Most Lichen to Succeed

“Send Lichen Wildbone,” someone in the crowd yelled, and all the other Faery folk quickly agreed. “Cowards,” she mumbled, rising from her seat in the dark corner where she had been sipping potent nectar, the teacup clattering on the table, causing a hush to fall on the room. Moving through the crowd, many stepping back and lowering their eyes to not meet the powerful gaze of the one-eyed witch, Lichen arrived in front of the Mayor. “I will warn the giants of their crimes against the Earth Mother,” she whispered, snapping her fingers, her staff flying from its position by her former seat into her hands, “and will be back before the Solstice.” Abruptly she turned and left, the crowd breathing a collective sigh of relief. “Can she do it?,” someone asked the mayor. “I’ve no doubt, if anyone can, she is most Lichen to succeed.”

New Plan – Run!

Silene had known this wasn’t going to be easy. Their kingdom had been plagued by a fire-spewing dragon dwelling in a nearby cave / pond, poisoning the countryside. To prevent it from affecting the city itself, the people offered it two sheep daily, then a man and a sheep, and finally their children and youths, chosen by chance. One time the lot fell on the king’s daughter – Silene herself. The king offered all his gold and silver to have his daughter spared, but she refused to give in to the terror, and she had altruistic plans for that gold… okay, maybe there also was a new Arabian steed for herself in there somewhere. Willingly, Silene went out to the lake, dressed as a bride, to be fed to the dragon. But there was a surprise under that dress, a fully armored and operational battle warrior, for she had been training with the Empire across the sea. As the wyrm drew near, the people of the kingdom scattered. Silene tore off her dress, revealing the bronzed body underneath. “Now, is your final moment, Dragon!,” she screamed defiantly, drawing her sword. Looking behind him, the Dragon, Aureus, called to unknown persons “Hey townspeople and sheep, she doesn’t want to come to the party…. hold on, what? Okay.” Turning back to Silene, the wyvern spoke, “Listen, I’ve been drinking hard today, because you townies know how to party, but it aggravates my terrible heartburn, and the Slippery Elm I’ve asked your people to harvest – paying a living wage mind you is…. uh, oh no, here comes another attack. New plan, you should runnnnnn!”

As always, my work contains no AI. So, 12-14 hours vs 5 seconds….

Moonfall

What happens if the moon falls out of the sky? The faeries of this world know. It started as a project to see if I could smooth out the shape of a circle, which I did. I mapped an image of the moon to it, then made it reflective, which made it cooler. I was then, like, “what now?”, so I added fey and some other elements. It was mainly for practice, there are some things I don’t like about it (the expression is one thing, I couldn’t get that sense of wonder, excitement, fear, and happiness at something falling from the sky).

Also, all of my art is never AI.

Death on the Demeter

The Demeter was a very unlucky ship. Decades before it would become famous as the transport of a more famous vampire, it was found adrift in the Black Sea, it’s crew ripped asunder by some inhumanly strong being. Records recovered in the port of Varna showed that the ship onboarded several crates of antique furniture and a giant portrait of a noblewoman, supposedly that of Justina Szilágyi de Horogszeg, second wife of Vlad al III-lea Țepeș, aka Vlad the Impaler, son of Vlad II Dracul. The collection was destined for Montenegro, a vibrant coastal town on the Adriatic. Traveling with the collection was a young woman of questionable nobility, and some wealth, who was presented as the custodian of the shipment. Her fate is ultimately unknown, as she was not found among the bodies of the crew on the smoldering vessel. The ship was subsequently towed back to Varna for refit, but soon found itself bridled with an unwanted nickname, Justina’s Larder, for in the run-down waterfront shops and taverns, a rumor persisted that the missing traveler bore an uncanny resemblance to the 400 year-old portrait of the long dead queen.

Note: this is NOT AI. It took hours and hours to get everything right.

Death of Patreon with a Smile

Hello, dear reader. So the Patreon experiment was a failure. I had marked my art as 18+ because there is some artistic nudity therein, about as much as you would find in any art museum. Anyway, they wanted my ID to pay me, and would still have exempted me from search results. So, I took a stand against the invasion of privacy and refunded everyone who had backed me (eternally grateful). Long story short, I’m back here now. I’ll be posting my art from September until now over the next few days.

