David happens to be another one of those characters who you can’t really capture in a static portrait.  He’s got an awesome power that has the potential to be really cinematic: projectiles cannot harm him. Anything that’s fired from a bow, or a crossbow – even a catapult – cannot damage him.  They bounce off harmlessly.

That isn’t to say that David is some invulnerable force on the battlefield, though.  Oftentimes, as it pertains to the heroes of this fantasy world, where there’s a blessing, there’s also a curse.  David suffers from hemophilia, meaning that in melee combat, if struck, his body reacts very badly, pouring blood from his wounds at an incredible pace.   So what better way to keep your enemies farther away than equipping yourself with twin axes?

Pear started us off with a couple of different sketches to make our minds up with.

I love the lumberjack look David’s got going on here.

Red also gave us a shirtless option, but knowing David’s problems with even the tiniest nicks and scratches, we opted not to go with this version.  Of course, when we saw her other version of the character, we passed on these first two sketches altogether.

Now this is more like it.  I think the vantage of this particular sketch does wonders for this mountain of a man.  David can easily stand toe to toe with some of the other “larger than life” characters we have, like Prodigy and Schirner.

We also ended up with the shirtless version for all the ladies to swoon over.  We passed on this one for the same reason as the one stated above.

With all that in mind, we ended up moving forward with Red’s vision, and she made a really awesome portrait for our gladiator.

And of course, we had it tinted soon after as well.

But, because David’s such a huge deal, we procured a slightly larger portrait, which we’re happy to share with you!

Such wonder.  Such majesty!  Can’t wait to continue on with the work we’ve been doing with RedPear!

The post Art: David Garus appeared first on Tellest.

Since we’ve stuck pretty close to the prime races in the Tales of Tellest series of novellas (with the exception of the goblins involvement in Awake), we knew that we were going to be moving away from the races that made the most sense logistically.  The gnolls aren’t necessarily that involved in the Tellest lore just yet (but that’ll change soon enough).  Still, since our focus has been on those prime races, that gave us freedom to move around quite a bit.

We’re showing you, today, the version of the gnoll that we really loved, and that means we were going with something dynamic, as we’re ought to do:

This was still considered the sketch phase, but it gave us a good indication of what the final version of our snarling, mean gnoll was going to look like.  After that initial anatomy was laid out, we had to consider what he was going to wear.

This version of the character took us one step closer to the concept that we really liked.  He has a little more clothing, some better markings, and hair that looked more complete.  But it still paled in comparison to the armored look we had next.

We liked this version for a couple of different reasons.  For one, it gives him a little more character.  Sure, he’s savage, but he’s not an idiot.  He know’s that a little bit of armor can go a long way.  Those shoulder pads also help to rein him in a bit and make him look a little less imposing overall, but just barely.

And then of course we had the beautiful colored version of our snarling savage.  Paul did a great job with this, to the point where we want to make this character into someone permanent.

And though we don’t have a dedicated backdrop to dump this gnoll on, we did manage to cobble together a variation with one of Dena Helmi’s backgrounds.

That’s it for the gnolls, but word on the street is we have a formidable foe for them coming within a few weeks.  Stay tuned for the new race soon!

The post Art: Gnoll Raider appeared first on Tellest.

While he is portrayed as a devious monster in The Bindings of Fate, it wasn’t as if he was born to be evil.  I don’t believe in things like that – in humanity anyway.  You’re the product of a lot of different things, and while a moral compass might be broken from the start, there’s usually some other components of your life that lead you in the wrong direction.

So, like her earlier work on Schirner, RedPear gives us a version of Juramentado that has a little more humanity.

This one struck me a bit like he could have been a baddie in a Street Fighter game.  Akumamentado, perhaps.  But our necromancer isn’t as fierce looking as this chap.  Nefarious, yes, but Juramentado is a more like a weak-bodied, middle-aged wizard than a fighter with a broad body and a bad streak.

We moved in the right direction with this sketch.  Juramentado was a little more mischievous looking here, and began looking the part of your favorite supervillain.

And of course, what better way to give him some extra character than to give him the evil mustache and goatee.  Now he just screams that throaty “mwahahahaha” we all know and love.

