My next spoopy topics for the Exalted Art Challenge arrive just in time for Halloween weekend!  I’m pleased to introduce you to some of the most fearsome and terrifying villains within the world of Exalted!

Abyssal – Golden Lies Spewn Forth From Avarice

No that title isn’t a sentence, it’s this character’s name.  Abyssals are the dark reflection of Solars like Kalara.  Their once-divine Sun essence has been corrupted by beings empowered by the ancient fallen gods.  This character once had a name, but it was taken from him and stricken from the books in Heaven when he was transformed into an Abyssal.

In life, Golden Lies obsessed over material wealth and pursued it to his end.  In death (or undeath), he cloaks himself in the finery of a king’s funeral adorned with bejeweled bones.  I played with a couple of different color schemes for him and am favoring the white-haired look at the moment!  This isn’t the last we’ll see of this fellow, as he might appear in The Uncrucified down the line, if the story goes where I think it’s going.

On the bottom-right, I also decided to draw fan art of another Abyssal who I liked the design of, the Saint of Promised Silence, who belongs to HamSandLich.

Deathlord – Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears

Masters of the Abyssals, the Deathlords terrorize Creation, the whispers of dark gods in their ears driving them forth.  Each Deathlord is a powerful ghost who rules over an array of weapons and armies poised to bring about the destruction of Creation for the Neverborn, the remnants of the Primordial gods imprisoned in the Underworld in ages past.  

Not so for the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears.  She has no armies, nor does she make war like the others.  Her insidious claws seep into every corner of her enemies’ territories in the form of spies and hidden knives.  She once seduced an entire monastery of celibate monks before transforming their holy land into a Shadowland and building her own fortress atop its ruins.  I do enjoy a clever villainous lady and couldn’t resist drawing this particular Deathlord!

I wove the ‘tears’ of the Lover’s name into her design, her dangling jewels mimicking falling streams of tears and the makeup on her face flowing like tear streaks punctuated by a drip of ‘blood’ from her lips.  The tear shape even echoes in the cleavage cutout in her dress.  For a seductress as high caliber as the Lover, I wanted a sense of high class, of ornamentation.  She has bare shoulders to show a tantalizing bit of skin and smokes an opium pipe, which to me embodies her motif of ‘luxurious destruction’.

She really seems to agree with the muse!  I am definitely planning to choose one of her thumbnails to turn into a full painting.

Monstrance – The Arms of the Lover

The divine essence of a Solar is no easy thing to corrupt and thus the Neverborn created the most cruel of implements for their Deathlords to use- the Monstrances of Celestial Portion.  These sarcophagi are uniquely forged to corrupt and bind the Exaltation of a particular servant and keep it under the thrall of the Deathlord.   A Solar thrust into this insidious coffin eventually succumbs to corruption until they give themselves over and accept their new existence as Abyssals…or perish.

As each monstrance suits the Deathlord’s intentions (the way I interpret the lore), I’ve chosen to portray this monstrance controlled by the Lover as being much like its owner.  The silk satin pillowing inside makes it seem like a luxurious bed, the soulsteel and jade construct gilded with gold.  A prismatic crystalline lid allows one to gaze on the poor soul inside, whose body is trapped in an arc that mimics ecstasy by gold caressing arms that come alive and clasp the victim within.  Inserted along the crystal lid, jewel encrusted needles stab into each of the victim’s chakra points, plying the Solar within for corruption.  Like the Lover, this monstrance combines a beautiful and terrible aesthetic.

This one’s somewhat NSFW for artistic nudity, suggestive themes, and non-graphic body horror, so click HERE to see the full version:

Despite all my flowy whimsical goddesses, I really enjoy these darker topics and have been looking forward to them since I began this challenge!  

Have a fun and safe Halloween weekend, everyone!

♥ Ang

I’m changing up my format a bit as it seems I’m not going to be able to share many of the final paintings from this challenge in these compilations!  I’m going to stick to sharing sketches and then once all of my final paintings are done based on my favorite picks from the sketches, I’ll share those in their own collection along with their story snippets.