Digital Art Verses AI

Note, None of my art is generated by AI. There is a distinction between true Digital Art and AI generated content. The difference is this, AI is someone typing a few words into a box and the computer generates an image within a few seconds.

Digital art on the other hand, is created by a human who is manipulating backgrounds, objects, light and figures on a digital ‘set’. The camera, e.g. the view the viewer will see, will be moved about to capture perfect angles for the composition. It’s basically like creating the entire environment for taking a photo of the subject. It takes hours or days to finish one piece of artwork.

Please remember this when attending art shows. True artists bristle at their work being called AI. It’s somewhat like telling the creators of Toy Story that the movie they created was procedurally generated in a couple minutes, instead of the years it took to bring the film to the silver screen.

That Elfin Smile

That Elfin Smile

The idea for this revolves around a knight on a quest with a band of adventurers. After months of travelling, one day, you look over and that elf has a particularly beautiful smile, the light is just right to bring out her emerald eyes, and the straw color of her hair. Or she may have just finally cast ‘Charm Person’ on you. 

Why No Art?

Hello, dear fans. I’d like to first apologize for there not being many posts here, lately, I’ve not abandoned art, but I’ve sold out. I’m making art and trying to grow it via Patreon. I’m also selling limited edition prints and originals at shows. If there is something you are interested in, we can discuss costs and shipping. I’ve two size prints 8.5 x 11 and 11 x 14. They’re $40 and $60 respectively plus shipping. Originals vary by size. The goal? To provide you with fantastic art but being able to eat without working another job. So, what’s on Patreon? Here’s a video of what the last couple months has been like.

Denouement

The battle was hard fought. The Beetle Brigade came to the rescue at the last minute. Now, they rest and refit for the next battle. Originally, this doodle was a play on a word that I can no longer remember, but at least I have the art.  Public post so maybe I get a subscriber or two. 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/denouement-75932746?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Almost

Clamoring through the woods, terrified, the turkey hunter spies lights in the distance – safety! Her weapons and phone long gone, ripped from her as the tree branches tore at her clothing in headlong flight. Little did she think going into the woods that Thanksgiving morning, that the birds would have hired muscle to protect them after linking the last Thursday in November to a human ritual involving the disappearance of many of their kind. As she comes to the edge of the forest, mere meters from the busy highway, a cold claw clamps on her wrist and pulls her back into the night, her scream mingling with the airbrakes of a passing semi…

This was a doodle I put together last night, the latest of probably 4 or 5 others I’ve created since moving to Patreon (link). I’m not sure if I like putting my art beyond a paywall, but one has to make a living, right? Anyway, since it’s turkey day / Thanksgiving, I’m throwing fiscal responsibility to the wind and posting one here, accessible to the masses, not just those elites earning $3 dollars a month in disposable income. Happy holiday, if you celebrate it. Happy Thursday if you don’t; but happiness is the main point.

Death on Demeter

The Demeter was a very unlucky ship. Decades before it would become famous as the transport of a more famous vampire, it was found adrift in the Black Sea, it’s crew ripped asunder by some inhumanly strong being. Records recovered in the port of Varna showed that the ship onboarded several crates of antique furniture and a giant portrait of a noblewoman, supposedly that of Justina Szilágyi de Horogszeg, second wife of Vlad al III-lea Țepeș, aka Vlad the Impaler, son of Vlad II Dracul. The collection was destined for Montenegro, a vibrant coastal town on the Adriatic. Traveling with the collection was a young woman of questionable nobility, and some wealth, who was presented as the custodian of the shipment. Her fate is ultimately unknown, as she was not found among the bodies of the crew on the smoldering vessel. The ship was subsequently towed back to Varna for refit, but soon found itself bridled with an unwanted nickname, Justina’s Larder, for in the run-down waterfront shops and taverns, a rumor persisted that the missing traveler bore an uncanny resemblance to the 400 year-old portrait of the long dead queen.

Moonfall

What happens if the moon falls out of the sky? The faeries of this world know. It started as a project to see if I could smooth out the shape of a circle, which I did. I mapped an image of the moon to it, then made it reflective, which made it cooler. I was then, like, “what now?”, so I added fey and some other elements. It was mainly for practice, there are some things I don’t like about it (the expression is one thing, I couldn’t get that sense of wonder, excitement, fear, and happiness at something falling from the sky). I finished this last night but have been too busy to upload it until now.