Tag: Sketchbook

July 2025 Studio Hangout + AMA – Art Fight, OC Art, & My Fave Tropes

Time for July’s Studio Hangout! It’s coming to you a little late because I wanted to give the Art Fight art feature room to breathe, but here we are with the monthly wrap-up of everything you might’ve missed in July!

Feel free to watch the video above or read and enjoy this article at your own pace below. A transcript of this video (attached to this post) and captions.

Personal Updates

  • Layoffs suck, AI sucks, tariffs suck, and life is rough on our end for many reasons, but I’m tired of being mad and sad about it. Tell me something good that happened to you in the comments! (I’ve thankfully got some happier news below in the Announcements)
  • Keep your head up, friends and fellow artists. Let’s take it one day at a time!

Announcements

  • Upcoming Convention Appearance! I’ll be appearing as an official Guest at Multiverse in October! Read more here. I’m back at cons after 6 years away!
  • New Poll! Free & Paid Patreon members, I want to know your thoughts about how you’re liking these Studio Hangouts! Only a couple of folks have responded thus far and I’d like to hear from more of you.
  • New Ask Me Anything Archive. We’ve accumulated quite a few Q&As over the past few months, so I’ve finally started listing them in one handy location organized by category. Ask and ye shall receive!

New Art in July

Art Fight 2025 – Go Team Crystals!

Art Fight happened in July and led to the creation of many fun emote portraits of the amazing characters created by the Art Fight community. If you want to deep dive into the reference art created by others not shared here, check out my art feature of Art Fight.

The Attacks on me by other artists featuring my characters (You can get a full view of each of these images at the Art Fight feature):

Character Commission – Cassius for Psycheen on BlueSky

This was prize art for another commission giveaway winner, Psycheen, who gave me free reign to play with their design of their solarpunk-themed character, Cassius. Find out more about this character’s tragic backstory and watch a timelapse of this piece’s creation here.

Cassiel’s Servant WIP – 3D Modeling

I’ve been very art-blocked on this piece and it has taken me FORever to make progress on it! Likely because I decided it was past time I taught myself how to use Clip Studio Paint’s 3D model posing tools to create reference for myself for the complex aspects of this piece, such as the daggers in perspective and the foreshortening of the main figure.

It took a lot of shouting at the interface to get it right, but I arrived at something very useful for my purposes! I’ll likely be covering this part of the process in a future Secret Sketchbook entry for paid members, so keep an eye out for it.
(Watch the video on this post for some more cool things that I discovered how to do in CSP).

Ask Me Anything

Q: (From Psycheen on BlueSky) What is your favorite trope and why?
A: Watch the answer here. SPOILER ALERT for a 20 year old show (Avatar the Last Airbender)!

Q: (From Psycheen on BlueSky) What do you want to draw, but haven’t yet, and why?
A: Watch the answer here. Lots of Elden Ring: Nightreign gushing!

Q: What art of yours would you like to redo?
A: Watch the answer here.

Happening in August

  • Kev’s surgery. With our health insurance finally sorted out, my husband can finally get the surgical procedures he needs! I’ll be focusing on his care, first and foremost. With luck, everything will happen this month without being prolonged any longer and we can be on the road to better health!
  • Finishing up the “Cassiel’s Servant” cover. I have the reference completed after much fighting with Clip Studio Paint. It’s finally time to get to the meat of the art-making process!

Links in the video:

  • Mimimaru – Artist who did Zelda and Arcane character art in the style of Klimt.
  • Christian Angel – Artist of the Elden Ring art done in a classical style.
  • Sam Hogg – Artist of the reference art of my character, Nils.
  • Psycheen – Artist and creator of Cassius.
  • The Uncrucified – My Exalted TTRPG blog

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Here’s to another month of surviving. Hang in there, everyone!

<3 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

August 2022 Sketchbook – Tattoos, Persephone, & more + Moving Update!

August has been another hectic month of negotiating house contracts, inspections, and more after losing multiple bids.  Things are looking up as we finally close on a house we love in just a few days!  That means, barring any last minute disasters, we’ll be relocating to our very own place with room enough for a studio, game room, and more over the course of September.  It’s been an unexpected dream come true to find such a big place within our budget!

We’re so relieved and excited!  I can’t wait to have space again so I can resume my big plans for my Birthstone Goddesses.  It’ll be time to wrap up this project which has been on hiatus during this whole process.