Look at that!  This is one of RedPear’s most impressive works to date, and I could not be happier with it.  She captures the eerie power of this character, and she does it in a way that makes him seem as though he could have been good.  It makes me want to lean on the way Marvel does things from time to time, and write some alternate reality pieces where Juramentado fought for the side of the heroes.

And as always, you can’t truly appreciate the work that she does without seeing that extra little splash of color.  Her work already has so much personality, but with that extra pop…

Juramentado was done very well, and I can’t wait to show you some of the other work we’ve done throughout these past several weeks!

The post Art: Juramentado appeared first on Tellest.

The funny thing is that he was originally going to be our go-to hero for the Tellest games.  I really want to make a slot-machine game with a story, and he’d be the perfect character to help me tell it.

In the meantime, we see some truly great work once again from RedPear, who puts her own personal spin on the hero.  As is normally the case for us, we began with possible poses.

While I always love the various sketches we get for our characters, I knew right away that this one wasn’t for Christopher.  If you know his history, you know how tragic it is.  And while he gets some jabs in on Steel Tip, it’d be very rare to see him crack a smile.

Now this, on the other hand… this is the face of someone who has had to deal with some pretty tremendous tragedy in his life.  You also get to see the scars he bears on his arms, a constant reminder of the failures he’s made, and the man that was left behind.

As always, after we knew what we wanted, we bumped up the level of awesome…

…And then we added a splash of color that gave Christopher even more personality.  RedPear did an awesome job as always, and brought one more character from Tellest to life.

We recently began working with RedPear again this month, so we’ll have plenty more of her talent to showcase in the weeks and months to come!

The post Art: Christopher appeared first on Tellest.

First Appearances to Kaos

When Kaos Kreegan and his sister were young, their mother brought them to the city of Viscosa to prepare for a celebration at Atalatha.  On the way there, the children noticed the presence of a wolf at their heels.  Still, the wolf shadowed the Kreegan family for the duration of their travel to the capital.  At some points, they even thought that he was playing with them.

Reconciliation with Kaos

Following his time in Fostervilla, Kaos returned to his childhood home, rebuilding it for the second time.  After some time spent there, he noticed that a wolf frequently spent time nearby.  Initially, he had planned on trapping and killing the animal, wary of the wolf’s fearlessness.  However, after some time reflecting on its behavior, Kaos determined that it was a simple curiousness.

Dirk was named as such because of the lighter patch of grey that appears on his forehead.  After that meeting with Kaos, the two were nearly inseparable.  Whenever Kaos needed to gather supplies, Dirk wouldn’t be far behind.

Eventually, when Kaos determined that dangers were still encroaching on his home and his country, he traveled north to meet with his old family friend, Stephen Caista.  Once there, he joined the Raleighn military.  However, with his personal knowledge and skills, Kaos worked better as an individual, and was permitted to serve with Dirk beside him.

After the War and Capture

After the fall of Ippius and Blacklehn, Kaos and his allies spent time rebuilding various hamlets and towns along Raleigh’s northern borders.  Dirk remained by his side during this time.

When Kaos returned home, Dirk traveled beside Steel Tip for a brief while.  However, during those travels, Dirk was captured by Atalathian poachers due to his size.  From there, he was brought into Atalatha, where he was intended to fight the reigning champion of the coliseum, Geylard the Great.

The post Dirk appeared first on Tellest.

As usual, we started with some poses.

These were all very dancy, but it’s in line with what we’ve come to expect from Joman and his work. We chose pose 2, because we felt it best demonstrated both of her magics at the same time.

Sometimes, there’s some confusion between the artist and the commissioner, so Joman thought we chose pose 3. I liked it so much that we stuck with it.

She’s a lot more expressive in this version. This also further enforces how great Joman is with outfits.

Next week you’ll see just how impressive it looks with Alicia’s magic included.  We only chose to use fire for this interpretation, but I think that makes it pop that much more.

The post Art: Alicia Concepts appeared first on Tellest.

Early Life

Michael Kreegan was born to country folk in the plains west of Atalatha, on Flamedays 12^th, 957.  His parents, Tessik and Elly, had a small farm, and were pleased to have a child around who could help them tend their home.

