i hit 1k followers recently!!!! yipee!!!!!!! thank you all!!! so in celebration here’s all of my completed isat doodle pages, from oldest to newest. go nuts with them!! and maybe don’t look at the first doodle page too closely. it’s Old.
(no greyscale version below for once! just some mushy ramblings. you don’t have to read them don’t worry)
hhhhhha?? so many people. where did you come from. how did you all find me.
ok but seriously, thank you all so much for all the support. i never really. expected to make it this far? like, ever?? i’ve mentioned it a few times on here, but i’ve been a lurker for the past… 2 years, i think? and even before that, i never gained much traction outside of a couple posts. so this has been. very new to me!! in a nice way!! it’s weird to feel like an actual member of a community!! that people know about!
the idea of finally coming back to social media was Daunting (i literally got stress hives writing my first post lol) and the warm reception really. meant a lot?? i don’t think i would’ve ever gotten the courage to come back if i hadn’t been encouraged to by the people over at the isat discord!!
the fact that people actually care about my art still doesn’t feel real?? seeing people take inspiration from my art is just. surreal. just. auagssh. thank you all so so much for everything, i really do appreciate it!!! i’m really glad to be in this community. sorry if this all sounds sappy and long winded i’ve just got a lot of emotions about this whole thing!!
(also as a bonus for reading all this or whatever. here’s a concept page for isatscryption! it felt a little out of place next to my normal canvases so i’m putting it down here! yipee! sorry my notes here are so disjointed auauau…)
wanted to draw fanart for @remxedmoon's isatscryption au but i realised i didn't actually know the plot yet which. whoops! so i settled for chucking my oc at it
OH YEAH INSCRYPTION IS 60% OFF ATM!! Consider this my official propaganda to go get this game
“shadowy figures appeared before you. apparitions, memories of what once was. reminders of who you’re fighting for. are they your true family, or merely wearing their visage?”
[twohats spoilers below the cut!]
DEATHCARDS!!! WOOO!! that leshy quote isn’t entirely set in stone yet, btw. i made these for a king boss fight i’m working on so realistically he’d be the one narrating? but eh. it’s fun to write in leshy’s voice. anyways, hopefully this won’t be too long?? i’ve got way less design notes this time around, but there’s also 6 cards here and i’m not very succinct. sorry in advance!!
siffrin
2 power - 2 health - 5 bones
loose tail - when a card bearing this sigil would be struck, a tail is created in its place and a card bearing this sigil moves to the right. a tail is defined as: 0 power, 2 health.
steel trap - when a card bearing this sigil perishes, the creature opposing it perishes as well. a pelt is created in your hand.
GOD it was hard to come up with sigils for this one. since these are boss exclusive cards, i had a pretty limited pool to work with… hopefully this is still fitting
loose tail is the closest i could get to a sigil that avoids death, since sigils like unkillable and many lives were off the table. plus, there’s kinda a connection with him not valuing his own life?? and sacrificing a part of himself? i think it works
steel trap!! this sigil is exclusive to the trapper boss fight! since summoned cards (like chimes and tails) inherit sigils, their tail card will also kill whatever’s in front of it when it’s destroyed! sort of a “taking you down with me” situation.
mirabelle
2 power - 5 health - 3 blood
swapper - after a card bearing this sigil is dealt damage, swap its power and health.
swapper!! this is an act 3 sigil exclusive to swapbot! ahhhhhhhh i had such a hard time trying to figure out another card design for her. i REALLY liked the bellist sigil for her and didn’t really have any other ideas. swapper felt like it fit with the change belief to me! and it also makes her a pretty terrifying card to go up against. since this is a boss card, that cost is basically entirely for show lol
ALT CARD ART!!! YIPEE!! literally all i did was flip her eyes to look angry lol. swapbot’s sprite changes when it swaps so i think hers would too!
isabeau
2 power - 4 health - 2 blood
dam builder - when a card bearing this sigil is played, a dam is created on each empty adjacent space. a dam is defined as: 0 power, 2 health.
