Good morning, readers! 

I've been pulling out all my old files for my viking saga. I'll need to edit, update, and create graphics for Tapas for the upload. 

First on my list has been the graphics since that's fairly easy for me. I went back through all my old graphics files and browsed the changes over the years. Wow! It was a trip down memory lane and the first art program I used on a computer. 

It was my dad's old Gateway 2000. The program was something that came with the computer, and I can't remember the name. I do remember learning back then to draw what I wanted first, then scan it in (very old scanner!) to digitally color it. That's what I did with the viking shield I made for The Logbook ("Loki" at the time). 

Yesterday, I updated it for the cover, banner, and thumbnail required for a Tapas novel. 

The basics are generally the same, with the exception of the center piece. Black and white became the main character's colors after an incident of mistaken identity with the gods. She relied heavily on this color scheme, so it became a token of sorts for her. The ravens are Huginn and Muninn, Odin's birds and her friends/messengers to and from him. The golden circle represents a ring of Odin. The center color represents three things: Odin's single eye, the sacred well, and a magical crystal he gave her. 

For the update, I changed the center image from her mysterious dagger to the viking compass, Vegvisr. It makes more sense considering she uses this shield design on the sail of her ship. I added the metal shield border and Nordic knotwork throughout. (I didn't make the knotwork. I purchased the PNG files from vector artist Bourbon-88.) The entire image was created digitally this time, no scanned in outlines.

I really love the updated design!  What do you think? 

This will be the cover and poster. As you can see, behind the title are runes. While writing the original story, I used runes to spell out the chapter headings. About two years ago, I created a font with runes to make it easier than hand drawing and scanning. I will use these runes for the chapter headers uploaded here, but translated, of course.

I hope you enjoyed some sneak peeks and a bit of information on the main character. I'm still considering the release date for between November and January. I'm looking forward to sharing my first ever novel with you! 

~ Lady Lily 💜