Tag: The Uncrucified

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!

Colección Exalted Art Challenge 2022

¡Feliz Halloween a todos!  Hoy tengo una sorpresa para vosotros en forma de la colección completa de piezas del desafío de este año, ¡el Exalted Art Challenge!  Nos mudamos justo a mitad de este desafío, así que solo tuve tiempo de participar en los temas semanales.  Aun así, este desafío siempre es muy divertido y una gran excusa para experimentar con diferentes métodos y estilos.

Creé todas estas entradas en Procreate.

Semana 1: Tu PJ (Personaje Jugador)

En lugar de dibujar a los mismos personajes de siempre que he estado dibujando últimamente (cof, cof, Kalara), pensé en destacar a Zorro Risueño, un embaucador que Kalara conoció en sus viajes como una joven semidiosa.  Zorro Risueño es un Lunar, elegido de la diosa de la luna en el escenario del RPG Exalted.  Prefiere la seducción al asesinato y se enorgullece de sus astutos planes y su colección de secretos.  Su Marca, o la característica que lo distingue como elegido de la luna, son las puntas blancas de su cabello, que recuerdan a la cola de un zorro.

¡Él entra y sale del cuento de Kalara a su antojo!  Sin duda, veréis más de él dentro de poco.

La inspiración para la forma animal de Zorro Risueño es el precioso zorro cruzado.  ¡Mirad esta majestuosa criatura!

Semana 2 – Una Comida en Creación

¡A continuación viene un tema divertido con comida del escenario!  Esta comida proviene de la celebración del Día de Plentimon, el dios del juego.  Inspirados en el pastel de rey del mundo real de Mardi Gras, aquellos que encuentren los dados de Plentimon en su porción de pastel serán coronados como realeza por un día y tendrán la bendición del dios para el próximo año.

El festín del Día de Plentimon consiste en brochetas de cabra marinadas en yogur y especias, con pasteles a base de almendras en forma de dado D6 con láminas de almendras para representar los números.  Todos los pasteles de dados tienen diferentes sabores en su interior para enfatizar el tema del juego de Plentimon. ¡Nunca se sabe si te tocarán sabores amargos o dulces!  Finalmente, no puede faltar una bebida alcohólica en un día de fiesta en Gem, en este caso, vino de dátiles.

Soy un gran fan de la estética de la comida en Monster Hunter, lo que sin duda se nota en mi elección de diseño para este plato.

Semana 3 – Encanto Favorito

Este comenzó como un Encanto Fave (o habilidad mágica), pero rápidamente se desvió del tema con el dibujo de FX para el aura de anima de Kalara, el halo brillante de energía que aparece cuando canaliza energías divinas en diferentes niveles de intensidad. Cuando está en 'fall blast', aparece un fénix alzándose detrás de ella, un animal que forma parte de su simbolismo personal como alguien que resurgió de su casi muerte para conquistar el mundo. Esta será mi primera vez dibujando una hoja de FX y fue muy divertido. ¡Definitivamente las añadiré a la hoja de referencia adecuada de Kalara!

Semana 4 – Moda Fave

Para el tema final, iba a mantenerlo 'simple' y esbozar un concepto para una armadura de cristal, pero el tema se apoderó de mí y ¡terminé con un retrato completo! Los restos de cristal de los magníficos edificios del antiguo Chiaroscuro conservan mágicamente su brillo y fuerza y ​​generalmente se utilizan para armaduras resistentes pero elegantes. ¡Me pregunto por qué no armadura Y un vestido para Kalara?

Este retrato también me brindó la oportunidad de pintar a Kalara en un estilo más realista, así como de probar un nuevo estilo que estoy desarrollando actualmente, que combina un aspecto suave y pictórico con elementos de bordes duros para un look inspirado en Klimt y las tarjetas del tarot.

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Moda Fave fue, sin duda, mi tema favorito de este año. ¿Cuál es el tuyo?

