The Art of RyuRedwings

This is the art-only blog of ryuredwings. If you need to get into contact with me, please message me at my personal blog, ryuredwingsreturn! Become a Patron!

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DONE!! ALL OF MY COMMISSIONS FROM LAST YEAR ARE DONE!!!!

This was the final one, a family portrait of some Dungeons and Dragons characters where I decided that the best option for a portrait would be a family. It was really fun to paint the food, the glasses, and everything else on the table, especially since I've never really done anything like this before in earnest. It was REALLY hard to finish this; my migraines have been pretty bad the last few months and I got hit hard by pandemic depression. Trying to get anything done artistically has been nearly impossible thanks to this combination. But, thankfully, the client was incredibly patient and understanding!

I loved painting this family though. From left to right, we have Marcus Diral, Nierra Diral, Raincoats George, and Mars Cinnabar. From what the client explained, Nierra is the matriarch of the family, and is Marcus' mother. George is his dad, and Mars is his stepmother! So, a pretty diverse and fun family!

This is going to be my last commission for a really long time. I'm starting grad school next month, so I'm going to most likely be INTENSELY busy. I have no idea when I might next be able to open up commissions, but I'm kind of okay with it considering how long these took. I really need to figure out the new balances I need to make, and I think totally clearing my obligations will help me out a lot. Thank you to all my wonderful clients for supporting me through out the years I've been doing this again. <3

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MIKU PONY MIKU PONY MIKU PONY

I actually made this weeks ago. I finished it at around 1 AM or so, posted it to twitter, and then passed out, totally forgoing posting it anywhere else because I was super tired. I'm so glad that Miku is getting the pony treatment, she's so stinking cute. And officially in another form! I love how this cute, little singing program has taken so many shapes and makes so many people happy. <3

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I’m alive, I swear, and I still definitely make art. It’s just rough these days, both physically and emotionally, thanks to the pandemic and my ever-fluctuating health. You can blame my migraines specifically for how long it’s taken me to crack out these commissions that I got all the way back in September! I have the best and most patient clients in the world, I’ll tell you that.

You may recognize the redhead since I’ve drawn her before! This is Miette, the redhead, and Falla, the goblin, who are both very cute and currently dating. These are actually characters from my Wednesday night DnD group where I play my tiefling monk, Honey! Sadie commissioned me of some art of them, and let me have free reign for what they would be doing. I loved the idea of them doing some exploring/shopping where Miette was carrying Falla around since I thought that would be the best way to have them both in frame without it being too crazy. I found this really great painting of a woman holding a toddler, and decided to use that as the reference for both the pose and the size difference.

Overall, I’m really happy with how this turned out. I loved painting the background, and being able to create a pose that was a mix of using a reference but my own skill and have it be successful was really great. Sometimes, it all just comes together, and I realize that I’m actually a pretty okay artist! Yay me!!

Like my art and want to support me? Here’s my linktree with all the ways you can!

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Three art submissions in a row? AND it's MLP art?! The world is definitely ending.

There's a mobile My Little Pony game that's been around for a few years, and for their Christmas event (I think??), they turned the main cast into Nightmares! I THINK! I don't play the game so I'm not 100% sure why, but I saw the art for it, and loved all the designs.... Except for Fluttershy's. They didn't even try with her. They just slapped a black coat on her, darkened her mane color, made her taller, and called it good. How disgraceful! Just because she's a sweetheart doesn't mean she doesn't deserve an evil queen look too!

So I decided to take it upon myself to make her a Nightmare design worthy of her. Or at least one that followed the design of Nightmare Moon a lot more closely then what Gameloft gave her. I think I did a decent enough job! While I was making this, I realized why Gameloft most likely did such a half-baked job, and that is because Fluttershy's palette is REALLY HARD to darken down and switch without it turning into a brown and dark pink mess. Her pallete also shares A LOT of other colors with other characters, so she just winds up looking like another version of them, but I guess that's what happens when a majority of your characters are color swapped clones.

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HI 2021! Looks like I'm starting the new year off by catching up on posting a small amount of art, starting with this commission. This was a Christmas present that was commissioned all the way back in October of the character (Sadiriel) trying on her much smaller girlfriend's clothes. It was really interesting drawing something a lot more sexy then I usually do BUT it was honestly extremely satisfying drawing a woman with curves and a little bit of squish since I myself am a curvy and squishy lady. Also WHEE DRAWING ROUND SHAPES!

