EDIT: I’ve added a video about my Year in Art 2025 summary to the top of this post, for those who enjoy listening instead of reading. I’ve also made sure the video includes proper subtitles and links in its description on YouTube. Enjoy and let me know what your fave piece of mine from this year was! I’d love to hear your thoughts. Was it the same as my personal pick?
I wanted to do a video as I normally do for the yearly art review, but flu hit our household hard, so I’ve lost my voice! I hope you’ll enjoy a tour of my featured art for this past year. While I did more than was featured, these were the pieces that stood out.
January – “The Boy With the Seven Word Name”
Ever since I joined in on the Exalted Secret Santa gift exchange hosted by ShiftingPath over on tumblr, my first art of any year is usually a gift for a fellow artist in the TTRPG community! I had a blast practicing a Hades-inspired style for my gift recipient’s character with the epic name.
Watch a timelapse and see my mini-tutorial on drawing in the Hades style here.
February – “The Empress’ Secret Library”
The Exalted TTRPG fan community also hosted a matchmaking challenge which tempted me this past year where two characters of ours were sent on a date. I chose a secret heretical library full of risque literature and artifacts.
Watch a timelapse of this image and learn more about the characters involved in this romp here.
March – “Exalted Character of the Month: Yorigasu”
The Exalted pattern continued as I also participated in the Exalted Character of the Month event where the Discord community gathers to draw each a chosen character each month. I always enjoy doing these to practice my skills and try new things!
Read more about Yorigasu here.
April – “Artorias Collbrande”
This portrait marked my return to doing private commissions and a level up in my skills and style goals. I’ve been trying to push my art towards painterly semi-realism with an intent to draw more story-driven art. As most people comment that Arty has a very self-satisified punchable face, I consider this a job well done!
For more about Artorias, read on here. You can also get a deep dive into his process in his Secret Sketchbook posts.
May – “Detective Claw Zu”
Another Exalted Character of the Month entry! This Pink Panther-inspired detective character presented a fun challenge for me of a character type I don’t draw too often.
June – “Dahlia”
A lovely character by Sam Hogg from her Whaler Girl universe. She was one of my commission giveaway winners where I got to practice a simpler flat color style.
For a timelapse and process pics of Dahlia, read on here.
July – “Cassius, Life and Death Necromancer”
Another giveaway winner, this time featuring a character by my friend, Zan.
For a timelapse and more story behind Cassius, read on here.
August – “Art Fight Emotes”
I technically started these in July, but there was too much art to fit in just that month’s slot. Art Fight is another yearly event where artists gather to draw each other’s characters while tallying points for their teams. This year, I wanted to teach myself how to do simplistic emote portraits in hopes of later designing my own for Discord and Twitch. I think I got a good start!
Watch timelapses for each character here.
September – “The Lingering Smile”
My Favorite Pick of the Year! I consider equipment, weapons, & FX a huge weakness for me, but this image pushed me in untested ways. I’m pleased with the results & how much fun I had along the way!
Read more about the story behind this sword concept here.
October – “The First Eclipse Meetup”
Another group activity with the Exalted TTRPG fan creators discord. With all of our health challenges this year, I’m not sure I would have drawn as much if I didn’t have the constant enthusiasm, encouragement, and inspiration from this community. This was my first time drawing a YCH (Your Character Here) template, where we all got together and drew our characters based on this pose template. That’s my happy drunk gal, Kalara, there at the end toasting with a mug. Featuring other characters from the fan community.
Featuring art and characters from left to right: Basileios (Jen), The Mournful Chorus of Shattered Heavens (Tuskface), Suriya (Epee102), Kalara (me) Serpent Twined Graveflower (shiftingpath), Shame (Neev), Ashen Heavens (Dr. Gelic), Forsaken Bride of Crimson Vows (ToxinFox), and Edan (Kess).
November – “The Twin Suns”
For November, I like to do a bit of writing, which I spent some time developing the rest of the cast of characters for The Uncrucified, a story I’ve been working on for a long while. These twins represent new characters on the cast I’m developing as divine twin heirs exiled from their kingdom because of their choosing by The Unconquered Sun.
They may end up changing in the future, but it felt good to get them down on paper after they’ve been living in my head for a long while now!
December – “Echo for Aquatica1000”
A commission which played to my strengths in goth vampire loveliness, which was a great way to close out my year!
Watch a timelpase of Echo’s creation here.
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What was your fave piece of mine from this year? Let me know in the comments!
I feel like Exalted really snuck in big time and I hope to listen to that urge more as we move into the future and I wrap up other projects.
Here’s to another year where I hope to keep pushing my storytelling, fundamentals, and personal stories!
<3 Ang
