Tag: Studio Hangouts

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

—-

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

<3 Ang

Studio Hangout June 2025 + AMA – The Health Insurance Circus, New Character Art, and Discussing My Fave Media

Have a look at all the happenings and posts you might have missed in June, plus the monthly Ask Me Anything segment where I answer questions from fans and Patrons! Watch the video above or read the TL;DR summary below. The video includes captions with the transcript attached to this post.

Personal Updates

  • We were dropped AGAIN by health insurance after finding a new plan. But only after I spent weeks calling offices and the insurance company where nobody knew whether we were covered by our doctors or not and their own system said we were covered. It was a very frustrating process which ate up so much of my time this month! Meanwhile, we’re still bracing ourselves for multiple surgical procedures for Kev on the horizon, which have been stalled by this whole insurance coverage uncertainty.
  • The Silver Lining! The hubby MIGHT be starting a new job with new health insurance, which will help us with most of our current challenges! Even if that doesn’t work out, we are thankfully able to change our current problematic plan within 30 days. Phew! Please redirect all spare luck and good fortune to Kev as the interview process continues!
  • Considering a career pivot? After doing the math, I’ve decided not to reopen for small private commissions. Better to focus my energies on studying for entry level IT helpdesk which I can also do remotely, as it promises better pay than what I can currently bring in with art. (I’ve actually started studying in May, while also balancing my current obligations).Our current life challenges combined with the past few years of an imploding illustration industry thanks to AI, shrinking freelance opportunities, and impossible convention table rates /competition, something has to give and that’s unfortunately been my own mental health and our stability.

    If/when this career pivot happens, I’ll need to reconsider how this Patreon is structured. If our situation changes in the meanwhile, awesome! But I want to be prepared in case things don’t work out the way we want.

    I’m never going to abandon creating art, but the amount of time I have for it may change depending on how life plays out! We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it…

New Art in June

I finished the first of the two commission prizes for the winners this month! Sadly, I won’t be continuing to take commissions as I focus on studying for my IT certification, but I didn’t want to leave these winners hanging!

A peek at a few other pieces in-progress this month, mostly for casual fun events related to tabletop gaming. Watch this month’s Studio Hangout vid above where I talk a little more about the story behind each piece.

[Character art in the bottom left by Psycheen, which is a sneak peek of the character I’ll be drawing for the final giveaway winner next!]

Announcements

  • Review of Fourthwall Samples – I’m vetting this shop platform for my own side projects. Have any questions about them? Drop a comment! Find the quickie review and a video overview here.
  • Introducing my new YouTube channel – I’ve decided to break my more gallery-minded art videos off from my main channel so my geeky tabletop art doesn’t clash too badly with galleries scouting my paintings for display. Find out more about my new Fine Art channel here!
  • Ask Me Anything Archive Coming Soon! – I’ve gotten enough AMA questions now to merit creating an archive which will be categorized by topic. Look for it here when it’s complete!

Mentioned Links

Posts from June

Ask Me Anything

Q: [From Kit Chimera on BlueSky] How does being a traditional artist influence your digital art?
A: Answered here.

Q: [From Psycheen on BlueSky] What media are you into lately and why?
A: Answered here.

Q: [Also from Psycheen] What character do you hate in media lately?
A: Answered here.

July Goals

  • Hopping into Art Fight 2025 – I’ll be participating in this art trading event with some simple art! Find my profile here. I don’t have a lot of time to participate, but I need SOME HAPPINESS in my life and this event brings pure joy!
  • Clearing out my Art queue – I’m wrapping up as many of my in-progress images as I can so I can pivot my focus to studying for entry level helpdesk certification.

[My Art Fight card for 2025. Go, Team Crystals!]

—-

My eternal thanks to those of you who keep supporting here even when things have slowed to a crawl because of our IRL challenges. I’m remaining hopeful for a kinder turn of fortune in store for us in July!

<3 Ang

Studio Hangout MAR 2025 – TTRPG Portraits & Artist AMA [Video + Monthly Digest]

Where did March go??? Here’s the skinny on the happenings, new art, etc. for this month. You can watch the video above (which has captions and chapter breaks in the desc on YouTube) for my full update. This post contains an abbreviated summary if you’re short on time and a transcript of the full video attached to this post.

