ABOUT:


THE STORY:

When Akeela, heir to the throne of Qalteca, is tricked into slaughtering the Ancients of her homeworld, her soul shatters into thirteen pieces and she is exiled to the Otherworld - to Earth.

As she struggles to come to terms with this atrocity, she must find a way to atone for her unforgivable crime and return home. Under the tutelage of an ancient shamaness and with the help of some new friends from Earth, Akeela begins a journey that will test her in every way imaginable.

Against all odds, she must not fail. To do so would mean catastrophe...for both worlds.

- Julian Murray


THE WORLD:

The Setting:

The story begins in the tribal kingdom of Qalteca, in the war-torn world of Ashea. With its seemingly unstoppable army, Qalteca has become the powerhouse of Ashea. Its influence casts an ominous shadow over all other provinces of the Mainland. Fearing total obliteration, many of the other nations have submitted to the tyrant King, one by one falling to Qaltecan rule.

The Genemaji:

The Genemaji are ancient and powerful entities in corporeal form. Once mortal, they each attained the status of Genemaji through great trial and sacrifice, and eventually became the gods and guardians of the world of Ashea. Their Essence flows through the world itself and links each and every living thing together in a delicate balance. When Qalteca's war and destruction spread to the far corners of Ashea, thirteen of the Genemaji formed an alliance. They begain the Resistance, and provided great aid to refugees and to those who oppose Qalteca's war.

The Kels:

There are three provinces in Ashea named after the three moons: Metta, Mora and Mynn. Legend has it that these three moons were actually human sisters once, who transcended and became the moons of the world. Each of these three provinces has a distinct culture and worships one of the "Three Sisters" as their deity. "Kel na" means "children of", roughly translated. The Kels are also the elder Fae races of the world. Though they do have wings, those are displayed mainly as a show of status in society and are used for aesthetic decoration.

  • Kel na Metta: The Metteans worshipped the oldest and most ambitious sister, Metta. Distinguishable by their fair skin and colorless hair, their race holds knowledge of the arcane in the highest respect. Their proclivity towards sorcery and obscure magic allows them to delve deep into the Mysteries. They are the sorcerers, lore-keepers and philosophers of the Kel races. However, it is because of their magical prowess that the Qaltecans viewed the Metteans as the biggest threat to their crusade for power. And so, the vast libraries and ornate marble terraces of Kel na Metta were reduced to ash and rubble overnight during Qalteca's violent and unforeseen invasion. Thousands of Metteans were brutally slaughtered, and the survivors were sold into slavery. The King of Qalteca took the widowed queen of Kel na Metta to wife as a final show of his victory. This would be but one reign of terror Qalteca would unleash on Ashea.
  • Kel na Mora: The Moraens look to the middle Sister, Mora, for insight and spiritual inspiration. They glean their power from practicing deep meditation, advanced healing techniques and prayer. As Oracles and Priestesses, they knew an attack from Qalteca was inevitable after their sister city fell. An elaborate ritual was held where the people fasted, prayed and pleaded to Mora for aid against the coming storm. During the next Mora moon, the entire population of Kel na Mora disappeared overnight. The temples and monastaries were deserted. Posessions were left behind, ripe for Qalteca's picking, and incense was still found burning somehow in the censers. No one is sure exactly where the Moraens have gone.
  • Kel na Mynn: The Mynnaens worship the youngest and fairest Sister, Mynn. The people value art and beauty, music and poetry. They are the Craftsmen and women, the bards and the dancers.

THE ARTIST:

I have had this story stewing in my brain for about two and a half years, and I've been writing lore for the world of Ashea for as long as I can remember. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Animation, and aspire to create art and content for video games. By day, I am a member of an epic video game company's support staff, and by night I can be found doodling away on concepts and sketches for either my Demo Reel or for the comic. Or playing WoW. But usually doodling :P You can check out my DeviantArt here and my personal, online portfolio here.


THE METHOD:

Quick info on my process for the comic.

  • Everything is scripted out ahead of time. This helps me with pacing and page planning.
  • I thumbnail all my pages and create super-rough gesture drawings in a sketchbook I carry around. I have the entirety of Chapter 1 thumbnailed out. I find that this method helps me quickly and efficiently produce a new page when it comes time to update. Otherwise, I sit there at my tablet for an hour hemming and hawing about what goes where.
  • I work with Photoshop CS2 to make the digital pages. I create my gesture sketches in blue on one layer, and then go over it on a top layer with black, focusing on my line quality. I use a Wacom Cintiq 12WX.
  • When the Outline layer is finished, I set it to Multiply, hide the sketch layer, and create my color layers underneath. I use a cell shading method for coloring;a you can find many awesome tutorials for how to do this on DeviantArt.
  • For speech text, I use a font called 'Mighty Zeo Caps 2.0'. For any narration or fancy floaty text, I use a font called 'Nichi', which I made using a font creator.
  • Annnd thassabout it! =) Thanks for looking!