Tag: Kushiel Concepts

[New Art] Cassiel’s Servant – Grayscale & Gold Edition + Print Launch & Upcoming Patreon Rewards

After MUCH toil, I can finally share this piece that I have been working on for so very long!

Happy 25th anniversary to Kushiel’s Legacy, one of my fave book series! You’ve seen WIP snippets of this piece on and off for the past couple of years while we’ve been really struggling with Life Happenings (TM).

I almost gave up on painting this with all the skill challenges it threw at me on top of those troubles. I never gave up on it though, even when the muse has been fleeting. Thanks to everyone who cheered me on while doing this and supported me here in the meanwhile!

I’m grateful also to this book series because it helped shape my passion for elegant, mature fantasy and quiet strength in both my writing and art.

A warrior wearing daggers at his waist and a longsword on his back crosses his forearms in a salute. His eyes are closed in a pensive pose as he stands resolute in his duty. Behind him, the woman he has sworn to protect, walks a path of broken glass into a golden window of thorny rose vines. The black tribal tattoo on her back marks her as a chosen of Kushiel. Pinpricks of red mark its blossoms. The painting is rendered in grayscale with gold accents dotting the dust motes, floating feathers, and rose designs.

Detail shots for your enjoyment:

A detail of the painting showing the delicate tattoo work on Phedre's back and her flowing hair as well as the layers and texture of Joscelin's chainmail armor and bracers.

[Below] A short art timelapse compressing hours of work down to 1 min.

A peek at all the concept and thumbnail sketches I did to prepare for this cover. Get a closer look over in the Cassiel’s Servant Art Archive.

Cassiel’s Servant Limited Edition Print Pre-Orders Launch

I also hope to celebrate this momentous occasion with a limited edition series gold foil print launch of this grayscale & gold painting! The print will have metallic etched gold accents with a lovely satin finish.

However, only 100 of these prints will be made and I will need the fandom’s help to be able to make this happen! The planned pre-order listing will go live in early August and I will run it until we sell the minimum amount needed to print the series, 1 month passes, or we sell out of the 100 prints.

If you’re interested in the print launch, sign up for a reminder here (I’ll also be sure to remind folks here with a blog post poke as well).

What’s Next?

There are still a few things I’d like to do before I wrap up this painting! Here’s the plan for those who want to make sure they are pledged at the proper tiers to get access to the goods.

TL;DR Those pledging at $5 will get most of the goods, except for the digital compilation sketchbook, which is coming later for the $10+ tiers! NOTE that you can pledge at any time after the digital Rewards are posted for access since they are digital and therefore hosted here on Patreon and persistently available as long as you are pledging to the proper tier.

Patreon Rewards Happening in July:

  • Secret Sketchbook Entry – 1 of 2 more Patrons-Only Secret Sketchbook entries (available to all paid tiers) discussing final problem-solving for the grayscale & gold painting.

  • Digital Wallpaper Pack (Grayscale & Gold Ed.) – The grayscale & gold painting for your desktop computers, tablets, and phones available for free for my $2+ Patrons (& available without a subscription committment in my Patreon Shop.
    (This pack will also be offered free to anyone pre-ordering the Limited Edition print when it goes live.)

  • PSD File (Grayscale & Gold) – $5+ Patrons will also receive the grayscale & gold PSD file for personal use & study

Patreon Rewards Planned for August:

  • Secret Sketchbook Entry – 2 of 2 more Patrons-Only Secret Sketchbook entries (available to all paid tiers) discussing the process of converting from grayscale to color.

  • Digital Wallpaper Pack (Color Edition) – A wallpaper pack for my $2+ Patrons & my Secret Shop

  • PSD File (Color Edition) – $5+ Patrons will also receive the full color PSD file for personal use & study

  • Cassiel’s Servant Digital Sketchbook – Compiling all the sketches and Secret Sketchbook posts together into a PDF Sketchbook (will be available for free for $10+ Premier Patrons) & offered in my Patreon & Fantasy Art shops

Other Plans:

  • Stickers – I’m looking into possibly making stickers of these Cassiel’s Servant themed emblems, but they require some cleaning up. (Is there enough interest in possible pins or patches of these designs too?)

  • Grayscale & Gold Foil Print – Launching in early August via a pre-order listing! This limited print series will only be made if there are enough pre-orders. (Sign up here for reminders).

As we get closer to August, I’ll re-confirm this Rewards schedule and what’s ready to go. There’s lots to do and this rollout of merch and art is somewhat experimental for me.

Let me know what you’re most interested and excited about!

For now, it’s time for me to get to work.

Wishing you all inspiration!

♥ Ang

Project Status: CASSIEL’S SERVANT Art To-Do List

I wanted to check-in as I’ve been silent for a little while thanks to a busy, busy month. I’ve been off toiling away on the Exalted Art Challenge, launching my 2025 Birthstone Goddesses Calendars, and finishing up my readthrough of CASSIEL’S SERVANT so I can finally approach the much-anticipated task of creating my own cover for it!

