Tag: TTRPG Art

[Art] Commission Gallery – Vamps & Vigilantes

I’ve been a little quiet around here while I’ve had my head to the desk working through a few private commissions to help catch up with all our medical bills from our tumultuous 2025. I thought you guys might enjoy seeing a couple I’m allowed to share!

Echo for Aquatica1000

You may have spotted this tragically handsome vamp in my Year in Art post. I’m always giddy to get more Exalted TTRPG characters into the queue. This was a small headshot, but even with these smaller pieces meant to be in a simple flat style, I always try to work in the DRAMA, which I achieved with subtle gradients and dramatic desaturated color choices that pushed the saturated elements, like Echo’s soulsteel eyes and branded caste mark.

Enjoy a quick 1 min timelapse with my text narration of the process and decision-making:

Even for these small pieces, I like to workup a few thumbnails! We had a lot of fun variations for Echo. I really liked 4 to show off the dimensionality of the mask, but we ended up choosing 6 as both the client and I felt it showed Echo’s reluctant nature. He’s technically working for a big bad evil, but he’s not morally on board with his boss’ evil tactics and will one day rebel to follow his own better nature. (But 4 really would have looked cool, too!)

Splintered Fate April & Casey

A commission for a good friend inspired by their favorite characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! In which I studied many trash cans and enjoyed the many varying character designs of April O’Neil throughout time during my reference research.

This is quite the departure from my usual Fantasy fair, but it felt good to get back to my own artistic roots in 90s comics and my own nostalgic love for the world of TMNT. The graffiti turtles on the right are a nod to how I used to draw the turtles as a kid, as they were some of the first subjects of my early budding art skills!

A timelapse to appreciate how much I fiddled with the graffiti:

And now the thumbnails! There were no bad options here, as each one showed a different facet of these two characters. We had some cool ‘super model’ poses for an aesthetic approach, some more action-oriented comic posing, and finally the thumbnail I went with, which was actually the first one I drew.

The client and I agreed that the casual glance between the two just before they hop into a fray with The Foot was the fun vibe to shoot for!

Side Adventure: During research into graffiti art for this image, I stumbled upon a news story about a mysterious Pizza Graffiti Bandit who has been tagging pizzerias in New York with their unique pizza tag.

In my mind, of course this had to be Mikey on his own vigilante crusade to mark the pizzerias under his protection! I HAD to include an homage to that in the image somehow.

—-

If you have characters you’d love to see me draw (be they yours or fan art you want to see in the world), definitely check out my private commission info and commission FAQ. I have limited slots for private comms you can view here,

Onwards to the next images in my queue!

<3 Ang

Signal Bump! Exalted Art Challenge 2025

October is the month of art challenges and I wanted to boost the one I run every year for the Exalted TTRPG community – The Exalted Art Challenge! I’ve hosted this art challenge almost every year since 2020 and am always excited to see the community have fun and be inspired.

If it’s something you’d be interested in or just want to enjoy the epic fantasy martial arts world of Exalted, check out the full details of how to participate or find art for the challenge over at my Exalted project’s blog.

I plan to do the ‘quick challenge’, which I’ll share here in a wrap-up post at the very least.

Till then, enjoy another community event! There are so many great ones happening in October, like Drawtober, Plantober, and Inktober Elves.

<3 Ang

No AUG Hangout? + Vacation Sketch Dump!

Sorry to say that I was a little too overwhelmed to do the August Hangout! It was another rough month that included ever MORE doctor appointments for my husband’s surgery prep, but also the yearly kidney cancer check-ups for me, which have ended in a cautionary “you need more scans to be sure”.

Everything is likely fine, as the doctor’s concern level was medium-low, but it still meant taking the time to be transferred to a new specialist to organize a set of ever-MOAR appointments.

Basically, both me AND my husband are simultaneously navigating the medical funhouse that is being patients on cancer-watch within a constantly evolving medical system while also trying to navigate an unfavorable job market for our professions.

The convention prep for October has also started and I’m going EXTRA-BONKERS trying to prepare after being out of the game for so long!