I am slowly crawling my way through my commissions from last year... Considering the state of the world, I think a lot of folks understand when I say that I have been EXTREMELY unmotivated and haven't had much inspiration. But I'm slogging through what I know I need to do regardless, despite it feeling like I'm pulling teeth. Here's hoping for a better year ahead of us.

Like my art and want to support me? Here’s my linktree with all the ways you can!

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I thought I had posted this, but it turns out I was so exhausted and depressed, that I hadn’t! This was a commission I got back in September. This character right here is from a campaign I'm playing in right now! Luna Moon, the moon elf wizard, is an antagonist in the DnD campaign I play Arrya in, and Luna is the wizard that she just loves to hate. Arrya has a pretty low opinion of Luna Moon ever since she found out she's probably the mother of her close friend, Pel, who had been abandoned at an orphanage. When confronted with why she abandoned Pel, and how Pel had felt alone for a good portion of her life, Luna coldly responded that that sounded like Pel's problem, not hers. On top of that, Luna is building a very weird tower that has something to do with the planes and time travel, and given how she's tried to take extremely powerful magic from the group before, the party doesn't have a good feeling about her mysterious tower either.Designing the environment was pretty fun for me. I decided to model it after a sketch Andy Price did of Princess Celestia with Canterlot behind her since the commissioner wanted the city that Luna lives in behind her. Most likely because Luna views the city she lives in as her own domain. 

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I AM FINALLY CAUGHT UP ON THE COMMISSIONS I TOOK IN DECEMBER!!!!

Honestly, I should have listened to my gut and not done them, but I really, really wanted to get Bryan that Christmas present. I think my gut was predicting me getting horrifically sick in January, needing a month to recover, and then the world just… Absolutely falling apart. So, I realize I shouldn’t beat myself up for getting these done so slowly in the last 6 months, but it still bothers me a little. Now I’m free to do whatever I want! 

And I definitely saved the good ones for last considering the last two have involved my players getting their DnD characters done, and it’s been so fun. This is Dream Walker, emissary of Harvest Moon, wielder of the original Battle Shovel, and @elosoquelee‘s character! He’s the cleric in my supernatural My Little Pony game, and Oso wanted an updated look for him! He’s changed quite a bit, especially since he decided to drink a potion smoothie when a whole box of magic potions got shattered and he stuck his hoof in the mix to see what it would. And wound up looking extremely technicolor for about a week, but the eye color stayed! As usual, thank you Oso for commissioning me! You always have some of the best ideas. This was fun!

I’m donating my Patreon funds for the coming months to organizations that focus on BIPOC and the BLM movement! Want to contribute? Sign up for my Patreon! twitter art-only tumblr Buy me a coffee Like DnD? Check out my writing!

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Only one more commission from Christmas to go~!

This lovely little lady is @changelingsrule‘s winged tiefling Deloris! Isn’t she a sweet looking thing? I don’t know much about her except that she might have some… Peculiar eating habits. No need to worry though! I mean, she looks so cute and nice! Right? …Right?

Kilo asked me to make her look as if she’s trying to convince a shop owner to give her a discount on something, and I think I made her look pretty engaging. I’d give her a discount on some health potions, that’s for sure! I had a lot of fun doing her expression, and pose. I’ve definitely discovered that I really like drawing tieflings now though… Anyone else have one I can draw?

We’re 3 patrons away from hitting 10!! When we hit 10 patrons, I’ll start running a patron-exclusive Dungeons and Dragons game! Check out my patreon to help us reach that goal!

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I honestly couldn’t wait to talk about all of this, but it had to be put on the backburner for a long time due to a boatload of personal stuff happening all at once. BUT NOW I CAN FINALLY TALK ABOUT IT AND I’M SO EXCITED!! I’m really happy to announce that my new goal over on Patreon is that when I hit 10 patrons, I will host a patron-exclusive monthly TTRPG one shot session. I’ve wanted to do this for so long, and now I can finally talk about it. I really, really hope we hit the goal because I would love to give some folks the opportunity to play who maybe normally couldn’t either due to schedules or a lack of a group to play with. I think it would be really fun to be able to do this! The new rewards are also pretty nice, imo. I’m offering a monthly patron-exclusive art request stream for patrons who have pledged $10 and up, or helping create a custom Dungeons and Dragons item for themselves or maybe for their own game. I’d love to help some people make some items for their games. It’s one of my favorite things to do for mine, and two heads are always better then one when it comes to making stuff for your players sometimes. Please check out the Patreon if any of these things interest you!

