Okay, I started this ages ago. As in, before Awakening had been released - which explains the lack of someone who would actually have been present - so I'll just say it's from his point of view. :) (Is that sneaky enough without being spoilery?) This has sat, unfinished, in my files, up until I finished the painting of Anders. And there was just no way I was not going to finish this by the BioWare showcase deadline.

So, yes, more Dragon Age fanartiness! Darkspawn and archdemons just don't get the attention they should. Well, that, and I'm a drooling dragon nut, so I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to paint the stunningly twisted visage of Urthemiel.

I wanted to capture something a little different, though. Not the ravening horde that the surfacers see during a blight. Several times during the game, we hear the call of the old gods referred to as "a beautiful song", a lure the darkspawn themselves must follow to the exclusion of all else. Here, the monsters are reverent, even tame - ever so briefly - as the eyes of the sleeping god open once more.

It's hard to judge the time on this one, but I'll say it was probably in the range of 40 hours work, and done in Photoshop.