Created using Blender 3.0 – looking gorgeous! I could just finish it off by illustrating the rest of the details. I’m just experimenting at the moment and seeing how far I can take this. Started to place down grass particles… I just tried it on a small patch first.. would need adjusting.. but then again not everything would be grass… there’s supposed to be a circular driveway and stone wall surrounding the property as well.
The novels are finally getting some decent art… I’ve been meaning to build Wisdom’s home from the Eastern Clan, main dwelling. It just keeps growing and growing. Still a lot to do. My goal is to update the website once I get some good images.
Snippet from “Mierna & the Keeper of Nightmares”
At a high-pitched screech of something raking against glass, she turned to find Wexel dragging his nails down the side. She quickly covered her ears.
He halted and glanced over at her with scrunched-up nose. “This thing won’t even dent!” He gaze traveled around the globe, searching for a door but there was none. It was as though the opening they came through had completely meshed with the globe itself. “If we could roll this thing out, but it’s stuck in the floor.”
Both attempted to throw their weight up against the side, if just to get it to shift. However, the sphere would not budge.
“We have to keep trying.” Mierna backed up as much as space allowed, then charged the wall with all her might. Her shoulder hit first, the impact causing the sphere to jiggle, but nothing more. She tried again, with Wexel timing a flying kick. The impact jolted the tracking system holding it in place. Something clicked underneath and the globe started to rotate. “Was that it? Did we do it?”
Excited, Mierna kept up with the pace of the spin at a brisk walk.
“Uh… we’re not really going anywhere.” Wexel trotted in place with perplexed expression.
“Maybe it needs more speed.” Mierna began to jog, each step increasing the the number of rotations. She could almost hear Vlanders laughing at their attempts and wondered what he would have done in this situation. From below, they heard the creak of device straining to lock the sphere in place. “I think it’s working!”
By now, Wexel was scrambling to keep up. “Uh, you sure?” he huffed.
A snap of metal causing the pĂşca to lose his balance, stumbling over his hooves into Mierna. At this point the globe was spinning at an unusually high rate that even Mierna could not keep up. The blunder, however, caused both of them to topple over one another. With the pull of the rotating sphere too great, they found themselves being carried around its interior like an amusement park ride. This offset the sphere from its track and began hurling down the corridor at a rapid pace.
It crashed into the two dung beetle faeries, who, after hearing much clanging and banging, came to investigate. Their lumbering sways and hefty armored shells were no match. Bug juice plastered along its clear surface as they were squashed against the corridor’s walls while the globe kept going. Bits of rock shattered on impact. Long stalactites hung like jail bars around certain corners, meant to help steer the globes away from sheer drop-offs. This, however, did little to deflect the path of the fast-approaching sphere. It burst through, flying over the cliff’s edge and down into darkness with Mierna and Wexel’s screams echoing into the depths.
It was a set of sharp ridges along the opposite cliff face that cracked the outer surface. Mierna could see nothing in the smothering darkness, but felt each hit as it continued falling. Uneven surface shifted beneath her fingers until at last they broke through a thin ceiling of draping fabric that cushioned their their breaking cell. At last, the cracked sphere burst open, releasing its two captives into a nest of pillows and soft bedding below. There came an unmistakable sound of glass shattering across stone floor.
All was still, save for the heavy breathing of two dizzy individuals trying to come to their senses.
Creating a palace designed for a faerie world filled with dreams and nightmares seemed like a daunting task. I’m no architect by any means! Thankfully, 3D software like Blender helps with this and I was able to build something that came pretty close to how I imagined it might look.
So far, this is the base model with a few textures. It’s not perfect, but the plan is to be able to rotate it in order to gain several nice shots in different areas of the structure where Mierna and her friends might visit. Then I will illustrate overtop of these to really bring it to life!
“Now!” Mierna did not wait for a response. She reached down and grabbed his hand to pull him along with her in a mad dash. There was nothing more she wanted than to get as far away from the swamp as possible.
The way out was just ahead of them. Light grew brighter at every step.
Closer. Closer. Mud sloshed under her pounding sneakers. Closer.
Why aren’t we there yet? She started to slow, heart pounding. Panic had blinded her for the few moments she thought she was leaving. Yet a second inspection revealed the same trees still lingering nearby. She suddenly stopped at the water’s edge.
“What are you doing?” Wexel pulled his hand free and stared up at her. “You’re supposed to be going the other way, remember?”
“What! No, that’s not possible! I was running toward the light, not away from it!”
A deep-throated laugh resonated from above, and the two looked to find the shadowy figure clinging to a tree trunk.
I’ve been meaning to build Wisdom’s home from the Eastern Clan, main dwelling. It just keeps growing and growing. Still a lot to do. My goal is to update the website once I get some good images.
WISDOM NOVELS 
Written
on October 12, 2021