Como siempre, si te gusta Kalara o alguna de las imágenes que publico para el Exalted Art Challenge, consulta el juego de rol de mesa Exalted de Onyx Path Publishing y las historias y el arte de Kalara en The Uncrucified o consulta las colecciones más antiguas del Exalted Art Challenge para ver arte que te hayas perdido.

Ahora que el EAC ha terminado, estoy dirigiendo mi atención a algunas sorpresas divertidas en las que estoy trabajando para el relanzamiento de este Patreon y el tema que todos eligieron para mí para NaNoWriMo (Llama de la Sultana).

¡Hasta la próxima! Mantente atento para más avances de escritura y arte de las aventuras de Rabs en NaNoWriMo.

♥ Ang

September 2022 Sketchbook – Rabs & Kalara Character Designs

This weekend, we put the first boxes in the new studio and I’m so excited!  Studio pics to follow in the near future.  In the meanwhile, I’ve been using the time between the seams to chip away at the character designs for Rabs and Kalara.  Character sheets have been my happy place lately!

Rabanne Arore, Big Muscles, Big Heart

I wanted to challenge myself with Rabs’ design with a muscular body type and her glowing hair. She’s really captured my muse with her fun tatts, color schemes, and themes, so you’ll definitely be seeing more of her in my sketchbook!  This particular piece was meant to be in the style of a more traditional ttrpg rulebook style source book image, as well as a base for me to put different clothing on.  More fashions are sure to follow!

Watch a time lapse of how I created this piece, along with Rabs’ tattoo sheet here.  She was painted using the Acrylic brushes in Procreate on the ipad.

Kalara Vadras, The Uncrucified

I meant to save this image for a proper release with a full sheet of FX and turnarounds, but our house move is taking forever, so I thought I’d share a WIP!  You guys got to learn a little bit more about Kalara last month via Fantasy Indies August.  She’s been inspiring me for years since our Exalted ttrpg game, so it was about time she got a new look!

This new look captures more of the elegant merchant negotiator she becomes after her years on the run from the Guild.  

Kalara’s old look as a reminder:

More to come when I explore the rest of her character sheet!  I’m especially excited about drawing the phoenix on the back of her jacket.  The redesign was also created in Procreate using the Studio Ink Pen for color flatting to achieve a comic book feel, as this design is meant as a precursor to a prospective webcomic for the character.

Both Rabs and Kalara utilized helpful stock poses from the awesome Jookpubstock, who has been an excellent resource for inspiration!

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Art is going to slow down even more over the next month while we move our small boxes over to the new place ourselves, with the big stuff being handled by the movers.  There’s a light at the end of the tunnel finally and I’m excited to really settle properly into a new permanent studio art cave!

♥ Ang

Fantasy Indies August 2022 – THE UNCRUCIFIED

I took part in the Fantasy Indies August event during August, so I thought I’d share a little bit about that here with folks!  While you all mainly see the Artist side of me, I also love to write and have been dabbling with several novel ideas between the margins of life over the past few years.  

The Uncrucified has been at the forefront of my endeavors as a Writer and you all have probably noticed the muse inspiration overflow with all the Kalara art that’s flooded here lately!  She’s been the comfort subject for my muse while I’ve been on this long hiatus for shoulder surgery / burnout / life chaos.

The topics for August:

Rather than bombard you guys by pasting all of these topics in, I figured I’d tease you with some of my favorite topics I answered during the event and invite you to check out the full thread.

Introduce Yourself & Your WIP

I’m currently working on The Uncrucified, the tale of an upstart from the desert slums named Kalara. She was chosen to lead a world in chaos, but she has scores to settle first!

Yup, it’s a TTRPG story inspired by the Exalted RPG, but I hope to make it readable for more than just Exalted fans!  There’ll be romance, grudges, gunslinging, & more.

WIP Mood Board 

I’m an obsessive board maker! These are just a few of the images I’ve drawn of my MC Kalara plus location inspo for the stained glass ruins of Chiaroscuro, the magitech desert of Exalted’s South, & her hometown, the underground city of Gem.

