Red Writ Tales.

Art blog of Drasus: storyteller, artist, and skeleton enthusiast. (Please bear with me as I get my work organized and posted!)

[red-writ]

Tiny New Year Thoughts

its been awhile since my last posts, and i figured i'd try to keep up the momentum somehow... gonna just spill my thoughts out there and hope it helps

its been difficult lately for me to share my thoughts and my art--even more difficult to maintain either--but im going to just... try. that's all we can do, right? yeah. most of what ive been posting is older art ive done over the last few years--sort of like a greatest hits reel i guess. but to be honest, ive been going through one of the worst artblocks of my life for the last... year? 2 years? i dont know anymore. its been bad.

i want really badly to get back to where i was: motivated, passionate, excited, able to embrace failure and find success in it. just doing whatever i wanted to without feeling afraid. i keep trying, failing, losing hope, then finding it again. i get ideas, but i cant chase them like i used to. the weight of unfinished projects and discarded concepts has become too large, and my ability to hold up my own expectations has become impossible. i know it isnt healthy. i know it isnt helping. i just have to break the cycle, someway, somehow. ive been lost in the weeds for so long.

in the throes of this, ive been trying a few things. walking. miniature painting. getting back into reading. getting back into cooking. improving my diet. recharging. its hard to stick with any of them... but i gotta keep trying.

i... wasnt really going anywhere with this. sorry for the ramble! but, i guess if theres any throughline to find here, it's just... let's keep trying. if you're going through a bad time yourself, i hope you can pull through. if you're going through a good time, then i hope you can keep your own momentum going! stay awesome. stay strong. happy 2026

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i did this one awhile ago. i was proud of it at the time, but i dont think it's held up--think i could do better on crow mauler... which is a shame! i did have fun... i still think o'saa looks pretty good tho!

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one of my favorite pieces, despite it's sort of scrappy look

i think this captures the dynamic between them more succintly than i could explain

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study forbidden magics. fight the moon. follow your dreams, king

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just a boy who loves his knives :3

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working at Smoliv Garden does things to a person

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I love Blasphemous. i should do more fanart sometime

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my friend thought he'd say "sexy pepperman" as a joke. he knew not what he would unleash onto the world

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i did these before Scarlet and Violet came out, and I still don't regret anything

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i was baited

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Rotblood the Slain, undead red dragonborn and bandit leader. After resurrection, his criminal endeavors have gone deeper underground, supplying goods for the cult that brought him back while filling his own pockets. A murderer in life, a murderer in death, and a cutthroat to the last. Tongue of honey, breath of decay, and no remorse to speak of.

[pokkapi]

read my silly little lawresco guardian angel comic on ao3! lemme know what you think and give me strength to continue this big project lol. first 22 pages are live 👇👇👇

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

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My friend's comic SLAPS, I highly recommend it!

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Candela the myconid druid, circle of spores. They were made as a guiding character for a sidequest I wrote up for our party... the first portrait was a bit of a quickie done so theyd have token art in time, and the second was a timeskip design. I put more time into the fullbody cuz i really liked the character! Based them off of Candlesnuff Fungus, which i thought looked super cool

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i drew this years ago (when this meme was new) and it's still relevant to me

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Sunrise, the start of a new journey. Height chart of me and my friends D&D party! Made to commemorate our 1 year anniversary of playing together

Baggi the minotaur barbarian-Somegal Chirpy the kenku warlock-Happytireal Kran the tengu artificer-Pawn Patina the gnome wizard-McNuxxy Vigilis the "human" paladin-me Seven One One the "warforged" fighter-Skeppio Cantha the human (novice) wizard-Tooch

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So when I began to DM my first campaign, I wanted to do the thing they tell you not to do: start out of the box, make your own setting from scratch, world and lore and all. Though this worked out well for me and my group, it was still a lot of work! The advice isn't wrong... but I'll add the caveat that It's best to start however you're comfortable, however you're enthusiastic to start.

Anyway! To help my players feel integrated into the setting and less intimidated by all the new, I spoke to them individually, asked some questions, and assigned them to an in-world "connection," or an NPC that their character already knew before the story began. Not a companion or anything, just someone they had a little bit of history with or knowledge of. I made these little cards and portraits to help the information digestible and fun, and everyone seemed to like it!

Definitely recommend trying an idea like this if you want to help your world feel more lively and encourage a sense of belonging among player characters... While also planting seeds for future plot beats and intrigue along the way!

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Some villains for a change! These are just a handful of the design concepts for the cult who brough Vigilis back to life. Over the years I've added more and more characters into the roster, but this where it truly started... With Vissenta, Antigonos, and just a small handful of minions--some willing, other coerced and brainwashed.