38 year old, she/her, pan aegosexual, Gemini. Female. Freelance Illustrator and super geek. Loves Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Jrock and a million other things. Randomly posts pointless things she likes on the interwebs. Feel free to ask questions. :) Name is Nicole but friends call me Nicholas/Nik, which, of course, you are free to do.
Thought it was about time I posted an updated version.
2021 pricing so far. If you’re currently on waitlist this is what it will be.
FAQS:
Do you do NSFW? 100% yes. No problem.
When do you take payment? Usually after I’m finished. I’m weird that way, but honestly, whatever is most convenient for you. I’m flexible. I can even do installments.
Do you do more than one character in a picture? Sometimes. It depends on how complicated the image is. Ask and give me specifics and I’ll let you know. Two people take considerably longer than one and one already takes me like a month to finish.
Why are the prices ‘starting at’? What will be the final price? The final price depends entirely on what you want and how complicated it is. A person with plain or minimal clothing/accessories etc will take far less time to finish than a person in armor. That kind of thing. Since it changes on a case by case basis I have to make pricing flexible.
Why is the color price higher than the black and white? Because color takes me twice as long to do. It’s more complicated to get right. Black and white is much faster. Simply that.
Will I get updates? Yes. I try to update my clients as I go, but sometimes I can ‘get in the zone’ and forget how much time has passed. If that happens feel free to contact me at any time and I’ll be happy to update you on the status.
All the examples are your ‘realism’ work. Can I commission you for a ‘tarot style’ like you did your Dragon Age tarots in? Absolutely. I’m not really as practiced in that style since it’s less realistic, but I’d be happy to do it on request if that’s what you’re looking for.
Will you do any game/fandom? Yes. Anything at all. But if you want anything Dragon Age or Mass Effect I may be so happy I’ll offer a discount. lol No promises, but...I really enjoy those.
Why does it take you so long? A few reasons. 1) I’m still learning, so if something is complicated and I’ve never done it before I have to learn how. 2) I’m very detailed and a bit of a perfectionist so I spend too much time making sure things are as right as I can get them. 3) I have bad eyesight (-7.50) and sometimes I can’t see the references well if they’re small and it takes me awhile to figure out how to replicate things I can’t make out. 4) I have aphantasia (Can’t visualize things) and so it can take me a lot of trial and error to draw the parts that need more imagination.
Will the prices change again in the future? Probably. Since most of my clients are fans I worry about charging too much for people to afford, but honestly I charge way too low. Finishing one picture with my turnover time I make about 2$ an hour. Sometimes far less. It’s completely unsustainable for cost of living, but at the moment I’m in a situation where I can make it work without making it more expensive for you guys. If my situation changes in the future so will my pricing. If you think I should be asking more you’re always welcome to tip me.
HIII. I went to check your DA for your nude j-rock stuff and saw your post from 2015 and I was wondering if you still had your stuff of Kyo. 😭😭😭 Specifically the one of Kyo and Kaoru… hehe… aahh I’m sorry for asking… thank you either way! Awesome to see you’re still doing art!!! You’re amazing!!!
I might have it on an old external drive. I'll have to check. I just moved and I'm still finding things.
Hit a point where I'm going through the Cullen Critical tag on tumblr cause I really like Cullen, but in a fucked up way and I hate that the writers overlooked some of the more egregious things this guy did (or, more accurately did *not* do) while serving in Kirkwall
Mostly i think im mad that the writers fucked up the chance to take a guy who spent a long time turning a blind eye to and justifying a fucked up system of abuse, and actually have him held accountable for it
Instead of him just. Feeling kind of bad about it but not actually addressing it in a real way?
I mean, dont get me started on how Inquisition fumbled pretty much everything that happened in DA2 (the fact that there's no option for Hawke, Varric, or even the Inquisitor to agree with what Anders did? You can either condemn it or like... waffle around it?), but like. Cullen was actively looking the other way when Mages were getting whipped in the streets, SA'd and fucking lobotomised
The templars turned Kirkwall into a police state by the end of it, and all the writers have him saying is like "man, i feel bad :("
Cant believe im saying this, but Blackwall actually does have a better redemption arc than Cullen
I just
There is gold. Right there
They had a fucked up guy and completely squandered the opportunity to have him SO fucked up about the shit he's done
They still could've had their poor little meow meow of a commander! Just make him so much more fucked up about his mistakes man!
