MOTSS - 2024 Cover Re-Issue (Daz Version) (Patreon)

Over the next week or two I am planning a bit of an 'event' here on Patreon (with some side events on my Discord server) all relating to my own personal 2024 reissue of what is my favourite Choose Your Own Adventure book.  As you know, I have been heavily inspired by gamebooks over the years, with CYOA and Fighting Fantasy being the best known - though not to forget the contribution of Which Way, Dragontales, Plot-Your-Own-Horror, Twist-a-plot and Golden Dragon Fantasy (to name but a few!).  My own collection numbers in the hundreds.

Following our first look at Evie, the protagonist of Mystery of the Sacred Stones, I wanted to pay homage to the original cover image, to which she owes her design and I owe my inspiration.  I spent all weekend on this and was still tweaking it today when I just reached the point where I decided I needed to post it.  I've used the tools I have available (Daz) to make this and wanted to do so not least because I've been re-writing and adding to the story and would like to publish some of that as well.

The original image, presented alongside, is by the reknowned cover artist James Warhola (nephew of Andy Warhol).  The picture, while not an exact scene from anywhere in the book, does summarize it, in that it shows the protagonist, principal antgonist (Aphir), the eponymous stones and what happens when the two halves of the pair are united.  The seagull is a key motif throughout the book. You can actually tell that the cover artist read the story -which was not always the case for these books...

The contrast between the two characters is what makes this image, and the whole book, for me. Here you have a tall, ancient, powerful, scary, dark-haired sorceress menacing a scared, snoopy, blonde, vulnerable but very gorgeous 1980's girl heroine.  It hints at a couple of the rather dark endings within the book.

Whereas the interior line art of the female protagonist is very much generic 1980s CYOA kid (though undoubtedly a female) I always imagined myself playing through as the girl on the cover.  I love her outfit and how completely unsuited it is to trekking around the Florida Swamp with its alligators, scorpions and an array of natural perils.

I liked the theme of Aphir magically dominating a young heroine so much that I even created my own version Young Amanda - Mind Control, that can be found on deviantART still; I since had to cut a few images to stay within guidelines.

I spent a lot of the Christmas and New Year holidays re-reading the gamebook and using it to train ChatGPT & DALL-E, and really develop the story - plus make new illustrations!  I have produced a ton of AI Art, which has given me the idea for even more Daz renderings.  I spent an intense week developing a new Daz model for the cover girl, who I have named Evie, and writing a backstory for her, so she can exist in her own right at last.  I've been pretty full on and now have a lot to share, though a lot of it will be on Discord as this thing would fill up pretty fast - AND you voted to keep Patreon AI-free.

NEXT: Evie studio modelling session.  I want to introduce her to you and I want you to appreciate every inch of her!