"Knights of virtue" by Henning Ludvigsen

This is the cover illustration and content sketches for the book “knights of virtue, book one of the guardians” by fantasy and science finction author Joseph Giunta.

The character on the picture is Magarius, the advisor to King Marik. He is a modest man with little in regards to fanfare. On this picture he releases the essence from an autumn leaf.
His familiar, Flicker, is a multi-hued faery dragon. Named so for his unique ability to flicker in and out of existence, like the snuffing of a candle flame. Rather than speak, Flicker sings out a trill in a language few understand. He often croons a soft melody into the ear of his master while resting on his shoulder. Flickers scales changes colour according to his mood.

Painted from scratch using Photoshop with a Wacom tablet as usual.
I also made some digital pencil illustrations for the inside of the book. You can have a look at those, the close-ups and step-by-step process on my site :-)