#darkmoondancerdesign

[darkmoondancer]

A Series of Steps

Testing a workflow out, so here is a quick little summary of the steps I went through when I made this piece! :)

[darkmoondancer]

Sahga : Cantrips + Bonus Scribble!

I have been wrestling my little Leshy for some time now, trying to get any of the art I make of her to look decent, and I think I’ve finally at least gotten over that ridiculous pre-conception xD

My little Leshy has survived (just barely) to level 2! So we made sure that all of her concepts and bits and pieces were in order this week, and after a bit of conference with our GM, she did get a few small changes made that fit her story better. She is officially a Vine Leshy (not a Leaf one), because I had literally styled her after a Vine before we knew exactly what all the subtypes of Leshies were going to be. Vine gives her a few boosts to climbing, as makes sense, but more importantly I had already decided that under all the bark she was mostly a mass of vines, as she was already holding her clothing together with one, so this was just a logical fix. Secondly, we also updated her Background to Pathfinder Hopeful, replacing her previous Dragon Scholar. While this one seems a little strange to begin with, it was due to player error that I didn’t realize that Pathfinder Hopeful fulfilled her concept 100% where Dragon Scholar fit with it’s name… but it had given her bonuses to Intimidation which… really just didn’t make sense for my small-sized adorable character to have. Swapping this our for Pathfinder Hopeful when I realized that it granted me not only the in-character motivation to be doing thorough research and reports on everything she sees and comes across… but it also gave her the Additional Lore skill feat which she chose to be Dragon Lore to keep the story consistent. This skill feat also means that she is actually going to continue to get better at Dragon Lore as the game progresses, so the end result is that she is more of a little dragon scholar when built in this manner, than she was when we first created the concept with the previous background. (Which is functionally why the GM allowed it, since it made things make more sense and didn’t really move anything around other than remove a skill that made no sense for her to have training in - intimidation). SO, without further ado, let me tell you a little bit about Sahga’s cantrips!

Cantrips are the lowest level of spells, which follow some special rules, mainly their allowance for you to cast them as many times a day as you like while most spells need a rest period after you cast X amount. In her current spell repertoire (basically the list of spells that she is allowed to cast), she has the following cantrips : Read Aura, Detect Magic, Shield, Telekinetic Projectile and Acid Splash. Shield : When she casts Shield on herself (which she does most rounds of combat), it grants her 1 AC + the Shield Block reaction, as well as a bonus +1 AC because this is one of her Sorceror Bloodline spells. So when she casts this, she concentrates her bright green magic and forms it into a pair of semi-transparent wings that bob and weave around her, swatting away attacks as best they can!

Telekinetic Projectile : This cantrip allows Sahga to pick up small loose or unattended objects and fling them across the room with just the power of her mind (+ magic of course). However, Sahga manifests this spell by way of imbuing this magic into one of her free vines (which compose 90% of her body, she merely wears bark over top of the mass of thorny vines as a sort of pseudo clothing to maintain a humanoid shape since she thinks it’s more pleasing to other humanoids ;) ). She then uses said imbued vine to pick up small objects and flings them at her attackers with a satisfying snap! Sahga isn’t one to be unprepared, so she makes sure to always carry a collection of items that are easy to throw should her surroundings not provide her with suitable projectiles.

Acid Splash : This is probably Sahga’s go-to cantrip whenever she can manage to find the opportunity to use it, and it’s a fun one to have been able to flavour into her magic usage. Acid Splash, just as it sounds, produces a globule of magic that does a bit of damage to it’s target as well as splashes everyone around it for a bit of acid damage. So when Sahga casts this cantrip, she puffs up her little chest and with surprising force spits out a tightly formed ball or bulb of leaves that bursts upon contact to reveal the liquid within as some form of acidic plant sap that the Leshy isn’t one to discuss the details of. Wouldn’t want to get doused with one of these leafy ”waterballoons”!

Bonus art includes Chibi Sahga (in colour), and a little scribble of Sahga diving into a most interesting book - honestly, probably some dry tome about monotonous historical accounts or some such.

[darkmoondancer]

A Watchtower Near You...

