I’ve been a little quiet around here while I’ve had my head to the desk working through a few private commissions to help catch up with all our medical bills from our tumultuous 2025. I thought you guys might enjoy seeing a couple I’m allowed to share!
Echo for Aquatica1000
You may have spotted this tragically handsome vamp in my Year in Art post. I’m always giddy to get more Exalted TTRPG characters into the queue. This was a small headshot, but even with these smaller pieces meant to be in a simple flat style, I always try to work in the DRAMA, which I achieved with subtle gradients and dramatic desaturated color choices that pushed the saturated elements, like Echo’s soulsteel eyes and branded caste mark.
Enjoy a quick 1 min timelapse with my text narration of the process and decision-making:
Even for these small pieces, I like to workup a few thumbnails! We had a lot of fun variations for Echo. I really liked 4 to show off the dimensionality of the mask, but we ended up choosing 6 as both the client and I felt it showed Echo’s reluctant nature. He’s technically working for a big bad evil, but he’s not morally on board with his boss’ evil tactics and will one day rebel to follow his own better nature. (But 4 really would have looked cool, too!)
Splintered Fate April & Casey
A commission for a good friend inspired by their favorite characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! In which I studied many trash cans and enjoyed the many varying character designs of April O’Neil throughout time during my reference research.
This is quite the departure from my usual Fantasy fair, but it felt good to get back to my own artistic roots in 90s comics and my own nostalgic love for the world of TMNT. The graffiti turtles on the right are a nod to how I used to draw the turtles as a kid, as they were some of the first subjects of my early budding art skills!
A timelapse to appreciate how much I fiddled with the graffiti:
And now the thumbnails! There were no bad options here, as each one showed a different facet of these two characters. We had some cool ‘super model’ poses for an aesthetic approach, some more action-oriented comic posing, and finally the thumbnail I went with, which was actually the first one I drew.
The client and I agreed that the casual glance between the two just before they hop into a fray with The Foot was the fun vibe to shoot for!
Side Adventure: During research into graffiti art for this image, I stumbled upon a news story about a mysterious Pizza Graffiti Bandit who has been tagging pizzerias in New York with their unique pizza tag.
In my mind, of course this had to be Mikey on his own vigilante crusade to mark the pizzerias under his protection! I HAD to include an homage to that in the image somehow.
—-
If you have characters you’d love to see me draw (be they yours or fan art you want to see in the world), definitely check out my private commission info and commission FAQ. I have limited slots for private comms you can view here,
Onwards to the next images in my queue!
<3 Ang
