Is it bad that the first thought that crossed my mind is that this is the "Before" picture and the "after" would be whats left after the kraken got finished with it

Awesome ship.

looks very peaceful. are looks deceiving?

Well, the book follows a similar format to the one set in The Fraterna Solesti in which, between the game-speak sections, there is a narrative following a young protagonist who learns all about the organization they join and has a few adventures along the way.
In the Fraterna Solesti, it was a young noble lady who discovers she has the Gift and becomes a mage. This book has a young man who signs up with an old knight after an archery contest to become a mercenary fighting in the City-States. This chapter, what I've read of the drafts, has the young guy listening to the old knight recounting the history of mercenaries from antiquity to the (game) present and the history of the Golden Eagle while the ship is becalmed.
In the original draft of the picture, there was a plan to have a Greek hoplite facing left and a medieval knight with a shield bearing the Golden Eagle facing right dominating the night sky but it was decided that the picture was too busy with the two figures and I erased them before finishing the pencils and just going with the becalmed ship. The hoplite will be back in another illustration, though one that mimics Greek pottery designs.

very cool. so actually is as calm and peaceful as it looks.

Yah, well the nerve racking stuff happens later in the book with political intrigue, war, sieges, and recurring camp-followers...

don't it always? otherwise, wouldn't be much of a story.

Lovely art.

The ink shading really makes it ^.^

Wow, very well drawn!

Hmm, yes, it may look peaceful, but you can just bet that the crew is sleeping very soundly!
I wouldn't want to be anywhere near the bunks at night, I'd rather keep my hearing, thank you!

Bunks? what bunks? On ships like that, back in the day's of yore, you slept on the deck or any corner you could find. They didn't have hammocks until the the beginning of the 16th century (a New World invention the Spanish brought back from Cuba)

Hmm, I didn't know that.
I guess that would make the noise even worse, wouldn't it? =^.~=