Tag: fantasy art

New Art! Cassius, the Life and Death Necromancer

My final illustration for the giveaway prizes! This one’s for Psycheen on BlueSky of their character, Cassius, a Solarpunk necromancer who can give Death with their left hand and Life with their right. I got to once again run wild with cool jewelry and hair!

I had to go with the concept of a ‘sealed left hand’ which came to mind after hearing about Cassius’ ‘left hand of DEATH” and reading how this character unintentionally killed their older brother to save another by transferring the lifeforce from them to an injured person.

(I do love a good tragic backstory, courtesy of Psycheen!)


[The mood board for Cassius with Psycheen’s art of them on the right]

Watch a timelapse of Cassius’ portrait here:

[The line art for Cassius’ portrait]

[The final version painted in Procreate on the ipad]

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Hopefully, in the future I can re-open for commissions like this once medical things aren’t looming on the horizon and I’ve balanced my schedule for IT studies.

For now, Sam’s Dahlia and Psycheen’s Cassius were great practice for when that finally happens. Congrats to the winners on their prizes!

My art queue is now finally down to the BIG ambitious illustration of the faux book cover and interior illustrations for Cassiel’s Servant, which has proven a challenge, as I’m having to invent much of the anatomy and poses. Sometimes, it’s just hard to find reference when your characters and camera angles are unusual!

I am also pondering experimenting with black, white, and red graphite for the interior illustrations, which should go faster than full color. Hopefully not famous last words!

Wish me luck!

More art soooon, barring any other catastrophes or family needs,

– Ang

New Art! Character Portrait – Dahlia for Sam Hogg

Art has been a little slow of late, but I’m still hanging in there after a family emergency last month where I’ve sadly had to cancel my commission launch. I still won’t be taking commissions for awhile yet while focusing on family, but I still wanted to finish the giveaway prizes that folks won during the launch event just because I hate to get people’s hopes up and then have them get nothing!

To start off with, we have the lovely Dahlia for Sam Hogg, a deceptively gorgeous and deadly courtesan from her The Whaler Girl storyverse.

I had a grand time drawing all of Dahlia’s amazing details, from her wardrobe to her hair. All my love also for being able to draw curvy gals as well! The Fantasy genre is too often relegated to a certain body type, so it’s refreshing to see some variation. I had some excellent reference from Grafit that helped me figure this pose and body type out.

Line art of Dahlia:

Art of Dahlia by Sam Hogg

I simply MUST feature more art of Dahlia by Sam because she’s SO FRIGGIN COOL and the art for her The Whaler Girl is amazing. I recommend exploring Sam’s site to immerse yourself in her thrilling and beautiful Fantasy world!

Next up, I’ll have another prize winner’s art with subject matter also in a similar vein of tattooed and lovely.

There is a chance I may have to fall off the planet again randomly when my husband undergoes surgery so I can care for him during recovery, but the timeline isn’t set while we sort out all the details, so I’m trying to get as much art done as I can in the meanwhile.

Enjoy the flood while it lasts!

<3 Ang

New Art! Atorias, Soul Knife + Process Sneak Peek

EDIT: Head’s up! There’s now a Secret Sketchbook post with a deep dive about the creation of this portrait. Go check it out!

I’m so excited to finally be able to share this art that’s been in the pipeline for awhile! This piece represents a new artistic direction for me as I embark on a new journey to create more TTRPG and Fantasy Art after spending years on my Birthstone Goddesses.

About Artorias

Introducing Artorias, the smarmy Rogue from our D&D campaign (played by my husband, Kevin) whose dice rolls so far have not reflected his smooth skillset. He was a willing volunteer to test out this new artistic style I’ve been nurturing.

ART CAPTION: New head of the Collbrande trade empire after his hostile takeover. Outwardly charming, inwardly growing more heartless by the day.

He is also the twin brother of Ariminthia “Mint” Collbrande, a Bladesinger my husband played originally. When the family abandoned her to kidnappers, Artorias started his villain arc and overthrew their trade empire. He is currently working with a disparate band of volunteers to aid the city in finding a supernatural serial killer targeting aristocrats who has also cursed his sister with the inability to speak.

It was interesting to compare this new portrait of Arty to the old one of Mint done in a Legend of Vox Machina-inspired style from 2022. I’ve worked more in this cell-shaded animation style lately for quickness, so going full render on Arty was a big challenge!

Art Process

I tried a new digital process for this piece where I did all my line art and flats first, then tinted the shadows with different color temperatures on a single layer. For the final polish, I dropped out the lines in key places. My goal was to achieve a look that kept the energy of my line art and brushstrokes without dipping too deeply into overrendered realism.

I’ll talk more about this process and share the PSD file in an upcoming Secret Sketchbook post just for Patrons, so keep your eyes peeled for that this week.

