Cover illustration for Annals of the Auran Empire by Autarch Games "Shadowblade."

Cover illustration for Annals of the Auran Empire by Autarch Games — a scene from the short story "Shadowblade."
A lone hero stands before the spectral assembly of his ancestors, bound by blood and legacy to a conflict not of his choosing. The chainmail hauberk was the most technically demanding element of this piece — achieving convincing interlocked rings with accurate light behaviour across a curved surface required multiple approaches before landing on a solution I was satisfied with.
Original digital painting — no AI generation was used to create this image.
Client: Autarch Games
Project: Annals of the Auran Empire
AD: Alexander Macris
Medium: Adobe Photoshop
Available on BackerKit — August 2026