[ag-meade]

Now that we're entering the last few weeks of 2023, here is this year's art summary! I think it's kind of funny that the overall tone gets very dark for the last three months of the year.

[ag-meade]

It wasn't my intention, but I'm apparently going to do a seasonal illustration for these two all year.

[sable20k]

This car took me way too long to draw 😝! Two weeks left in class and scouring the net for Black Friday sales, I'm gonna try out VR finally. Time to find out what the heck you even do with a headset :). It'd be really cool to learn how to model complex stuff quicker, so I didn't have to look for reference as much!

[ag-meade]

The new cover for The Halcyon Blade is done! I am very pleased with how it turned out, so I am sharing it with you today.

[ag-meade]

Well, I thought I was going to have more time in October and that was definitely not the case! I still want to do Inktober, though, so it's time to reveal what I was planning with the final vote for the Chaos Crew. I thought it would be fun to do something very different --

You get to decide what happens in a mini-comic featuring the Chaos Crew!

I will provide two prompts from the Inktober 2023 prompt list, and whichever prompt wins will shape what happens. This does mean a bunch of polls, but hopefully the adventure will make it worthwhile!

The theme I chose for this mini-comic is "Map" since Pen (and pretty much Finnegan and Cameron) are pirates, and what's a pirate really doing with their career if not searching for treasure?

Which treasure theme should these three hunt?

Sparkle

Celestial

Voting ended onNov 12, 2023

[ag-meade]

Today, I am sharing a sneak peek at a panel from next week's episode of Soulbound. Camden is Very Over this whole walking for three days thing.

~~~While I'm at it, Story Time!~~~

Camden is more important to my works than you might think - he's the reason I have two very different series set in the same universe.

This all stems from a writing class I took many years ago. The professor didn't view fantasy as a valid genre and neither did most of the rest of the class. Their feedback was rough enough that I copied Camden to a modern setting, adjusted his name to sound more modern, and finished my degree program not writing fantasy. I chose this guy because he was the oldest of my active roster (2007!) and I knew him best.

That decision wound up having a huge impact on my storyverse. I thought that the modern setting would be a one-off project, but as it turned out, I liked it. Tales from the Eastern Arc is a reimagined extension of this split, with magic existing but being illegal in that part of the world.

Reincarnation is already built into the universe, so I don't think the Camden/Cameron overlap is out of place. As far as the actual characters go, most of their similarities are cosmetic. They may have the same origin, but I took them in different directions with distinct motivations, likes, fears, personalities, etc,.

So, anyway, that's the behind-the-scenes story of Camden and why he kind of appears in both series.

Thanks for reading - until next time!

[sable20k]

Put this kitchen together for a whimsical vibe (and spent way longer than I should have on it!). It's always kinda bothered me that I couldn't draw backgrounds very well, and my first perspective class really kicked my butt. This time around, I want to prove that I can do it! 💪

Even now that I know different artists often work on the backgrounds vs character art... I'd like to be able to do everything!

P.S. I had a nightmare that I was balding 😭

[ag-meade]

Yesterday, I learned a different approach to creating an illustration and wanted to try it out on this concept piece for The Halcyon Blade. I'm pretty pleased with the end result!

Traditionally drawn with pens, markers, and colored pencils except the background, which was added digitally.

[herpsandbirds]

Crimson Chat (Epthianura tricolor), male, family Meliphagidae, Australia

Photograph by Perry Cho

[sable40k]

I can't figure out how to eliminate white space between images and it is driving me mad

[sable40k]

"The green broadbill acts as an unintentional gardener of the forest, sowing fig seeds for them to grow anew."

Look at how poofy and soft he looks!

Source:

[sable20k]

They're taking turns, adorable!

Source post:

[strflr]

Golden Conure & Melanistic Barn Owl for #avianaugust! twitter / patreon

[sable40k]

Colored version! I'd really like to improve my sense of form, among other things 😖. And especially faces! As for the part I like best about this drawing...

It's the shoes.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Stay away from this crabby ass bird. That foot is absolutely prehistoric.

[friendsofabracadaver]

@todaysbird

[sable20k]

Terrifying dagger feets

[sable20k]

"Hey seriema, did you know your ancestors were once terrifying dinosaurs?"

😠😠😠🍗

[sable40k]

Penultimate assignment for sketching class. I often feel like my designs are too "basic", if I attempt them at all, but I've been sweating hard on this one.

At least I don't have to fear having nothing to turn in, but... ever feel like you're never satisfied with the end product? That's the space I'm in, all the time! 🤪