In the meanwhile, enjoy this glimpse at the process and how I constructed my layers:

Watch a timelapse of Arty’s portrait here.

Upcoming Commissions

Now that I have this example complete, I’ll be releasing a price sheet soon! I’ll be offering a limited number of slots per month depending on my availability which will be offered first to my Patreon Patrons and newsletter subscribers first.

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Once I get the commission sheet out to the world, I’ll be returning to my usual schedule of working on the “Cassiel’s Servant” cover for my Story Sketchers project. My journey with acrylics and ambitious narrative imagery will continue!

More soon!

<3 Ang

New Art! Exalted Character of the Month: Yorigasu, Chosen of Battles

It’s been a month of adjusting to a new schedule! I’ve been attempting to return to our original plan of me writing more, with art being a smaller part of my day.

However, it’s been difficult trying to fit all the art I want to do into the smaller time I have for drawing, which has also been split with trying to get commission samples done and maintain a streaming schedule, which has started to fall apart already.

Plus the mental overwhelm of US politics and my current identity crisis as I move away from being a more active artist.

Still, I always make time for the Exalted Character of the Month challenge and while I said I wouldn’t share much of this type of work here because I wanted to keep it tidily confined to The Uncrucified’s Ko-fi, I find myself with little else to share while other art takes me longer to do.

So enjoy the corvid bird warrior, Yorigasu, Chosen of Battles, Sidereal Exalted, who belongs to Lobsopdoy.

 Watch a timelapse of this piece here. Created in Procreate.

Lobsopdoy’s reference image:

I was very intimidated by the bird anatomy, as I have less experience drawing animals, but I do appreciate the challenge because corvids are awesome! How’d I do?

I hope I’ll have more art to share soon, but commission samples have been slow-going and I just haven’t been in a good head space this month. Hopefully I can shake it off and get back in the art battle soon!

Once the commission samples are done, I’m returning to focus on my Cassiel’s Servant work. For now, ENJOY BIRB!

<3 Ang

Art Fight 2024 Begins! + Character Art Feature

It’s July and that means it’s Art Fight time! I participated for the first time last year and it was such a wonderful experience that helped me reconnect with other artists and a sense of optimism during all the chaos and social media shakeups in 2023. After that event, I swore to do it again this year.

(I made a video about last year’s experience and how it works, for the curious.)

The time has come once more this July! If you would like to participate in an event where artists trade images of their characters, check out Art Fight. You can find my profile here. Feel free to share yours in the comments, if you’re participating as well! Perchance I’ll have time to Attack you, if something catches my eye and I have the time.

I’ll be participating when I can, but can’t promise I’ll be able to respond to each Attack. We’ll see how it goes! I’ll share a compilation of art made for the event once the month is through.

Here are some of the fun portraits I did for last year’s Art Fight event (which you can see what other folks did for me here):

This year, I’ve added some new character art, as well as a new character to choose from, both rendered by the amazing Sam Hogg.

First up, here’s newly added art of Ramah, an exiled prince from my story project, Song of Exile. After a failed rebellion against his tyrannical father, he spends his days in exile honoring his mother’s legacy as a healer. Until the day years later, he is called by his ex-wife to return once more to tend to the gravely ill king, only to be drawn further into facing his family’s tarnished legacy and the simmering violence of a coup.

Then we have Nils, a mortician-turned-monster hunter who is a new character choice for attackers to choose from for this year’s Art Fight. Nils uses his skills as a former mortician to retrieve the bodies of fallen hunters. It’s the job nobody wants, but he doesn’t mind so much.

Nils is from another story idea inspired by my D&D adventures with Blood Hunters.

  Are you in? Go team Stardust! See you in the art trenches.

– Ang

Jan 2023 Sketchbook + Health Update!

I wanted to peek my head out and give you all a sign of life!  I’ve been taking it easy this month while healing from surgery and dealing with very heavy doses of pain medication, which means I don’t have a lot of art to share from January.  However, I hope you’ll enjoy what fun I was able to have with art!

January was all about stimulating the happy brain chemicals to help with the stress of recovery, which meant, once again, having fun with totally pointless original character art!

The Uncrucified VTT Tokens

I wanted to practice drawing tokens for virtual tabletops and so the cast of The Uncrucified, my Exalted tabletop RPG story, felt like a good starting point!  I’ve also created a project logo for The Uncrucified which I incorporated into the token’s decorative border.

(Watch a timelapse here.)

This style might not have enough contrast to really stand out for smaller tokens, but I enjoyed the painting practice, none-the-less!

WIP – Young Rabs

I’ve been poking at this young teen Rabs, my most recent Dungeons & Dragon character, since last year!  You all might remember the full body of her present day self done for a D&D party level progression chart (which I’m using as reference on the left).  