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Slowly, veryyyy slowly, I am getting through my commission queue from December. My life has pretty much been a constant madness since mid-December, and it’s been really affecting my ability to finish these. 

But here we have some cute winter time fun! This is @alkonium‘s character Marwen! I asked him for some more information about her, and he gave me this:

She was originally an NPC I created for the first D&D campaign I ran six years ago, in which I envisioned her an archaeologist studying mysterious ruins. I later used her as a player character in the scifi fantasy TTRPG Numenera, in which I fleshed her out to have an aquatic focus, and use technology to facilitate magic-like effects. She’s also dedicated to keeping ancient magic and technology that could be weaponized out of the wrong hands.  

This was pretty interesting to do though since I based the outdoor rink on the rink and park back in my hometown. It always looks really pretty during the winter with all the lights.

Want to support my art? I have a goal to reach 10 patrons on Patreon by the end of February! Will you help?

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IT’S DONE!!

I got this commission way back in October before I had to close everything down due to my health bottoming out for the fourth time in three months, and I finally got it done this week. This was commissioned by my good friend @elosoquelee for our buddy Pen, and I’m really glad I got it done around Christmas so it could make a late, but nice, present. If you want more info for the circumstances around why Tempest Shadow is in an obliterated Crystal Kingdom, you’ll have to go to Oso for more info though.

This was a really interesting and exciting challenge though as I’ve never painted this kind of environment before, but I think it came out pretty great!! Snow is actually really fun to paint, and I liked making the dreary atmosphere. It was very different from the usual bright, cheerful, and green places I tend to focus on. I liked the change!

I hope y’all like it as much as I do!! Enjoy!!

I have a goal to get 10 patrons on my Patreon before the end of the year! Will you help?

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Heyyyyy, I’m streaming for the first time in forever!

I’m gonna get a bunch of commissions done, which includes some really fun landscape painting. Gonna have fun tunes, and talk to y’all while I work on stuff. Come on in!

Click here or click on the image above!

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So. Here we are at the end. 

Gosh, I think my chest just squeezed a little at writing that. My Little Pony has always had a place in my life, but G4 took it to another level I never even thought a TV could. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the reason why I am still here, today, making art like I am. I wouldn’t even have the career or following that I have without it. It’s the reason why I even pushed myself to begin digitally drawing.

I don’t talk about this, but I have not always had a lot of confidence in my art. A majority of my friends tell me I have a talent and a gift for color now, but that is not what I have always been told. I have always been relentlessly artistic, I don’t think there has been a time where I’ve really stopped drawing. But there was a time where I had stopped believing in myself. It’s really hard to have any sort of confidence when it feels like all of your peers are lightyears ahead of you, and there is absolutely no way to catch up to any of them. I had the bare minimum of support during highschool in pretty much everything, and it crushed my self-confidence. Watching everyone around me grow by leaps and bounds when I could barely muster the energy to even hop over the lowest fence of success, and when I did manage to get over the fence, I got chastised for why I didn’t get over it faster or better or with a backflip. I wasn’t even all that good at being mediocre, or at least that’s what it felt like. So I just sort of… Stopped trying, and kept my head down. While my artistic friends flourished, taking extra classes and building portfolios for art schools, I just did what I could to get by. I tried my best with what I had been handed, but I had given up trying to be anywhere near where my peers were.

And then the summer of 2010, while I was sitting on a friend’s stoop talking about what she was going to do after she moved away to Florida and then do art school in the fall, she said to me, “Hey, have you seen the new My Little Pony show? It’s really good, the animation is really good for a Flash show.”

I went home, and found the first episode on Youtube. (Remember when the whole first season was on Youtube?)  And about ten minutes in, I was yelling, “MOOOOM YOU HAVE TO COME SEE HOW CUTE THIS IS!! THERE’S A LITTLE YELLOW PONY THAT CAN’T TALK!!!!”

