Etherei and Zephyr Sketches 3

"So let me get this straight," Zephyr started as she crossed her arms together. "So you're saying that you basically come from another world entirely, and you came here through some magical gate in some underground facility after walking to the light, so to speak."

"Y-Yes." Etherei rubbed the back of his head, aware of just how ridiculous this all might sound. "And... I need to find some way to get back to my home world. My superiors..." He thought of his companions lost to the Shadow Flux. "Need to know of what happened during our expedition. My people are in grave danger."

Skeptical as Zephyr appeared to be, it wasn't as if she could disprove whatever he had to say. At the same time, she hadn't shut him down yet, thankfully... Though perhaps she was just being kind enough to give him the benefit of the doubt while being cautious at the same time.

Etherei and Zephyr Sketches 2

Heels clacked in the distance, the sound of hard leather meeting ancient stone echoing from the other side of the corridor. Then, at last, a figure emerged from the darkness: a caped woman with long, flowing apricot tresses, her cerulean eyes cold and scrutinizing as her gaze transfixed on the young Enerhija Knight before her.

Etherei swallowed. Suddenly, it felt like all the fighting beyond the walls became drowned out by the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears. She had such an intimidating aura that he could already feel the bile in his system rising to his throat from how overwhelming it was.

"Wh... Who are you?"

Silence hung over them following his question, compounding the already suffocating feeling of dread and darkness that constantly hovered all over the fortress' atmosphere. She then reached for the hilt of her blade, drawing it out with a clean swipe from its sheath.

"Hmph. I had dismissed you as yet another barbarian like the others invading my liege's domain," She grunted. "But as you've at least some semblance of decorum rather than coming mindlessly at me, I will do you this one final act of kindness."

Raising her blade, she aimed it at him directly, her cape and long hair billowing right behind her.

"I am Emeline Marie de Garde, of the Valkyrie Queen's Chosen," She introduced herself with steely conviction, "And you shall sully these walls with your existence no further."

---

Alone without Zephyr's guidance, Etherei ventures into the Fjalar Fortress, where he comes face-to-face with one of the Valkyrie Queen's most powerful generals and a member of her personal guard. And boy, things ain't looking good for our little guy.

Was messing around with lighting again while I was working on this, and I also used this tutorial on Pinterest as a reference for getting the stone walls and floor sketched out. I'll have to try this on a future landscape painting though. This rendering technique looks absolutely genius.

Etherei and Zephyr Sketches 1

In their search for an airship, the pair had a chance encounter with Leonard Lightfell, a general in the Caladrian Royal Army. He had come to Argent after hearing of their heroic deeds in the floating island of Ferro, wishing to personally thank them for slaying the abomination they had encountered in the Coperna Mines.

But the man's visit was beyond merely a display of courtesy on behalf of his kingdom; he sought them out to recruit them for the kingdom's upcoming assault on Fjalar, the Valkyrian fortress on the isolated continent of Titania. War had been coming to a head between the two nations, and the skirmishes began transpiring more frequently on the soil of northern Aurum, where Caladria was located. Now the Kingdom wanted to take the fight to the Valkyries and put a swift, decisive end to their nations' historical animosity once and for all. He believed that extra help from mercenaries and adventurers would bolster their strength, as it once had several centuries past, when the entire Aethersphere rallied up against the Queendom during their imperial campaign of conquest across the skies.

In return for their service, Leonard offered the opportunity for them to be granted an airship upon war's end. Beyond the fleet under the Kingdom's employ, finding anyone manufacturing airships outside of Argent was rare... If not unaffordable by what few sparks they held. It wasn't as if they had a lot of options, though Zephyr had told the knight that they would take the time to think on his offer, which he agreed.

As Leonard turned to leave, however, he made one final request... A duel to prove one's mettle in combat. He was curious to discover the strength behind the saviors of Ferro, which would perhaps have been wiped off the face of the map by now were it not for their intervention.

