Well, it some ways, the time I’ve spend doesn’t hold a candle to Michael DeAngelo’s world of Tellest.

Michael is a friend of mine who I like to imagine as myself, but a few decades into the future. His ideas began around the year 2000, and he’s been working on his worlds and stories for almost as long as I’ve been alive!

And, as he’s come along, he’s amassed quite the team of artists, writers, voice actors, and other such professional to bring his stories to life. It’s something that, as I sit here writing this, that I am completely in awe of. But, I also can’t wait to reach a similar point where people are so in love with my own worlds and stories that they just can’t stop themselves from wanting to take part.

Here’s a better image from this blog’s featured banner:

There are many, many more like it on his website:

www.tellest.com

Here’s just a little about his world, told from the most renowned historian on Tellest, Gaston Camlann:

‘I’ve never looked down upon such beauty, as the day I stood upon the peak of Mount In’Adell.’
            Thundar Proudfist wrote that in his book, “The Mountains of Lustra”.  The writings were a memoir of a minotaur, who had been bred into a warlike society, who longed for a change to his scenery.  He traveled the whole of Lustra, before finally ascending the aforementioned mountain in the final passage of his book.
            Tellest is an aged world.  The trees and mountains are testament of that.  Wisdom abounds in the landscape surrounding us, and the wind carries the secrets of old.
            The gods created Tellest from a hunk of molten lava.  They breathed life onto its surface, cooling the fires wrought upon the plane.  They cried tears of joy, which created the grand oceans and lakes.  They cultivated Tellest’s solid form, and grew great fields and trees and mountains.  Through the gods, Tellest was born.
            Life on Tellest was born soon after.  The gods populated the planet with all manner of beast, from the lowly mouse, to the great dragon.  Multiple types of flowers and herbs sprang up from the dirt, helping to color the once dismal world.  But Tellest still lacked beings of greater knowledge.
            The gods decided upon three greater races that would live upon the surface of Tellest.  Each would live of their own free will, able to make their own mistakes or victories.  It was up to the three to decide how they would proceed through life.
            The elves were the first to walk this earthen plane.  They were the first mortal children of the gods.  They were jealous of their creators, though, and many had forsaken them.  The dwarves were created next.  Their loyalty to the gods has earned them great favor, and many had thrived with the blessings of Golernus.  Humans took presence afterwards, formed in the true image of the gods themselves.
            The three races vied for the love of their creators, warring and meddling with each other until the Elves banished humans to the depths of the deepest mountains, the dwarves also playing their part in the third race’s exile.
            But this greatly angered the gods.
            They had not created mankind to simply be wiped out, never to be seen again.  A cataclysm of rage and fury tore the world apart, ripping the world asunder and sinking parts of it to the ocean.  Volcanoes shot up from the depths of the seas, creating new, hostile lands.  Storms shattered the single land mass into a series of continents and smaller isles.
            Following the Sundering, the gods created  scores of other creatures, and other races.  The orcs, gnolls, kobolds, kaja, lagano, minotaur, and many others took face on the planet, each with their own unique views on life.  If the elves and dwarves thought the world was theirs alone, they were mistaken.
            Then, over nine hundred years ago, the first of us men began climbing from our earthen holes.  We escaped from our exile, appearing in every corner of the world, ready to live anew upon the surface.  We had forgiven the elves and dwarves, and found new allies waiting for us in the orcs, minotaur, kobolds and kaja.
            Together, this world is ours.
            Together, we will thrive.

I hope you enjoy his stuff!

Stay strange, strangers.

The post Feature Friday #6: Tellest by Michael DeAngelo appeared first on EOTERA.

Which is exactly what’s so great about Kinetic:

This comic is written by a whole team of individuals who come together to truly make this series something awesome. Bill Coulombe, founder of Y Comics, does the writing. Rafael Chrestani does all the line art. Omi Remalante does all the astounding colors. And, the lettering is done by Lucas Gattoni.

Oh! The featured cover art is also done by world famous DC artists Jason Metcalf and Ivan Nunes.

That’s quite the line up of people, If I do say so myself. With the majority of stuff for TheBitzr Publishings and Maiden in Disguise being done just by my ownsome, it’s quite the mind-blowing task to me to see how they manage to all work on the same project so cohesively.

Anyway, if you’d like to learn more about this series, check out Y Comics’ website here:

http://www.ycomics.net/kinetic/

Stay strange, strangers!