In the meanwhile, I’ve let the muse off the leash to explore whatever helps soothe my brain during all of this chaos.  That’s included more D&D character exploration, a Persephone concept, character class homework, and more.  Join me for an August sketch dump of wondrous variety!

More Fire Genasi Gal!

You might recall the sketch of my Barbarian gal, Rabs, from last month’s sketchbook.   I’ve decided to render her in a more painterly style to match the overall mood of official D&D art.  I usually work in a more line heavy style, so this is a challenge, especially in Procreate where I’m still somewhat unfamiliar with the painterly tools.  I’m getting some great results with the Acrylic and Gouache brushes, thus far!  I love the blending and subtle texture of them.

Before I could finish up Rabs’ armor base, I figured it was a good idea to actually define her tattoos in a template so I’m not always drawing them by hand every time. Radinsky’s template provided an amazing resource for this!  Here are all of Rabs’ bits and bobs shown together.  Hooray for being able to copy and paste these tatts as needed from here on out!

Sidenote:  The emergence of a hibiscus flower was accidental as it came about from mirroring her forehead sigil 5 times. I love happy accidents like that!

The captions read as follows:

Rabanne’s Tattoos

Limned in glowing ink that appears like molten lava in Rabanne’s skin, these tattoos symbolize her accomplishments & the decorative flare of noble class Genasi from their oasis city-kingdom.

Back Tattoo – Symbolizes the 5 ruling sisters of the Arore family, with Hibiscus as their symbol of state.

Arm Tattoos – The V-shaped emblems of the Tempest Heart Barbarians

Dread Queen Persephone

Over in the Fine Art section of my brain, I’ve been chipping away at a portrait set of Persephone to practice my traditional methods once I have a fully unpacked studio again.  I’ll be doing a portrait set of Persephone’s Summer and Winter forms showing her changes from Summer Maiden to Dread Queen.  

Of course, I wanted to work up her spooky Winter look first!  These thumbnails play with the concept of making parts of her form skeletal and translucent through her clothing.  I have my favorite right now, but what’s yours?

Hoping to work this one up in acrylics, color pencil, and possibly gouache in the hopefully not too distant future!

Character Mentor Doodles

I’ve been dabbling in character design as a supplement to my illustration, which brought me back to reading Tom Bancroft’s Creating Characters with Personality*.  His book challenges you to design a cast of characters from an old west setting and this was the first lesson where we define the overall silhouettes utilizing our understanding of shape language to give them each their own look without the details.

This was a fun diversion and a good way to test my comfort zones! I’ll probably circle back to this book later on after Even Amundsen’s Character Design Class.

*(Clicking the book link gives me a little kickback, if ya like!)

Fantasy Indies August

Finally, joining this month’s Fantasy Indies August hashtag event on Twitter allowed me to share a little bit of my writerly side!  I’ve been sharing snippets, mood boards, and more about The Uncrucified, a ttrpg inspired story I’ve been writing for the past few years (and that has inspired much of the side project art you’ve been seeing around here lately!).

Feel free to check out the full thread to learn more about this story and more.  I’ll be sharing an article gathering all of the posts in one article for your convenience once the event wraps up.

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That’s all for now!  My muse has been in overdrive all over the place, as it usually is with stress and chaos around our living situation.  Here’s hoping that by the next post, I have some good news about the new digs and future prospects!

Catch ya then!

♥ Ang

July 2022 Sketchbook – D&D Doodles & Kalara’s Sigil

It’s been a tough journey so far with house-hunting.  The market is crazy right now and we’re still on the hunt!  And so I’ve been channeling my woes into various comfort projects, mainly my D&D and Exalted TTRPG characters.

D&D Doodles

Ever since The Unmerry Band‘s adventures in the Black Pits wrapped up, I’ve been meaning to mine our campaign for practice, starting with a level progression chart of all our characters showing how their armor and wardrobe evolved over time.  This will feature our characters from their wee fragile Level 0 forms all the way up to Level 8 where our story ended (for now).

(The Unmerry Band lineup!)

I started off with the character I played in the campaign, Rabanne, a Fire Genasi Barbarian with a big heart and a big hammer!  I had some excellent pose help from Jookpubstock that acted as a base for her hammer pose.  Rather than stick with the Vox Machina inspired style of the party banner, I’ve returned to my more default semi-realistic style which is the one I want to nurture should I ever submit a portfolio to Wizards of the Coast.  Sketched in Procreate on the ipad with the Peppermint pencil brush in the Sketching category.

