The Pelkern Cycle is taking a short Page break for the Holidays, the next page will be posted January 9th. Here is a concept sketch of The Phoenix.

The bards of Pelkern only have garbled fragments of stories of the Firebird. One story fragment tells of the battle between the Phoenix and the Pale Wyrm, which shook the world to its very foundations. Another tells of the great fire that was consuming the world, and how the Phoenix plunged into the fire to quench it. But mostly, the memory of the Phoenix is now only held in a bedtime story that parents tell to comfort their children.

It is said that if you fall into the Tenebris, no one will be able to find you. The Tenebris is where the land has died; there, the light fades into utter darkness, and the air becomes thin (remember, Pelkern is a subterranean world). If you are lost in the Tenebris, you are lost indeed. But–Mothers tell their children–you can sing, and the Phoenix will hear and come to lead you out of the void, for the Phoenix fears neither darkness nor death.

 

Here is a 1 minute video of me inking this drawing, sped up x300: