One of the things that I wanted to do was make sure my groomsmen felt very appreciated.  They took me on an awesome bachelor party (white water rafting, could not be happier), and they all did a great job helping out the day of the wedding.

One of the things that I got them was a personalized flight paddle and beer glasses so that they had something practical (and a little nod to the rafting trip).  But I also wanted to show these guys how I see them.  They’re all heroes in their own way, and they’ve inspired me in ways that the don’t even know.  With that in mind, we ended up going to work trying to get a cool portrait done with the Tellest characters that they helped me to create over the years.

My initial aim was to try and get RedPear, who has always done an awesome job with the characters, to do this ensemble piece. Unfortunately, because of school related work, we were unable to collaborate.  She sent me to her friend Yanisaran though, who I’m happy to say took me up on the offer.

The first thing to make sure we had down was the way Eclipse looked.  He was a character who was only briefly seen in The Bindings of Fate, but began to play a big part in the second book an onward. Yanisaran took the references shot that I gave her and put together a decent sketch of the character:

After that, it was time to put together the sketches of the full piece.

As it grew, we were able to determine more of what it was going to end up looking like.  One of the problems with some of these initial sketches is that you don’t necessarily know what’s open to interpretation sometimes, and what is aiming at going toward the final piece.

The outfits and everything ended up looking really, really cool, but you’ll notice that the characters didn’t quite end up looking like their counterparts in the other art that we had commissioned.  Yanisaran did an awesome job, but the characters looked a bit too young for the roles they were trying to fulfill.  Knowing that she didn’t have the time for any sweeping changes, I made an 11th hour, Hail Mary pass to Leo.

After a substantial amount of begging, I was able to convince Leo to take on one last wedding related task before the wedding… he managed to get all this done within a two week period.  He really saved the day.  While the original picture didn’t really need any triage—it’s a great piece of work—it just didn’t look too much like the people I was giving it to as a gift.  Leo had already worked with every one of the characters before, so I knew he had the capability to really put a decent finishing touch on the piece.

We realized early on that updating the faces meant that the bodies didn’t look quite right, so Leo went the extra mile and really pushed himself to get everything looking spectacular.  He really knocked this one out of the park.

Bolt, Eclipse, Kaos, David, Steel Tip, Christopher (L to R).

I’m also very happy to say that these ended up being a big hit.  I threw them in some decent picture frames and delivered them to the guys, and they opened them up the day before the wedding.

I want to thank all the artists for helping to make that such an awesome memory.  This was really an ensemble effort that goes beyond just what you see here.  It’s possible only because of all the work that people have been doing over the past two years with these characters, and I could not be more appreciative of all those labors.

I know one of the guys already has it hanging up in their house.

Let me send you off with one more picture.  This is all of the guys in real life (plus the happy bride, of course!):

Dave (David), Matt (Bolt), Rhianna, Mike (Kaos), Kevin (Steel Tip) and Kiran (Eclipse), from left to right. Oh, and that’s Chris (Christopher) in the back.

The post Art – Groomsmen Art appeared first on Tellest.

I’m especially interested in this subgenre lately because a lot of where we’re going for our next few Tellest features are to the seas south of Draconis.  I get a lot of awesome inspiration from pirate tales, and stories of sea monsters.  It’s just a swashbuckling good time.

Rex Sumner is a bit of an interesting writer.  He’s prolific, for one, but he’s led such an thrilling life that its hard not to want to chronicle some things.  And when you spend your time spinning yarns to your children, you’re well on your way to becoming a fantasy storyteller.

In Search of Spice is the first novel (of epic proportions, I might add) in Sumner’s Harrhein series.  In it, we follow the adventures of the crew of The Queen Rose.  It’s an ensemble piece that flows deftly from page to page, and catches your interest from the very first turn.

In Search of Spice is an epic historical fantasy romance, set in a world similar to 12th century Europe. The Queen Rose is the first deep sea ship built in Harrhein, a country cut off from the rest of the world by snow and ice to the north and pirates to the east. In every other direction is endless ocean.

Captain Larroche is the veteran master of the carrack, charged with finding a new trade route. He wants to find the fabled land of Hind and proposes to sail over the edge of the world. No wonder he has trouble finding crew.

The young people he assembles, strengthened by a squad of frontier veteran Royal Pathfinders, are more than a match for known enemies.

How will they handle people of another colour, with strange habits, peculiar food, treacherous officials, different languages and customs that defy belief?

Will they escape the pirates? Will they find trading opportunities? Will they ever return?

What will happen to Harrhein during their absence?

Sumner has been working his tail off for some time, and you can tell that In Search of Spice is the fruit of his labor.  If you’re interested in a good swashbuckling tale, you could do a lot worse than this gem. Check it out on its launch page, or hurry to purchase it from Amazon.

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