Game of Thrones – Approaching Lannisport

Approaching Lannisport is the second illustration I made for The Rise of the Dragon, the latest Game of Thrones illustrated book by George R.R. Martin.

First off, in reply to some, I know the Amazon title says “Volume One”, but I know nothing of it. I haven’t been contacted for a second volume yet, so I know as much as you guys.

Approaching Lannisport is set, like all other illustrations in the book, before the time of the Game of Thrones books.

It depicts king Aenys’ trip to the port city of Lannisport together with all his court.

Lannisport is protected by a ring of walls, high and strong. The city
is renowned for its goldwork and goldsmiths and produces a spiced
honey wine. Lannisport is policed by the well-trained City Watch.
The city has a great motherhouse. Like King’s Landing, Lannisport has
higher quality brothels. Merchants from Lannisport often trade with
their counterparts in the Free Cities.

This one still had lots of people in it, but at least they weren’t all supposed to be crammed in the foreground. As a result, the composition was a lot less troublesome than End of Regency.

Obligatory list of known characters: Aenys is the guy riding far away in the distance, with his King’s Guard knights at either side.

The lady on the far left is Princess Rhaena, and the girl at her right is her favourite Melony Piper.

All others are randos of the court.

Excerpt: It was on this journey that the young Princess Rhaena, now
fourteen, drew increasing attention from would-be suitors—though her
behavior was sullen for much of the progress, as her dragon [text cuts
off here]

Once again, I’ve been a good boy and I have kept the sketches. Well, at least the one that got approved.

Like literally every time I look at one of my illustrations after some time (this was completed about a year ago), I’m not at all satisfied with it.
Lannisport in the background should be affected by a lot more atmospheric perspective, whereas its values are pretty much at the same level of the bushes next to King Aenys.
Damn that really bothers me now.

Also, I could have managed the level of details A LOT better, focusing them more around the characters in the foreground and making the background more painterly. Again, this bothers me a lot. It’s something that happens when you stare at a picture for too long, and you stop noticing the mistakes.

Long story short, I would spend another day on it al least. Oh well.

Note to self: start scheduling a couple of weeks between the time you finish an illustration and when you submit it.
I say it all the time but I never do it.

In other news, The Rise of the Dragon made it to the New York Times best sellers.
It’s not like people bought it because of my drawings, I suspect George R.R. Martin’s name, or the Game of Thrones franchise in general, had something to do with it.
But still, the fact that it’s there is still a big source of pride somehow.

It’s still not clear to me why it’s been put in the “Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous” category though.
I guess How to Train a Dragon would have been more suitable for it.
i mean, we had to compete with the winner and runner-up Go-To Dinners and Atomic Habits, which doesn’t sound fair to me.

Anyway, nice to know that my Approaching Lannisport is there, in a respectable fourth place between The Woks of Life and The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse.

More Game of Thrones stuff next week.

by Paolo Puggioni

Game of Thrones – End of Regency

End of Regency is one of four illustrations I made for The Rise of the Dragon, the latest illustrated Game of Thrones book by George R.R.Martin.

Like most of the work I get to publish, this bunch of illustrations was commissioned a little over a year ago. Since the book has just been published, a little ahead of schedule, our embargo has been lifted and we are now allowed to share our images.

I say “we” as, like The World of Ice and Fire which I did back in 2014, The Rise of the Dragon is a collaboration of many of the best artists around.

Some of them I know by reputation, others, like Marc Simonetti, or my old friend John McCambridge I’ve worked with in other projects, including the first Game of Thrones illustrated book, World of Ice and Fire.

There are already a few articles about this new one, and here’s a list of all the art credits.

If you’re tempted to buy Rise of the Dragon and fancy reading a little bit before you do, here are a few places where you can start:

– Obviously George R.R.Martin’s blog;

– A Wiki of Ice and Fire, still in progress by the looks of it;

– Empire: The Rise Of The Dragon – Exclusive Illustrations From George RR Martin’s New Targaryen Tome;

– Forbes: ‘The Rise Of The Dragon’ Review: A Beautiful New Book By George R.R. Martin;

– IGN.com: The Rise of the Dragon: Preview of the House of the Dragon Art Book;

The book is a 700+ pages coffee-table beast, filled with art, covering the rise of the dragons in Westeros along with the House who mastered them, good old Targaryen.

It’s really a must for Game of Thrones fans, as it covers many events that were just hinted at in the books and the series.

My first illustration, End of Regency, depicts the moment when young Aegon Targaryen, backed by his best and most loyal knights, walks into the council’s room and conveys strongly that the time of regency is ended and he is now the king on the Iron Throne.

As always, there’s also the super polished final sketch.

I have to confess that I struggled a bit with composition for End of Regency, as it featured a lot of characters that needed to be in the scene, one of whom is a short boy and another a 2.3m tall giant.

I’m still not convinced the tilt of Aegon’s head is 100% correct, but hey, it was approved so if it looks right to others then it’s right.

Before my beloved Game of Thrones nerds – or even journalists – start to speculate like last time and poke me on different platforms to ask for details, the characters in End of Regency are as follows:

Sitting: Right from Aegon (the blonde guy at the center) is Torrhen Manderly, the Hand of the King. Further right is Grand Maester Munkun and bottom right Lord Grandison.
Sitting left from Aegon is Lord Merryweather, while bottom left is Lord Stackspear.

The HUGE knight behind Aegon is Sandoq the Shadow, while the other four are unspecified Knights of the Kingsguard.

End of Regency:

“Lord Manderly,” King Aegon said, in the sudden stillness, “pray tell
me how old I am, if you would be so good.” “You are ten-and-six today,
Your Grace,” Lord Manderly replied. “A man grown. It is time for you to
take the governance of the Seven Kingdoms into your own hands.” “I
shall,” King Aegon said. “You are sitting in my chair.”

This is the book, in case you couldn’t be bothered to click any of the links above:)

I’ll post the remaining illustrations over the next few days. Obligatory thanks to the art directors at Ten Speed Press: Elizabeth Strongberg and Claudia Sanchez, and obviously to the people at Random House.

Working with them was super positive and fun.

by Paolo Puggioni