Tapestry of Fates – Kickstarter Project
So the time has finally come. I have to admit I need help driving this project forward.
This set of books that has consumed most of my life (probably even more so than Phoenix!) is progressing at a complete snail pace. Maybe it was a mistake illustrating them (as some have told me in the past) and because I’m not the fastest artist, so much time has now passed since the first book was released, that the artwork from that one is now looking dated and shabby.
I did make a pledge to spend an hour a day on illustrating the second and third book, but other commitments have increasingly encroached on this precious time.
So I’ve decided that maybe a Kickstarter project may be the way to go. Offering pledgers artwork and characters dedicated to them if they aid me seems like an attractive path to take. The story is so vast, with it being spread over many millenia and worlds that adding important people into the mix without spoiling the narrative would be so easy. Secret chapters (many of which have already been written for other characters) is another way I’d hope to gain favour. There’s even the offer of one character that was instrumental in defeating Eclipse thousands of years previously. I’ve always planned on mentioning this legendary heroic character many times in the third book but thankfully never actually named him or her (or both – there were actually two).
Now I know many other authors will be thinking – “Cheeky shit! We all write books without funding, just get it done!” But the fact is, is that the books are almost pretty much completely written. It’s the fifty plus illustrations that require the massive amount of time to complete. And with the first book having already been out for a few years, it’s becoming frustrating that I cannot find time to devote to my labour of love. Funding would help free up time from my freelance work in order to get these pics painted, as well as pay for editing, typesetting, and publishing.
Even finding time at the moment to get the actual kickstarter page sorted is proving hard work! Haha!
But of course, it’s a risk. I may not get the funding at all, and may look a bit foolish for trying. But should that happen, what the hell eh? I gave it my best shot! More publicity for the work will be achieved and I’ll just find another way to get it done.
So watch this space.
Hope you all have a great Easter! 😀 x
The End of 2013, and the Future on the Flip of a Coin
Well I can honestly say it’s been a turbulant yet welcome end to the year in which big changes in my life have occured. I think now more than ever I’ve gained greater faith in my future and allowed myself to ‘let go’ of things which no longer serve me. Time to step into 2014 with my head held high and a wonderful sense of fresh hope.
But enough of that, and more about the work! I’m underway with the character designs for Bloodline Saga, with Sammy’s characters sketched and ready to be done. Also I’ve got lots more planned for Fallen Tears, with new twisted enemies and situations to throw at our determined and vengeful Dancescu twins. I am even in the process of illustrating a large painting with most of the main characters on it. Once this book is finished I’ll be releasing it for free digitally aswell as print a few copies for whomever wants one.
I’m still planning the massive amount of images for Spirit’s Pain. The book itself is just about to be edited. Because this is my most cherished piece of work I don’t want to rush it and screw it up. The last book Spirit’s Fury will be fully penned soon too, leading the way for the next three installments – The Shadoed Brethren.
Along with this, the planned nineteen books for Phoenix await my attention patiently. This could take many many years to write. I’m just glad I won’t be illustrating them ha!
So nobody can say I’ve got no work to be getting on with.
Which brings me to a great little story I was told a couple of weeks ago.
Whilst searching for design jobs, a pal of mine got me a job at her work, as a hotel porter. Obviously this means doing the usual stuff entailed with this role, carrying bags around, moving furniture around and helping guests etc. It’s a far cry from sitting at a desk calmly ploughing through design work, but the change of pace has been great. I’ve enjoyed the experience so far, and all the staff are awesome.
One of the staff, the head porter called David, who is an awesome jovial man and has been showing me the ropes, told me a story of how he came to work at the hotel, and stay in the position for over thirty-seven years. I liked it so much I thought I’d share it on my blog.
For those who know or have been to Blackpool – most will be aware that on the Southern edge of the resort, situated amongst the sand-dunes was a Pontins holiday camp (now sadly bulldozed to the ground). Many years ago David and a pal of his would venture to Blackpool from Liverpool in search of Summer work. One particular Summer landed the pair working at Pontins. Whilst checking in, David enquired where his room key was. He was politely informed that there was no need for a key, as the door was hanging off. Not a great start as you can imagine. So now David and his friend found themselves residing in the staff quarters – affectionately referred to as ‘the jungle’. Apparantly fights between the staff (mainly women David tells me!) happened constantly in the jungle, and the relentless rowdiness caused the pair to leave Pontins in search of alternative work.
