The Art of Katie MacKenzie

Katie | 30 | She/Her | Aroace | A hydra of interests including character design, graphic design, illustration, comics, and a background in animation. Author of Starglass Zodiac🌟💫

[akysi]

Commission for VioletStrike214 on Twitter of her character Merlin, for future D&D sessions 😁 Hard to go wrong with cool magic and starry patterning, thank you for commissioning me! <3

[akysi]

Switched gears for a bit to work out some more of Arack's story lore, now including his older sister Marisol :D I had the design itself done earlier in the month, but felt like expanding on the reference a bit more to cap it off instead. :) You know I'm having fun with a design when I add a back view with unique posing, haha! It's such a treat to work with this colour palette again too, it's one of my favourites :D

In stark contrast to Arack, Marisol is the daring adventurer type, going by her moniker of "Sol Shadow" in any tales of her travels around Faedarin. The Shadow siblings knew nothing of each other until Marisol eventually learned the truth about her former kingdom, and endeavored to find her lost sibling on nothing but a name and a hunch.

Originally known as Erisenn Shadow, Arack forsook his name to distance himself from his past as much as possible, making Marisol's quest even harder. Eventually, however, the two finally meet for the first time, grateful to find each other alive, if nothing else.

[akysi]

Hi! Some Pisces design tweaks for you today ^_^ I've had this as a WIP for what feels like forever, so I wanted to get this done this month. The tweaks mostly consisted of revisiting the combo of concepts I've had for her for a while, I felt she needed more fish-like elements overall even if she was going to stay mostly human in her base body structure, and without repeating too many of the elements I already used for Capricorn. I wanted her lionfish inspired fins to be a lot more prominent this time too, and I like the bottom-heavy silhouette they give her here.

One of the reasons this took so long was because of my long-standing debate about whether or not she'd have a tail at all, even if she still had legs. I decided to compromise and give her a mermaid-style tail transformation that she can use while swimming, which I will finish at a later date. But for now, this is her base design!

I took the opportunity to update her weapon as well, it has been even longer since I last drew it. Fun fact, a bident is a real thing! As you'd expect, it's the two-pronged version of a trident :]

[saioufashionzine]

⋆｡°✩"VISION" a Takuma Saiou Fashion fanzine project, Release! ⋆｡°✩

The zine is out now! You can find it through booth and ichio, download it, look through it, and enjoy all the wonderful art, the gorgeous Saiou, and the quite varied outfits.

You can either download the digital zine alone, or an archive with a print-ready version to turn it physical by your own mean! The zine is entirely free but you can show your support to the different artists who joined in.

Find the zine here:

VISION - iyliss - BOOTH

斎王とファッションをテーマにした26ページのアンソロジー同人。 デジタルブックと印刷可能なファイルが含まれています。 アーティスト: -わたっこ (@watakko1216 - twitter) -Akidachi (@akidachi - tumblr | bsky) -Ele

Vision - Saiou Fashion Zine by Iyliss

A collaborative digital zine focusing on Saiou Takuma and Fashion

Plenty of thanks to everyone who provided beautiful artworks, and to those who will enjoy this zine.

Happy Saiou day!

[akysi]

Back with another commission for VioletStrike214 on Twitter of her character, Sakura! I got to design this outfit as well, and considering the themeing and colour scheme this is basically my aesthetic 101, so I'm pretty sure that's why I was chosen for it xD She couldn't decide between backgrounds, so I might as well post them both here. Thank you for commissioning me! 😁

[akysi]

Hey! Feels like it has been forever since I did some design work for Starglass Zodiac, I've had a pile of WIPs that I've been chipping away at for so long but actually finishing one has been a whole other thing. This is not as extensive as some of my other ref sheets as a result, so I'll likely finish an extended version sometime later, but I've been itching to share one regardless.

