Contents
- Introduction
- What I'm looking for
- What I Have to Offer
- Story Pitch
- Examples
Hello, I'm Karsten. I've been developing a world and series of stories for a while now that I collectively call "Tears Saga". Recently I've finished a short story/novella (roughly 25,000 words) that I'll be posting here on Tapas. I would be interested in expanding this story (forward and back) as a webtoon if there is enough interest in it. However, that story itself is meant mainly to serve as the introduction to the world and takes place between the second and third books of the main series. If you're interested or want more information, please contact me either here, or by email at TearsSaga@gmail.com
What I'm looking for:
An artist partner that loves character design especially. At the most basic level, I'm looking for someone to collaborate with to create official character designs and covers, however I would also love to work together on one or more webcomic projects if possible. Do to the setting, a familiarity, and preferably a passion, for fantasy is preferred. I don't mind "rule of cool" designs, but I do tend to look for a certain level of practicality in costume and character designs as well. As an artist, I lean more towards an anime style, myself, but if you are interested and draw in a different style, I would still be interested in hearing from you and seeing an example of your work. Your style may inspire me and be what I want even if it's not what I think I'm looking for.
What I have to offer:
- If you are only interested in working together on character designs, covers, or illustrations, what I have to offer is original novel text and character descriptions. My descriptions/requests for cover art can be as detailed or vague as your creativity requires. I might be able to offer my own sketches as inspiration if the situation allows and you are interested.
- If you are interested in starting a webcomic together, then I can provide a text script, or possibly even sketched rough draft (examples down below).
- If there's ever a character idea or scene you would really like to draw sometime, we can discuss your ideas, and find a way to write it into the story.
The Story (and world) of Tears Saga
The world of Era
The story begins in a primal world filled with beasts and danger. The beings who created the world, Titans, still wander it. Among the beasts, the weakest are known as "gehm", which are what pass as human in this world. Unlike other beasts, gehm are incapable of connecting with the world in a way that allows them to use magic. However, these weak beings are destined to one day rival the Titans and become the gods of the world.
The Main Story
Called Primordia, the main story follows a weak gehm child who happens to meet a titan, who is the embodiment of flame, and they begin to travel together. Even amongst the other titans, this titan of fire is considered to be no more than a destructive calamity on the world. However, to the boy, she is a source of protection and later a companion/mother-figure, due to her nature to scare away any beasts that would otherwise consider him prey.
During the unusual pair's journey together, the gehm becomes capable of manipulating fire in a way similar to his adoptive mother. This becomes seen as a problem by other titans as they fear the balance of the world may be about to shift.
Artwork Examples
(This is an example of a cover sketch I made. The scaling is to fit a Facebook page cover, with the gray margins showing where the image is cropped in mobile vs desktop view, and the characters placed in a way that they can be cropped to create a book cover. Depending on how we agree to work together, I might create sketches like this to show my intentions better than in writing, or if there is a specific composition I'm looking for; such as in this sketch. I would leave the overall design of characters and setting to the artist, who might even be interested in playing with the composition if they have their own ideas to test out.)
(Here is the same image after coloring the backround and then sending it through an AI art program. I would never include AI art in any official work, I was only interested in seeing what it might look like after being finalized.)
(Here's a character design I drew up a while ago of an important character in the story. She's an embodiment of fire who took on a human form, so I was looking to add some kind of elements that show that nature. I'm not completely convinced about this design though, so it's not final or official. I've only added it here to show somewhat the style I go for in my own works. (Hopefully this won't be considered as nudity, as this character is only as "nude" as the titans from Attack on Titan. But if it is deemed inappropriate, then I will remove it and apologize.))
Finally, here's a sample of a full webcomic episode sketch, to get an idea of my storytelling style and the art direction/composition that I generally go for. As there is not much dialogue, this sample may not serve as a very good example of my writing itself. Please ask for a writing sample if you would like to see one: Webcomic episode sketch example (Google Drive)
Conclusion and Contact
Thank you for reading, even if you're not an artist and was just interested in what I had to say. However, if you are an artist, and you're interested in collaborating with me on this project, please contact me either here or by email at TearsSaga@gmail.com
(I'm willing to share the entire manuscript of Sezio and the Serpent with an artist that is interested in collaborating, but wants to see what my writing style and the story is like before the webnovel has completed. Please ask when you contact me.)
Thank You 