fledgling - a card bearing this sigil will grow into a more powerful form after 1 turn on the board.
dam builder feels like a very defensive sigil to me, and it synergizes well with fledgling!! after a turn, isabeau will be doing 5 damage across 3 lanes! good god.
odile
1 power - 2 health - 2 blood
trifurcated strike - a card bearing this sigil will strike each opposing space to the left and right of the spaces across from it as well as the space in front of it.
sharp quills - once a card bearing this sigil is struck, the striker is then dealt a single damage point.
this was the HARDEST card to think up, and probably the weakest out of the bunch imo. i think i really nailed her regular card and i just. couldn’t come up with anything. agonies
i picked trifurcated strike as a reference to her being able to use all three craft types, and sharp quills… i think because of her aversion to touch? i think. it’s been a while since i made these aaaaa
bonnie
1 power - 1 health - 1 blood
waterborne - a card bearing this sigil submerges itself during its opponent's turn. while submerged, opposing creatures attack its owner directly.
leader - creatures adjacent to a card bearing this sigil gain 1 power.
if yall remember the notes on my kid card, this is based on the beta version of that card!! which means that for once i’m not putting bonnie through the torments. hooray!
waterborne is there because they always stay out of danger during battles! plus they’re from a coastal town so it fits on that front as well. i didn’t really think about the actual sigil names for cards this time around but hey! it’s a nice bonus!
the beta card had trinket bearer, but that’s a sigil that would only benefit the player in battle, so i swapped it out with leader! since they can’t be directly attacked, this basically makes them a permanent alpha on the king’s side of the field. also, leader, snack leader, it fits namewise as well!
loop
2 power - 1 health - 4 bones
haunter - when a creature bearing this sigil dies, it haunts the space it died in. creatures played in this space gain its old sigils.
bifurcated strike - A card bearing this sigil will strike each opposing space to the left and right of the space across from it.
“i’m normal about inscryption” i say as i give one of my cards a sigil that only appears in the completely missable rulebook of grimmora’s segment of the finale.
so. haunter! the aforementioned grimmora sigil! this appears on no cards ingame, but cmon. it fits. this sigil reminded me of how loop reacts when you guess that they’re a ghost! in battle, i imagine that siffrin will always get played right behind loop. because twohats
bifurcated strike was added here for the same reason it’s on their normal card! it feels like scissors craft!! i needed them to actually have A Sigil to transfer to siffrin and this felt the most fitting to me.
also, just like the normal cards, siffrin and loop are both the only ones to have a bone cost instead of blood cost! teehee :333
and i think that’s it! i’m not making inhabited versions of these cards because they aren’t meant to be accessible outside of the king fight! also! hi! i drafted this post and wrote siffrin’s segment: almost a month ago! oops!! i kept putting this off… at least it’s actually written out now lol. hope you guys enjoy!!!
“the eternal wanderer. even death cannot release it from its plight.”
tribeless
1 power - 1 health - 7 bones
unkillable - when a card bearing this sigil perishes, a copy of it is created in your hand.
corpse eater - if a creature that you own perishes by combat, a card bearing this sigil in your hand is automatically played in its place.
brittle - after attacking, a card bearing this sigil perishes.
hidden trait - cursebearer
this card cannot be sacrificed at the sigil stones event.
finally posting my isatscryption stuff here!!! yipee!!! here’s a writeup about the card design because frankly i put wayy too much thought into all of these cards. sorry if these are a bit hard to parse!