For now, enjoy my explorations with a bit of commentary for Exalted newbies!

Favorite God – The Plentimon of Dice

Exalted has many gods, all which represent various abstract concepts in Creation who gain power from how many worshippers acknowledge and make offerings to them.  Creation is full of offerings a-plenty for the Plentimon of the Dice!  He is the God of Gambling and one of the most present and active gods in Creation.  This god gets a thrill from watching games of chance unfold and the excitement of high stakes.  He’s always circulating Creation, visiting every casino either in his full splendor or a mortal disguise.  Those who gamble to him and lose without repaying their debts meet mysterious unexplained deaths.

The Plentimon shows up often in The Uncrucified, as Kalara’s hometown of Gem hosts one of the most magnificent subterranean gambling parlors built with such finery as to please the gods themselves.  Games of chance are part of the culture of Gem.  One day, a pauper might be a prince.  Fortunes are always turning, something Kalara has experienced firsthand as her contract was lost several times in a game of chance, usually during Plentimon’s festival day.

I’ve chosen to depict the Plentimon with a half-mask representing Good and Bad fortune with jewelry and adornments made from various game pieces and jade obols.  Perhaps they are the good luck charms from those who have lost to him?

First Age Incarnation

In centuries past, there was such an age of splendor where the chosen of the Gods, the Exalted, ruled with a firm and magnificent hand.  These demigods among men stood above Creation stabilizing it during a time when mortals and gods alike had finally freed the world from the tyranny of the ancient Primordial gods who once ruled Creation, much like the Titans of Greek mythology.  However, their hubris and their extreme virtues turned against them with the Great Curse hidden in their souls by the vengeful defeated Primordials would be the downfall of the Solars of the First Age.

Each spark of Exaltation resides in a Shard which is passed down from one worthy vessel to another. This gent here is Calym Lang, the Solar and Righteous Devil practitioner whose shard Kalara would eventually inherit.  Calym was a shrewd and paranoid master of trade whose cold pragmatism would be his downfall.  Kalara is more like him than she would like to admit at times and the two maintain a begrudging respect towards one another.  She often communicates with his greater soul in the underworld, the two poking fun at each other’s flaws in a good-natured competition to see who will achieve their goals through more effective ends.

He’s also ghostwritten a series of erotica novels that Kalara is a fan of, but will never tell him.

Calym’s mural venerates his status as one who united the four corners of Creation, all trade routes leading to the compass in his hand.  I imagine this to be the centerpiece of a wider mural, each region of the mural depicting the exports of the area they represent (an image our Storyteller described once that never left my mind).

Age of Sorrows Incarnation

When the Exalted of the First Age fell, the Age of Sorrows began, but a glimmer of hope stands on the horizon.  The Shards of the Exalted have begun to appear again, imbuing heroes like Kalara with the power to change the face of Creation.

Like Calym, I’ve depicted her in a mural style with some key differences.  While Calym’s focuses on veneration from his worshippers, Kalara stands among people who rise up in revolution carrying tools of their trade, as she spends much of her power in Creation empowering escaped slaves like herself with trade skills, creating fair economy through her organization, the Pristine Guild.  She struggles between the Gun and the Quill, violence and diplomacy.  By the end of her time in Creation, she will have learned to balance both.

She and Calym share the phoenix as a personal symbol, though they oppose each other in gold and silver.

Incarnations Back to Back

While Calym’s time is over, the two remain inextricably bound.  The Shard granted to Kalara has also passed on some of his memories and knowledge.  She strives to learn from the mistakes Calym made and the emotionless spirit construct of himself he has left behind to tutor her.  Should she ever prove unworthy, Calym has made his intentions known that he will destroy her so that a more worthy successor might come along more quickly.