But we already know bioware is full of cowards so im pretty much talking to the wind here
sometimes i honestly don’t know what game you guys were playing when you talk about cullen. “turned a blind eye”? he was twenty-two, hooked on magical heroin, had horrific ptsd, and was grieving the loss of his parents when he arrived in kirkwall. he says he let anger dictate his actions and isn’t proud of it.
so let’s fucking recap. almost all of this is explicitly written into inquisition, and the rest can be inferred by a reasonably intelligent player.
he accepts command of a second broken circle after betraying his commander and (depending on player choices) allowing the apostate who blew up the chantry to walk out of kirkwall alive
i’m gonna need a source from DAI/asunder before you can claim mages were being “whipped in the streets, SA’d, or lobotomized” AFTER meredith was dead. most of the mages were GONE and the templars were off doing other things - such as laying brick and hammering nails
because despite having family alive in ferelden, cullen stayed in kirkwall for months/years after the explosion, leading cleanup/rebuilding efforts
(this despite, assuming the player didn’t side with the templars and annul the circle, not actually being named its knight-commander)
during that time, says he made an effort to keep as many templars gathered under his command so they didn’t go off indiscriminately murdering mages and using red lyrium
this is later confirmed by Rylen, sent from starkhaven to provide relief, who lauds cullen for basically doing the work no one else would
rightfully criticizes kirkwall’s rebel mages for abandoning their tranquil**
when cassandra extends her invitation to the inquisition, he immediately gives up lyrium at exceptional cost (painful, neurologically damaging withdrawal. for months) because being on the chantry’s lyrium leash is no longer something he can morally accept
leaves behind the only career he’d ever had or wanted, says the Templars have “nothing further to offer”
clearly bones up on military strategy after the disaster of being unable to protect haven (not his fault but he assumes it was) and subsequently runs what krem (ex tevinter soldier) calls a textbook siege of adamant fortress.
oh, and iron bull (ex qunari soldier and actual ben-hassrath) repeatedly compliments his command of the soldiers, but specifically because they’re well-disciplined (i.e. are expected to act with integrity)
rallies troops behind an inquisitor of any race, gender, or background. like. that is a FACT. this dork will obnoxiously stab the sky with that oversized sword for a qunari apostate just as enthusiastically as for a fellow templar warrior
treats maddox with compassion and genuine regret; and assuming your inquisitor requests it, he has soldiers retrieve maddox’s body from the shrine of dumat for proper burial
expresses regret for his prejudicial attitude toward mages and a resolution to examine his biases (“i shall try not to be so in the future”) and says he’s not proud of the man his experience at Kinloch made him
has a LITERAL meltdown in front of the inquisitor while in the throes of a withdrawal episode, at which point he asks the inquisitor (who may or may not be an apostate mage with an axe to grind) to decide if he should start taking lyrium again
caught between his desire to excel in his role and his horror of being reliant on the chantry/inquisition for lyrium again, but still so loyal to the inquisition that he leaves a matter of extreme personal autonomy to the one person (aside from cassandra, who is inadequately equipped to provide the support an addict would need) whom he feels must have a say in the matter. and again. if you say “take that shit,” he takes it. even knowing it will eventually lead to a painful, agonizing death.
during In Your Heart Shall Burn, speaks to allied rebel mage troops the same way he speaks to allied templar troops - with encouragement and clarity
does not refuse to send soldiers to support Quiz in redcliffe, or to work with the rebel mages, and his arguments against choosing redcliffe involve a COMPLETELY JUSTIFIED anxiety over the impossibility of being able to rescue the inquisitor if things go wrong with alexius because redcliffe castle is unassailable (we learn during hushed whispers that the inquisition’s military forces, i.e. cullen, spent MONTHS trying to get them out. he is absolutely right to worry about this possibility.)
although he does complain (not incorrectly! anybody remember that circle apprentice in Origins accidentally setting himself on fire in front of the future HOF? yeah) that some mages may need to be watched to ensure their magic is under control
HANGS OUT WITH KNOWN TEVINTER APOSTATE DORIAN PAVUS AND CLEARLY LIKES HIM
expressly pursues samson on a series of missions through the dales because samson is causing other lyrium-addicted templars (recruited in kirkwall while in a state of extreme vulnerability to rhetoric and the temptation of “even better” lyrium rations) to suffer excruciating pain and mental anguish, most of them before dying a horrible death, all to get revenge on the chantry by allying with corypheus
(please remember that at the point samson was recruiting templars to infect with red lyrium, cullen was recruiting them in his efforts to help rebuild homes damaged in an explosion that did, in fact, kill and maim hundreds of people.)
AND DESPITE ALL OF THAT: if instructed to do so, he will take on samson as an agent to help the inquisition. one must realize this would be a sort of personal hell for cullen. but he does it uncomplainingly and states that samson deserves the same second chance he himself got
exceptionally respectful towards blackwall as a soldier and servant of the people. later disgusted to find he’s a lying orlesian slut, but will let him live if the inquisitor says to***
if permitted to continue sobriety, sets up detox centers where other ex-templars can hack off their own lyrium leashes and leave behind chantry dogma and fear of magic
repeatedly states that the chantry/templars were supposed to protect mages along with “ordinary people,” but didn’t.