Personal Updates

It’s been a rough month! I’ve been attempting to keep up with writing and art, but found myself overwhelmed trying to juggle art/writing classes, a regular biweekly stream schedule, and swapping my sleep schedule to a new night-time routine (as endorsed by Brandon Sanderson).

This month, I’ve also taken the time to do our taxes and was faced with the exact numerical value of how my business has been impacted by social media and AI flooding Etsy’s marketplace in the past year (60% down in sales, to be precise).

The art community is suffering existentionally right now, so I have to thank you all once more for your continued support during these trying times! It’s been a struggle to create with all this noise around us. Making art goes, slowly, but surely!

New Art

I only have a couple of things to share this month because of existential dread brain and taking time to do taxes reasons.

  • Yorigasu, a celestial agent from Exalted. (Top)
  • Artorias Portrait (Bottom Right) – A D&D character portrait currently in-progress (which was shared for the first time on stream). Watch the full vid for more about each character.

  • Writing Class Homework – A little different than the art I share, but hopefully an interesting glimpse, regardless! Here’s a quick look at the brainstorming homework I’m doing for my writing class with Maggie Steitvater. A longer explanation is in the video as well as a story pitch of what I’m working on.

Ask Me Anything Questions

Check the time stamps for the answers to these questions.

  • 22:25 – (From Aaron R.) – What’s a piece of yours that surprised you?
  • 24:53 – (From Lindowyn) – What is the most satisfying piece that you’ve done?
  • 27:13 – (From Lindowyn) – What is your favorite medium?

Announcements

  • Art Streams are on hold until further notice!  I’ve been overwhelmed and sleep-deprived and needed more time to focus on re-balancing my schedule. Art streams will return once I’ve been able to settle into a healthier schedule for myself! Game Streams (featuring the game Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden) is still a go for Thursdays, 8pm EST.
  • Coming in April! – Creating private character art commission samples is my current priority. Then, I hope to return to focusing mainly on writing, with a couple of days a week spent on art as soon as the samples are out in the wild. I’m hoping taking these private commissions can help refill our life savings after our bad year last year. They will be released to my Patrons and newsletter subscribers before the public.

    —-

    Catch you next month.
    Wishing you all inspiration!

    <3 Angela S.

Studio Hangout FEB 2025 – Valentine’s Art, Good News, & Artist AMA [Video + Monthly Digest]

It’s been an eventful and emotional month! Here’s a quick rundown on everything you might’ve missed in February.

Like last month’s Studio Hangout, you can get the quick highlights of this studio hangout from reading this post or watch the full video above or on my YouTube which also has chapters and closed captions. A transcript is also attached to this post.

(Are you guys liking this format? Let me know in the comments!)

Happenings & Announcements

  • Good and Bad Anniversaries – Within a single week, my husband and I celebrated the one year anniversary of him being laid off (boo!), our 8th wedding anniversary (yay!), and finally him starting a new job a couple of days later (double huzzah)! Thank goodness! Times have been really rough during this year and we’re so glad it’s over. The constant mental strain was becoming too much for the both of us.
  • Finding Connection – Games and art streams have been fun and helped me feel connected as I’ve pulled away from most social media. I only post on Bluesky these days with personal posts on Facebook to Friends and Followers. (Feel free to give my personal account a Follow on FB as I only Friend other artists and people I know IRL or through work/projects).
  • Convention Rejections – I’ve been rejected by at least 3 thus far, but I don’t feel too sad. With Bird Flu, regular Flu, and Covid around, it’s still a major health risk to my husband and myself. With our finances stabilizing, I am not being forced to rely on convention income as much.
  • The New-Old Plan! – Regaining financial stability with my husband’s job means I can return to our original plan – Me focusing on writing novels while using Patreon to support and practice my art skills.
  • Private Commissions Incoming – Private commission offerings are still coming to my Patrons/newsletter subscribers to help us refill our drained life savings, but likely on a limited slot basis.
  • New Patreon Digital Shop Opening – A new Rewards Archive/Digital Shop has been added to my Patreon. Check it out for ALL of my tutorials and coloring packs in one place, with more to come!

New Art in February

A very complex Valentine’s couples piece for February took over the muse this month while I was stressing about everything! It’s been a mentally rough time and I needed the escapism of drawing a bookshelf for 39 hours. Cheaper than therapy I guess!

Livestream Studies

I had a fun time studying things out of my comfort zone like objects, animals, and environments.