The post Feature Friday #5: Kinetic by Y Comics appeared first on EOTERA.

I find myself extremely jealous of my friend Shaun, otherwise known as Starlight City Entertainment.

Though he’s been working on his personal comics a bit longer than I have, we launched our debut series around the same time in 2014/2015ish and his absolutely blew up. Like, completely took over the whole comic scene for a bit (at least, that’s what it seemed like to me, at the time).

Which is ok, because his stuff is COMPLETELY AWESOME. I mean, look at it:

Even these few years later as we’re both making headway in our comic careers, I still look up to Shaun in many ways. Plus, he’s one of the friendliest dudes you’d ever have the pleasure to meet.

So, what’s his story about?

A teenage assassin awakens with amnesia in a post apocalyptic world where black magic & technology have combined, finding himself in the midst of a deadly mission that will shape the outcome of a cataclysmic war.

As you may expect, this series is chock-full of action, thrills, and suspense. For any of you who particularly enjoy this kind of comic, you should know that R:IL Persona is one of the most highly acclaimed independently published comics out there.

You can see for yourself, and learn more, on his website here:

https://www.ilpersona.com/

Also, here as well:

https://www.starlightcityent.com/

Give him some support!

He deserves it.

Until next time, my friends . . .

Stay strange, strangers.

The post Feature Friday #4: R:IL PERSONA by Starlight City Entertainment (Shaun) appeared first on EOTERA.

I seriously cannot believe this is happening!

Literally less than a week since launching, and we’re already well above and past the initial goal of $500 for this project. I really didn’t even begin to dare to hope that this was at all possible.

What this means now, is that the Kickstarter Stretch Goals for the Visitor Guide are not only realistically attainable, but a possibility I almost had not considered. As such, I felt a need to update these to such:

Plus, this also means that extra surplus funds can be used to further outsource many other tasks, meaning that the Visitor Guide is going to be EVEN BETTER than I originally hoped.

To think, this was at first going to be such a simple project.

If you want to see a video of me totally going insane, check out my Kickstarter and its updates here:

Just because, we’ve hit our main goal doesn’t mean we stop here!

I really, really, reeeeaaallly want to get hard copies into everyone’s hands, and to make other rewards from the kickstarter stretch goals a reality.

Let’s make it happen, strangers!

The post Visitor Guide to Eotera: Kickstarter 145% FUNDED! appeared first on EOTERA.

Dude. 

I’m just so seriously excited about my Visitor Guide to Eotera Kickstarter launching in a few weeks that I just can’t contain myself with these sneak peeks! 

For so long I’ve had this world of Eotera stuck in my head, and that’s where that idea had always stayed. But now, seeing this world come into life and start to take shape in real life is something I just have a hard time expressing with words. It’s truly inspiring to finally be at a point where these things seem to be coming together. 

So, with this sneak peek, I give you: Mt. Hakone! 

This mountain is the largest singular peak on the continent of Tsukiame, a land famed for its strawberry fields, gourmet foods, and the most breathtaking of luminescent butterflies. 

Topping out at just over 16,000′, Mt. Hakone stands alone in the middle of a vast flatland where innumerable amounts of wildflowers bloom. At very few key points in the year during these blooms, the clouds surrounding this mountain will reflect a shade of pink due to the sheer mass of flower petals and pollen. This makes this event a true once-in-a-lifetime experience to witness . . . as long as you have your allergy meds handy! 

In the Visitor Guide to come, you’ll learn much more about Tsukiame and the countless wonders there. 

The Kickstart project launches on Jan. 4th, 2019! 

Until the official take-off, you can check out the Preview and leave feedback HERE.

Stay strange, strangers! 

The post Visitor Guide to Eotera Sneak Peek: Mt. Hakone appeared first on EOTERA.

Hey stranger!

I made another sneak peek for you.

As you may already know, I’m working hard on getting a Visitor Guide to Eotera Kickstarter going this coming Jan. 2019. 

In this Visitor Guide, I am hoping to provide you with a very in depth look into my world of Eotera, where all the happenings from Maiden in Disguise occur. Part of the fun of doing it this way, is that I get to walk you through so many different places, the history of this planet, as well as the multitudes of strange new locales. 

