Abstract
Identity. Obsession. Blood.
The Maylands... a land of wayward stones and frozen peaks, twilight forests and evergreen glades, golden citadels and darkest dungeons. This is a land of gods and monsters, light and dark. Some are born blessed by the Light... and there are those who have been thrown from it.
Cursed by the god of darkness, The Bastards of Rhuin have been banished to die as outcasts. Most have died amidst the solitude ... but one still remains. One outcast, driven by his obsession to kill Rhuin, will journey into the frozen North in the hopes to find his redemption in blood. Something.. or someone...draws him North.
Iron & Ice is a 40 page picture book that tells the story of an outcast’s struggle with identity set within the fantasy genre. This atmospheric and immersive narrative will explore themes of obsession, identity and prayer, through cinematic illustra- tions written from a first-person point of view.
The story follows the Outcast, a Bastard of Rhuin, as he goes North and chronicles his thoughts and prayers along his jour- ney . He hopes to find himself through his killing of Rhuin; find something amids the frozen wasteland... But will that truly lead him to self fulfillment in the end? Will that give him the peace that he seeks?
Artist Statement
We all long for adventure... a journey to live. Journey encom- passes the places we travel, the wonders we see, and the crea- tures we find. But journey is more than the lands we wander.
My work aims to authentically capture the beauty, pain, and color that journey brings. Journey is where the heart is formed and truth is found. I long to create worlds for my audience to explore and introspect within. I often couldn’t see the truth in my own world until I saw it lived out in someone else’s.