I finally got the courage up to enter the CDC this month! The Character Design Challenge is hosted by CharacterDesignReferences, found here : https://characterdesignreferences.com This month’s theme was Gargoyles & Grotesques, so I included a bit of both into my design ;P ( Even Gargoyles can’t escape the cascades of adverts :P ) I think working on this piece really helped me see shapes a bit differently. I spent a lot of time studying other art styles and pushed myself to draw a character that has more personality and memorable shapes than aiming for accurate anatomy. I think most of the time when I settle in to draw, I end up drawing using the same techniques which doesn’t help me move forward. So I am trying to include something new each time I work on developing my craft. Let’s work toward progress together! :)

[darkmoondancer]

Dragon Sketchpage - Picking Sahga's Basic Shapes

Just a quick upload today, figured I would share the initial dragon shapes I sketched out when I was trying to figure out what shape my little Dragon Scholar Leshy was going to emulate. I started here, picking out the most common shapes and builds for dragons to define the basic wireframe I would be building on top of. I ended up choosing the rightmost version, which is a somewhat chibi-esque anthropomorphic dragonoid. I thought this one would suit my little Leshy best since having her be humanoid to some extent would make most mundane tasks a little easier. (You know, thumbs and all that xP) Once I decided on the basic wireframe I moved on to concepting out the materials she was to be made of, and then rearranging them until I was happy with how they all fit together!

[darkmoondancer]

Please welcome Sahga Brackenhide!

Please welcome my newest Pathfinder character, Sahga Brackenhide! She is a leafy Leshy, which are a magical crafted body that houses a nature spirit. She is quite literally made up of branches and leaves, and her whole thicket is said to have once been created long ago by an Ancient Green Dragon. Many of the thicket revere dragons as a result of this, others merely have respect or interest in finding out more about them. Sahga’s closest “relatives” are very much dragon enthusiasts wanting to know all there is about dragons, with the hopes of maybe one day finding a way to become dragons themselves!

Sahga is setting out in search of new information, knowledge, texts, prophecies, anything related to dragons that she can bring back to her thicket’s knowledge repository.

This brave little leshy starts her adventure with basic draconic sorceror training, ample practice making use of her projectile Seed Pods, and a fully stocked adventurer’s pack. Rumors have her heading to Breach Hill… Stay tuned to find out how her adventure unfolds…

[darkmoondancer]

One With the Wind

I finished this illustration a little while back but couldn’t find the words to put with it to put it up in a blog post. I think in the end I don’t really have anything to say about it other than I am really happy with how my humans are progressing, and I think I’m still trying to find my way back to art that pushes me forward and keeps me from stagnating. One With the Wind is a small reminder to myself that I need to keep moving forward. :) Hope you like it!

BONUS: Here is the 21:9 version that I am currently using as my desktop background :)

[darkmoondancer]

Esk + Griffia Commission Sheets

So over the last 2 years I've been playing a lot of ARPGs on deviantart.com, which are Art Roleplaying Games. What is an Art Roleplaying Game? Well, it's a community built up around a species that has incorporated goals and rewards upon completing artwork of your character. So as you complete these goals you will earn experience points in one form or another which will unlock new features of the game, or upgrades for your character.  Now, I know that this may sound like a strange concept to newcomers, how is it a game when you have to put in work to play it? Well, isn't it work that you put in when you spend hours questing in a video game? It's the same concept here, simply that the effort that goes in is storytelling and artwork which allows players to push their boundaries and develop their creativity as their character grows with them!  I have thoroughly enjoyed my time playing these ARPGs, and I have definitely made leaps and bounds of progress in various art styles due to my participation in them.  Now that I have gotten comfortable with these particular games, I wanted to offer specialty commissions specifically priced for each including several styles I do not offer elsewhere at this time. So I took into account my comfort zones, as well as how much time and stress any given type of commission entails and put forward a short price list for this year. Putting everything together on one nice neat sheet like this was extrememly satisfying, and I hope it makes everything very clear and straightforward for anyone looking to commission artwork of their Esk or Griffians.  I have also made myself an ARPG page here on my website to give a quick overview of what an ARPG is as well as links to all the ones I am currently playing! Check it out, > HERE <

[darkmoondancer]

Style Study: Earlesque - Ro

I have been testing some things out recently and plans are coming together nicely. I'm going to be using a style similar to this for our upcoming creature design project, but you'll probably see another test piece or two before I finalize how I want these to turn out. Expect to see posters, maps, sketch pages and even videos in the near future ;D This is my boy Ro, he is an Esk, which is a species designed by Witherlings over on deviantart.