As they stepped out onto the road outside Pontins they looked around, debating what to do next. The obvious choice would be to head into the bright lights of Blackpool, as the other direction seemed to be an empty road, with a quiet looking town in the distance (St. Annes! My town if you didn’t know!) But the two decided to flip a coin instead. Heads they turn right and head into Blackpool, where work is pretty much guaranteed. Or Tails, turn left and head down the long sandy road towards St. Annes (they didn’t even know its name at this point).
It was Tails.
To cut a long story short, after trekking into St. Annes David ended up working at the hotel I am now, and his friend started working at the town’s Conservative club.
As I’ve said in previous posts, I’m a great believer in quantum physics and this implies that another David landed Heads and went into Blackpool, thus taking his life in a completely different direction and changing his world as well as the lives of everyone at the hotel. I wonder if he found a job as a porter in Blackpool and stayed there for as long as he has in St. Annes.
It just shows that sometimes you need to place your destiny in the hands of fate.
Sisters of Vyse
I’ve wrote posts posts on who I like to think is my signature character – Angel. I’ve also stated before that I have put her in every piece of literature I’ve ever written, whether in her robot or human form. But her are her ‘sisters’ – collectively called the ‘Sisters of Vyse’. Without revealing any spoilers to Tapestry of Fates, this is because they are all versions of her, and are all based upon the doomed silicon based inhabitants of the planet Vyse.
Recently I decided to make some portraits of all the sisters.
Angel’s is in a post further down, and the final sister ‘Vixen’ will be drawn and painted next week.
This is ‘Punishment’ – built to be the strongest and heaviest of the Sisters, and is equipped with shoulder mounted missile launcher and a five foot rifle down her back. She makes up one third of the ‘Anti-Angel’ trio. She is based on my sister Kelly.
Click image to see full resolution version.
Punishment – Tapestry of Fates
This is ‘Sin’ – the fastest and most nimble of all the Sisters. she has no weaponary but up for it with blazing speed. She is the second of the ‘Anti-Angel’ trio.
Sin – Tapestry of Fates
This is ‘Justice’ and is by far the most advanced of the ‘Sisters’ and makes up the last of the ‘Anti-Angel’ trio. She has the ability to self heal and even has a floating companion called ‘Sabre’ that hovers above her shoulder and provides assistance during combat. She is based upon my friend Hazel Tyler.
Justice – Tapestry of Fates
Finally this ‘Dominion’ – the final Sister to be built. She is built with bio-mechanic technology. She cannot self-heal but possesses psychic ability and can hear the thoughts of others – living or artificial. She is based on my good friend Wendy.
Dominion – Tapestry of Fates
New Artwork
In my head, I have hundreds of pieces of artwork I’d love to get produced.
I only wish I could pause time for a year and get everything done. Until I discover a way to do this, I’ll concentrate on finding new ways to increase my productivity.
Here’s a couple of new pieces.
This one was for my old school pal Tiffany who runs a fitness studio. She wanted a pole-dancing warrior type character.
Close up
And here’s the first in a set of portraits for the ‘Sisters of Vyse’ starting with my signature character – Angel
Most pictures of her are of her fighting so we only ever see her expressionless. She’s normally a happy, kind character so it’s nice to draw her smiling.
New ‘Tapestry of Fates’ Website
I know I frequently give myself moooooorrreeeee than enough work to get through, especially when it comes to my own projects. Like most people who are passionate about what they do, I have tons of ideas, mostly for books and stories etc, (19 books worth of notes, ideas and scribbles for ‘Phoenix’) but finding the time to do them all, especially when I agreed to illustrate the entire Tapestry of Fates trilogy is truly taxing.
