It’s wonderful to welcome T.A. Bruno, author of the Song of Kamaria Series, In the Orbit of Sirens and the soon to be released, On the Winds of Quasars. Mr. Bruno has graciously shared his amazing character artwork from the series. Stay tuned for an interview with Mr. Bruno about the series coming at the end of September.
Thanks for having me back, Lorraine!
The art you’ll see here is stuff I do when I’m not writing. I maintain that whatever mental image the reader comes up with is more accurate than my ability to draw them. I always worry showing an image ruins the fun of imagination. That being said, these art pieces helped me develop each of the characters featured. By drawing and modeling these characters, I had to dive into what makes them unique. It should be noticed, many of these images are of the non-human characters featured in the books. As much as I’d love to draw humans, I find myself disliking my own art when I draw people, so I tend to stick to aliens and spaceships instead. I’ll mention some of my design philosophies for each character and avoid spoilers entirely.
Thank you so much for showing us your amazing, imaginative and brilliant characters. I loved the ecosystem of Kamaria and how organic it felt. Each organism was unique and had a place. As an Environmental Scientist, I love to see the development of nature in books. Kamaria was a truly incredible creation. These are fantastic! I chose to keep them all large sized, rather than a smaller gallery. They are so beautiful, they are better appreciated in full size. ALL IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHTED AND ARE THE PROPERTY OF T. A. BRUNO.
THE LAST FRAGMENTS OF THE HUMAN RACE ARE FORCED TO ADAPT TO A DANGEROUS NEW WORLD OR FACE EXTINCTION.
When starship mechanic, Denton Castus, is caught in the destructive path of a devastating war, he abandons his home and seeks refuge on a distant planet. However, this new safe haven has undiscovered threats of its own. Eliana Veston, a scout preparing the planet for the refugees, struggles with a deadly pandemic that is killing off colonists. The hunt for a cure unleashes a new threat to humanity—the Sirens—mysterious beings with incredible powers and a deep hatred for invaders.
3D Models/Renders:
All of these models were created by myself. Initially, I attempted to make a short animated film, so I had created loads of 3D assets. After discovering I had a story worth telling in a novel format, I ended production on the animated short and dove straight into outlining. These models came in handy later. Readers may recognize them as some of the chapter headers. Jason Michael Hall did line art over my models to make them novel-worthy. I was glad these assets came in handy, though! Some of these pictures will have old working-title names. I had conjured up the name “In the Orbit of Sirens” very close to publishing, so a lot of the concept stuff still reflects the old names.
Jump-jet thrusters cover this suit, allowing the marine to maneuver around a battlefield at high speed. Much of the tech involved was reverse-engineered from the Undriel.
You’ll notice this was created in 2016. This was one of the first images I ever created for this project. I was unsure what Nhymn was at the time, and you’ll notice she’s clawless here. I had a vague idea of a man possessed by some alien entity, but not like a Xenomorph. It was a supernatural element. I wanted to take unexplaninable concepts and attempt to make them explainable.
I had created a series of stylized images to use as buttons for my website at one point. This is one of the better renders of Dol’Gohm, the dray’vah. Readers will remember this monster from later in the pages of In the Orbit of Sirens. In an old, old, OLD draft, the dray’vah were another sentient species living on Kamaria, but after developing the auk’nai to a point I liked, the dray’vah were just too much. I made them my velociraptor adjacent aliens. (I loved Jurassic Park growing up, so this was just me having fun.)
The big baddies from the intro of In the orbit of Sirens. Undriel take on whatever form they need to and have lots of insectoid influence over their design. I’ll admit, I struggled to make an accurate image of them, but this was as close as I could get. My imagination outreached my ability to model them.
The standard suit used by colonists in the Delta Octantis system
Nhymn with claws! I made this image after understanding her character more. She’s more foreboding, more menacing.
Readers will notice the LPC canon (the Large Particle Canon) on the underside of the ship. Jupiter swirls in the background.
(Available 9.20.2021)
THE WORLD OF KAMARIA WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.
In the aftermath of the brutal slaying of a sacred auk’nai deity, Cade and Nella Castus are taken from their home and brought deep into the wilderness. They must make their way back to civilization, traversing dangerous landscapes as they are pursued relentlessly by their captor-a winged abomination.
As Denton and Eliana search for their missing children, they uncover something that will change life on Kamaria forever.
ILLUSTRATIONS:
Now that production on the trilogy was well underway, I had stopped creating 3D models and renders for some time. After finishing book 3, I started making some more art again.
Some characters return for book 2, of course! Talulo is a returning character. I’ll admit, this image is more accurate to book 1 in one specific way, but I won’t say to avoid spoiling!
The plump little scientist also makes a brief return for book 2.
In this book, readers will learn what an Auk’gnell is. Sirens only featured auk’nai, but the world of Kamaria is very diverse. Hrun’dah is an auk’gnell from the northern reaches of the world. Her egg was incubated in the heat of a volcanic overflow. I won’t say much else! (I’m going to keep saying that. No spoilers here!)
Thank you again Mr. Bruno for sharing your creative process with us. These images are stunning and I love to see characters come to life. If you have not read In the Orbit of Sirens, I highly recommend it. It is brilliant science fiction. I am looking forward to On the Winds of Quasars!
T.A. Bruno’s Website: https://tabruno.com/
Review for In The Orbit of Sirens
Purchase In the Orbit of Sirens on Amazon
Pre-Order on The Winds of Quasars on Amazon
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