If you’d like to see more of THE UNCRUCIFIED’s in-depth mood board, I host it on  Pinterest where I’ve been adding to them for literal years. Sub-divided by character, locale, etc. because this soothes my artist brain!

Book BFFs

I’m open to suggestions! A beta reader for my story has told me Kalara gave them NAME OF THE WIND vibes (which I haven’t read). I’d love for my chars to have the same larger than life charisma of the chars in THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN (which I have read & loved).

I have a much easier time comparing THE UNCRUCIFIED to anime instead. Sinbad from MAGI mirrors Kalara with his wish to build a trade network & navigate political waters using his amazing charisma, while trying not to lose himself.  Not to mention MAGI’s combat is VERY Exalted!

I’m also looking to Fog Hill of the Five Elements for combat vibes. It oozes over the top stylish badassery!

BLOOD OF ZEUS also strikes me for being very Exalted with its sexy elegant character designs, warring gods, interpersonal drama, & pissed off ancient imprisoned deities.

Toss me more inspiration suggestions, fam! Especially my long-suffering beta readers. What does THE UNCRUCIFIED make you think of, as far as inspirational book/media BFFs?

I’ve already gotten some amazing suggestions from fans for Book BFFs for my story, so I’ve gathered them into a wishlist. Feel free to mine it for inspiration and good reads!  Featuring clever protags, underdog heroes, geopolitical drama, & more.

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Read the full topic list + my answers here for the full effect of posts, memes, and animated GIFs.  I’m sure this won’t be the last time I talk about my stories here.  I hope you all enjoy this glimpse at the other Muse in my brain!

♥ Ang

July 2022 Sketchbook – D&D Doodles & Kalara’s Sigil

It’s been a tough journey so far with house-hunting.  The market is crazy right now and we’re still on the hunt!  And so I’ve been channeling my woes into various comfort projects, mainly my D&D and Exalted TTRPG characters.

D&D Doodles

Ever since The Unmerry Band‘s adventures in the Black Pits wrapped up, I’ve been meaning to mine our campaign for practice, starting with a level progression chart of all our characters showing how their armor and wardrobe evolved over time.  This will feature our characters from their wee fragile Level 0 forms all the way up to Level 8 where our story ended (for now).

(The Unmerry Band lineup!)

I started off with the character I played in the campaign, Rabanne, a Fire Genasi Barbarian with a big heart and a big hammer!  I had some excellent pose help from Jookpubstock that acted as a base for her hammer pose.  Rather than stick with the Vox Machina inspired style of the party banner, I’ve returned to my more default semi-realistic style which is the one I want to nurture should I ever submit a portfolio to Wizards of the Coast.  Sketched in Procreate on the ipad with the Peppermint pencil brush in the Sketching category.

Rabs has been bulked up a bit for this image, as I wanted to accentuate her tall and imposing figure more than her initial rendering.  The pose on the left is going to be the base ‘paper doll’ pose I’ll be repeating for Levels 1 – 8, while the gesture sketches on the right represent an exploration of her younger level 0 self where she was training in secret as a gangly teen in the harem.

PROTIP!  The rectangle under her feet helps me to ground the figure and keep the perspective plane in check, as it’s easy to lose track at what angle the feet are supposed to be at if you don’t ground the figure somehow.

The rest of the characters will get this treatment too and will most likely follow the poses of the party banner, with the exception of Calumny (the Tiefling), because booty out does not make a good pose for showing off most clothing, though usually I wouldn’t have Cal any other way!

I also want to shine a light on the art that inspired me to do this.  How cool is this classic party line-up from Frida Bergholtz?  I hope mine will come out this fantastic!

Kalara’s Sigil

My gal, Kalara, has popped up on here a LOT lately.  She’s definitely a comfort to my muse with her story of overcoming adversity and working towards goodness in the world!  I’ve been working on and off on a novel featuring the events of her life from our Exalted RPG campaign for years now.  I’ve been pushing for a return to this endeavor while I have this nexus of ‘in-between projects till the move’ and so it occurred to me to finally put an official ‘label’ on her project.