Rabs has been bulked up a bit for this image, as I wanted to accentuate her tall and imposing figure more than her initial rendering.  The pose on the left is going to be the base ‘paper doll’ pose I’ll be repeating for Levels 1 – 8, while the gesture sketches on the right represent an exploration of her younger level 0 self where she was training in secret as a gangly teen in the harem.

PROTIP!  The rectangle under her feet helps me to ground the figure and keep the perspective plane in check, as it’s easy to lose track at what angle the feet are supposed to be at if you don’t ground the figure somehow.

The rest of the characters will get this treatment too and will most likely follow the poses of the party banner, with the exception of Calumny (the Tiefling), because booty out does not make a good pose for showing off most clothing, though usually I wouldn’t have Cal any other way!

I also want to shine a light on the art that inspired me to do this.  How cool is this classic party line-up from Frida Bergholtz?  I hope mine will come out this fantastic!

Kalara’s Sigil

My gal, Kalara, has popped up on here a LOT lately.  She’s definitely a comfort to my muse with her story of overcoming adversity and working towards goodness in the world!  I’ve been working on and off on a novel featuring the events of her life from our Exalted RPG campaign for years now.  I’ve been pushing for a return to this endeavor while I have this nexus of ‘in-between projects till the move’ and so it occurred to me to finally put an official ‘label’ on her project.

It was time to make a brand guide and a logo!

Not every project needs this, mind, but I wanted to do this for The Uncrucified since I have larger plans for its future, including art packs and Storytellers Vault resources for players inspired by her story.  And thus, The Uncrucified needs a logo so I can elegantly tie all these parts together!

It also works so beautifully because this symbol will serve as Kalara’s in-world mark of her Guild as well.  I’ve shared a deeper look at this story’s brand guide in my Patreon’s Discord server, for those who might be curious.

For now, enjoy the many iterations I made as I attempted to channel Kalara’s themes of the Eclipse Caste mark (the glowing symbol that represents her magical abilities), the phoenix feather which represents her resilience, and the flame which represents her cultural identity and rebellious personality.

For me, logo design is a bit like obsessively writing all over your walls going slowly insane until the secret verse is revealed.  I don’t enjoy it much, but I wanted to design this one, myself, and so I was happy when I finally arrived at something that felt close to the ‘truth’!  More often I know what I don’t want than what I do when designing logos, and so the process is more about exploration and elimination.

And here we have the 3 semi-finalists!

I’ve already chosen a final, but I’d be curious which one resonates most with you all! It’s always fascinating to see what shapes others interpret in these mutable symbols.

That’s all I have for today!  It’s been a slow month as we tour houses as often as we can and try to plan these important next steps. I hope you all don’t mind my randomnness here!  I’m always worried it makes this a very confusing Patreon to be at hah.

Till next time!

♥ Ang

Sketchbook June 2022 – D&D, Gideon the Ninth, & OC Art

I’ve been slowly edging back into working for longer on art, but still haven’t managed to do more than a few sketches lately.  I don’t mind it, though, as not being able to work on serious projects has given me the ‘excuse’ I needed to let my muse off the leash to explore whatever fun topics came to mind!

D&D Sketch – Rabs the Fire Genasi

I really fell in love with my Barbarian from The Unmerry Band from the campaign we recently finished playing.  She graciously volunteered for a warm-up sketch to explore an extreme perspective shot.  Her tatts and eyes are always my favorite details to draw with their dramatic glow!

I hope to re-visit the band again sometime with more explorations of the dramatic scenes from their campaign as well as a level progression chart so I can practice drawing armor.

Gideon the Ninth – Harrow & Gideon Portraits

Lately I’ve been trying to catch up on my Fantasy genre reading.  Gideon the Ninth was high on that list (check out my spoiler free review if you like).  It was a fun ride full of skeletons, sarcasm, and murder and I really enjoyed it!  The combination of mystic necromancy and scifi really inspired me and thus these sketches were born!

I chose to draw Harrow as she appears in full Ninth House pomp in Gideon the Ninth.  Her goth skelly aesthetic really appeals to my sensibilities!

I’ve pictured Gideon here with her rapier, claw, and signature badass glasses.

My idea was to make portraits as if they were from a visual novel like The Arcana.  These were so much fun that I may have to properly polish them up sometime!  If you’re a Locked Tomb fan, who would you like to see me sketch next?

