Carleon - Joe Abecrombie's Last Argument of Kings

Carleon, illustration I made for Joe Abercrombie's Last Argument of Kings, illustrated spansh version. The project includes Cover, Jacket and 6 interior illustrations.

This one is on Carleon, the biggest city of the north and the seat of the few kings/leaders who had ever ruled the north. It's described as a city built on a hill in the bifurcation of a river and surrounded by a gray wall with a fortification in his core.

The most interesting thing about Carleon for me is that it's a witness of the chaotic northern history. And, as a witness who lived through all those events, it is also a victim. That's because I couldn't imagine Carleon but with a mixed architecture in his castle, depending on each ruler, each need and each period of time. I can imagine a whole main room with the Skarling's chair with some scandinavian style as the beginning of the construction, but also some different towers that were appearing little by little, trying to compete with it: from those that could have been used by some sorceress (like Caurib), to those that were a simply act of beautiness and self adoration for some leader during a non deserved peace period. That's because I designed the scene with those elements in conjunction with the main space.
In addition to this, I wanted to provide some kind of "bone" style to the color, the wood and the appearance, representing the roughness of the North through something more organic/natural, and less brutalistic. So, the color is some kind of dirty white, beige.

The scene itself is not a specific scene in the book. It works more like a concept art of the place but of course it's useful for the reader in this and other books. Maybe the most space/temporal sign is the black flag with the red circle of Bethod hanging from the walls. We need to wait a bit more to see a red eye on them!