It was time to make a brand guide and a logo!

Not every project needs this, mind, but I wanted to do this for The Uncrucified since I have larger plans for its future, including art packs and Storytellers Vault resources for players inspired by her story.  And thus, The Uncrucified needs a logo so I can elegantly tie all these parts together!

It also works so beautifully because this symbol will serve as Kalara’s in-world mark of her Guild as well.  I’ve shared a deeper look at this story’s brand guide in my Patreon’s Discord server, for those who might be curious.

For now, enjoy the many iterations I made as I attempted to channel Kalara’s themes of the Eclipse Caste mark (the glowing symbol that represents her magical abilities), the phoenix feather which represents her resilience, and the flame which represents her cultural identity and rebellious personality.

For me, logo design is a bit like obsessively writing all over your walls going slowly insane until the secret verse is revealed.  I don’t enjoy it much, but I wanted to design this one, myself, and so I was happy when I finally arrived at something that felt close to the ‘truth’!  More often I know what I don’t want than what I do when designing logos, and so the process is more about exploration and elimination.

And here we have the 3 semi-finalists!

I’ve already chosen a final, but I’d be curious which one resonates most with you all! It’s always fascinating to see what shapes others interpret in these mutable symbols.

That’s all I have for today!  It’s been a slow month as we tour houses as often as we can and try to plan these important next steps. I hope you all don’t mind my randomnness here!  I’m always worried it makes this a very confusing Patreon to be at hah.

¡Hasta la próxima!

♥ Ang

New Art! The Crucified Dreamer

I’ve been enjoying my hiatus so far by catching up on studies and allowing the muse to wander where she may.  This has resulted in some interesting art that doesn’t quite fit in with my Goddess gals, but that’s ok!  I thought you all might enjoy it, regardless.

Vicky Pandora hosted an online masquerade ball called the OC Gala, inspired by the over the top fashions of the Met Gala.  All original characters were invited to attend with the theme “Vampire Masquerade”!  This was the perfect excuse for me to indulge in more fan art of an alternate universe version of my Exalted character, Kalara, who lost herself to the dark side of being a Solar.

The Crucified Dreamer’s Story

Her delighted laughter rings in the ears of those she has marked for death. Many revolutionaries have fallen to her seductions, The Dreamer delighting in watching their ‘beautiful deaths’. All in service of her Deathlord, the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears.

For she was once a revolutionary herself, one who dreamed of reform until The Guild crucified her for a murder she did not commit. Between life and death, The Lover saved her, gifting her the power of an Abyssal Deathknight. The Dreamer wears tears in devotion to her Deathlord, her skin the blue of a corpse. Her crucifixion wounds adorned by henna and chain will never heal.

The first painting of The Dreamer for the Gala.  After as cool as this came out, I couldn’t resist doing a second image with her full outfit:

And a close-up of The Dreamer’s face because I think this is one of the best faces I’ve drawn in awhile.  It seems I have finally mastered the nebulous mystery that is the nose at a 3/4ths angle!

I’ve also released a treat for my Patrons!  If you’re pledging at any level, you can see the narrated video timelapse of the creation of this piece in Procreate.  This video will become public next month (March 11th), but everyone pledging at any amount here will get to watch it early here!

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I hope you enjoy this foray into different territory!  I have another painting I hope to feature next month that’s another divergence from the norm here, though March pledges will still be paused now that I remembered to do so.

Then it’s T-minus one month to my shoulder surgery.  Eep!  I’m not sure what I’ll share here at that point, but perhaps a bit of the writing I plan to do and my progress with my marketing and art classes in the meantime, should I be able enough to write!

Till then, enjoy the Dreamer!  And if you’re so inclined, feel free to share with me in the comments what YOUR OC might wear to the Vampire Masquerade!

♥ Ang