OC Art – Redesigned Kalara

Some of you may remember Kalara from my Exalted ttrpg adventures.  I had a lot of fun coming up with fashions during her Shirt Cut Meme, which made me realize she hasn’t had a new look in 8 years!

[WIP of the line art for Kalara’s revised look.

I hope to do a whole other article talking about her new design later once I’m finished with a new reference sheet, but for now, enjoy the sneak peek of the line art for her new design.  I’m stoked for how much more sophisticated and dramatic this new look is for her!

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Lastly, all of these sketches were done in Procreate, as curled up on the couch with the ipad has been the most physically comfortable way for me to draw lately.

And this has been another month of rest, healing, and stress-free sketching!  I hope to inch back into more serious work in July.  I’d love to keep practicing with warm-up sketches when I can, however.  It felt good to do fun things that don’t have strings attached to any major launches or paychecks.

The Locked Tomb has been an especially inspiring series, so I hope to keep doing more portraits!  Have you all read these books?  What other cool Fantasy books should I be reading right now?  Let me know in comments or feel free to come chat books with me in my Patreon Discord server!  There’s a whole channel for geeking out about books and media.

That’s all for now!  I’ll have another announcement soon about this Patreon’s move to temporary Tip Jar status.  I know this isn’t much, but I hope you all enjoyed the art treats anyways!

♥ Ang

MSAD – Week 1 – Face Mask Designs + 6 Outfits Suggestions Needed!

My Art Vacation has began in earnest with sketching every day for the first short week in May for May Sketch A Day!  I’ll be sharing weekly compilations of this event here so I don’t overwhelm you guys with daily posting.

Day 1 – Calavera Face Masks

I wasn’t planning to sketch face masks until I saw that Art of Where announced they would be offering masks we can print art on soon!  These masks will have an adjustable nose piece, a pocket for a filter, and adjustable lining, which sounds swankier than many of the other custom printed art masks being offered by Redbubble and Artscow. 

So of course I needed to make one for myself and Kev!  He is medically vulnerable as a heart and cancer patient, so we’re doing our best to stay safe and wear masks when we go out. Our handmade masks are going through the ringer being washed often, so it’d be nice to have an extra set!

My first attempt at a design was inspired by my Lady of November with her butterflies, marigolds, and underworld themes.

Day 2 – Akali Samurai Masks

My mask design exploration continued with exploring different shapes inspired by Akali’s mask from the KDA music video.  I designed the oni look for myself and the samurai for Kev (because we’re giant anime nerds), but ironically we ended up liking each other’s designs instead.  I realized I made a head croquis years ago that ended up being perfect for this!

A glimpse at Akali’s neon mask which inspired the look. So cool!

Art by Michelangelo Lanuza.

Day 3 – Persephone Moon Masks

MOAR masks!  I’m still searching out the design that feels like ‘me’.  Stories of moon goddesses and Persephone have always been some of my favorites.  I wanted to play with moons and pomegranates as symbols!  I think I’ve gotten closer with the Persephone inspired design, the round shape where the mouth is looks a bit odd like a gas mask or a gag, so I may find another way to arrange these symbols.

Next week, I hope to finish up the 6 Fanarts meme that I got suggestions for on Twitter!  In the meanwhile, I need YOUR help to pick 6 outfits for my kind-hearted Tiefling gal, Anko!  I’ll be working on them after I finish up 6 Fanarts.

I’ll be saving 3 of these outfits JUST for my Patrons to suggest, so leave your suggestions on this Twitter post OR comment on this entry if you don’t have a Twitter account.  Be sure to mention you’re a Patron if you comment on Twitter!

Are you guys doing May Sketch A Day?  Link me yours!  I’d love to see.

More art coming soon!

♥ Ang

Art Collection: Exalted Art Challenge 2020

After much contemplation, I’ve decided to go ahead and mark the Exalted Art Challenge as ‘complete’!  I’ve been working on it since October of 2020, so it was time to end this not-so-short break from the Birthstone Goddesses, despite the fact I didn’t quite get to finish the final two topics of the Challenge due to life throwing some major challenges our way.  

My husband is thankfully home and healing very well from COVID!  We’ve both been resting after the sleepless nights and it seemed a good time to put this challenge to bed.  It’s time to recuperate my energy levels and embark on the next part of my artistic journey!