I wanted every member of the party to have a unique Level 0 example to show what each character looked like when they first got that glint in their eye to become an adventurer.  Seeing their younger self makes it even more interesting to see how they’ve changed over time/levels.  I wanted to do this to incorporate more storytelling into what is otherwise a very basic straightforward level chart.
Plus, it’s good practice for me at drawing younger ages.

(Explore a mini-gallery of Rabs’ tattoos and design here.)

Rabs was a scrappy, angry teen who used to practice her combat skills in secret in preparation for a coup her mothers and sisters were plotting against her murderous father (more on that from my 2022 NaNoWriMo exploration of her backstory).  She’s chilled out a lot since those dark days and is now rather more the cheerful optimist of the party!

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With my medications thinning out and body and mind getting back to normal, I hope to ease into a more regular schedule in February.  I have big plans this year to launch some exclusive Patreon goodies and a couple of Kickstarters I have been looking forward to for years, now, so I’m excited to FINALLY get started on working towards those goals!

I’m also starting back to my art studies and classes, as I’ve felt my skills have stagnated while I’ve been in Recovery Mode.  Working digitally has been wonderful since I can do it comfortably with my shoulder (and now stomach) limitations, but I really want to get my hands dirty with traditional paints again, which means getting my butt back in the studio!

I hope to have more to share soon, with a Patrons-only sneak peek coming soon.  Keep your eyes peeled!

❤️ Ang

New Art! D&D Party – The Unmerry Band + Hiatus Begins!

EDIT: I re-formatted this article to have more character backstory and art notes for your enjoyment.

EDIT 2:  I’ve added in a 4th party member, the NPC Dorn!  Check out the article for more notes about him.

After being massively inspired by The Legend of Vox Machina‘s fun animated series, I felt so homesick for D&D, which we had to give up because of COVID and health risks.

Luckily, our friends hooked my husband and myself into a game online in Roll20 and now I have SO much fodder for tabletop art to share!  Starting with this party banner portrait inspired by the LoVM’s animated series style.  It was a nice break from my usual stuff that allowed me to indulge my inner geek for a bit!

Allow me to introduce in their first appearance in the Underdark arena – THE UNMERRY BAND!  This disparate group of adventurers has been unwillingly drawn into a game of death put on for a mad sorcerer’s entertainment in a gladiator’s arena.  They must learn to work together or perish!

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Cal the Entertainer

Backstory: Meet Calumny “Cal”, a traveling faire entertainer and voracious flirt of the party. He made his living doing trick archery shots for crowds, spending his time off stealing hearts and having mindless fun before he was unwillingly conscripted into the Underdark arena. He slept with the wrong person who chose him as a compelling new ‘addition’ to the Pits’ unwilling cast of warriors.

He is currently mourning the death of a half-orc ally in the arena after the two really hit it off and plots to get rich and settle scores once he escapes.

Art Notes: When it comes to character designs, I enjoy including a ‘keepsake’ element which signifies a character’s past. For the other party members, this was a sentimental object, but for Cal, it was his blue eyes.

He inherited them from a family that cast him off for being a Tiefling. He has been quite secretive about this past, preferring to deflect such serious topics with his usual flash and charm.

I also wanted more unique horn bling for him than the bog standard horn caps, so I thought horn piercings seemed fitting!  I also used this excellent stock pose from Adorkastock.

I’m looking forward to gaining his trust (if we all live long enough)!

Cal is played by my good friend, Hayley.

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Dorn, the Vengeful

Backstory: Dorn Il-Khan, the Butcher of Barrow, or so many would believe. He pledged his sword to a demon of vengeance to hunt the one who betrayed him and besmirched his name. However, instead of dying for revenge, Dorn heroically sacrificed himself to save the party, particularly Cal, the Tiefling he’d started to grow fond of during our time imprisoned in the arena.

It was fun to get under this NPC’s skin as a player. He was a gruff kind of guy, but we did our best to slip through the cracks of his demeanor to find the decent guy underneath. Here’s to you, Dorn!

Upon his death, his Demon Patroness of Vengeance claimed his soul and returned to the infernal planes, but perhaps that’s not the end of his tale? We shall see (maybe?). The DM hinted that Cal may be taking a journey to find his soul in Avernus and that could be quite the wild trip, indeed.

Art Notes:  I struggled a lot with Dorn because I’m rather used to drawing lithe elegant characters.  He was a nice change of pace with a wide orcish body type and heavy plate mail which I also have no experience drawing. I learned so much with this portrait, including the fact I cannot avoid perspective grids if I want to make weapons look right.

Dorn was played by the DM as an enemy turned ally NPC.

  • See detail shots and watch a timelapse of this piece here.

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Rabanne, Flame of the Sultana

Backstory: Once a princess of the Fire Genasi sultanate, Rabanne (aka Rabs), gave up her title to pursue her own destiny away from the mechanations of the palace where she never felt suited for the title or the responsibilities as one called to be a Storm Herald.