"Well, Eth," Zephyr starts as she gives her shorter companion a smack on his upper back, "Guess you're up."

"What!?" Etherei staggered from the force of her hand, but quickly regained his balance. "Wait, why me!? Shouldn't it be you? Out of the two of us, you're stronger than I am!"

"It could be, but the man's offered the challenge to you, not me. Would be wrong of me to take it in your stead."

"Full glad am I to know you've the honor to match your strength, Lady Zephyr." The Caladrian general turned his gaze onto the rattled Etherei. "And to you, Sir Etherei. I once again entreat you to a demonstration of your combat prowess."

Backed into a corner, Etherei once again looked pleadingly at Zephyr for help. But she simply gave him a thumbs up in solidarity.

For the first time since coming to the Aether, he was on his own...

---

A quick little story involving my two OCs, Etherei and Zephyr. I ended up writing a much longer story than I expected originally, so much that I had to cut so much of it off and replace it with something more succinct to read. I also really wanted to move on from this so I had to take what wasn't necessary and save it on a separate file. 😅

Viresco and Tadatora Sketches 1

Ah, two of my favorite OCs... And yet, I've not bothered to spare more time to just draw about them. Together, preferrably in a sensually intimate position.

Viresco has several love interests in her life, but my personal favorite is her dynamic with Tadatora. She's been broken since her last relationship fell to ruin, often easily blinded by her narrow-minded pursuit of revenge against the man who betrayed her, even when she portrays herself to all as an elegant and demure woman. Someone as level-headed and down-to-earth as Tadatora serves as an excellent foil to this. In the moments when they are alone, Viresco knows she doesn't have to pretend, because Tadatora has already seen her when she had been at her worst and on the brink of death. She trusts him not to take advantage of her at her weakest, as he's already proven to her—by tending to her gravest wounds as she recovered—that she can entrust her life to him.

His loyalty towards her, and her willingness to let him see her at her most vulnerable... Man. I will take ten of these, good sirs and madams. 😋

Lighting Study 7 + Zephyr (2025)

Lighting studies but I used my OC Zephyr to do it. Had to redesign her armguard though, and I'm much happier with how it looks now compared to before.

～がち

"Around this time of year, it rains pretty often, and sunny days are rare."

Yikes, it's already November 😱 So much for ending on time this year... But that's just the way it goes. I'm not gonna attempt to push myself to keep attempting the challenge at this point, even if a part of me desperately wants to (Haha, no. 😒). Besides, I have a lot of other projects in my backlog that I really want to get to, and I'm just relieved that the month is over.

So to cap the art challenge, I decided to go with Etherei, since I realized I actually don't have a lot of art of the guy. That and a part of me is itching a little to go back to my original content...

Anyway, good game; this now officially caps Studytober 2024, and while it's a shame this could have progressed better, well, we don't always get the challenge done on time every year. I was, though, sort of hoping I could keep the trend going of finishing the challenge on time after how well the last two years went. 😅

Here's to a more successful challenge next year 🧃

Viresco Lancaster (2023)

It's like I have at least one full body art piece featuring her every other year... Wait. 👀

I have often been insecure about drawing Vir mainly because of her outfit. I have no qualms drawing her stripped down to her lingerie, but I, admittedly, found myself unwilling to make art of her mainly because I could never feel at ease with what her clothes were supposed to look like.

The other day I decided that I was done with this crippling insecurity and decided to actually sit down and deal with the issue. In the past I found myself wanting to give her ninja garb, befitting her title as a kunoichi. However, I could never bring myself to be rid of the sleeveless, green, pointy-collared trenchcoat that I considered part of her signature appearance. I found references of rogue-looking characters in addition to various equipment pieces in Guild Wars 2, and used them as bases for this new look. Now I can finally say that this is her official outfit moving forward.

Damn. I really want to make a quick and simple banner showcasing how much my art style has changed with all my artwork of her. The difference between years ago to now is incredibly surreal. 😱

Plume

Plume is a small, isolated village found on a floating island off the southern tip of Iridea. This is the only settlement found on one of the islands that comprise the Shards of the Old World, an archipelagic region in the Aethersphere with islands that are near uninhabitable because of their irregular rock formations.

