Character Art – Kaiyonani

Hey everyone.  We’re here with a special treat for you today.  Red Pear’s interpretation of Kaiyonani is an awesome piece of work, and I’m so excited to show it off.  As our most popular anthro character, I’m always happy when we have an opportunity to dive into another look at our Dragonspeaker.

First we’ll show off a couple of the sketches we passed on.  This first one might have been just a touch too subconscious, but I thought she ended up looking a bit like a gnoll, so this was kind of on the chopping block right from the get go.

This second one was a little better—I liked the inclusion of the crook of Kai’s staff, but it looked a little too weasely.

This variation looked the best, in my opinion, and I suspect it was the pose Red wanted to do from the start!  Do you think we made the right choice?

Here’s our first follow-up.  Red put some more details in place, including the more catlike features, the shape of the staff, as well as some adornments.

After that, we had our first big jump in quality.  Red made sure that just about every part of Paul’s original design for Kaiyonani made its way over to her take.  The texture of her fur, the spots, the wrappings on the staff, the topknot.  It’s all there, and it looks great. But look what happens when you add a splash of color…

This definitely became one of my favorite pieces overall from Red. She did an awesome job at making this version of Kai her own, and it’s sure to be a lot of other people’s favorites as well.  Let’s hear it for Red Pear!

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Michael DeAngelo

Michael is the creator of the Tellest brand of fantasy novels and stories. He is actively seeking to expand the world of Tellest to be accessible to everyone.