Tag: world building

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The Dark Fantasy Worlds Behind My Books — And the Art They Inspire

A female in black clothing, on a galloping black horse, being chased through a dark forest by a large dog-like creature.

Hello Readers,

Here is another fantasy image for you, based on a scene from ‘Blood Rage’ and generated by AI. The world of Armada is a dark world with lots of frightening creatures. I’ve tried to bring this scene to life with a depiction of the Ku-She, chasing Erin through the forest. I would say that this one turned out really well, the Ku-She is very close to how I wanted it to look. I didn’t give a full description of Erin in the prompt for this image, just a rough idea of what I wanted her to look like. She isn’t the Erin in my head, but I figure she will look different to every reader in their own mind anyway. I feel the scene is depicted well, and I can feel the sense of urgency and fear I was trying to capture in the book.

I hope you like it.

Happy Reading!

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

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The Dark Fantasy Worlds Behind My Books — And the Art They Inspire

A medieval city with high stone walls and a market square, centred around a large stone fountain. White banners flow in the wind, hanging from the top of the towers aligned between the arched gateways in the high walls.

Hello Readers,

Today I have another illustration inspired from my stories. This one is an AI generated image, created from a prompt describing a scene in ‘The Crimson Guild’. I really like this image, it has a strong fantasy feel, and the high walls are flying the banners of Rangor. Unfortunately, it does not fit the description I provided. Like previous attempts at generating art of scenes from my stories, this one has all the elements; the high walls, the fountain in the market square, the banners, the docks, and the tall masts of the ships, etc… but it isn’t set out correctly, and the market stalls are not very ‘haphazardly’ laid out. To try and get AI to re-organise it, so it looks the way I pictured it, is just too hard for the likes of me. But at least it has the right feels to it, and it is set in the right type of world, so I can live with it as a reasonable attempt to depict ‘Rangor – The City of Ships’.

I hope you enjoyed seeing it.

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

If you liked this post, why not share it with your friends on social media.

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The Dark Fantasy Worlds Behind My Books — And the Art They Inspire

A black horse pulls an old wooden wagon through the snow, before an old shack. Snow-covered, ragged mountains sit in the background.

Hello Readers,

This image was generated (with the help of AI) from the description within a scene from my short horror story ‘The Cold and The Dead’. It took me a few attempts to get the wagon in the right style. The shack in the background and some of the details are not how I imagined, so you’ll find the actual descriptions in the book differ a little, but overall, I’m pleased with how it turned out.

If there is a scene from one of my books that you’d like me to re-create in an image, please leave a comment to let me know which one.

Happy Reading!

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

If you liked this post, why not share it with your friends on social media.

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The Dark Fantasy Worlds Behind My Books — And the Art They Inspire

A bone amulet, the figure of muscular being carved upon it. The figure emanates ethereal flames. The amulet is inscribed with runes that circle the circumference, and a red gem inset at the top. It hangs on a leather thong in a mountainous fantasy setting.

Today’s post highlights a magical fantasy relic. While this relic has no sharp edges, it is a dangerous weapon. The type of weapon that is often overlooked. I give you an AI generated image that attempts to illustrate the ‘Blood Rage Amulet’ from my ‘Blood Rage’ trilogy. This is one of several tries. The AI tool wasn’t happy with generating the image as I described it, due to the systems acceptable image generation rules. so, I had to amend the prompts to stay within those rules. In some cases, it allowed certain things on one image, but it wouldn’t allow me to reproduce the effect on another. While the image above isn’t exactly the same as the description in the books, it is a fair representation and I like it.

Here are some of the other attempts, I like them and they all give a good representation of the amulet as I envisioned it, but none of them are exactly as I had imagined:

A bone amulet, the figure of muscular being carved upon it. The figure has outstretched arms and is yelling. The amulet is inscribed with runes that circle the circumference, and a green gem is inset at the top. It hangs on a leather thong before some candles and a skull.
A bone amulet, the figure of muscular being carved upon it. The figure emanates ethereal flames. The amulet is inscribed with runes that circle the circumference, and a red gem inset at the top. It hangs on a leather thong in a fantasy forest setting.
A bone amulet, the figure of muscular being carved upon it. The figure has outstretched. The amulet is inscribed with runes that circle the circumference, and a green gem is inset at the top. It hangs on a leather thong before some candles and a skull.

Feel free to let me know which one is your favourite in the comments.

Happy Reading!

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

If you liked this post, why not share it with your friends on social media.

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The Dark Fantasy Worlds Behind My Books — And the Art They Inspire

A medieval tavern that sits on a cobbled street lit by torches. A dank alley runs down the side of the tavern, littered with debris. A large wooden sign hangs above a lantern in the doorway. The sign reads 'The Dead Duck'. Patrons can be seen inside through the leaded windows, lit by the golden glow of the light within. Several hard-weathered figures can be seen on the street outside.

When I wrote the ‘Blood Rage’ trilogy, I created a whole world for my characters to live in. The world that I wanted to set their story in. It was the world of Armada; a dark, gritty, medieval-style, fantasy world. One of the locations in this world is ‘The Dead Duck’, a tavern whose landlord holds an allegiance to a guild of thieves known as ‘The Crimson Guild’. The image above is an illustration of ‘The Dead Duck’ that I generated using AI, to try and bring the world to life for those who are more visual. I’d like to say here that I have found it very difficult to get AI to produce an image that represents a description I have provided of the image in your head, but I must say that after refining my prompts a few times, I am very pleased with how this one turned out.

The world of Armada has inspired a lot of art for me. I remember sketching some of the scenes to anchor them in my head and support my writing. I have also created other art for merchandise that can be found in my Merch store; here’s an example:

A white ceramic mug with an emblem representing 'The Crimson Guild'; a single drop of blood sits central to the image upon crossed swords where they overlap. Above the swords there is a hooded face, old keys cross in the same manner below, a pouch of gold coins sits on the right, and a quiver of arrows on the left. The Crimson Guild is written on a decorative scroll at the bottom.

I’ve created a short movie clip of the scene where the Ku-Shee chases Conall and Erin through the forest, as well as other images of the creatures that inhabit the world, and scenes from the book. Most of which I plan to share with you all in future blog posts.

If there are any particular scenes, creatures, or merchandise that you would particularly like to see, please let me know in the comments.

Happy Reading!

Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.

If you liked this post please share it with your friends on social media.