World Fantasy delayed this post a bit, but here it is at last: our artwork for November, provided by the marvelously talented Omar Rayyan. Omar and his wife, Sheila, run Studio Rayyan, where they create some really beautiful work for fantasy and gaming books. We saw one of Omar’s paintings at a reception for the Spectrum Award and were blown away. Josh immediately asked him to be one of our featured artists, and we’re thrilled that he said yes.

I’m really glad that our artists are having fun with our portraits and bringing in various speculative and historical elements. The point of these posts has always been to show off each artist’s imagination and skill, and Omar’s are clearly on display here. Check out these amazing pictures! I will have to work on the thumbnail versions the next time I have access to a computer with Photoshop; I resized them in Gimp and they really don’t do justice to the brushwork and detail.

I love the concept of a studious ogre in courtly garb. I’m also starting a petition for Josh to get nifty octagonal glasses.

When I saw this, I actually squealed. I look like a playing card! I grew up in a household where playing card games was a huge part of daily life; it would never have occurred to me to say "draw me like the queen of hearts" but here I am, wimple and lorgnette and all, ready to have my torso flipped 180 degrees and a big red Q printed next to my head. So awesome.

We’re hoping that Omar will write up a guest post for us mid-month. In the meantime, enjoy his fabulous artwork!