The Demon Thrones Series: Barbatos's Torment
Added 2019-12-09 01:45:12 +0000 UTCRelated posts:
Barbatos is one of my top five characters in all of Cryopod Refresh. Born a weakling Lord struggling to crawl up the demon hierarchy, he took the quick and easy path to power, choosing to disobey the orders of his Emperor by devouring an Archangel. In doing so, he condemned not only himself, but his brother to an eternity of torment.
Uriel, the Archangel of Protection, stood strong and defended Heaven against the demonic onslaught. She held them off until the final moment when her 'brother' backstabbed her and left her to die in the hands of her enemies. After perishing to Barbatos's greedy little maw, she entered his body and fused with it, allowing her a chance at revenge; a chance at taking over her killer's form and fighting back against the demonic hordes.
But, alas, Barbatos's older brother Artorias gave up his life to fuse with his little brother's soul. Together, the two demons managed to successfully keep Uriel under control.
However, even 'under control,' Uriel's holy energy ravaged Barbatos's body night and day for tens of thousands of years.
Barbatos learned a lot from his younger, more childish self.
He grew up.
No longer does he seek the futility of power or rank among his people. He only wishes for there to be peace among demonkind, and to redeem his past sins.
Barbatos has changed. He has matured. But has Uriel?
Trapped within the body of her murderer, she spends every waking moment of her existence plotting the death and damnation of not only Barbatos and Artorias, but all of demonkind as well. She does not forgive. She does not forget. Her people have all perished, and she is alone.
What has the Archangel of Protection got to lose?
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Check out some of the WIP artwork we used when designing this image!
First, my initial mockup:
I suck at artwork, but I had the initial idea of Uriel puppeteering Barbatos while Artorias tries to hold her back. Thus, my crappy initial drawing.
Next came the mockups:
The first mockup was basically perfect, but I thought the way Artorias had his eyes on Barbatos while not really tugging on one end of a chain or another felt weak.
Raul redid the grip positions of his hands slightly and tilted Artorias's head upward to glare angrily at Uriel. I thought this added a lot more character to the pose. It was pretty much touch and go after this.
And then the final image:
It really amazes me how the creative process works, sometimes. Raul is extremely talented, and I count myself lucky to have him as my artist. Someday, who knows? A Cryopod Graphic Novel might become a thing! Maybe a webcomic?
The next artwork pieces will be unrelated to the Demon Thrones series for a little bit. I want to get some newly introduced characters designed, and then we can return to the Demon Throne series afterward. I'd also like to work on fixing Vepar, since her artwork isn't anywhere close to my mental image, yet.
That;s all for now. Thanks for reading!