WIP Art

Lots of art is currently in the work-in-progress stage as well, including:

  • A mockup of my new, improved convention booth (I’ll be writing a post about this!)

  • The “Cassiel’s Servant” fan cover, which I need to make some decisions about as far as what media I want to use. I’ve been art blocked on this one!

  • Character of the Month feature drawings for my Exalted buddies. I’ve started 3 drawings by now that linger in the inking stage.

A Sketch Dump Treat!

Once again, Exalted TTRPG art is keeping me sane while I battle the feeling of constant overwhelm. I don’t want to leave you guys without a little fun and treats after all our medical doom, however, so have some random sketches inspired by community activites over in the Forge of Wonders, the Exalted fan server I’m co-admin of.

A sword with a theme of phoenix feathers and embers. When drawn, it grants the user an aura of phoenix tails.
A sword concept for the wandering desert swordsman, Glittering Blade, who belongs to ShiftingPath.
A reference sheet of a swordsman, featuring his armor, mount, and many blades.
Art by ShiftingPath on tumblr of Glittering Blade, the wielder who I designed this weapon for.

This sword has a bit of a love story behind it which I’ll include for the curious:

—

Story Fluff: This blade arrived to Glittering Blade via a specialized spirit messenger, a little firebird that dissipated upon completing its task. It was immaculately gift-wrapped in silk fabric embroidered with gold, there also came a letter, scented with a familiar myrrh perfume Blade will recognize.

Written in a practiced quill hand were the words:

Dearest Glittering Blade,

May this sword protect you on your wanderings, far and wide, so that you may journey safely. I know it is your way to fall in love with a new blade eventually, so this one shall not linger overlong. It will eventually return back to me for safekeeping, as I hope you might someday, even if only to take up the sword and leave again, as heroes do.

I look forward to continuing my sword lessons upon the occasion!

Your friend, ~ K

(And if you don’t know who K is, that’d be my character, Kalara, sending him the equivalent of “Call me, okay?” XD She’s quite smitten with this traveler!)

—

Next is a cute sketch of Kalara tempting her businesswoman buddy, Shame, to her happy hour meetup the only way she knows how – Tax Deductible Networking Event Persuasion Technique!

It was some much-needed silliness over a much-need long weekend!

Thanks for sticking with me so far when I’ve not had as much as I’d like to share with you guys. It’s appreciated more than you will ever know!

<3 Ang

New Art! Exalted Character of the Month: Yorigasu, Chosen of Battles

It’s been a month of adjusting to a new schedule! I’ve been attempting to return to our original plan of me writing more, with art being a smaller part of my day.

However, it’s been difficult trying to fit all the art I want to do into the smaller time I have for drawing, which has also been split with trying to get commission samples done and maintain a streaming schedule, which has started to fall apart already.

Plus the mental overwhelm of US politics and my current identity crisis as I move away from being a more active artist.

Still, I always make time for the Exalted Character of the Month challenge and while I said I wouldn’t share much of this type of work here because I wanted to keep it tidily confined to The Uncrucified’s Ko-fi, I find myself with little else to share while other art takes me longer to do.

So enjoy the corvid bird warrior, Yorigasu, Chosen of Battles, Sidereal Exalted, who belongs to Lobsopdoy.

 Watch a timelapse of this piece here. Created in Procreate.

Lobsopdoy’s reference image:

I was very intimidated by the bird anatomy, as I have less experience drawing animals, but I do appreciate the challenge because corvids are awesome! How’d I do?

I hope I’ll have more art to share soon, but commission samples have been slow-going and I just haven’t been in a good head space this month. Hopefully I can shake it off and get back in the art battle soon!

Once the commission samples are done, I’m returning to focus on my Cassiel’s Servant work. For now, ENJOY BIRB!

<3 Ang

New Art! The Boy With the Seven Word Name + Hades Style Mini Tutorial

My first new art for 2025! 🎉 Trying out the Hades style for an Exalted Secret Santa gift for comedygoldatragedy on tumblr.

