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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
EDIT: I’ve added some share links at the end of the article for anyone who’d like to help me signal boost!
My Story Sketcher journey begins with Cassiel’s Servant by Jacqueline Carey! I was originally going to begin with one of my top Fantasy faves, Kushiel’s Dart, after it was very popular on my poll, but Cassiel’s Servant arrived just in time to tempt me to embark on what will be a new, but familiar journey, as Cassiel’s Servant tells the story of Kushiel’s Dart from the perspective of a different character, the stoic warrior, Joscelin Verreuil.
How I could resist a brand new venture into one of my favorite affirming and inspiring Fantasy worlds, especially during Pride month?
(Cassiel’s Servant cover art by Mélanie Delon)
GENRE: Romantasy | PAGES: 528 | RATING: Mature Audiences, Spice Levels High! Though my art will be no more graphic than PG-13
SYNOPSIS: In Kushiel’s Dart, a daring young courtesan uncovered a plot to destroy her beloved homeland. But hers is only half the tale. Now see the other half of the heart that lived it.
Cassiel’s Servant is a retelling of cult favorite Kushiel’s Dart from the point of view of Joscelin, Cassiline warrior-priest and protector of Phèdre nó Delaunay. He’s sworn to celibacy and the blade as surely as she’s pledged to pleasure, but the gods they serve have bound them together. When both are betrayed, they must rely on each other to survive.
From his earliest training to captivity amongst their enemies, his journey with Phèdre to avert the conquest of Terre D’Ange shatters body and mind… and brings him an impossible love that he will do anything to keep.
Even if it means breaking all vows and losing his soul.
Here’s the plan for my journey with Cassiel’s Servant! For this book, I’ll be creating:
My own variant version of a cover for the book, to be offered as a Limited Edition print. All Patrons will be getting a deep dive into my cover creation process! (Limited Edition prints to be offered to Patrons, tier to be determined).
A bookmark to commemorate the occasion. All Patrons will get a downloadable version. (A physical bookmark with a tassel will be offered too, tier to be determined).
Sketches of particularly inspiring characters, concepts, scenes, etc. that inspire me along the way. To be collected as a PDF for Patrons (tier to be determined) and available to others via my digital shop items.
Once I have a better idea of how much art I’ll be making after this first experimental book art journey, then I’ll make a proper announcement about what goodies my Patrons will recieve at what tiers. There’ll be an announcement and a PM sent out to keep everyone in the know so you won’t miss out on any of the limited or exclusive goodies.
(The variant cover I created for Kushiel’s Dart. Will I be brave enough to do traditional art for a variant cover of Cassiel’s Servant???)
I’ll be doing my own Book Club-style reaction posts sharing my art and thoughts inspired by this book as I read in this dedicated Discord channel. Feel free to hop in and discuss with me! Spoilers/spoiler-y art will be hidden by spoiler tags.
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It’s been a few years since I read Kushiel’s Dart, which has me excited to see this familiar world once again, this time through the eyes of Joscelin, who will no doubt have a unique perspective and history as a warrior on a different battlefield than Phedre’s glittering courtesan arena.
I’m also excited to let my book/Fantasy nerd flag fly with this new art adventure. It feels good to get back to my heart’s passion for storytelling and art driven by deep character exploration. I can’t wait to see what comes out of this journey!
– Ang
This is a small operation of just me and occasionally my husband who serves as my IT department, so if you’d like to help me spread the word, I’d be incredibly grateful! You can signal boost these posts:
We’ve been on a long journey with the Birthstone Goddesses, friends! Today, I’m happy to officially announce the start of a new journey here on my Patreon! As you all know, I’m hoping to indulge more of my Writing Muse in the future, so I wanted to theme my Patreon around my new visual storytelling focus.
It’s the name of what I’m calling this multi-disciplinary endeavor to immerse myself in stories and art! So many great new classic Fantasy novels have come out over the years that I’ve missed out on because I’ve been playing video games or reading comic books instead.
No hate to gamers and comic readers because these are valid story forms I adore too! Mostly, I have personally missed out on so many novels because I felt I didn’t have time to read and enjoyed the ‘quicker’ injection of stories via these more visual formats.