Two years later, Adelia Kreegan was born.  The two children were inseparable.  They would often play among the countryside, investigating caves for treasure and imagining that they were great heroes.

Before either of the children was very old, Michael was afflicted with a terrible illness.  Neither of the parents thought that he would survive.  Adelia watched over him though, and was present when Michael developed his uncontrollable precognition.  The children kept his power a secret from their parents, worried that danger might befall them if the truth was known.

Growing Up

When Michael was very young, Tessik would often talk about the city to the east.  Atalatha was a city of gold, a city of wonders, according to the patriarch.  In Nehr of 964, an invitation to the city was received by the Kreegans.  Knowing that they would only have one opportunity to live like royalty, the family made plans to attend an event in Atalatha.

Elly took the children south, to Viscosa, the capitol of Raleigh.  There, they briefly met with Cedric Renzeya, the captain of Viscosa’s guard.  It was his influence that convinced Michael that he wanted to be a soldier.

When they arrived home, the Kreegans had a carriage waiting for them.  They traveled to Atalatha, where Michael formed fast friendships with David Garus and Alicia Mane.  He also fell under the attention of Stephen Caista, a trained swordsman that served with the city’s guard regiment.

Unable to stave off the urge to swing a sword, Tessik began training his son in combat, as best he could.  He was a farmer, however, and didn’t have much experience to offer.  Instead, he hired the swordmaster from Atalatha.  Stephen and his younger brother, Zachariah, came to live with the Kreegans.  Michael began his training under Stephen’s watchful eye.

When war broke out between Raleigh and Blacklehn, Tessik was drafted to the front lines.  Stephen remained behind, continuing his training with Michael.

In 972, Stephen convinced Michael to return to Atalatha to prepare and train for a gladiatorial contest later that year.

Tessik arrived home from the war shortly after, but not without injury.  The elder Kreegan’s arm had been amputated.  He returned with more grim news as well.  Stephen had to take his place at Sentinel Pass.  Both of the Caistas left the Kreegan home, leaving Tessik to take over his patriarchal duties.

Together, father and son returned to Atalatha to enlist Michael in the gladiatorial combat that Stephen had prepared him for.  Much to his regret, Michael lost the contest to his childhood friend, David Garus.  Disappointed, the Kreegans returned to their farm.

Becoming a Warrior

Becoming a Man

On Flamedays 12^th, 974, Michael and his father set out to the west.  Tessik told his son of a place called the Valley of Mists, where he would learn what it took to become a man.  While there, he met with Cedric Renzeya once more, learning more facets of combat from him and his soldiers.

The Family Falls

After the time spent in the Valley of Mists, Michael returned home, eager to tell his family of his experiences.  When he arrived, however, he found his house burned to the ground.  Try as he might, he could find no survivors.

Fostervilla and the events thereafter

In his moments of weakness, Michael decided to travel to Fostervilla, to see if his family had somehow ended up escaping there.  When he arrived, penniless and broken-spirited, his life fell into even more disarray.  Too poor to commit himself to decent lodging, he slept on the streets, avoiding the discerning eyes of the guards as best he could.  He began stealing from people with the intention of giving them back their goods later.

Unfortunately for Michael, he was discovered by members of a group called the Syndicate.  Apprehended, he was given an ultimatum: Join their ranks or die.  Opting to join the syndicate, Michael took on a new name, Kaos.  Little did he realize at first, but the Syndicate was actually a guild of protectors of the city of Fostervilla.

During his time among the guild, Kaos began finding himself on a balancing act within the city.  A rebellion broke out, and he found himself caught on both sides.

New Recruit

Joining the Raleighn Army

Following the massacre at Fostervilla, Kaos left the city.  While some of his earlier whereabouts are unknown, he joined the Raleighn army with a wolf named Dirk at his side.  He reconvened with Stephen Caista, who had been promoted to a general of Raleigh’s army.

The Hunters

Stephen recognized Kaos’ skills as an individual, rather than a simple soldier, thanks to his training in the Syndicate.  The general sent him on reconnaissance missions, and the two briefly planned on a foray into Blacklehn.