I have mentioned Plume often in the past, and I even made a town map of it, so I think it's about time it got a landscape of its own. I wasn't so keen about making this halfway through, but thankfully it's now done. 😌

Cessna

I'm back! This took me a while to color in, but I hope this made the wait worth it!

The town of Cessna is one of the many windmill-powered settlements in the floating continent of Argent in the Aethersphere. It also serves as the main port of entry to Argent, and therefore serves as a major hub of commerce for locals and foreigners alike. It is often said that one can easily find wares from all over the Aether when they come here.

I already featured Argentine architecture during Conceptober, but today was the first time to see it presented in a landscape. Also, looking at this again now, I think it may have been better if I used shutters instead of glass for the windows, as I just realized sand isn't all that common to find in the Aethersphere. 😅

Conceptober 2022 - In Closing

With the success of this year's art challenge, it would be wrong if I didn't write a post to properly wrap everything up!

Conceptober Thoughts

If you've been following my content for a fair amount of time, then surely you're aware that I have always struggled to see these October art challenges to completion within the month itself, or even actually finishing them. This is the first time that I've actually been successful with doing and finishing the art challenge within the month itself and I'm very proud of this achievement.

Because of how broad my scope was for this year's theme, I initially wanted to be able to showcase various elements from my fantasy story. However, as time went on my focus shifted from variety to just being able to do what was more convenient and easier to do, which is why you start to see more bestiary entries near the end of the challenge. I was also consistently late by two days, at one point even reaching up to three, and I needed to ensure I caught up so I can finish the art challenge on time.

I also didn't mention this on my blog, but on the 7th, I finally received my new Wacom One tablet. This was a huge upgrade from my old Intuos, but I had to make changes to how I worked because this was the first time I was drawing on tablet that displayed my canvas at the same time. I like to think that all the entries I made for Conceptober were a huge help in my transition from the Wacom Intuos to the Wacom One, and now I'm very comfortable working with the latter.

Here's what my new tablet looks like by the way 😄:

It's the one on the right, by the way.

Improvements

I think the one thing I need to improve on is drawing the lower torso and the legs of humanoid characters. Same with hands. When I draw some of my characters I feel like I understand these concepts, and on other characters I struggle and realize that I actually don't. 😅 I need to take a few days to understand these elements better and practice drawing them.

The Tower of Ascension is definitely one of those pieces that I need to eventually return to and paint all over again. This is not a piece I am proud of and I really want to change that.

Moving Forward

I said last year's challenge was great, but this year is better simply because I finished the challenge on time. 😂

I started the challenge with the intent to create more content for the Aether and Radisrol. I'm glad to see more of this world come to life and to see these various elements put on canvas. After this work of Emeline, I even mull the possibility of this becoming a graphic novel in the near future. Although a great undertaking, it would be amazing for me to tell the story of my characters this way and I genuinely consider pursuing this endeavor.

For now, however, I'd like to go back to making colorful and elaborate landscape paintings again, preferrably based off of screenshots from Guild Wars 2 and GTA Online. I also miss making some content for Gator Buddies and maybe this month I'll start working on the next series of strips.

I also want to create some more original content for merch. New stickers, new hoodie designs maybe? My shop is long overdue for some new selections... Speaking of business, now that Conceptober is finally finished, my commission status is once again open! Perhaps you'd be interested in checking out my commish page here, and we can talk business if you'd like.

