Tag: Kushiel Concepts

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

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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!

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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!

[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.

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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