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.

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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.

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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!

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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?

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