unkillable and corpse eater effectively make sif immortal, since every time he dies, he’ll be placed back on the board! and i thought that was fitting for. y’know. timeloop reasons. brittle is only there to emphasize the whole constantly dying thing. because is it really isat without siffrin torment
also didn’t notice this until after i designed this card, but the brittle sigil art has a star on it??? not intentional in the slightest but it is Fitting
sif is a fox here! i know that that would technically put them in the canine tribe, but i felt it’d be more fitting for them to be tribeless? and base game inscryption already kinda bends the rules when it comes to tribes (such as the bullfrog being a reptile and the rabbit being treated internally as a rodent) so i think it still works
i’m well aware that card traits don’t actually have cool names or anything but i still want to give them cool names because it’s fun. anyways! cursebearer! i gave them this trait both because these sigils are extremely overpowered, and for lore reasons. sif sees their sigils as a curse! they don’t want to force them on anyone else!! it’s their burden to bear!!!
tangentially related to that last point, but sif is a talking card in this au! because it’s fun :3. and because i think it’d be really interesting to see how he’d react to the cabin
sif’s scar is covered by the hat a bit but it’s Star Shaped. and so is the eye shine teehee
this was the first card i made and Boy Does It Show. i had the WORST time trying to get the card generators to work for this because oops! both of the card generators are inaccurate in different ways! plus theres a few mistakes in the card art that i didn’t notice until after i finished most of the others... i promise the others are a little more polished
also, since i didn’t mention it above the cut, the sigil patch is for the bone king sigil! which makes the card award 4 bones instead of 1 upon death. this is less for lore reasons and more for the synergy with his sigils. since he’s constantly dying and coming back, he can basically give you infinite bones for Zero Cost. fun!
aaand i think that’s all the notes for this card! thanks for reading this absurdly long post. here’s his alt card art without the patch for your troubles 🫡
“the eternal wanderer…? even death cannot release it from its plight… hm. did i create a second copy of this card?”
tribeless
1 power - 1 health - 7 bones?
unkillable - when a card bearing this sigil perishes, a copy of it is created in your hand.
corpse eater - if a creature that you own perishes by combat, a card bearing this sigil in your hand is automatically played in its place.
brittle - after attacking, a card bearing this sigil perishes.
hidden trait - cursebearer
this card cannot be sacrificed at the sigil stones event.
[twohats spoilers below the cut!]
“callous, aimless, manipulative. this pitiful beast hides behind a mask of its own face.”
tribeless
2 power - 1 health - no cost
repulsive - if a creature would attack a card bearing this sigil, it does not.
bifurcated strike - a card bearing this sigil will strike each opposing space to the left and right of the space across from it.
hidden trait - shapeshifter
while in your deck or hand, this card will disguise itself as the wanderer.
SURPRISE BONUS CARD!!! or well. not really a surprise if you’re from the discord. still!!!! bonus card!!! writeup below!!!!
this is an ijiraq reskin!!!! or well. they were supposed to be one. their out-of-battle behaviors are pretty different but they work mostly the same in battles
the repulsive sigil is there because the ijiraq has it! but it also counts towards loop’s. general attitude towards themself i think. at least they can’t get attacked (if they don’t attack something with sharp quills that is). in kaycee’s mod, this sigil only appears on the ijiraq and starvation (which can only be played by leshy). probably for the best!
i added bifurcated strike both to set them apart from the ijiraq and because scissors craft! stats and sigils wise, they’re a sidegrade to the ijiraq. the fun stuff comes with their hidden trait!
so! shapeshifter!! originally just called. ijiraq. but it works a little different so it gets a different name shshhh. but i’ll just explain how the regular ijiraq works since it’s a kaycee’s mod card and kinda obscure. basically, it diguises itself as other cards in your deck! while on the map, it’ll show the card’s alt version with a red glow, but in battle, it’ll look and behave exactly like the card it’s mimicking. it only reveals itself once placed on the field! so it’s always a surprise! loop works similarly, but they only mimic sif’s card. because twohats :3
like the ijiraq, loop will swap themself with sif for most card events! though there’s a good few that they’ll just refuse to do. too much to talk about there, maybe i’ll post the talking card dialogue for them at some point? idk
oh, speaking of which!! like sif, loop is a talking card! they’ll still talk, even while disguised, but they’d have slightly different lines and portraits methinks. which does make it a little easier to figure out who’s who but that’s a sacrifice (heh) i’m willing to make. plus it’s just fun.