This is Urania! A prior incarnation of Uranoscopus's constellation, thought to be the first. She's relevant to the main story in a more "extended lore" sense, but her backstory does inform the lead-up to certain story elements, so I was excited to work that out behind the scenes. :D

Her colour scheme and symbol integration ended up very similar to that of Ursa Minor in the end, but I intend to revisit the Ursas' concepts later anyway, so I'm not too bothered. That said, her design does deliberately mirror (ha) another character I've already designed for lore reasons :] (other than her constellation counterpart, I mean)

The mirror carried by the current Uranoscopus is the same as the one seen here, but was transformed by the crafty ringleader for her own purposes, giving it a different appearance and function. Originally, Urania's Mirror was more akin to a star map of the Astral Plane, a reference to a series of star maps from the 1800s of the same name. Mythologically speaking, Urania herself is the Muse of astronomy, though the term "muse" is used a bit more literally for this character.

[akysi]

Whoops, forgot to post this from yesterday! Another commission for VioletStrike214 on Twitter for a new profile picture, featuring her persona and a Mudkip :D I got paid to draw a Pokémon, I'd say that's a pretty great start to my art year! Thank you for commissioning me <3

[akysi]

Hey there folks, Happy New Year! I'm back to give you a little preview of what I've been working on lately, my entries for the Saiou Fashion Zine! :D

I'll be locking in for the rest of this month to (hopefully!) get all of these done before the deadline, though I will still finish and post them all eventually if I don't. These are just the sketches for now, but you WILL see my boy in pretty clothes!!! You will!!! ☝️ There's still time if you'd like to join in, and please do! :D You can find more info and the submission form @saioufashionzine here on Tumblr or @/SaiouZine on Twitter. Thanks! <3

[akysi]

And that's a wrap on another art year, folks! A lot more commission work on the board here as opposed to my personal project work, but a lot of that has to do with burning out twice this year 🫠 While I am eternally grateful for the commission work of course, the burnout made it difficult to do more than that in a lot of months. Unfortunately that included burning out on my comic project, which I still haven't been able to go back to yet :')

While this obviously isn't the full breadth of art I made this year, the common character designer struggle is having multiple pieces that all happen to face the same way and at the same angle 😅 I guess it doesn't matter too much, it just looks a bit silly when lined up like this. At least we got a bit of variance with my boy Saiou in October c; If I did a summary for my sketch blog it would look a lot different, haha!

I'm not sure how optimistic I feel about my creative endeavours going into the new year, but I'm still proud of what I've been able to make this year. On my sketch blog especially, it has been a lot of fun to just do whatever with fan art. I feel like I'm playing around with art more, and that's a feeling I haven't had in a while. Whether it's here or elsewhere, thanks for all the support this year everyone <3

[akysi]

Made this for @iyliss's birthday yesterday, I was given permission to post it so here you go! Hope you had an awesome one :D I've been wanting to draw something for this AU for a while (and maybe I will for Art Fight next year too, heehee :3c ) always a treat to draw these guys <3 Happy Birthday!!!

[aspec-quilt-project]

Quilt Square Submission

""I'm Not A Myth, But I Am Magical" I made this as an affirmation for myself and for anyone else in the community who has felt invisible or has been told that our identities aren't real. I feel like even with increasing awareness of the ace and aro spectrums in recent years, it is still very easy for us to be ignored when it comes to our place in society or even simply existing as we are. As an aroace, I will always be an unwavering advocate for platonic love, as I feel it is the foundation for every other kind of love out there and should be valued just as much. To anyone out there who feels discouraged or unseen, remember: You are just as real, just as magical, and you deserve to be loved exactly as you are <3"

this quilt square was shared by Katie MacKenzie, @akysi!

about this project

submit a square

[akysi]

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make a design for this month's Character Design Challenge with all I've had to do this week, but considering the theme of Zodiac Signs, I HAD to try! 🌟 Previously made designs are accepted for this challenge, but I couldn't decide between all my characters from Starglass Zodiac, so I figured I'd do something totally new instead! I never run out of ideas for a zodiac theme :D Here's a little blurb I wrote about it to give some context: "The scales of Libra stand cold and stoic, casting judgement in measured sways. As you stand before it, the scales tip as they should. But then, so too does its body, and then its head, breaking its perfect symmetry. The blindfold lifts, revealing an eye of the cosmos that pierces through your very soul. The plates in its grasp quiver as if it's about to let go, its claws looking sharper than before. To those who uphold that justice is blind, what happens when it opens its eyes?"