I wanted to draw the cute little horses. I wanted to draw them SO. BAD.

And the rest is pretty much history! By the time 2010 had rolled around, my confidence had been restored. I had FINALLY managed to get some professional art classes under my belt, FINALLY got my confidence back because I had professors that looked at me and said, “I know you can do better than that. I know you can. Do it.” I finally had people around me that didn’t make me feel like I was inherently stupid. It’s crazy what having a little support can do for a person. 

But I took the skills I had, and started growing them as much as I could. I got a digital drawing tablet because I wanted to draw better. I drew and drew and drew. I started Filly Queen Chrysalis, and it was the catalyst for my experimentation with digital painting. I started taking commissions because of this show! It’s how I met some of the most supportive people in my life. It’s why I started playing Dungeons and Dragons again. 

Friendship IS magic.

I’m so happy that this show has brought me to the good people in my life and helped me find a place where I am really happy. I think about what my life would have been like if I hadn’t started going down this path with my art, and I think it would be pretty boring. I’d most likely still be happy, but I don’t think my life would have as much color in it as it does now. Literally, because we all know I drown my pieces in color. 

But really, truly, and honestly, I am so grateful for this show. I may not have been able to keep up with or the fandom surrounding it, but I will always be so thankful for it. It’s probably been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.

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WHOO DONE!!!

This has been sitting in the pile for a while now. I just didn’t have the time and ability to finish this sketch when it was relevant though, which makes me a little sad, but I’m glad that Yumi in her boots and pants combo for Saltmarsh Stories is finally here. She looks pretty darn good, if I say so myself! I’m really proud of how her boots came out especially, although her whole outfit is pretty killer. Maybe if Saltmarsh Stories does manage to come back for another season this will be her new outfit? She definitely needs those pants at least, I think they look really nice on her.

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It’s Inktober so of course that means Aorta Rose needs to make an appearance! She’s usually who I start off with since she’s my simplest character, and looks great in a greyscale illustration, but Arrya’s outfit had been sitting for a while. I’m REALLY trying to push my Inktober pieces this year, but we’ll have to see what happens. There will definitely be days where I can’t spend much time on these. But I’m glad I got to use the idea for what I had for Aorta. Wonder who’s ghost crow that is…

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I don’t know why I thought drawing one of my most detailed characters for the first day of Inktober was a good idea, but here we are! I’ll be doing a mix of traditional and digital inking this year as I try to work on doing a few more complicated subjects, and multiple characters in one image. My sketchbook and skill level with my ink can be a little limiting, and putting my sketches into a digital canvas can really help with those limitations.

Arrya got herself a new outfit (again), and I’ve been meaning to draw it. She has pants now! Her skirts kept getting stuck and tangled with different things so she switched to an outfit with pants. It’s all still black though, gotta stay on brand. I wonder what she’s so excited about? Maybe Myrr just did something cute, or maybe she saw a really nice looking library?

I also realized that it’s been a year of playing since the last time she got an outfit change! Also a year since the party ran from the Beholder they found… And we happen to be currently planning to go back for round two in game! We’re coming for you, Beholder!

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Well, this was a fun one! This is exactly why I missed doing patron requests as part of my patreon because it gives me the opportunity to draw things I normally wouldn’t get the chance to. 

This is Muunyal, @elosoquelee‘s tabaxi rogue, and a character I know really well because I play with them in my Dungeons and Dragons game! I also know the little red faerie dragon really well too because Arrya, my half dragon sorcerer, happens to be his other caretaker! My friend Oso came to me with this request after we got Myrrdrodth (Myrr for short) all hatched and set up in game. It was a panicked hatching because we all thought he was a real red dragon baby at first, turned out he was just a faerie dragon. But Muunyal certainly didn’t care; it was love at first sight and he takes every opportunity he can to spend time with ‘his boy.’ Too bad Myrr seems to think he makes a better napping spot then anything else and somehow thinks Arrya is the fun one??

YOU can get bi-monthly requests like this if you sign up for my Patreon! It’s really fun over there, you get all sorts of previews, WIPs, and art process posts that I don’t really do anywhere else. 

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