vulpecula is the name of a fox constellation! for fun parallels with siffrin! the constellation itself doesn’t have any mythology behind it though. just a fox. the reason loop’s holding a goose in their mouth(…?) is because the constellation is sometimes depicted with one! please look at the goose i’m really proud of that goose.
this was. probably the hardest card to draw Period. my usual way of drawing loops spiky face would’ve felt out of place with the inscryption style so i had to improvise! and BOY it was a struggle!! especially since i didn’t have a sketch prepared like i did with the others. i think this turned out pretty nice though!
NO PATCH!!!! REJOICE!!! loop can’t be selected for sigil transfers (because ijiraq) so they don’t have any!!!! i mean, i could’ve hypothetically given a patch to the sif disguise but no. i don’t want to even try to recolor the patch. that would be a nightmare. maybe if i ever find a blank png version of the patch.
if i were to give them a patch sigil tho, i think i’d give them hoarder? which lets you draw any card from your deck after placing loop on the field. as like, a nod to how much QoL they add in isat.
also as a little aside, you can attempt to fuse them and the wanderer at the mycologists. they won’t let you but you can try. similarly, they’ll be counted as kin in the trial of kin! because again. twohats
THAT’S EVERYTHING 🎉🎉🎉 rare cards wise, at least. trust me there’s a ridiculous amount of extra stuff for this au. i’m making an entire campaign. god have mercy on me
no extra alt card art so uh. thank you for reading these!!! isatscryption is like. probably the most self indulgent thing ever for me. thank you so much to everyone who’s responded to these aauauuaa i reread the responses like. every day!!! so thank you!!!!!! 💥
Are. Are you still working on Isatscryption? I hope u are... Bcuz I just read through the entire tag. And I saw the WIPs. Please tell me ur still working on ittt.....
hi! i had to rewrite this entire thing, because tumblr doesn’t want me talking about isatscryption, i guess. anyways. sorry to disappoint, but i lost the drive to work on it last year after hitting a particularly bad roadblock (why did i think making a hundred variants of the frozen opossum was a good idea) and my fixation on isat faded earlier this year, so it’s kinda just. in limbo for the time being. but since im here, i might as well showcase everything i’d made before losing steam, since people are interested. who knows, maybe i’ll pick the au back up someday but for now, heres what i had.
long ass post under the cut, i had a lot more to say than i expected.
okay, first things first, terrain cards! exciting, i know. i actually had an entire inscryption campaign planned out for this au, complete with new maps and everything. those maps being the ghost town (a frozen dormont), the frost path (the path between dormont and the house), the castle (house of change), and the throne room. each map also had a list of cards that appear in encounters, because i’m deranged, but those are also: kinda boring.
petrified wood was intended for the frost path and is pretty self explanatory, while the barrel and pillar were meant for the castle. their sigils are references to memory of barrels and pillars respectively, and they would’ve given you a free item at the start of the encounter. in hindsight, i think that made the castle way too easy, especially for a final map. i think those sigils should’ve probably been locked behind a cabin puzzle. yes i was thinking about game balancing for an au that was never going to be made into a mod.
the 4th card in this terrain set was going to be the frozen creature card i mentioned earlier, which was a copy of the frozen opossum that could drop other beasts. unfortunately, i bit off way more than i could chew and decided to make a variant for every tribe in the game, including the hidden rodent tribe. this was the worst decision i ever made, and i couldn’t even get through one before it killed all my momentum. if i ever pick this au back up, im just making it one card.
while i did have other custom cards planned, they were all boss exclusives + never really got made. speaking of those bosses though, they had a lot going on! i realized pretty early on that turning the isat bosses into masks was impossible, they just aren’t human enough to look good and recognizable. so, i turned them into stage puppets instead! they had visible strings holding them up, and you would’ve been able to see them hanging on the wall in the cabin! i’m still pretty proud of that idea
that being said, they aren’t all. finished. so i’m just going to start with the ones who had the most work done.