Before the sojourn to Blacklehn, however, Kaos met Steel Tip, the ranger from the south, and the two quickly formed a friendship.

The Alliance

The war against Blacklehn quickly deteriorated when the country of Ippius joined the fray.   The island nation assisted Blacklehn with an addition of soldiers, as well as a fleet of airships.  The war continued for three long years.

After the War

When the last airship fell, Ippius withdrew from the war.  Without its ally, Blacklehn was forced to retreat.  Kaos and Steel Tip took measures to repair some of the damages that had been done to the northern villages of Raleigh.  Stephen’s unit was decimated.  Only his horse was found.

Finally, Kaos returned home, ready to avenge the deaths of his family.

The post Kaos Kreegan appeared first on Tellest.

Alicia was important to get right, because there are so many different interpretations you can make of her.  She’s got so many different layers to her that in can be hard to distinguish what and who she really is.  She’s strong but she can give into her emotions quite easily.  She’s fierce but she’s vulnerable.  She can be arrogant, and sometimes incredibly humble.  I think that what we have to show you today captures a bit of the stronger side of her, but I’ll let you decide.

We started with the possible poses:

For the sake of this project, we chose to work with the version that had Alicia demonstrating her fire magic.  For a lot of the other characters, this would be difficult to do since their weapons are typically bigger than a small flame like this.

After that, we moved into the next phase of the creation.

I personally think that this looks like it could be the cover of a manga.  It is just so gorgeous, and she did an excellent job capturing her.  As is par for the course with RedPear, she also provided us a color tinted version of the final piece:

Here, you can see even more flames in the background, and that reflects a little on her hair.  She’s not actually a redhead, but the tint of the piece makes it look like that.  And this interpretation also highlights one more important component of the work: the ruby heart that Alicia wears.

We’ll be back with more work from RedPear in the next couple of weeks!

The post Art: Alicia appeared first on Tellest.

You see, Matt saw the work that I was getting done with my own characters, and knowing that he had his own inspired somewhere in the mix, he threw in to see Bolt envisioned even sooner.  And he had big plans for getting his own family represented in Joman’s unique style.

First, let’s take a look at Otto:

He definitely doesn’t like being called “pooch.”

That doesn’t look exactly like Matt’s dog Otto in real life, but the markings are correct, and it demonstrates the part of him that we think is a bit of a German Shepherd.

Of course, Joman also did the background magic that he always does:

I always love the extra detail that you can gleam from those bigger zooms.

But that’s not all for this week.  As I said, we wanted to see what we could do about getting the characters together.  So we’re showing you a super special collection of the characters in an awesome action scene.  Behold:

Just as before, we worked on it in pieces.  We knew that we wanted to get the characters positioned properly, and this sketch phase really helped us to determine which poses made sense for Bolt, Otto and Tatiana.

After that, Leo put them together against a foe that would clearly represent what they were fighting against.  We went for the lineart presentation here, and you can definitely see it coming together.

Finally, we were able to see the final picture, in all of its glory.  Bolt is touting his awesome electrical power, and you can the telekinetic  energy that Tatiana is conveying to Otto.

This little thumbnail doesn’t really capture the true majesty of this artwork. Click on the image to really see what it looks like.

I think Joman did a fantastic job here, to the point where I think he had to go into hibernation for a few months afterward.  But what do you think?

The post Art: Otto Completed Piece appeared first on Tellest.

Otto is a Shepherd / Wolf mix, and he specifically works with Tatiana, who has the power to telepathically give him commands.

This was the last commission that Joman did for us in a while (though he’s since begun working on something new for us), and he really put his heart and soul into it.  Check out the process:

We usually go with something a little more dynamic, but I thought, with the bigger picture, #3 worked out very well for us.

After we found the pose we liked for him, we prepared Otto a little more for the harsh world of Tellest by giving him some armor.

We realized we went a little too far with the armor, so we dialed it back for the lineart.

The final piece that Joman provided for us is pretty awesome.  If I’m given permission, I’ll even show the original picture we got the markings from.  Tune in next week to see the final piece, as well as the phenomenal shot of all three heroes (Bolt, Tatiana and Otto) fighting together!

The post Art: Otto Concepts appeared first on Tellest.