Rabs has become the ‘heart’ of the party, the caring ‘big sister’ who has done her best to keep the peace when personalities clash so that the party can focus on survival in the arena. She hides some deep wells of violence, however, never feeling more happy than she does when she’s facing death in battle and proving to herself she is the master of her own Rage.

I look forward to watching Rabs grow as she experiences the world outside the gilded cage she grew up in and learns to trust herself more!

Rabs is played by myself (as evidenced by my rambling backstory lol).

Art Notes: Though you can’t see it, her ‘keepsake’ is a blue bead that symbolizes Valor, a sign of rank and virtue she was granted by her sister, the Sultana, for her role in deposing their cruel father, the previous Sultan of the Fire Genasi. She wears this bead on a bracelet which shows her rank as a Burning Saint, a humanitarian organization she joined when she decided to leave the palace for other prospects.

Rabs’ hammer was passed on to her from a Dwarven Queen who saved her life in the arena. It reads in Tolkien-inspired dwarven runes “The Badass Queen of the Deep”. This magical hammer returns when thrown, while Rabs’ Gauntlets of Fiery Defense grant her a defense boost and ignite any of her weapons with flame while she’s Raging.

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Mint, the Bladesinger

Backstory: Ariminthia (aka Mint) grew up in a family of prolific wizards in the city, but never quite fit in with any of them because of her boorish interests in martial arts and unladylike activities. The only person in her family she ever got along with was her twin brother.

Unfortunately, Mint left him and her family behind after she was kidnapped. Instead of paying her ransom, her parents chose to abandon her. At this point, she decided to join her kidnappers, a small band of mercs who were in over their heads.

She ended up in the arena after a shady new member of the merc band sold her out to the arena’s ringmaster after learning about her talent with Bladesinging.

Mint is the most intelligent member of the party and tends to have her mind in the long game while the rest of us are ruled by emotion or money. She’s also got quite a temper and still acts like a noblelady with her condescending attitude, at times.

Art Notes: Mint’s keepsake is the handmade crow pendant inspired by their family crest given to her by her brother which she wears around her neck. For her look, I combined the frills of someone with finer taste in clothing with the sleek leathers of a finesse fighter.

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Are you all in a game right now too (or have a character you’re excited to play later)?  Tell me about your characters in the comments so I can enjoy hearing about them while I’m in recovery!

Surgery/Hiatus Officially Begins!

After months of being on a waiting list, the surgery to fix a torn tendon in my dominant arm is FINALLY happening!  I’ll be nesting in recovery with a pile of books and Netflix for possibly up to 6 weeks (hopefully less if I recover quickly), with physical therapy to follow.

It means I’ll be quiet here more than usual and that you all can expect to not be charged for another month (possibly more, depending on how my recovery goes).  However, this also means those of you who are Annual Patrons will have additional time added to your memberships!

Either myself or my husband will pop on here and make a post to let everyone know it went ok.  Hopefully see you all sooner rather than later!

Till next time, enjoy the geekery. 😀

♥
Ang

Hiatus News + New Art! The Pirate’s Kiss

Oh wow we’re almost there already!  My shoulder surgery looms on April 8th and I have been cleared by the doctors so that everything is set and ready to go.  I have paused my pledges again for April so I can focus on healing and the long recovery!

In the meanwhile, I’ve been enjoying the prolonged sabbatical and using it as a time to indulge in marketing classes and in some exploratory art.  (And also bodily disappearing into the world of Horizon Forbidden West, which is one of my favorite series of all time!).

One of those aforementioned art explorations was a gift for a dear friend, Sam Hogg, who has created such lovely art of my characters in the past.  I have been wanting to paint her characters myself for a long time!  I’m thankful for this downtime to finally have that opportunity and to enjoy slowing down so I could enjoy my journey through a painting without rushing.  This was also an excellent opportunity to experiment with Procreate’s acrylic brushes!

One of my favorite pieces by Sam featuring Ramah from my story, Song of Exile.

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“The Pirate’s Kiss” features Eidy & Kalam from Sam’s story, The Whaler Girl. Eidy is a powerful Daichen who can control water, while Kalam is the pirate lord who seeks to harness her abilities and mold her for his own ends.  I’m looking forward to seeing Sam explore more of their tumultuous relationship in her stories!

Inspired by Klimt’s The Kiss, which always struck me as being about a woman swept up in a dangerous romance, which was the perfect root inspiration for these characters.

You can also watch a 1 minute time lapse of this video here.

The full piece:

The detail:

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I hope you all have enjoyed my experimental explorations of late!  I also have some D&D-inspired portraits in a Legend of Vox Machina-inspired style that I’d love to share soon as well, granted I can finish them before my surgery happens.  We shall see!

For now, enjoy the new art!

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