It’s been a really great ride with this Art Challenge and I’ve enjoyed the creative challenge of strange and new topics for a while.  Did you all also enjoy the diversion?  I’m curious to know how this crowd likes my TTRPG-inspired art!

I do eventually want to finish the comic for the “Favorite Stunt” topic during my free time.  When I do, you can catch the finished pages on my Exalted project’s social media accounts instead:

For now, enjoy a compilation of all the topics!  Be sure to click the links to the individual collections for more on each topic and its creative notes.

The Master Challenge List

 

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View Collection 1 

  • Favorite Caste
  • Regional Fashion
  • Favorite Charm (Sketch)

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View Collection 2 

  • Favorite Charm (Final)
  • Favorite Incarnae
  • Favorite House
  • Favorite Spell

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View Collection 3

  • Favorite God
  • First Age Incarnation
  • Age of Sorrows Incarnation
  • Incarnations Back to Back

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View Collection 4 

  • Deathlord
  • Abyssal
  • Monstrance

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View Collection 5 

  • Limit Break
  • Anima Banner
  • Reasons to Have Ox Body
  • When No One Takes Sail

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View Collection 6 

  • Weapon
  • Artifact
  • Magic Material
  • Warstrider

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View Collection 7 

  • Familiar
  • Mutation
  • Animal
  • Beastmen

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View Collection 8 

  • Demon
  • Manse
  • Locale
  • Signature Character

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View Collection 9 

  • Favorite Stunt

 

May 2019 Wrap-Up: Vacation, MSAD, & Upcoming Giveaway!

Ooops we’re over halfway into June and I’ve not posted my May wrap-up yet!  As ever, May (and June) have been a crunched month while I prepare to unleash the Birthstone Goddesses enamel pins upon the world.  And what did I decide to do in the middle of the hype period for my upcoming enamel pin Kickstarter and other craziness?

I went on vacation for a week! Doh!

But you know what guys?  Sometimes you just have to have a little self-care, which is what May was all about for me.  My husband has been declared in remission from lymphoma and a long period of stress is over for us (for now).  It was a good time for a vacation!

A friend also encouraged me to take on the May Sketch A Day Art Challenge, which allowed me some much needed time to let my muse meander without being tied to any theme.  I also spent a week in South Carolina walking on the beach and enjoying a local botanical garden!

(A tease of one of the beautiful aqua gardens I visited at the Brookgreen Gardens while I was on vacation!)

And while I have returned to a crazy prelaunch crunch time, I’m grateful for some fresh air and the ability to let my creative wells refresh!

I have plans to share some posts with all the flower photos I took in an upcoming Inspiration Trip post, but for now, here’s a quick rundown of what you might have missed in May.

Posts in May

(ALL my sketches from May Sketch A DAy! Check out the posts above for story snippets and full views of the sketches I did)

New Coloring Pages Added:

Upcoming Giveaway!

It’s tradition by this point that I host a Launch Party on Facebook for each Kickstarter I do!  Come join me at this Event leading up to the Launch Day. I’ll be sharing the stories of each Goddess as we lead up to Launch Day and an art+book giveaway!  

THEN, once Launch Day arrives, I’ll be streaming the choosing of the winner as well as hitting the big shiny red launch button! It’s all very exciting!!

Woo hoo June is going to be epic!  Thanks for following along with my journey here as a Follower or a Patron.  I’m always in good company here!

More soon!

♥
– Ang

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You can also email me directly or replace the reply email with angela@angelasasser.com if you’d like to send an email reply.

May Sketch A Day Week 5 – Dark Fey & Mermaids + Full Month Recap

Week 5 was another lean week while I was out to the beach on vacation!  I intend to share an Inspiration Trip post at some point collecting all the reference I took. I got to explore the beach and one of the most beautiful gardens I’ve ever visited!  I stole a few late night hours during the trip to do some quick sketches, most of which were dominated by one of my story concepts that’s captured the muse of late.

The Watcher II & III

Last week, I introduce this character from my story, Song of Exile, into the MASD mix.  In my worldbuilding pondering for this story, I’ve envisioned an ancient spirit who once held dominion over the desert.  She watched mankind with curiosity, vexed by the seemingly irrational actions of these short-lived specimens.  One day, she ventured to them, teaching them knowledge beyond their primitive achievements, learning from them the joy of irrationality.

But one day those gifts were taken for granted and calamity struck.  Her wrath was swift and thorough.