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This week’s collection was packed with a lot of fun ideas!  While I won’t be able to paint a finished polished piece for every idea here, I want to pick a few out of the bunch to bring to final!  I’d like to finish up the Back to Back thumbnail with Kalara and Calym with their weapons drawn and the smarmy Plentimon of Dice with his dice cup and floating cards.  The temple mural pieces are also calling to my muse!

Which ones would you guys want to see finished up?  Always curious to know what calls to you!

More soon! 

♥ Ang

Continuing directly from last week’s collection, I finished my concept for Favorite Charm I teased last entry!  The goal for me with this challenge was to generate ideas and maybe get a few TTRPG portfolio pieces out of them.  I’m excited to say this piece has done that for me!  It may mean I won’t finish this challenge in a month, but it’s been worth it to take some time to explore my other inspirations as an artist and get a taste of what kind of art I want to be making in the future.

I’m so happy to see the game setting’s company also Retweeted this painting on Twitter, which makes me hopeful I’m on the right track! 

(Painted entirely in Procreate!  This Challenge been a learning experience for new tools as well.)

Favorite Dragonblooded House

No, the Dragonblooded are nothing like the Dragonborn of Dungeons & Dragons.  These noble houses descended of ancient mystic bloodlines imbued with the power of dragons do not have draconic attributes, but rather convey the aura and characteristics of their elements – wood, water, fire, earth, and air.  The individuals who started these bloodlines became the founders of the first dynastic houses, all ruled under the Scarlet Empress.

I chose House Cynis, a wood-aspected house known for their luxurious lifestyles, finery, and debauchery.  They feature heavily in the story of The Uncrucified and I wanted to spend some time conceptualizing Varia and Sana Cynis, two nobles from House Cynis who have fallen on hard times, though they do their best to portray themselves as the rich nobles they once were.  This pair would be trouble for Kalara in her younger days, but also give her a very unexpected “gift”!

With their wood theme, I chose to explore bonsai-inspired framing and Hanfu inspired fashions, as their their home country in the Blessed Isle always struck me as more Chinese-inspired in the setting.

Favorite Spell

There was no contest in choosing a fave spell. How could I resist the motif of razor sharp obsidian butterflies that fly out of the caster’s hands, butterflies being a personal symbol fo mine?  If a sorcerer chooses this spell as their specialty, they can also grow slashing claws of obsidian. 

I made this character up on the fly as a sorcerer-assassin, of sorts.  Instead of the more proper elegant mages, I imagine this nameless mage to be much more world-weary and cold.  She would fit in well with the Guild assassins that Kalara will no doubt clash with later on in her story!

Favorite Incarnae

The Incarnae are the holiest of holy among the gods of Exalted.  Their machinations and existence helped form the fabric of Creation.  Again, choosing Luna, goddess of the moon, was an easy pick for me!  She resonates so strongly with narrative themes I enjoy as a goddess of not only the night, but of tricksters, fertility, and chaos (not to mention her visual themes of tattoos and silver, which I am also partial to in my work).  Luna balances the rigid order and burning presence of the Unconquered Sun, giving Creation a respite from his burning rays.

For her visual themes, I wanted to portray what might be a mural in one of her temples. I imagine this would be ever-changing, showing her in any of her countless forms as a Hunter, Maiden, Crone, Beast, etc. depending on the time of month you look at it.  The masks around her symbolize the many guises she takes, with the rabbits worked in as symbols of fertility referenced as being connected with her in the setting.

I took strong inspiration from the beautiful murals of Steven Universe, particularly for the last sketch.

I’m currently favoring the asymmetrical take on Luna, as the symmetrical ones feel too defined by rules of order, which doesn’t fit Luna’s personality.

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I don’t have any finished art from all of this sketching this week, as I’m exploring at my own pace.  I may pick a few that speak to the muse more strongly to bring to final, then only create sketches for the rest.  We shall see!  The journey continues and it’s felt GREAT to indulge in this geeky art love!

 ♥ Ang