[akysi]

Another commission for VioletStrike214 on Twitter of her character, Titan Vex! Definitely one of my simpler sheets in general, but it’s nice to do those every once in a while :) Thank you for commissioning me!

[akysi]

I’ve been wanting to do another insect character design for Moth to the Flame for a while now and I have a few in the works, I feel like I haven’t been able to finish much of these in between commissions lately. I’ve had the concept for him for a while too, but finally tackled the actual design. I knew I wanted to do something cool with the death’s-head hawkmoth, and this seemed perfect for it!

This is Cornelius, leader of The Heralds of Moirai. They’re a squadron of travelling coroners, providing confirmation of death and the removal and burial of corpses, both of his fellow insect brethren and of the numerous predators that hunt them. He is sometimes given the nickname “Atropos” individually, usually in hushed tones by those who dare not speak his name.

Atropos is the name of one of the three Fates in Greek mythology associated with death, and part of the scientific name for the specific hawkmoth he’s based on (acherontia atropos). With this idea in mind, I’ll eventually design two other characters to fill the roles of Lachesis and Clotho, and conveniently there are two other death’s-head hawkmoths I can use for that!

In the world of Moth to the Flame, what we know as a plague doctor outfit in our world is instead used as a form of camouflage; this squadron flies in a specific formation that imitates the shape of a bird, with Cornelius (and his mask) as the head. This helps them fly safely in the presence of birds and other large predators, and casts an ominous shadow below.

Cornelius is fully aware that his presence is unsettling, but is strictly business nonetheless. He derives neither joy nor sadness from his job, it simply is what it is. Much like death itself, he is inevitable. He is not a bringer of death nor an omen of it, but he always follows after it, sometimes being the last thing a dying being will see if he descends upon them quick enough. He’s not the comforting sort as a result, but he and his team believe that everyone, even those who kill and eat his kind, deserve dignity and respect in death.

[akysi]

Suffering from another round of burnout in between commission work, and once again my boy comes in clutch to remind me that I am, in fact, still an artist ✌️ I wasn't going to post this here initially, but then I was like "wait this is fire actually" so here you go

This is a dragon design I made for Saiou in case you were wondering, it's an AU side project thing I plan to put up on my Art Fight later. I was going to make a more "definitive" post about that here at some point (and maybe I still will later) but for now, eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A feathered boy be upon ye <3

I am taken back to my high school days of loose lined paper with highly rendered scales and feathers on my dragons when I was bored and should have been doing my homework, I feel like it has been forever since I did anything like this. Nice to know I can still do it, despite everything.

[akysi]

Another commission for VioletStrike214 on Twitter of her character, Claire! Though I've done a lot of things adjacent to a Power Ranger/super sentai aesthetic, this was a fun mix of old and new in terms of concepts for me. Thank you for commissioning me, and so soon after the last one too :D

[akysi]

The storm maker says, "It ain't so bad" The dream maker's gonna make you mad The spaceman says "Everybody look down It's all in your mind" The Killers - Spaceman ------ Aaaand here's the alt version! :D And an excuse to post the first version again with the tweaks I mentioned before ;D Nothing major, mostly some detail and colour fixes. Funnily enough, the first version that I posted (second image in this post) was actually intended to be the alt instead of the other way around, haha! The only reason there's an alt version in the first place is because I spent way too much time on the galaxy at the bottom and I didn't want to cover it up by the end x'D I really like both versions, so I've decided to upload both versions to my Redbubble HERE and HERE if you're interested! I made it 11x17 this time so it should make for some good prints :D

Partials and detail closeups below the cut!