The most skilled swordsman to ever live, die, and live again. The Undead Boy King and Dusk Caste Abyssal, son of the First and Forsaken Lion. The wielder of Varan’s Ruin. He is The Boy with the Seven Word Name.

Inspired by the Exalted TTRPG setting from Onyx Path Publishing.

Watch a timelapse:

The original reference of this character by comedygoldatragedy.
A miniature tutorial walking through my thought process on drawing in Jen Zee’s Hades style. Click the image to see a bigger version.

The Exalted Art Challenge 2024 Begins!

For the folks who might be new here, I am also a big tabletop RPG nerd! October has come once more, bringing with it the latest Exalted Art Challenge! Exalted is a TTRPG setting from Onyx Path Publishing which I adore replete with epic Wuxia-inspired battles, long dramatic names, and off-the-wall gods and spirits. If that sounds fun to you, be sure to follow my Exalted Ko-fi where I’ll be sharing my challenge entries.

(An example of some of the sketches I did for the Exalted Art Challenge in years past.)

I don’t want to overload you all with work you might not be interested in, since this Patreon is currently more focused on art for Fantasy novels, so I’ll be relegating this Exalted-themed art over to my Exalted project’s Ko-fi and maybe sharing the complete collection here once the challenge is over and done. Be sure to follow over on Ko-fi and The Uncrucified’s socials (listed over on the Ko-fi page) if you’d like more Exalted goodness!

I am just so happy for spooky season and all the art challenges happening right now filling the world with loveliness and inspiration. Let’s gooo!

– Ang

Exalted Character of the Week Vol 2 + Bonus Valentine’s Comic

Until May rolls around and this Patreon is re-vamped with a brand new theme, I’Il be sharing the fun random arts I do, like the next collection of character portraits for the Exalted Character of the Week challenge I host over at the Forge of Wonders.  It was another adventure in experimenting with different styles and loosening up after so many years of working in a more rigid style.

The Cultivar of Bloodied Sunsets for Kess 

At the same time that The Cultivar was chosen for the next Challenge, my husband started playing Persona 3 Reload, which put a whole new coat of paint on top of a game that he loved growing up.  I’ve always enjoyed the sleek and appealing designs of ATLUS’ games and wanted to see if I could try to bring that visually stunning nature to a portrait of The Cultivar.  How did I do?

Apparently I subconsciously matched her outfit with her girlfriend’s outfit from an earlier challenge, which is a fun bit of accidental serendipity.

Fia for Morpheous XO

Next up, we have Fia, the No Moon Lunar witch.  I was originally going to keep this portrait as a simple pencil portrait, which I’m quite pleased with Procreate’s graphite simulation.  But then the color tempted me!  I tried to keep it subtle with the pops of her dramatic red hair tips.  I ended up with a look very close to what I can do with copic marker, traditionally, which is neat!

Moira for MissSunnySweden

Lastly, we have Moira for MissSunnySweden, a kickbutt Dawn Caste with a tiger theme.  I’ve long considered smiles my weakness when drawing people, but I was able to capture a delighted bloodlust smile without too much trouble.  I didn’t have much time to draw Fia and Moira, so I aimed for more simplified ‘token-style’ portraits.

All the portaits you see here were painted in Procreate, which has become my mainstay of late since it let’s me curl up in a comfortable spot on the couch to work.

Bonus Valentine’s Day Exalted Comic

I created one last bit of fun Exalted art in February where we were challenged by another member of the Forge to draw our characters on a date.  My character, Kalara, was paired up with the Abyssal, The Cultivar, for a date, which triggered a fun idea for a whole mini comic I could practice my visual storytelling skills with.

I wasn’t able to finish the mini comic with everything happening with health and job woes last month, but I’m hoping to clean this up at some point for practice.  For now, enjoy the sketches for the comic and the quick final panel I did work up just for fun!

Premise:  The Cultivar and Kalara go on a date!

