Rob Christianson said...

OOh! Brilliant! I love stained glass. If you've ever seen Veggie Tales, they did an episode called "The Easter Carol" that had some totally awesome CG stained glass paintings. Very cool - and what was extra cool was on that DVD, they had an interview w/ the real life stained glass artist that created them for the show, and also a walkthru on how to make real stained glass art. Inspiring... I did an illustration for Focus on the Family that kind of had a stained glass feel... here it is, though quite a bit smaller than the original...

Unknown said...

Love the blood. To answer your question I was raised on Crumb.