On the odd occasion I have had a lapse and a gripe about having to all these paintings. They take a bloody long time! And I’m not the fastest artist (although I am trying to find ways to speed up my workflow (like turning off Facebook for instance!)). But looking back, I’m grateful for giving myself the challenge of doing it, and truly feel it’s helped me become a better artist. So much so that I feel the illustrations for ‘Spirit’s Destiny’ aren’t up to scratch anymore. Hopefully I’ll feel the same about the artwork for ‘Spirit’s Pain’ when I work on ‘Spirit’s Fury’. Maybe I’ll go back and do them all again at the end 😉
Taking a look at the Tapestry of Fates website, it’s clear that the artwork on here is also dated. But rather than just accept it and concentrate on other things, I’ve torn it down and decided to rebuild and redesign it from scratch. Wahhh!
I’m sure I can be safe in the knowledge though that the eye bags I’m acquiring from the late nights of work will one day pay off! 😀
Until I get chance to build the site I have a new holding page showing the second book, and a quick line of wording to hint at the level of carnage about to be thrown at our heroine Ella! 😀
One bizarre thing I should note is that I originally wanted the books coloured Blue, then Yellow, then Red. Only later did I find out these are the colours used in the famous The Triumph of Death, or The 3 Fates tapestry. Ok I know that’s cream not yellow…..but still – spooky! 😀
Tapestry of Fates Book 2 – Spirit’s Pain Back Cover
Still ever onwards with the trilogy! Here’s my back cover with Ella, Gemma, and Tristan, and the COT and the lost moon in the background. I was gonna include Angel and Seraphim in there somewhere but didn’t want to make it too busy.
Book 2 ‘Spirit’s Pain’
Well the ball is most definitely rolling in getting the second book of Tapestry of Fates complete. Since the actual story was completed back in 2008, all that is left to be done is the artwork and making the second draft.
Here’s the cover for it, including the artwork without any text on it.
Here we see Ella reluctantly heading up towards the Red Saviour. Originally I just envisioned the suit being a tight fighting red ensemble. But during painting I decided she should have ‘chakra’ style orbs down her back. Obviously I missed out the red base chakra, otherwise sitting might be quite uncomfatable 😀
Book 2 Cover ‘Spirit’s Pain’
‘Angel Must Die’ – New artwork
Here’s a new illustration for three Angel-esque looking droids.
Their names are Sin, Punishment, & Justice. I won’t say anymore to avoid revealing spoilers for Tapestry of Fates book 2 & 3 😀
Three droids who pay a small resemblence to the pink robot girl Angel 🙂
The First Shmup Novel
Ok I’ll admit, my beloved Tapestry of Fates does have elements in it which pay a slight resemblance to a movie about a time-travelling robot sent to kill the mother of a certain John Conner. Whilst I see the similarities, I can honestly say The Terminator was not the main influence, nor was any movie for that matter.
As a youngster I was besotted with my beloved Sega Megadrive; and it probably paved the road to my future imagination. Games like Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Landstalker, Splatterhouse 2 and many others have helped build the internal foundations of my mind.
One game particularly has stood out more than others. Already a huge fan of ‘shoot em ups’ or ‘shmups’, I remember being blown away by the game ‘Thunderforce IV’ (or ‘Lightening Force as it’s sometimes known). It’s cool slick graphics, blazing speed, mass of weapons, stupendously big bosses and fantastic music and sound effects so bassy that you could feel them at the back of your head all added to a game which still stands as legendary (I’m not a huge fan of more recent ‘bullet-hell’ shmups, although I adore Ikaruga).
One part of it though captured my imagination more than others. After an epic battle with the final boss, and the hero jets away in his battered craft, we are shown an epilogue that included an image of the pilot hugging his beloved. That single image managed to drive home a piece of humanity and emotion into the game, making you believe that after ten levels of sheer hell, the pilot was so grateful to be back. I wish the game makers – Technosoft had included some sort of storyline surrounding this couple, as it would have charged the game even more.
It’s this reason why Tapestry of Fates exists.
It is why a lone student girl becomes the only human being able to pilot a legendary fighter ship against an enemy who’s spent the past five thousand building up enough forces to decimate her.
It is why this ship sits on almost every piece of artwork I’ve made on the books.
I’ve tried to do what I wanted Technosoft to do – make a fully fledged story based around a single person sent against hordes and legions of enemies, and be expected to win.
Maybe I’m wrong but I think I can honestly say that Ella Bland is the first Shmup Novel Protagonist.
A homage to the above picture I did for uni can be viewed here.
kennydreadful 
