Last year I'd suffered a bit of a hand injury, but we still got some chibis out of it. Here they are!
We have Xiro who belongs to lara-has-a-tablet
Mask of Golden Lives, who belongs to AngelaSasserArt
And Joy of the Sea, who belongs to ArtByDungeon
That last one.. didn't get finished during last year's season, but it's here now! And this year I've got oodles of time. Come fight me! Or one of the friends I game with!
Happy Calibration, @shownomarcy! I was lucky enough to get someone I know personally, so I had the opportunity to pull a little sneaky and depict a canon scene. A little story on that under the cut.
Thanks again to @shiftingpath for organizing another Exalted Secret Santa!
So, originally, when I had heard who my assignment was, I was pumped. Marcy is a player in the game I ST, so immediately I went through my mental highlight reel for her March Lord and her shenanigans. I wasn't eager to have to be drawing a kangaroo familiar, but sometimes you have to move outside of your comfort zone. I braced myself, settling on a probable scene, then headed over to the Secret Santa journal to grab references.
You can probably guess by the lack of kangaroo that I have not drawn a March Lord.
I've known Marcy a long time, and I expected that some of her other characters might have been in the journal, but I didn't expect that the one character I knew literally nothing about would be the only one listed.
Granted, most of the time for Secret Santa, you don't have context for the other person's character, but I was so close! There had to be some way I could glean some insight to make this gift super special.
Of course.
I know Marcy's wife.
Turns out, I don't know anything about this character because she's from a one-on-one game, but Marcy's wife knows who the other player is. She does some sleuthing of her own, getting in touch with that player, and sends me the description of an introductory scene, with the following image as inspiration.
(I don't know the source so sorry for that)
Though, as described, it didn't really lean into the body horror stuff that give liminals their charm(s), it was too great of a jumping off point not to use. I thank the other player for providing so much to work with,
I should have known that the sanctity of Secret Santa would extend two degrees separate of anyone actually involved. Bad opsec on me.
And then I took entirely too long putting it all together. But, during all that time, my conspirators allege to have kept everything under wraps, so I had to give them all this credit. Frankly, it was Too Silly of a situation to keep to myself.
As thanks for reading, here's a minor alt that happened as a result of me not knowing where blue is on a color wheel.
"The people of the port city of Madara hold a centuries-old spiritual connection to the element of Air, which many citizens express through bird familiars.
...
"Tall columns and high domes dominate Madara’s airy buildings. Inside, stunning tile work decorates the walls and ceilings, with gilded accents outlining geometric structural details. In addition to complex and colorful abstract designs, many mosaics depict birds
in flight — a motif repeated throughout the city. Stone birds spread wings atop the domes; statues depicting Madara’s heroes display carved avian companions perched on their wrists and shoulders."
--Across the Eight Directions, pages 161-162
Finished as part of @theuncrucified 's Exalted Art Challenge
I'm not sure if it goes outside of the spirit of the challenge, but this is a piece that I've been stalling on finishing for a long time (I think I started in... February). Seeing "location" as a weekly option was the kick in the pants I needed to redraw the mountainy bit for the nth time and call it a day.
If a part of you is thinking "wait, that's a pretty specific coastline", you'd be right. It's Rio de Janiero! I was looking at coastal cities to get ideas and when I saw
I knew I needed that topography. I like being able to provide location visuals to my players (even if I have to say "ignore the modern infrastructure")- I think it grounds the setting in a way that I feel is often neglected.
The Peacock Palace, Arakha Estate and Shrine of the Skirling Court, were all lifted from floor plans of actual buildings. Additionally, a lot of the little buildings came from some Clip Studio Assets +, +, + or Inkarnate (including the colosseum), but drawn over to give uniform line width. Actually, while I'm shouting out assets, I've fallen in love with this texture fellow, and this rock siding saved my bacon for the coastline. That was the last part to be finalized; it gave me so much trouble.
I think some day I'm going to update this with an alternate version where the blocks that have been blown up get repaired (Garlen is a bastard iykyk), but I'm more than a little worn out on this particular piece so off it goes.
Regarding the city itself, I know this layout is contrived,
however
if the local court of air elementals
(who maintain a number of crucial blessings that sustain the prosperity and fair weather in the region)
decide that a stipulation to their continued service is that the people show their veneration in a way that is obvious from on high
you
get
it
done.
hey guy, i was just wondering if you take exalted commissions?
I do offer pin-up style commissions, yes! Anyone can hit me up for questions either in direct messages on Tumblr or on Discord (username: GuyBitesAtGames), where I'm a bit quicker to notice and respond.
Here's the basics on my pricing as of 2025. I have Terms of Service here, with more specific details on my process and some necessary agreements. Some of the language in there might be strange - I use the same ToS for vtuber and stream-related art.
At time of writing, turnaround times may be a little slower than projected because I'm going to be taking a trip this month, but I am still open.
Happy Calibration @skarchomp! I saw Candor had a lot of art already, but she's just got so many design elements that I jive with (and a boss playlist) that I couldn't help myself. Given what was shared of her story, I wanted to put her in a triumphant pose, while also showing off her artifact originating from her shadow, because that detail is rad as fuck.
A thank you to @shiftingpath for organizing the event!
Upon each page is written a scandal, a cipher, the key to a mystery, but they're all moving too fast, converging in a whorl on the Sidereal. Wherever one makes contact with him, dark green ink begins to spread, blotting out any useful information. Pages blackened with wet ink cling to his form, an increasingly obscured silhouette, but for his wicked grin. Those too leaden with ink to stay aloft pool at his feet and disintegrate in his wake.
Made as part of theuncrucified's Exalted Art Challenge
yousharknotpass
gummygunk
pixelskylines
gracieabrams
baratheonpilled
dailybridgerton
kianamaiart
jacobvanloon
snowghoul