Rik Hoskin says: When I was developing the Ullikummis cycle of books for the Outlanders series, I wanted to provide a visual reference of the antagonist for the editors and my fellow writer, Doug Wojtowicz, to give them a clear sense of what I had in mind. I turned to David Early, a digital matte painter and good friend of mine, to do some design work for Ullikummis. (You’ve probably already seen David’s work, incidentally -- he provided matte paintings for such films as Gladiator and the Harry Potter franchise, and television shows like Doctor Who and Merlin.)
Since the first book in the sequence (OL 54: Oblivion Stone) had not yet been written at that time, I provided David with my notes and we discussed how the character would do battle, what he would wear -- if anything -- and so on. David produced two excellent images which gave a strong sense of the weight and majesty of Ullikummis (although he never did use that mace in the end -- sorry, Dave!).
Ullikummis made his first appearance in OL 54: Oblivion Stone (August 2010), with a cameo mention in the preceding book, Infinity Breach. The Ullikummis Cycle ran through to Book 63, Genesis Sinister (November 2012). Its repercussions continue to be felt.
Images and design (c) copyright, Rik Hoskin. May not be reused without permission.
DEATHLANDS, OUTLANDERS, EARTH BLOOD, ROGUE ANGEL, ALEX ARCHER, and JAMES AXLER are all the property of GOLD EAGLE/Graphic Audio LLC, a division of RBmedia, and are used strictly under Fair use guidelines.