Kalara shows up to the cafe, where the Cultivar awaits, the two of them competing to show off who has the highest Resources rating (basically means how rich they are in this setting).  They ‘battle’ through various things, from fancy tea vs coffee, to fancy favorite foods, to the final battle – Who will cover the check???

Eventually, Kalara wins the wealth battle, but The Cultivar gets the upper hand…which my gal is actually pretty okay with.  There are worse, more boring ways to die, right? 

The final panel:

(This one was drawn on Procreate, but word bubbles added in Clip Studio Paint)

—-

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little art diversion!  I have more serious projects to finish up by the end of the month, but these character challenges are always a fun way to stretch my legs between more intense projects.

– Ang

[Art] Exalted Character of the Week Vol 1: Rainbows, Abyssals, and Big Hats

You all know I’m a nerd for the tabletop game, Exalted from Onyx Path Publishing (and if not, SURPRISE! Prepare yourself for my weebness).  I help run a Discord server for fans who like to create art, writing, etc. for this particular TTRPG community.  Recently, we started up a community activity where we roll a die to choose a character from a member to create arts inspired by them.  This little collection features characters from our first rounds.

This activity has been an excellent opportunity for me to practice different styles, so strap yourself in for a ride through the colorful characters and styles of my first Exalted Character of the Week collection!

(My gal, Kalara, was chosen for the first round, but that’s a whole other art feature collection for later).

Theo for Jen

Theodotus is a bombastic Zenith Caste who beams rainbows from his heroic anima.  The energetic style of the Hades video game seemed like a perfect fit for him. I absolutely adore this style and always wanted to try it myself!  This style involves clean line work and bold highlighting for a signature look. I definitely want to play with it more, as it suited my own proclivity for line art and elegance very well.

  • Watch a timelapse of Theo’s creation here.

Orchid for MissSunnySweden

Next, we have Leaping River Orchid, a demure noblewoman Twilight Caste who hides her Anathema nature from the noble house she was born into.  She prefers to charm rather than combat and seemed a good fit for testing out a style inspired by the Arcane animated series with her elegant costume.

I’m particularly happy with how this one came out. Despite how rough it is, it feels polished in the right places, which is a valuable lesson to me on balancing detail and value in a composition so I can plan my time and effort with pieces better.

  • Watch a timelapse of Orchid’s portrait here.

Thrice-Fallen Affections for Raefen

Finally, we have the Abyssal, Thrice-Fallen Affections, who serves the Deathlord, The Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears.  Thrice-fallen Affections has some rather risque tastes in formal clothing in the skeleton themes of the Underworld.

  • See the uncensored version and watch the full view timelapse of this piece here.  Artistic nudity warning (bare breasts in a non-sexual context) for any who do decide to click through.

—-

It’s my hope that by experimenting with different styles, I refill my creative well a bit, as well as learn about what makes MY style “me” by figuring out what it is I like and don’t like, what feels right to me, and how I want my work to look in the future.  Most of all, it’s just nice to take a break from serious years-long projects to have some fun with casual art!  I have been emulating Mucha for so long with the Birthstone Goddesses series that it’s nice to break out of my shell a bit.

The Exalted Character of the Week Challenge is going to be an ongoing activity in the future, so I’ll probably share quarterly collections from the event from here on out.  It’s been fun to let loose with styles and fashion exploration with all the colorful character possibilities that Exalted has to offer thus far.

Next up, I hope to have a very special bit of fan art inspired by my favorite TV series of 2023 – Blue Eye Samurai!  Granted I can get it done by next Thursday.  We shall see!

Till then, I hope you enjoyed the art dump!

– Ang

Comic + WIPs – Carbon 2185: Parablepsia – “Unintentional Ninja”

I teased that I’d be cooling down after the big project milestone with fun exploratory art and part of that carefree fun art has been brushing up on my sequential art (comics) skillset.  I enjoy taking little scenes from our tabletop campaigns and turning them into one-shots like this for a lark.

Comics also make excellent drawing practice for anatomy, perspective, storytelling, the works!  So I thought you all might enjoy a peek at this one-page comic plus some WIPs I didn’t share on social media.