Art To-Do List

The ultimate goal for my Patreon’s focus right now is to draw cool art for books I love, while also making cool stuff for my Illustration portfolio. With that in mind, here’s what I’m hoping to achieve for CASSIEL’S SERVANT:

  • A Variant Wraparound Book Cover – (Planning)

  • Two Full Page Interior Illustrations – (Planning)

  • An Enamel Pin – (Sketched)

  • Sticker Designs Using the ‘rejected’ pin designs – (Sketched)

I absolutely adore the illustration work I’ve seen for special editions of books like Tran Nguyen’s work on the Subterranean Press editions of Phedre’s trilogy, which included a custom wraparound cover and interior illustrations in a gorgeous tome signed by the author.

Tran’s cover of KUSHIEL’S AVATAR from Subterranean Press.

The interior illustrations of KUSHIEL’S DART from Subterranean Press by Tran Nguyen

—-

These kinds of illustrated editions always get me so excited and inspired! I had to try doing this for myself and figured I’d take you all along for the ride. I’m nowhere near as amazing as Tran, but I hope I can bring something unique and full of passion for the story to my own renditions of art for CASSIEL’S SERVANT.

My Final Thoughts on CASSIEL’S SERVANT

I went in expecting a re-tread of KUSHIEL’S DART, which is one of the much-beloved Fantasy classics I hold sacred as a formative inspiration. I wasn’t sure we could learn much from a retelling of DART, but I am so happy to be proven wrong! Joscelin’s meditation on his religious upbringing, his tactical POV, and unique perspective made for an intriguing journey and fresh perspective.

For my full final thoughts on CASSIEL’S SERVANT, as well as a chapter by chapter discussion of my journey through the book, check out the Book Club thread on my Discord server here!

—-

Now, it’s time for me to get busy planning and sketching! In the meanwhile, I’d love to hear what illustrated editions you like best? NAME OF THE WIND also has a gorgeous edition by artist, Dan Dos Santos, if you haven’t seen it!

“Cassiel’s Servant” Project Archive

[Latest Update 7-21-2026] New additions to the archive! Part 4 of the Secret Sketchbook journey with the Cassiel’s Servant painting under the Patreon-Only Posts category.

I wanted to give my Free Members a peek at all the art I’ve been creating inspired by “Cassiel’s Servant” from Jacqueline Carey, the story of a warrior monk’s unknowing rise to meet his divine destiny in the woman he would eventually break his oaths for.

(Above: My fan version of the cover of “Kushiel’s Dart”, the book that started the Kushiel’s Legacy series which “Cassiel’s Servant” is a part of.)

All the art I’ve shared publicly for “Cassiel’s Servant” has been attached to the top of this post for all to enjoy. You can also read more about this project as it developed in these public posts:

Cassiel’s Servant [Public Posts]

Cassiel’s Servant [Patreon-Only Posts]

If you’d like to help support me while I work on this and future projects, check out the following Patrons-only posts related to this project that are available to all paid members at all tiers. These posts give you a deep dive into my process, inspiration, and research that my free posts don’t go into.

Available to ALL paid Patrons or access the post you’re interested in individually for $3 a piece, no subscription required.

Cassiel’s Servant-Related Rewards

Watch the experimental video I made combining art and narration about Elua here, since Patreon doesn’t support video embedding within the body of posts yet. (EDIT. They now support embedding yay!)

I plan to keep sharing art for free with optional paid perks this way so you can all get the best of both worlds!

Want to join me as I book club “Cassiel’s Servant”? Hop in the book’s discussion thread on my Discord server! This server is open to the public and free to join, though my Discord also has a Patrons-only area where you can browse my Patrons-only Secret Sketchbook and more. Come hang out!

Have you finished reading “Cassiel’s Servant” yet? Are you planning to read? Or reading something else? Let me know what you’re up to, book wyrms!

– Ang

[Cover Art & Sketches] Revisiting “Kushiel’s Dart “

Now that I’m about to enter the part of the CASSIEL’S SERVANT novel that crosses over into the events of KUSHIEL’S DART, I wanted to revisit some of the work I created for DART during my first time creating my own cover art and sketch explorations for a novel.

I’ve already shared a deep dive into the development of DART’s cover, but I wanted to revisit some of the old character sketches here as well. Enjoy a trip down memory lane, as these were done 10 years ago!

 LEFT: My very first try at drawing Joscelin! Inspired by his first meeting with Phedre, the main character of DART. Now that I’m reading CASSIEL’S SERVANT, I’ve learned why he was so cranky at the time. I love this old design, but I may simplify the wrappings on the sword and daggers even more to emphasize the Cassiline devotion to utilitarianism. I’ll be exploring equipment concepts in a new post soon.

RIGHT: Grainne, one of the twin Lords of the Dalriada, Gaelic-inspired warriors we meet in DART. I’m amused that even back then, graphite felt suiting for drawing art for this world.

An assortment of characters we meet early on in DART. Looking back on this, I feel like I very much had the distinguished actress, Maggie Smith, in mind when envisioning the discerning Dowayne of Cereus House.

—-

Now, back to reading with me and teaching myself new video editing software so I can keep bringing you fun storytelling snippets like my recent try at narrating Elua’s origin myth  from SERVANT that was shared on my socials.

Did you all enjoy this audio+visual format for Elua’s sketch? It was a lot of fun for me to make and I hope to explore more narrative imagery in this fashion.

More art soon!

– Ang