Tuesday 15 April 2014

the Archangel - Concepts and Development.

the Archangel's first book is deep into development. So far, there have been four chapters, all of which are to lead up to a strange event that will change Copper's life forever. But with every closed door, another one opens, leading him to meet new people and new possibilities about the strange pendant that was given to him. 

All these concepts have been created with a lot of thought as to the events that will take place in these character's lives. I've gotten most of my inspiration from the high fantasy and arcanepunk series such as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (respectively) in order to get a better idea of the writing styles involved with the fantasy genre and to get a visual on the type of world I am to create, as well as the characters. 


River fights. Some poses of my character, River, as what she'd look like in a fight.
River Avalon is a proud, brave and honest character. If someone were to hurt her family or loved ones, no doubt will her vengeful side begin to surface. I draw most of my characters with a scarf; something to keep their identity hidden. This motif will appear a lot in the third series. This is because I find a huge fascination when it comes to scarves. On one hand, they can conceal you; but on the other hand, they could be your most prominent feature. River wears light earthy tones to correspond with her overall appearance. Her color palette is the same all around - this shows that she is defined by herself and only that. 

River is the type of character that would lose her temper easily. She can hold a grudge and think that it might be for the best. Her anger and shielded personality is her justification to keep her loved ones safe.


And I will try to fix you. The two of them, Verity and Anthony, share an emotional moment.
When I created this concept, I was listening to Kokopelli choir's take on Fix You by Coldplay. It truly is an emotional and powerful piece of music; one that you can easily associate with any of your favorite books, TV shows, movies etc. I associated this song with these two characters. 

Both of them are what I'd call 'loose cannons'. They are very different to each other but with one similarity - they are both extremely unpredictable. Verity loses control sometimes -of her powers, of her emotion- but she has every reason to. Anthony loses control of his temper and will use whatever reason he can to win an argument. Here, they are trying to understand each other and the moment becomes emotional for the two of them.

Please, find me. Anyone. Please. Annie James gets lost in a snowstorm. She kneels and is on the verge of giving up.
Annie, or as her full name would have it, Annetta Mallory James, runs from her home town when her parents have their lives taken by a mysterious force. The town is slowly being taken over by the sharpness that settles in with winter, an unfortunate circumstance considering that most of the townsfolk are farmers. Annie is desperate to leave and takes any route she could to do so.

In this piece, I decided to show one of my strongest characters in a weak position. The snow and the darkness and her colours just contrast each other heavily, showing that she is not usually in a situation that weakens her.

Old times. My characters, Anthony and Nelvin (respectively), as children.
These two characters show more tension between each other, especially as they grow older. This picture I drew shows their innocence and childlike personalities when they were younger, but even as I will portray them in the books, they're just teenagers. Even if they are both just 16, they act so much older because they were brought up in an environment where there was no room for error. 

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and to learn more about my characters!

Read the first chapter of the Archangel here.

Saturday 5 April 2014