Tag: TTRPG Art

March 20, 2025

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

October 1, 2024

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

April 3, 2024

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)

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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

December 14, 2023

[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.

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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

December 8, 2023

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!

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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 26, 2022

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!

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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

September 7, 2022

Fantasy Indies August 2022 – THE UNCRUCIFIED

I took part in the Fantasy Indies August event during August, so I thought I’d share a little bit about that here with folks! While you all mainly see the Artist side of me, I also love to write and have been dabbling with several novel ideas between the margins of life over the past few years.

The Uncrucified has been at the forefront of my endeavors as a Writer and you all have probably noticed the muse inspiration overflow with all the Kalara art that’s flooded here lately! She’s been the comfort subject for my muse while I’ve been on this long hiatus for shoulder surgery / burnout / life chaos.

The topics for August:

Rather than bombard you guys by pasting all of these topics in, I figured I’d tease you with some of my favorite topics I answered during the event and invite you to check out the full thread.

Introduce Yourself & Your WIP

I’m currently working on The Uncrucified, the tale of an upstart from the desert slums named Kalara. She was chosen to lead a world in chaos, but she has scores to settle first!

Yup, it’s a TTRPG story inspired by the Exalted RPG, but I hope to make it readable for more than just Exalted fans! There’ll be romance, grudges, gunslinging, & more.

WIP Mood Board

I’m an obsessive board maker! These are just a few of the images I’ve drawn of my MC Kalara plus location inspo for the stained glass ruins of Chiaroscuro, the magitech desert of Exalted’s South, & her hometown, the underground city of Gem.

If you’d like to see more of THE UNCRUCIFIED’s in-depth mood board, I host it on Pinterest where I’ve been adding to them for literal years. Sub-divided by character, locale, etc. because this soothes my artist brain!

Book BFFs

I’m open to suggestions! A beta reader for my story has told me Kalara gave them NAME OF THE WIND vibes (which I haven’t read). I’d love for my chars to have the same larger than life charisma of the chars in THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN (which I have read & loved).

I have a much easier time comparing THE UNCRUCIFIED to anime instead. Sinbad from MAGI mirrors Kalara with his wish to build a trade network & navigate political waters using his amazing charisma, while trying not to lose himself. Not to mention MAGI’s combat is VERY Exalted!

I’m also looking to Fog Hill of the Five Elements for combat vibes. It oozes over the top stylish badassery!

BLOOD OF ZEUS also strikes me for being very Exalted with its sexy elegant character designs, warring gods, interpersonal drama, & pissed off ancient imprisoned deities.

Toss me more inspiration suggestions, fam! Especially my long-suffering beta readers. What does THE UNCRUCIFIED make you think of, as far as inspirational book/media BFFs?

I’ve already gotten some amazing suggestions from fans for Book BFFs for my story, so I’ve gathered them into a wishlist. Feel free to mine it for inspiration and good reads! Featuring clever protags, underdog heroes, geopolitical drama, & more.

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Read the full topic list + my answers here for the full effect of posts, memes, and animated GIFs. I’m sure this won’t be the last time I talk about my stories here. I hope you all enjoy this glimpse at the other Muse in my brain!

♥ Ang

September 24, 2020

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

February 16, 2020

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.