The Wedding Gift - An Illustrated Tale of Einarinn
Since his first commercial work for the SLA Industries role-playing game produced by Wizards of the Coast UK, Jock's dynamic, emotive style has since graced Wizards of the Coast's ARS MAGICA, MAGIC; THE GATHERING and BATTLETECH as well as commissions for companies including MTV, British Airways, Playstation and Nintendo. He won the Best Newcomer Award at The National Comics Awards in 2001 and is now working with writer Andy Diggle on a new, ongoing series THE LOSERS, for DC Vertigo.
On the left is the first sketch of Livak to come from Jock. Already most of the elements from the final picture are in place, although more of the street below is detailed.
On the right, these faint pencils show more details from the final piece,including costume after liaison with Andy Hepworth, and give an idea of how Livak is going to look. The basket at her feet and the manner in which the stairs work are apparent.
Offspring of an ill-starred love affair between a servant girl and a travelling minstrel, Livak was a teenage runaway, from a boring future as a housemaid rather than towards anything particular. Not unsurprisingly, that soon landed her in trouble. Surviving initially thanks to her quick wits, she soon acquired a variety of skills, as a gambler and occasional thief, as well as a circle of trusted friends, living like her on the edges of morality and legality. This rewarding if occasionally hazardous life comes to an end when she finds she is trying to sell a stolen piece of silver to a wizard, whom, as it turns out, has a use for her more nefarious talents and is prepared to blackmail her into working for him in the First Tale, The Thief's Gamble. Accordingly, Livak turns her wits to extracting the maximum advantage for herself from this turn of events.