????? will literally marry a mage inquisitor if you let him.
** says he “doesn’t understand” tranquil, despite having lived with them in circles most of his life. this is a morally neutral statement and says absolutely nothing about his willingness to treat them like human beings…. more than can be said for some mages.
*** this is a completely reasonable position, given that blackwall only fesses up IF the inquisitor pleases him enough (he LITERALLY does not confess if your approval is not high enough???), and even then not until all the way after halamshiral.
like, this statement pissed me off a bit. blackwall doesn’t have a redemption arc. he has a “lie to player for 2/3 of game, then confess when feeling bad about lying to an inquisitor who was nice to him” arc. was he doing good things? sure. was he fighting for a good cause? sure. but he was still actively deceiving the entire organization. and if your inquisitor doesn’t kiss his ass he KEEPS lying until endgame!!!!
what’s more, it endangers your party to have him in the group.
during an expedition to valammar the inquisitor shouts to him, asking how many darkspawn to expect. he doesn’t know.
during an expedition to the storm coast, he’s asked for the best way to kill darkspawn. doesn’t know.
when asked about the Calling by hawke and loghain/stroud/alistair, he bluffs and pretends he can hear it, too, remarking something incredibly unhelpful
when asked for advice at halamshiral on orlesian chevaliers and other military knowledge he definitely has, demurs and says something else unhelpful
……he’s literally pretending to be a heroic warden to the point where he endangers his colleagues in the field
please compare this to cullen, who traumadumps when suffering, arrives in haven with his self-regard six feet underground (he criticizes himself almost as much as the templars), actively BEGS cassandra to relieve him from duty if the lyrium withdrawal affects him, and quite literally tells the inquisitor his life story and a terrifically neutral recounting of the events in kirkwall. if you ask.
Hi, I thought you might want to be aware of this item for sale on AliExpress. It seems to have removed your signature, if I am seeing the thumbnail correctly. Sorry it's a long link!
Thank you for bringing this to my attention! Unfortunately there's nothing I can do to remove it as I've dealt with this issue before. AliExpress often steals artists work from Red bubble and since they operate under different Chinese copyright laws reporting it does absolutely nothing. But still, i appreciate you looking out for me.
Hello! I don't mean to intrude, but I would love to know if you're still taking commissions or if you have a waitlist. I saw your artwork and I NEED to commission you!
At the moment I'm not. I injured my hand months ago and my thumb is still struggling a bit with drawing without pain. Right now it's much better but gets tired very very quickly so I can only draw in short bursts and can't do the complicated stuff I used to until it heals. I'll probably have to ease back into it and take only simple portraits when I start back up. What kind of commission did you have in mind? I can always write your contact info down and get back to you, but it'll probably be awhile unless it's on the easier side of things.
So my thumb has been getting better but I still can’t draw with it and I don’t know when I’ll be able to work again just yet. Which sucks because it means I’ve been out of work since November. Hopefully it will recover sooner or later because...this is my only job atm and I’m getting really antsy.
Long shot, but if anyone wants to offer any support no matter how small in the meantime it would be MUCH appreciated. If anyone wants to donate: https://ko-fi.com/mrnicholas or [email protected] with Paypal. I’ll throw in a fullsize copy of whatever artwork (s) you want of mine provided it’s not someone’s OC, just drop me an email to send it (and tell me what you want). Or alternatively you can check out my redbubble page: https://www.redbubble.com/people/Noelle304/shop?asc=u&ref=account-nav-dropdown and see if there’s anything you like. I can also add products if anyone wants a specific picture on a different product.
And even if no one can help at all, I love you and I’m just really grateful for all of your support through the years. <3
Clearly some of y’all haven’t spent 9 years waiting on a game that everyone said was vaporware only for all the naysayers to be proven wrong. When I tell you I clung to every last strand of hope for The Last Guardian... and I’m looking at it sitting on my shelf now...
This game will 100% get made. Sunk cost and the amount of potential money it can generate will not let it die. The question is whether or not it will be good.
I’m currently behind. I fucked up my thumb somehow and can’t draw at the moment. Idk what I did to it. It’s either a repetitive stress injury or arthritis and I’m hoping it’s not the latter. May be a few weeks until I can work on the next slot. Thank you all for being so patient with me. <3
Okay, so I commissioned the amazingly talented @mrnicholas once again but this time to draw my Warden Commander Odessa Cousland-Theirin and let me just tell you she is absolutely breathtaking and I am pretty sure I'm dead. Between her pale green eyes and her rose AlyssAlenko.exe has stopped working. She even has the pendant she made (and had enchanted) with the petals from Alistair’s rose that she basically doesn't take off and is fully ready to seduce her husband into bed ;) Thank you so so much my darling you were an absolute pleasure to work with once again! You brought my vision to life in the best way and I am absolutely floored.❤❤❤❤❤