Now, I realize that if I want to write more stories that it’s time I get back into the novel reading habit to increase my own knowledge-base. What better way to do so than enticing my Art and Writing Muses to come together in a flurry of art creation inspired by books?
As I read each Fantasy book in my To Read pile, I’ll be making art inspired by the story, which will tentatively include:
A variant cover for the story for my Cover Art Portfolio (the main goal!)
Sketches of characters, scenes, locales, etc. that inspire me along the way
B&W short comics, should any scenes particularly inspire me to practice this skillset
A bookmark to commemorate my journey with each book
(The variant cover for Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey, one of my favorite Fantasy books, that I painted in 2013.)
I have to interject with a story about how much of a book wyrm I was as a kid! I was a lonely Army brat because my family would relocate every 2 years. Books were my escape from the loneliness. Libraries, in particular, were my escape from the bullying of other kids for being the forever ‘new kid’.
Each time I finished a book, I’d commemorate the occasion with a bookmark. Here’s an old one from the Monsters of Mythology series that I absolutely adored because it shared the untold stories of the ostracized monsters of Greek myth. These were lesser known fictionalizted stories of their untold tales before they became the misunderstood beings we all know.
(I wish I could find more of these old bookmarks I did. Alas, they are lost to time! This was the only scan of one I could find for now.)
Making bookmarks to commemorate my journey through a book is a tradition I want to bring back for adult-me. I suspect my bookmarks for Story Sketcher will be colored, but we shall see. It will all depend on how the story inspires me! Sometimes things just look better in black, white, and gold.
Free Members will still be able to see just the art on social media and in monthly compilations, but they’ll miss out on any deep dive art notes and behind the scenes articles I’ll be sharing just for Patrons at all tiers. Patrons will also be the ones to get access to any Patrons-only Merch I’ll be designing inspired by my book-reading journeys.
(Sketches from the deep dive about my Kushiel’s Dart variant cover. An example of the kind of notes & WIPs Patrons can expect to see!)
I’m currently brainstorming on all the new Merch possibilities for this theme, but will need some time to figure out the logistics and how I’ll offer them to you all. I want to go through my first book’s journey and see what shakes loose, art-wise, before I commit to any particular designs just yet!
But while we’re here dreaming, I’m currently pondering the following new Merch offerings, which will likely be mainly available exclusively through my Patron tiers, which I’m still deciding on once I have a better idea of costs:
Limited Edition signed prints of the cover art I make
Bookmarks for each book I read (Digital printables or physical)
Bookish-themed stickers
Bookish-themed pins
Pins inspired by the books I’m reading (characters-inspired, symbolic, etc.)
PDFs of all the sketches available for a book in a compilation with my notes
Tell me which items get you the most excited so I can gauge your interest and where I should spend my effort!
In my theme poll, many of you wanted to see more of my explorations of the world of the fantastic Kushiel’s Legacy books by Jacqueline Carey! With that in mind, I’ll be introducting the first book I’ll be reading and exploring with art in the next post (though my updated Patreon About page already has a spoiler for what book I chose, hee hee).
It depends? I aim to finish a book per month, which may change depending on the length of the book, how much art it inspires me to do, etc. However, this is meant to be a fun side project, which means if I get busy for any reason, I may post less.
It’s best to treat this Patreon as more of a Tip Jar where you can enjoy the perks of my already existing archives of coloring pages, tutorials, etc., with new material to come as and when its creation happens. I will make a post announcement to Free and Patron members when I’ll be offering new Merch or downloadables you guys might want so you can be sure not to miss out on it or to pledge as-needed, should anyone need to be more discriminating with how often they pledge.
My account is a Charge Up Front account, so you’ll never be charged less or more than the monthly fee!
WHEW that was a lot of information! I’ll be introducing the first book from the To Read pile in the next post so this post doesn’t run too long. I’m so excited to start this interdisciplinary journey that I have been thinking about attempting for a few years, now. I hope you all will stick with me during this grand experiment!
– Ang