Month: April 2024

April 2024 – Plz Reboot Artist

Oh wow, how is it the end of April??? This month flew by as I’ve been toiling through taxes and recuperating from the sleepless nights of medical/job worries and deadline crunch that was Jan thru March.

Rebooting My Brain

Things haven’t been all craziness and exhaustion, thankfully! I’ve been hyped to continue my quest to re-tool my skillset from painter to writer-illustrator and have finally returned to my studies now that the dust is settling (knock on wood?).

I’m in a transition period as I figure out how to brush up these rusty writerly skills of mine, but also find a way to combine my writing and art skills for new storytelling possibilities. I’ve picked up some classes to help me figure it all out:

  • Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass – I finished this one this month and it was a condensed shot in the brain of Gaiman’s best practices and anecdotes from his experiences as a writer. It was refreshing to see his scrappy comic script thumbnails. I’ve finished his masterclass with a bit more perspective and feeling a little more confident!

  • Clip Studio Paint Basics – I’ve also dove deep into learning Clip Studio Paint EX! I hope to use this program to utilize its 3D models to inform my illustration, as well as use CSP’s other tools to help in creating complex backgrounds. It also has book layout functionality, which would be useful for so many of my projects! It’s a LOT to take in and I’ve been taking it slow with this one.

  • Proko Presents Marvel’s Art of Storytelling – Getting a little more back in taxes than expected helped me splurge on something more for fun. I’ve always been interested in comics, but never felt brave enough to really make them. This class has been a fascinating glimpse into an adjacent industry and motivation to give some of my fun side ideas a try just for my own personal good, even if I don’t plan to go into comics professionally. My biggest takeaway so far is my comics friends aren’t paid enough for all the things they must master!

Other Patreon News – Last Chance Loyalty Merch!

May is the last month my Birthstone Goddesses loyalty merch will be available! After this month, I’ll be deactivating this merch to make ready for my Patreon’s soft re-launch into a new theme focused on creating work inspired by novels, starting with the Kushiel’s Legacy series.

For a limited time (till the end of May), I’m going to offer all of the Birthstone Goddesses Loyalty merch exclusively for Patrons to snag before it’s gone for good. Patrons who have been here long enough have gotten this merch for free, but those who may have missed out because they’re new Patrons that joined after the merch’s debut will at least have this chance to snag it for a fee before they disappear into the vault.

Stay tuned for the announcement for when these items go live in the Secret Shop. (Should be within the week!)

Posts You Missed in April

—-

I didn’t have too many posts in April, as the inspiration lists take quite a while to compile. I’m hoping to get Part 2 of Movies That Make Me Want to Paint done for May, instead. Meanwhile, prep continues for the grand re-launch. I can’t wait to roll out the new direction for this Patreon which promises to help me read more books and create more art that I love and want to see in the world!

More soon,

– Ang

New Art! “Blue Eye, Silver Tongue”

I’ve been working on this fan art piece ever since Blue Eye Samurai came out and finally had a chance to finish it after wrapping up deadlines, taxes, and Life Happening(TM). Mizu’s story of revenge, betrayal, and growth spoke to me in ways that made me want to drop everything and keep writing my own stories, despite my art block and uncertainty, of late.

I felt a personal connection to Mizu’s struggles as a biracial child who felt out of place and someone who also was not overtly feminine, which made my early life more difficult. My thanks to this amazing show that made me feel like my peculiarities are strengths rather than weaknesses.

I couldn’t resist painting a cross-over piece with one of my early original characters from the Exalted TTRPG setting – Koh the Silvertongued Devil. Koh and Mizu share the same unstoppable conviction towards their revenge plots, genderfluid identity, and taste in sunglasses. Not sure who would win in a fight, but I hope it would end in trading survival tips over tea, at the very least!

Painted in Procreate.

Wallpapers anyone?  If this piece is popular enough, I can add a wallpaper pack for it. Let me know in comments if you want this, Patrons, and I’ll add it to the upcoming Patreon digital shop I’ll be debuting here soon!

Want to help me out by giving this art some love on socials?  I’d be delighted if you all like, shared, commented, on social media. A comment of support really makes my day!

New Upcoming Patreon Theme! + Where to Find My Exalted Art

Thanks to Patrons’ votes in my last big poll, I’ve finally made a decision about where this Patreon will be going after May.  Your insights were a big help in choosing what I’ll be focusing on next, with so much inspiration pulling my muse in different directions!

My top two contenders were, much to my surprise, the Kushiel Concepts theme and the Exalted TTRPG theme.  Color me surprised to see two of my most niche topics be at the top!  I’m so pleased these passion projects would be appealing to you guys.

KUSHIEL CONCEPTS is our winner, which means I’ll be exploring the following once June rolls around:

  • My own variant book covers of the first 3 books, Kushiel’s Dart, Kushiel’s Chosen, and Kushiel’s Avatar (maybe further into Imriel and Moirin’s trilogies, if the muse strikes me and the interest in this theme stays strong)
  • Favorite moments, character concepts, etc, as I re-read the books
  • Designs of the sigils of the Court of Night Blooming Flowers & noble houses of Terre d’ Ange
  • Plus other ideas as we see how the muse inspires me while I read!

