Tag: original characters

Art Fight 2025 Collection – Video + Image Gallery

Art Fight has concluded and what a glorious battle it was! This year, I used the event as a way to practice drawing simplified emoticon portraits with the hope that one day soon I can make some of my own emotes for my Discord and Twitch. Watch the video above for the run down or scroll through this article for the rundown at your own pace!

(Paid Members are getting this vid a few days early before everyone else as a little treat for your support! <3)

However, this proved more difficult than I anticipated! Drawing emotes to visually express an archetypal emotion requires picking up on a strong defining emotion, which requires knowing something of the defining personality of a character. This is easier said than done if a reference sheet provides neutral expressions, I don’t know the character personally, or there aren’t any visual references hinting at the character’s personality.

Luckily, most of my guessing at character types proved correct or at least amusing to their creators!

The next challenge was also taming my own inability to keep art simple because emotes are very small and must portray the character silhouette and emotion extremely clearly and minimally. I got better at doing this as the event went on.

STRAP IN because this is a LONG post with a LOT of artwork embedded. My apologies to those of you on slower networks!

 

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Attacks by Me

Here’s a closer peek at all the cool characters that inspired me this year, plus the emote I made for each of them.

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Hesper by Kessinder:

 

My first Attack was of Hesper, who is an acrobat who enjoys collecting knowledge.  She seemed very quiet and thoughtful to me so I tried to make a more subtle emote. I love Hesper’s soft lavenders and red.  She helped me explore and define what kind of style I wanted to use for the rest of the event.

My Hesper emote:

 

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Glittering Blade by ShiftingPath

 

My Glittering Blade emote.

 

Glittering Blade is a flamboyant swordsman whose expression came in loud and clear when I was trying to think of a strong, defining emotion for this character.  His flirty emote ended up being my favorite one from this event!  I think I nailed the balance of expressiveness and simplicity the best in this particular emote as well.

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Iselsi Toshiaki by GuyBitesAtGames:

 

My emote of Toshiaki:

 

I adore all of Toshiaki’s interesting costume details and glamourous personality and have been wanting to draw him since I saw him during the Exalted Art Challenge event.  I drew him throwing shade and sparkling with charm all in one emote.

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Yorigasu by Lobsopdoy

 

My Yorigasu emote:

 

This one stumped me at the start because I am not too familiar with avian anatomy, much less how to chibi-fy avian anatomy.  Thankfully, Yorigasu showed through at the end, no doubt looking down at one of her failed charges with embarrassment at how sorry a warrior they are and how she must guide them to their destiny, regardless.

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Sheireen by KuroCyou

 

My emote of Sheireen:

 

I’ve admired Kuro’s art for a long time and had to do something for this Art Fight!  I chose this character because I was intrigued by her story of returning from the Grave to uncover some sort of mystery. I have a soft spot for my death-positive Grave Domain folks.  I also highly identify with this character’s amount of eye bags!

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Caelin by Lumaris

 

My Caelin emote:

 

Next, I had to do something for Lumaris because I love their art.  Here’s Lumaris’ Caeilin, who looked like a kind sort of emotional support knight.  I thought a reassuring wink suited him!

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Falloren by Kakkobeast

 

My Falloren emote:

 

Falloren caught my attention for being multiple things I love. Witchy, purple-haired, and mischievous.  I loved your expressive reference art of her doting on her gnome champion, Kakkobeast!

The aforementioned silly reference by Kakkobeast:

 

 

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Nova by Aulianna, art by Eviraitari

 

Nova emote by me:

 

I admittedly wanted to draw this character purely because I love moth antennae and his design is absolutely gorgeous!  I apologize for giving him such a silly face, but that’s what came through to me because I admittedly missed that there was reference link offsite until after I already submitted the attack and now upon checking info for this video, I know that he might not make this.  He seems much nicer than I drew him haha!  Sorry about that!

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Rania by Jadequarze

 

My Rania emote:

 

Rania caught my attention with her amazing design and cool backstory.  She is a ruthless, discerning crimelord who also makes wood figurines for her crew and has two adopted kids.  I enjoyed this juxtaposition!  It also seems the crankier the character, the more fun it is to turn them into a chibi.

