Author's posts
Winterfell
Media: Gouache on illustration board Dimensions: 11¼″ × 15″ The tale begins with the Starks of Winterfell, described as a very ancient, sprawling and massive castle with double walls, so I decided to focus in on the main gatehouse and winter village.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/winterfell/
Harrenhal
Media: Gouache on illustration board Dimensions: 11¼″ × 15″ It is described as dark, massive, haunted and cursed, and showing evidence of the dragon attacks long ago. Like Winterfell (though larger), it is many acres in area, and its scale is indicated by the seemingly little ship approaching the lake gate in the foreground.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/harrenhal/
Dragonstone
Media: Gouache on illustration board Dimensions: 11¼″ × 15″ It was created by ‘magic’ by the original Valerian conquerors, but this concept was the least satisfying challenge, being a very difficult castle to depict realistically. The author describes a castle of hardened volcanic stone formed into dragon-towers as well as a massive central drum tower.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/dragonstone/
Pyke
Media: Gouache on illustration board Dimensions: 11¼″ × 15″ It is described as a series of towers and keeps set upon sea stacks, but instead of trying to show all of that, I narrowed it to the Seastone Chair connected by its precarious rope bridge above typically stormy seas. Pyke is the throne of a …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/pyke/
The Hightower at Oldtown
Media: Gouache on illustration board Dimensions: 11¼″ × 15″ G.R.R.M. was careful to describe this ancient burg in the south, seven-stepped and (my suggestion) seven sided, rising above an even more ancient original fortress at the lowest level.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/the-hightower-at-oldtown/
The Eyrie
Media: Gouache on illustration board Dimensions: 11¼″ × 15″ This is among the most fanciful castles, and a pleasure to depict upon its precarious perch halfway up The Giant’s Lance. Note the Sky Cells, open-sided dungeons exposing prisoners to the elements, from which the only escape is a death plunge. I’ve tried to convey the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/the-eyrie/
Castle Black and The Wall
Media: Gouache on illustration board Dimensions: 11¼″ × 15″ The Wall is a 700′ wall of solid ice meant, like Hadrian’s Wall in Britain or China’s Great Wall, to repel invaders from the great wild lands north. Castle Black is the main fort along its length, housing the men who guard The Wall in perpetuity.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/castle-black-and-the-wall/
The Red Keep at King’s Landing
Media: Gouache on illustration board Dimensions: 11¼″ × 15″ The town of King’s Landing grew up around The Red Keep, the great Royal Seat of all Westeros. Beyond in the rainy mist we see The Great Sept of Baelor, a Westeros equivalent of Westminster Abbey. See how this area appeared earlier in time at Aegon’s Fort.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/the-red-keep-at-kings-landing/
The Twins
Media: Gouache on illustration board Chapter piece for The Complete Guide to the Ice and Fire Universe.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/george-r-r-martin/the-twins/
Primeval Ocean
Media: Gouache on illustration board A painting for the cover of Gerald Manley Hopkins, published by Penguin USA.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.tednasmith.com/other/primeval-ocean/