I’ll also be designing a new suite of Kushiel-inspired Patreon-exclusive merch, which I’ll announce later on as I figure out what might be a cool thing to make.  Perhaps a series of night-blooming flower stickers inspired by the Court?  Fancy stained glass noble house sigils?  Let me know if you have ideas of things you’d love to collect!

I’m going to think about this and do some planning while we wait on May to arrive.

But what about my Exalted art?

I’m still going to be making Exalted art, stories, and resources just for my own fun and on my own time, but it won’t be shared here on Patreon, as that’d start to get confusing if I tried to mix it in with Kushiel/Fantasy things once that theme revs up here.

My solution? – A dedicated place for my Exalted things on Ko-fi.

I’ll be posting all Exalted art/writing/resource updates and future Exalted Character of the Week compilations there in the future, so go give it a follow if you like that particular facet of my TTRPG-related art.  I’ve shared my free fan resources there, for those who need art templates and resources for playing their Solar characters.  

If you like the Exalted things I do, Ko-fi’s set up to where you can leave me a monthly or one-time tip there as well, or just enjoy the project, which is 98% free to enjoy, minus a couple of perks for monthly tippers.  This way, I don’t feel like my Exalted fans are left out of the fun and I have a chill place I can share that TTRPG hobby.  I also like the idea that my Exalted stuff stays free of too many expectations so it can remain a fun and carefree endeavor!

Well that’s enough of my excited ramble!  I hope you all are as hyped for a change in theme here as I am.  I’m looking forward to reading some of my favorite books and deep diving into some really cool imagery!  Perhaps it will pave the way for other fun book series I’ve enjoyed and would like to do fan art for?

Till next time, I’ll keep sharing interim inspiration and art till Summer arrives!

<3 Ang

Exalted Character of the Week Vol 2 + Bonus Valentine’s Comic

Until May rolls around and this Patreon is re-vamped with a brand new theme, I’Il be sharing the fun random arts I do, like the next collection of character portraits for the Exalted Character of the Week challenge I host over at the Forge of Wonders.  It was another adventure in experimenting with different styles and loosening up after so many years of working in a more rigid style.

The Cultivar of Bloodied Sunsets for Kess 

At the same time that The Cultivar was chosen for the next Challenge, my husband started playing Persona 3 Reload, which put a whole new coat of paint on top of a game that he loved growing up.  I’ve always enjoyed the sleek and appealing designs of ATLUS’ games and wanted to see if I could try to bring that visually stunning nature to a portrait of The Cultivar.  How did I do?

Apparently I subconsciously matched her outfit with her girlfriend’s outfit from an earlier challenge, which is a fun bit of accidental serendipity.

Fia for Morpheous XO

Next up, we have Fia, the No Moon Lunar witch.  I was originally going to keep this portrait as a simple pencil portrait, which I’m quite pleased with Procreate’s graphite simulation.  But then the color tempted me!  I tried to keep it subtle with the pops of her dramatic red hair tips.  I ended up with a look very close to what I can do with copic marker, traditionally, which is neat!

Moira for MissSunnySweden

Lastly, we have Moira for MissSunnySweden, a kickbutt Dawn Caste with a tiger theme.  I’ve long considered smiles my weakness when drawing people, but I was able to capture a delighted bloodlust smile without too much trouble.  I didn’t have much time to draw Fia and Moira, so I aimed for more simplified ‘token-style’ portraits.

All the portaits you see here were painted in Procreate, which has become my mainstay of late since it let’s me curl up in a comfortable spot on the couch to work.

Bonus Valentine’s Day Exalted Comic

I created one last bit of fun Exalted art in February where we were challenged by another member of the Forge to draw our characters on a date.  My character, Kalara, was paired up with the Abyssal, The Cultivar, for a date, which triggered a fun idea for a whole mini comic I could practice my visual storytelling skills with.

I wasn’t able to finish the mini comic with everything happening with health and job woes last month, but I’m hoping to clean this up at some point for practice.  For now, enjoy the sketches for the comic and the quick final panel I did work up just for fun!

Premise:  The Cultivar and Kalara go on a date!

Kalara shows up to the cafe, where the Cultivar awaits, the two of them competing to show off who has the highest Resources rating (basically means how rich they are in this setting).  They ‘battle’ through various things, from fancy tea vs coffee, to fancy favorite foods, to the final battle – Who will cover the check???

Eventually, Kalara wins the wealth battle, but The Cultivar gets the upper hand…which my gal is actually pretty okay with.  There are worse, more boring ways to die, right? 

The final panel:

(This one was drawn on Procreate, but word bubbles added in Clip Studio Paint)

—-

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little art diversion!  I have more serious projects to finish up by the end of the month, but these character challenges are always a fun way to stretch my legs between more intense projects.

– Ang