the lovers were the boss of the frost path and my take on accablement and abattement! a sheep and a wolf stitched together by the mycologists. the sheep was lovestruck while the wolf was detached, and at the phase 2 shift, the sheep would either sacrifice itself to the wolf or the wolf would suddenly attack and eat the sheep. fun stuff! they would use powerful fusions of canine and hooved cards during phase 1, and replace them with regular fused canines during phase 2. i really wanted to use the mycologists’ boss gimmick here, but i couldn’t figure out how to make it work with only 4 spaces for cards. alas… despite that, they were my favorite of the bosses.
skipping straight to the final boss here. the frost king (or just the king, according to my notes??) was meant to replace leshy/royal as the final encounter. this art of him is actually fairly outdated by now, i drew it before i decided on making the bosses puppets, and all of those candles are supposed to be frozen in the air! they would’ve gone out and abruptly fell at each phase change.
phase 1 was. pretty boring? the king primarily used strong tribeless/canine cards, and he used royal’s gimmick of targetting certain spots on the field. instead of destroying the cards on them, he would turn them into frozen creatures. if i did this now, i’d probably him freeze your entire board, similar to the prospector.
phase 2 on the other hand, was actually the reason i made those party deathcards way back when! they were intended to be used by the king during this fight, because i thought it’d be fucked up. this does mean that leshy’s quote on that post doesn’t actually appear in the campaign, because he’s not narrating this fight. i feel like king would have something to say about them, but i never wrote anything down. sad!
and phase 3 is predictable i think. the king monologues about how he’s doing the universe’s will and doesn’t get why he’s losing, only for him to suddenly understand what the universe wants him to do. he then takes leshy’s camera, points it toward himself, and turns himself into a card to fight you. something about the cards being a perfect snapshot of life, eternal in ink. i don’t know, i never finished writing that scene. probably an obvious direction to go, but i think it’s neat.
as a note, this is where my first draft of this post got sent directly to the void. it survived this time, at least!
i’m going to just do the calamity (calamité) and the pestilence (bourdon) here because im less proud of them. the calamity was the first boss, and i never actually found a design for it that i was happy with. their boss fight revolved around the transformer sigil from act 3. their cards would cycle between avian, canine, and reptile, and their tribe would be shown on calamity’s face. during the phase change, their head and half of the field would get covered in fog, so you’d have to keep track of which tribe their cards would be yourself. i actually quite like this boss gimmick, i just never really managed to make them a Character.
and i had fucking NOTHING for the pestilence. my notes literally are just about bees, because bourdon is french for bumblebee. i think the only idea i had for them was that they’d have some kind of card that’d grow stronger depending on how many unique tribes were on the field. i never managed to make a design for them… sorry bourdon.
and finally, the secret boss! the change god!! yipee!! this was a fun one. i never fully figured out how you’d encounter them, but they required you to do a puzzle in the cabin. they’d take you into a white void, be a little asshole, and then challenge you to a battle. they were an absolute shithead, iirc they refused to give you information without doing a battle because it’d be “boring”. i love them.
mechanically, this is also one of my favorites! much like magnificus in act 2, they’d replace the sigils on your cards with new ones. but, instead of the mox sigils, every single sigil is now amorphous. this extends to their cards once they enter the field and cards without sigils. at the phase change, they’d clear the field and start playing cards from your own deck, starting with your strongest card. i haven’t talked about totems here, but they use the hooved totem head! because vaugardians are all hooved animals :3
aaand i think that’s all i can fit in here without tumblr yelling at me. i actually had a lot of fun writing this (despite having to do it twice), i didn’t realize how much i missed isatscryption. part of me actually kinda wants to revisit it now?? that’s not a promise or anything, don’t get your hopes up. maybe i’ll do a part 2 to show off some of the stuff i couldn’t fit into this post at least?
