The first of many pieces featuring a new character: The Lightkeeper. Actually, it's more of a type of occupation in my fictional worlds. In Lost Rest lore, a Lightkeeper is one who dedicates one's life to discovering, researching, sharing, and protecting various unknown cultures across the still mysterious world. Lightkeepers exist throughout many ages and orders, so there's a lot of opportunity for wide varieties of stories, characters, and settings within this still-growing universe.
In the case of this drawing, I'm using my first Lightkeeper as the subject to introduce the concept of "Relics" in the Lost Rest universe. Basically, they are visual symbols used to reference various aspects of the creative process, which is the main theme in Lost Rest lore. Here, I've expressed them as physical locations to which a Lightkeeper might make a pilgrimage. The Relics will appear throughout my work in various forms and for all sorts of reasons. I will also be slowly building more as my catalog of symbols grows over time.
I'm heavily interested in map-making imagery, especially ancient and imaginary maps in which illustrative elements are incorporated. This is my first real attempt at making my own version of that and I'm eager to do more work with maps and discovering new ways to use them in my art.