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Sprite dela Cruz by Creativeidiote

 

Sprite emote by me:

 

Finally, we have Sprite dela Cruz by Creativeidiote.  I loved this character’s hair and freckles and really enjoyed coloring the hair.  Probably the most adorable emote of the bunch! I also identify with this amount of nervous sweatdrops.

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Attacks On Me by Other Artists

Here are the attacks/art I received of my characters this year for the event. My sad boys, Nils and Mask of Golden Lies, were very popular this year! To be fair, Mask of Golden Lies was also the featured character this month over at the Forge of Wonders, so participants were encouraged to double-dip on Art Fight as well. You can see all the cool Golden Lies art over at The Uncrucified’s blog soon.

 

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Nils by Kakkobeast

 

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Nils by Creativeidiote

 

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Mask of Golden Lies by ArtbyDungeon

 

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Mask of Golden Lies by GuyBitesatGames

An adorable chibi version of Lies! He’s dressed for colder weather and stole The Lover’s hat from 2e, which I’ve always had beef with that hat. He rocks it better than she did imo.

 

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“Forbidden Fruit” (Mask of Golden Lies x Grave Goods Gardener) by ShiftingPath

This one comes with a fun story explanation you guys should check out here.

 

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Thanks for the Fight!

Not going to lie, this year has been extremely difficult and July has been a new emotional low for me as I’ve been coping with some existential shifts in my life and career. Receiving cool art of my characters brought me some much-needed happiness!

I look forward to this event every year. Did you participate? What was your fave piece that you made this year? Feel free to link in the comments!

Which of my emotes is your favorite? Let me know in the comments! ;-*

♥ Ang

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

Art Fight 2024 Collection

(Patrons are getting an early peek at this vid before it goes live elsewhere. Enjoy!) The dust has settled and 2024’s Art Fight has ended! It’s always a fun opportunity to practice my skills and draw some unexpected characters, all while bringing a smile to another artist’s face, which is my favorite part of the experience!

(Don’t remember what Art Fight is about? See my 2023 wrap-up which was my first experience in participating and includes an introduction to the event and how it works. The tl;dr is it’s an event where artists trade art of their characters and ‘battle’ in teams.)

My Attacks for 2024

I had a ton of fun this year trying to keep my style loose and energetic. All of them were rendered in Procreate on the ipad, which seems to be my main digital painting tool of choice these days.

Scissors for AnnaCoryKulikova

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Zhenlin for MissSunnySweden

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The Seraph of Promised Silence for Hamsandlich

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Kai for CherryFlash

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Valerian for DungeonDelves

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Ray for Viday

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Goku for Erdending

(My first time drawing a monkey and they have such fun anatomy quirks!) 

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Attacks on Me

Here are the Attacks featuring my characters by other talented artists participating in Art Fight this year!

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Aurora by AnnaCoryKulikova

 

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Aurora by Erdending

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Rabs by MissSunnySweden

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The Crucified Dreamer by DungeonDelves

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The Crucified Dreamer by Viday

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The Crucified Dreamer by CherryFlash

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Kalara by Hamsandlich

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Don’t forget to check out the video at the top of this post for timelapses of how I created my pieces. If you’re an artist who needs a pick-me-up or to work through art block, I highly suggest this event! It’s satisfying to do an activity that’s lighthearted with no other lofty aim beyond making another artist happy and drawing some cool characters.

And now to return to our regularly scheduled programs!

The Usual Reminders

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

Introducing My October Exalted Art Challenge!

The time is neigh, my October Art Challenge approaches!  So far, this year has been about allowing myself to rest and recuperate while also letting my muse off the chain to wander different paths for awhile.  The next excursion is going to be with the Exalted Art Challenge that I created with the Exalted RPG Discord community!

For those who don’t know Exalted, it’s a tabletop roleplaying game much like Dungeons & Dragons where you get to become a character with epic-level powers!  It features a world full of mystical places, vengeful gods, and faerie creatures with a rich tapestry of lore to explore.  Its roots in non-Western mythology have made it one of my favorite worlds to play in on my days off!