Her concept is a seed of a story right now, but each image I create, she becomes clearer in my mind and I discover something new about her.  The butterflies and other eye-marked creatures of her own creation are her ‘eyes’, her own lost during the ‘Fall’.  She is the creator of the silk moths that roam throughout the desert, though she is no longer watching through their wings, their markings having lost their luster since The Watcher’s disappearance from history.  

Deep Blue

How could I NOT draw a mermaid for this month with the Mermay challenge happening as well? Plus the fact I was surrounded by so much lovely blue and green water while I was on the beach!  All the sketches this week were done in Adobe Photoshop Sketch on my new iPad Pro.  It’s pretty easy to pick up and put down a sketch while also being able to easily record a time lapse!

Full Month Recap

Here’s a collection of ALL the sketches I made for this event!  You can read the stories and notes about each week’s sketches at the following posts:

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4 

All in all, I had a fantastic time letting the muse off the leash to wander and do as she pleases!  I’ve been in desperate need of refreshing the creative wells and letting my mind wander while also getting some new experiences at the beach have helped a bit.  I’m hoping I can carry forward the daily sketching habit into the future as either daily warm-ups and/or freeform sketch time during my usual routine!

Did any of you participate in May Sketch A Day (or any of the other May art events)?  How did it work out for you?  Like NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNoWriMo, and other art challenges, I’ve found it to be a re-energizing experience with community support behind it which helps to keep me motivated!

Next, more enamel pin progress once I’m back from vacation starting Monday!

♥
– Ang

May Sketch A Day Week 4 – The Blood Hunter & The Faerie

This week was a lean week for sketching while I was rushing to get my enamel pin sketches off to the company!  I squeezed a little bit of sketching time in thanks to my husband gifting me an iPad Pro (YAY!) and encouraging me to take the time to sit down and have a play with it.  

All of the sketches this week were created with Adobe Sketch on the iPad Pro, with the exception of the sword portrait, which was started in Sketch and transferred into Photoshop for finishing.

Head Portrait – Nils

This piece is a milestone for being the first image I created on the iPad Pro!  I’m impressed by the responsiveness of the Apple Pencil and the way I could tilt the stylus for the graphite shading used in this one.

This week I had an urge to explore Nils, a shy priest of Kelemvor from a Dungeons & Dragons one-shot I played some time ago.  I was smitten by this quiet, sweet man in such a brutal profession of being a Blood Hunter!  

He wears his worries on his face, where he often looks tired and anemic, the blood magic use taking a toll, as well as the terrible things he’s seen in his past (which you can read more about in his character biography here).

The Watcher Appears

Experimenting with the watercolor blooms in Sketch on the iPad made me want to draw something dreamy and dark, which is where this gal from my Song of Exile storyworld came in!  She was drawn completely off the cuff without worrying about my mistakes.  This won’t be her final design, but it was just fun to muck about without being too precious (the whole goal of May Sketch A Day for me). 

Some flavor text for The Watcher:

Old stories still speak of her, though her name is long forgotten. They called her The Watcher, for she watched mankind for centuries from between the moments and the twilight shadows, always curious, always seeking through the eyes of the animals in her desert domain. Why did humans tarry so, she mused?

Whenever a traveler finds her moths in the desert, they know she is there, always watching through their spots, and they pay her homage whether she is there still or not.

Blood Grooves

After seeing this glorious character sheet by Mooncalfe, I was in the mood to do some more character sketching to show various pieces of equipment and angles for Nils!  I’m pretty shocked that Blood Hunters don’t have any specialized weapons for their demon-slaying, monster hunting craft.

I’ve envisioned Nils using a pair of scimitar custom crafted by his Order that allow him to trigger a needle which lances his palms and sends blood down the handle into the blood grooves on the sword.  This lets him more efficiently use his blades for Crimson Rites, which require bloodletting to imbue the blade.

First level Blood Hunters don’t even get silvered weapons for their starting gear, poor sods!

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So that was my short week!  Which one of these did you guys enjoy most?  Have you done any cool sketches for May Sketch A Day or Mermay this week (or seen any?)  Share in comments!

Next week, I’ll be on vacation at the beach, which I haven’t seen in well…years!  I expect to be pretty AFK for awhile and sneaking internet when I can, so I may be slow!  My stream schedule is on hold for now till I return on June 1st.  Hope you all don’t have too much fun without me!  

I hope to return with more enamel pin mockups to share and a refreshed mind.  See ya after!

– Ang