New Vids in February

Streams in February

Ask Me Anything

These are the short answers. The long, rambling full answers are in the video at the timestamps. Patrons get first dibs on questions, so be sure to keep an eye out for when I’m taking questions at this post and in the Patrons-only section of my Discord (which is open to everyone, but has a special section just for Patrons).

Q: (From Aaron R.). How did you begin your art journey?

Answer at 24:40:  I was always a weird kid writing and illustrating fantasy and horror stories about undead prom queens and unicorns. The actual journey began when as a young 8 year old, I noticed Trina Schart Hymen listed as an illustrator on Saint George and the Dragon and had the revelation that a real person made the art for others to see in a book and wanted to put my art in books as stories too. The rest is history!

Q:  (From Aaron R.) What’s something you’d love to go back and tell yourself to do differently in your art if you could go back to yourself at the beginning of your career?

Answer at 27:20:  I would tell myself not to do cheap commissions.  Focus on portfolio work.  When the real world hits and you have less time, you’ll regret not focusing sooner and having a body of work to share that’s more uniquely useful and yours.  Dedicate to my personal projects sooner.

Q:  (From Lindowyn) What has helped you combat overwhelm and art block during highly stressful times?

Answer at 29:52:  Art Challenges are my solution for breaking through art blocks!  As examples, see my Exalted Art Challenge or 30 Day Monster Girl Challenge, to name a few. Getting my brain into a task-oriented mode that lets me focus on solving simpler creative problems instead of the world’s problems or my own art block. It gives me an ‘easy’ low bar for success and feeling accomplished and often ends up in a tidy body of work I can use for sketchbooks.

Coming in MAR

Upcoming Streams

  • ART STREAMs at Tuesday at 2pm EST – Drawing: Arcane Master Copying + Style Replication,  Lighting Characters Homework
  • GAME STREAMs at Thursdays at 8pm EST – Playing:  Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden—I think that’s everything! Thanks for everyone who’s been hanging out for me during my streams or leaving a kind word in the comments. It’s really helped me out during these dark times. Now, things are finally starting to look up!<3 Ang

[VIDEO] Studio Hangout OCT 2017 – Kickstart Art Review, Inktober, and My Favorite Author

Check out my latest wrap-up video for October. I fear with every video I share, the more of a dork I reveal myself to be!

Featuring the following things:

– My thoughts on the Kickstart Art seminar with Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and what revelations I had from it.

– An epic level geek out about Kushiel’s Dart which I was nearly hesitant to share online, but it’s on the internet now.  Oh well!

– Pumpkin Spice shenanigans.

– Plus aaaaart!

[VIDEO] Studio Hangout July 2017 – Coloring Book, DragonCon, & Kickstarter!

This video ushers in my return to sharing monthly Studio Hangouts with you guys!

In this month’s Studio Hangout, I talk about the epicness that has been July thus far!  From my first coloring book published this month to all the fun things happening in the near future. 

Plus, get a look at my studio chaos as I prep for DragonCon.  I keep promising a proper studio tour, but it’s been so very messy!  

SOON!  Really!

Also, for the Q&A section I had planned for my monthly updates, I have decided to post them as separate short and sweet videos to make the questions easier to find for people. 

The topic I’ll be posting soon is the question I have received quite often this month – How did I get my work published with Impact Books and Anthem?

My video answer will be coming soon later on this week!

Links in the video:

– Colouring Heaven Magazine 

– My Birthstone Series, the Ladies of the Months 

– My Kickstarter Profile 

– Drawing Art Nouveau Hair Tutorial 

– The Uncrucified Story and Art

MAR 2016 Studio Hangout – Character Theme: Fairy Tales

https://plus.google.com/events/cd8hjnp2uudjfp2euimg88k7ij8

I’m trying something a little different for this month’s studio hangout.  Come watch me draw the character chosen from among my Patreon Patrons’ suggestions tomorrow afternoon, 3pm EST!

In the interest of making this easier for you guys to watch, I’m switching the monthly sketch from pencil to digital.  It’s just too hard to see me draw in pencil via the webcam.

While I draw, I’ll be talking about how my month’s been, answering your questions in the Q&A panel, and rambling about my character ideation process.  You guys get to find out then what prompt I chose from all of your groovy suggestions!

Can’t attend?  Feel free to leave your questions here in the comments and I’ll try to get to them during the event!

EVENT LINK:

https://plus.google.com/events/cd8hjnp2uudjfp2euimg88k7ij8

See you then!