I’ve even drawn illustrations and written many words for a story set in this universe entitled The Uncrucified.  I’ve been sorely missing the characters from this story and wanted to get back into the mood of creating in this universe by challenging myself to a list of 31 art topics inspired by this fantastic setting!  I expect many characters from my storyworld to show up for this art challenge.

I know many of these topics don’t make sense to non-players, but I hope to introduce you to them with a bit of explanation and art to go along with each one!  In fact, enjoy a little sneak peek of thumbnail sketches for a few of the topics for a taste:

Patreon-Only Sneak Peeks!

Because my Patrons are the coolest, I wanted you guys to feel special during this event!  You’ll be getting Patreon-Exclusive Early Access to my collection of exploratory sketches with my thoughts and notes on the topics each week , while the finished paintings and prose will be shared at The Uncrucified’s project blog.  A compilation of the finished art will be posted here on Patreon once I’ve completed all topics! 

For those keeping up on my Patreon Discord Server, I’ll be sharing the sketches as they happen in my Ang’s Sketchbook channel as well!  (Read here for instructions on how to join my Discord Server dedicated to my Patrons and fans)

The Goal

I’m hoping by doing this event I can create more art in the TTRPG vein which is work I’d like to do more of in the future to channel my long-time passion for gaming!  I also plan to experiment with an expressive painterly digital style, since I have been so married to detailed tight line work for a long time now!  

With luck, I can finish all the topics in a month, though I won’t be too hard on myself if I can’t finish one a day.  The big goal is to remember how to play with art again and enjoy the process more than perfectionism!

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I hope you all are ready for the ride!  I’m excited to see what happens during this hugely experimental time.  Are there any Exalted players here?  Sound off in the comments!  If you’re an artist who loves the game, I invite you to do this challenge with me and share in my Patreon Discord in the dedicated Art Challenges channel!  I’d love to see what you all might do for this list!

More soon.  I can’t wait to begin!

♥ Ang

SKETCH DIARY: The Uncrucified

Inspirations:

I’ve been working on a lot of tedious Art Nouveau of late and, while I love it, I decided to indulge in this little project after hours to help me unwind from the seriousness of that particular style.  I’ve been doing a lot of tabletop gaming lately, thanks to a friend who sucked me into a game of White Wolf’s Exalted setting.

This fun side project began as an urge to draw the character from our Exalted game as well as to create cover art for a short story about her that I wrote.  In our game, I play Kalara Vadras, a gunslinging Eclipse Caste, the diplomat of our Circle of players, and a no-nonsense businesswoman with a sordid past of betrayal and revenge.  Here’s one of her early character sheets.

kalara-sheet-lowres

 

Mood Board:

I’ve been gathering references for our game for over a year.  I love it when digital image hoarding pays off!  Kalara’s particular visual influences include Indian guns, Chinese fashion, and a generally non-Western collection of fantasy elements.

the-uncrucified-mood-board-lowres

Like this board?  You can view and Follow it on Pinterest here!

I monstress-lowresalso drew a lot of inspiration from one of my favorite comics currently being published right now – Monstress.  The art by Sana Takeda and story by Marjorie Liu are simply exquisite!

The Asian Art Deco steampunk aesthetic fit so well with what my mind’s eye conjures while we play Exalted.  Check out the cover to the comic, you’ll see what I mean!

Early on during the image’s sketch phases, I decided to push the image away from a detailed comic book style and more towards this anime-esque stylization thanks very much in part to Monstress’ influence.

Next, I did a lot of posing in front of the webcam, as opposed to thumbnail sketches.  This was meant to be a fast and fun image, so I decided to keep it simple and skip the planning step.

pose-montage-lowres

While posing, I kept in mind that I wanted her very symbolic crucifixion scar to be very noticeable to the image, which meant focusing a lot on expressive hand motions.  The 3rd pose on the far right ended up being my winner because of the diagonals that lead the viewer’s eye around.  That pose also feels the most natural and emotive.

Finally, here’s an animated GIF of my image’s evolution.

The-Uncrucified-Process-GIF

You can can watch a more in-depth video about this piece’s creation at my YouTube channel.

Final Cover Image:

The Uncrucified Cover Art

Uncropped Image:

The Uncrucified

Prints and products of this piece are available at my Etsy shop!

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