And, of course, I couldn’t get to launching this project without showing a little bit more of little Eli’s home of Linwood Theta, a decent sized coastal city of the Allied Nation States. One of the things I really want to do in the Visitor Guide as well, is provide a map of Linwood Theta so that you can see where Eli happens to live in comparison to her school and other locales. 

Plus, with maps of each continent to be provided, you’ll get to see the whole world at large, and understand where things happen as there may be an instance or two where Eli or other characters may need to travel (*wink wink* *hint hint*). 

Anyway, I’d like it if you could visit the preview of my Kickstarter before it launches to provide some feedback. Even if it’s just a “good job,” I’d like to hear what you have to say.

Check it out HERE. 

See you on Launch Day, Jan. 4th, 2019! 

The post Visitor’s Guide to Eotera Sneak Peek: Linwood Theta’s Seaside appeared first on EOTERA.

Part #2: I Can’t Draw!

“That’s great, honey. But, you know you can’t draw, right?”

I remember that as the exact response my mom gave me when I told her I wanted to be a comic book artist.

Now, don’t give her any crap. Not only was she right, but she meant it in the right way. She wasn’t trying to put me down in any way. She was just making sure that I understood my dream was not going to come easily in the least. And, now that I’ve gotten a couple books published, I can say: She was right!

At that time, It was 2012 and I was just 17 years old and graduating high school. And, the best (worst?) part was that just about any grade-school kid could still draw better than I could:

What was a girl to do? Give up?

Believe me, I’d love to tell you how I, “Refused to give up,” or “Always knew my dreams would come true.” While there may have been a small voice inside me that always thought these things, if I’m being completely honest, there were plenty of times that I thought the exact opposite.

I didn’t really start drawing with any real earnestness well into my late teens, and it wasn’t until I was turning 20 that I developed the idea behind Maiden in Disguise.

Which is kind of a funny thing, because I never really expected Maiden in Disguise to take on a life of its own. It’s not super crazy popular yet (though it is gaining way more traction than I thought I’d ever have), but the story is becoming much more involved than I originally intended, which is both exciting and scary.

You see, when you grow up as a kid in similar circumstances as me (You can read about that HERE), it’s pretty easy to convince yourself that you’ll never be “good enough” at anything, especially something that you’re really not talented in to begin with.

The reason why Maiden in Disguise became a story was due to a conversation I had with my husband (who was my boyfriend, back then) during a drive back home from Detroit, MI. He was telling me that it doesn’t matter how “bad” I believe I am, I just needed to start putting something, anything really, out there for the world to see and experience, and his reasoning was something like this:

So, during our drive, I hashed out the initial story idea of Maiden in Disguise and vowed not only to draw the very first page, but to publish it online somewhere for all the world to see.

Which, let me tell you, when you sincerely believe that your art completely sucks, this was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done.

Originally being published on Tapas (called Tapastic back then), I also eventually started publishing MiD on Webtoon a couple years later when I found much more interaction and exposure on that platform.

During those early days, I “cheated” quite a bit. Meaning, that I used many of the 3D model tools available on my drawing software programs to aid me in designing my characters, helping to keep them consistent throughout the pages and panels. But, I knew this wasn’t the way I wanted to make my art in the long-term, because it wouldn’t fully be “my art.” So, I devoted quite a bit of time to studying anatomy books to learn how to draw my own style, with my own hands, in my own way.

Which was happening concurrently as I published my pages online. It’s something you can easily make notice of, as there are a couple of instances in my current story that the art style drastically improves. I hope it adds to the experience and really shows the journey:

If you are a consistent reader of Maiden in Disguise, you can see quite a few instances that just make you cringe a little on the inside (and maybe the outside, too). If you’re one of the individuals who never noticed or left positive feedback, well, thank you for being a kind hooman; you’re a good part of the reason why I never stopped.

And, I can honestly say now that I’ve finally gotten to the point where I am happy with my art 90% of the time. Here’s one of my personal favorite panels from recent pages of MiD:

There are still times where my consistency hiccups, and there are art challenges I still have yet to overcome. But, it makes me so glad to finally see that I have a style that is completely my own, yet still shows the progress of my early drawings.

Once again, I’m not sure why I’m writing all this. Maybe it’s a hope of mine that someone who believes they suck will read it and believe maybe they can suck a little less in the future. Maybe it’s just something I needed to get off my chest.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about The Story Behind my Stories.

Until next time . . .

Stay Strange, Strangers!

The post I’m Bad at Drawing appeared first on EOTERA.