Before I jump into all that, though... I think I'll be taking a week off from arting. Just need some time to recharge after dishing out so much content this past month. 😅

I have to say though, this year's art challenge has done a good job of making me accustomed to the habit of trying to make art even when I'm not pressed to make some anymore... As I write this entry, I'm being nagged by this constant feeling that goes along the lines of, "You need to make some art right now even though I know you don't necessarily need to at the moment but you better make some anyway just 'cause". Not to say I dislike this, though. With all these projects I have in mind, heck, I'm definitely going to need this bug of productivity. 😋

Bristleboar α

WE'VE FINALLY DONE IT! DAY 31! WE'VE FINISHED AN ART CHALLENGE ON TIME THIS YEAR! 🤯😱🎉

The savage Bristleboar α is another boss monster our protagonists will encounter in the Aether at some point. I first doodled this before when I made the original Bristleboar post days ago.

Good lord. With this posted, this effectively marks the end of a month-long journey. I can also confidently say that, for the first time in all the years I've been doing these art challenges, I have finally finished a self-imposed art challenge without allowing it to stretch a single day further for whatever reason.

I'll have a follow-up post to this last one to wrap up the art challenge properly in the next few days. For now, allow me to bask in the dopamine coming from the knowledge that I persevered and saw an art challenge to its completion... On time, for once. 😎

Sabergriff

Oh god, we've made it to Day 30... 😩 It's been a long time coming, guys! Just one more to go! 🎇

I am still rather conflicted with this monster's name; I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what I should name it, and even then just Sabergriff doesn't seem to cut it. Nonetheless, I'll be calling it that for now, and perhaps later on I'll have a better name to christen this beast with.

Knight's Vow

OH MY GOD, doesn't this just look something straight out of a webtoon?? 😱

Today's entry isn't something for my bestiary this time! We feature the Valkyrie knight Emeline reaffirming her sworn oath to her liege and to her people. I didn't want to linger too heavily on this so I can maintain the course of my art challenge and end on time this year. But HOO BOY HOT DAMN seeing this scene does get me pretty hyped about trying to make the Aether and Radisrol into a graphic novel ✨

Aer Slimes

HOLY SHIT WE'VE ALMOST CAUGHT UP! 😱

I actually didn't want to make this sheet for the Aer Slimes because it felt like a really half-assed entry. All I had to do was make these circles and blobs, add a few details here and there, and call it a day. It didn't sit well with me to create something that wasn't as complex as other anatomy pieces or my maps.

I decided to do it anyway though because it's the first monster featured in my bestiary and it bothered me that it didn't have a character sheet of its own yet. And despite how simple the design is, it is technically still content for my fantasy story...

Sporepuff

Here's the Sporepuff for Day 27! Its growth stages are from right to left, for those who weren't sure. 😋

I had another monster called a Misty Spirit in mind when I first started this piece. It was supposed to look similar to the Pilsbury dough boy, but it would have some wavy hair and the whole body would be in this faded blue and white gradient. Then I became indecisive about if I wanted to make this into a Misty Spirit or use what I had to design a Sporepuff instead. I clearly chose the latter. 😝

The Misty Spirit will get its own design someday, just not today. 😅

Patchwork

I'm slowly catching up to those missed days, guys. 😰

Here's a demon monster for the bestiary! Its original name was Little Devil, but I decided that was too braindead basic for me. Patchwork sounds much nicer. It contrasts so well with its malicious nature too. 😊

Earthshaker

Day 25! The Earthshaker is one of the boss monsters Etherei and Zephyr encounter in the Aethersphere. He's a real big boye, ain't he?

Argentosaurus

Oh, finally, a monster that looks anything but harmless compared to the last three. 😂

I'm really enjoying all these monster entries. It's a really good way to get comfortable drawing animals and various body types. 😌 It's also fun when I add each page into my monster bestiary in Campfire Pro; whenever I click on one monster's name, their reference sheet just pops up like a Pokédex entry and it's just really cool to see. 😆

Sky Eels

Introducing Sky Eels! They look a little derpy, don't they? They're just the type of easy meal Swoopers like... Until the birds get fried because they didn't kill their prey fast enough to stop their defensive electrical discharging. ⚡

Swooper

Still more monsters for Day 22 👀

Swoopers are the Pidgeys and Starlys of the Aether. On a regular day you'll find them in flocks flying across the Cloudsea.