Programs Used – Procreate for the lines and colors, Clip Studio Paint EX for the Word Balloons, FX, and Text.

The Premise:  Welcome to the Cyberpunk setting of Carbon 2185!  Parablepsia is the name of our campaign featuring a disparate band of street runners who wake up in a morgue to find themselves embroiled in a corporate war for power and technology.

Then there’s Nightingale (Gale for short), the character I play who is a synthetic humanoid singer who believes she has no business being caught up in this mess.  Little does she know that she’s been programmed with ninja skills without her knowledge!

Making of the Comic

It all starts with the rough sketch and scribbling in the dialogue so I know that the dialogue will fit in the panel.  The expressions are also pretty abstract since I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this while I figure out the positioning of all the various elements.

I also didn’t know how Gale looks since I hadn’t drawn her before this comic, so I ended up going through a few variations trying to nail down her look.  Which one’s your favorite?  I tried to channel feather shapes like her songbird theme.

I had a good laugh making expressions into my camera trying to nail down Gale’s various shocked expressions in this comic and how silly, yet accurate the rough drawings of her face were to the emotions she was expressing.

The final comic:

  • Watch a timelapse here.  My process is absolute chaos, but it’s kinda fun to watch a story emerge from the scribbles!

—-

Will I share more comics here?  We’ll see!  It’s something I haven’t done with consistency because it’s difficult and time-consuming, but it’s also a lot of fun.  It’s very satisfying when those expressions work and the comedy lands!

I’m still learning how to use software, brush up the written script on longer stories, etc. which has been my hobby time fun lately.  I’ve been sharing more of this exploration over in my Discord server, which is open to both my Patrons and the public. Patrons can connect their accounts for access to my Secret Sketchbook there, while free fans can join the public areas here.

For now, I hope you all enjoyed this errant one shot!  Stay tuned for more character portraits and a painting over the next few posts.  Meanwhile, I hope you all enjoy the end of the year.  Stay toasty and warm!

– Ang

September 2022 Sketchbook – Rabs & Kalara Character Designs

This weekend, we put the first boxes in the new studio and I’m so excited!  Studio pics to follow in the near future.  In the meanwhile, I’ve been using the time between the seams to chip away at the character designs for Rabs and Kalara.  Character sheets have been my happy place lately!

Rabanne Arore, Big Muscles, Big Heart

I wanted to challenge myself with Rabs’ design with a muscular body type and her glowing hair. She’s really captured my muse with her fun tatts, color schemes, and themes, so you’ll definitely be seeing more of her in my sketchbook!  This particular piece was meant to be in the style of a more traditional ttrpg rulebook style source book image, as well as a base for me to put different clothing on.  More fashions are sure to follow!

Watch a time lapse of how I created this piece, along with Rabs’ tattoo sheet here.  She was painted using the Acrylic brushes in Procreate on the ipad.

Kalara Vadras, The Uncrucified

I meant to save this image for a proper release with a full sheet of FX and turnarounds, but our house move is taking forever, so I thought I’d share a WIP!  You guys got to learn a little bit more about Kalara last month via Fantasy Indies August.  She’s been inspiring me for years since our Exalted ttrpg game, so it was about time she got a new look!

This new look captures more of the elegant merchant negotiator she becomes after her years on the run from the Guild.  

Kalara’s old look as a reminder:

More to come when I explore the rest of her character sheet!  I’m especially excited about drawing the phoenix on the back of her jacket.  The redesign was also created in Procreate using the Studio Ink Pen for color flatting to achieve a comic book feel, as this design is meant as a precursor to a prospective webcomic for the character.

Both Rabs and Kalara utilized helpful stock poses from the awesome Jookpubstock, who has been an excellent resource for inspiration!

—-

Art is going to slow down even more over the next month while we move our small boxes over to the new place ourselves, with the big stuff being handled by the movers.  There’s a light at the end of the tunnel finally and I’m excited to really settle properly into a new permanent studio art cave!

♥ Ang