Tag: Character Art

Illustration #2 Complete!

August 22nd, 2024

Behold! The second full-page illustration for the print versions of “Eternity’s Irys”!

Apologies for the belated update, but it honestly slipped my mind even though I’ve been plastering it everywhere because just look at it!

@fire_locket strikes again with their crazy skills. I love how in love they look. It just warms my heart every time I stare at it.

Additionally it was with this illustration that we realized I’d given Rhett the wrong page dimensions. The result was just a little more arting on their behalf and NOW we finally have full bleed images!

Since I was so darn late to post this, have a teaser for the third, and final, illustration:

It’s not even done, but I love it. Again with the body language! I always want to say Rhett is talented, but its all hard work, practice, and developing skill. It’s not just talent, it’s effort and understanding the subject matter to an amazing degree.

If all continues apace, the third illustration should be done by this coming Sunday! After that, we have some touching up to do and then we should be all set to get some physical copies for selling come October!

To say I’m excited is an understatement. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m going to say it again. This whole project has become a dream come true and I couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who’s helped me get this far.

Stay tuned for more updates and maybe a way to preorder if you’re so inclined!

🦑💜🦇
Illustration #1 Complete!

August 10th, 2024

Behold! The first of three full-page illustrations that will appear in physical copies only! Taken directly from the pages of the book, it depicts a scene of great importance. No context, though, because spoilers!

It’s an absolutely stunning piece by Rhett that I plan on framing at some point.

Stay tuned for the next two as they are completed!
Behold! The One True Archon!

August 7th, 2024

I have come today to proudly introduce the world to the lead character and voice of Eternity’s Irys. You’ve known him by name for a while now, but now you get to meet him in person.

Jeron Miles in all his full-color glory by @fire_locket

It’s a bit of a leap in plot to call him an Archon, but it sounded good so I went with it.

This rendition comes from the first half of the book as Jeron grows and changes quite a bit by the end, but for spoiler reasons, we’ll keep it simple for now.

He was born with Voidsight allowing him to see things most people cannot. In Qalian, he’s a what the called a Dalafaem or Veil Piercer. This means that he already had an aptitude for voidal magics.

Upon meeting Sylus, he was able to tap into his innate ability and manifest it as offensive and defensive spells in the form of music played from his mother’s guitar. Strangely enough, the guitar doubles as an actual ax when more close quarter combat is unavoidable.

He’s come a long way from being a secondary character and a mere friend of Sylus’ to being the narrator and calling the rotund Voidlord his boyfriend. I firmly believe he was always destined to be the true catalyst of the tale and I’m so glad we finally made it to this point.

If you want to read a bit more about him, he has a basic character sheet you can find here.
The Stickering

April 20th, 2024

I’ve been sitting on a Cricut Explore 3 for about 2 years now. With the book happening, I decided I wanted to start making use of it for in-house merch. Which resulted in trading my laserjet (for printing manuscripts) for an inkjet and learning how to print images.

Anyway, here’s my process, which I’m putting here for my own info as well as just sharing:

To begin with, most of my own methodology came from this vid on YouTube: HOW TO MAKE PRINT THEN CUT STICKERS WITH CRICUT by Kayla’s Cricut Creations I even went so far as to use the material she suggested which she links but I’ll put it here, too: Printable Vinyl Sticker Paper – 25 Super Glossy Waterproof Labels for Inkjet and Laser Printers – Premium White Full Sheets – Strong Adhesive – Tear Resistant

It was all pretty straightforward, to be honest. I uploaded one of Rhett’s pieces, it offered to remove the background, but he’d already done that for me, resized it and then created the offset. Now, my options looked a little different from her’s, but she helped me get my bearings. It took SEVERAL passes to realize I had to make the offset AND the outline white so it wouldn’t print.

The Cricut did a great job, but I was running into a quality issue that after finally eating something and thinking with a clear head I realized was coming from my printer. You see, the stickers weren’t pealing cleanly from the back. At first I thought the vinyl was old or something, but then my big ol’ pea brain turned on and I realized the printer was probably oversaturating the material. Sure enough, I came to a more solid realization when I smudged one of the stickers.

SO! As Kayla suggested, I opened the system dialog and made a few alterations. One being telling the machine I was printing on glossy paper and the second being changing the quality to “Draft”. Still not sure that second one mattered, but it was on a forum post about images smudging after being left to dry. My piece had been sitting for about an hour and still smudged.

ETA: I left a sheet out overnight and it still smudged. So, believe it or not, I consulted the FAQ that came with the vinyl sheets. Lo and behold, I was reminded DPI was a thing. Lowered that and printed a new sheet. Zero smudging. Additionally, the vinyl suggested I use the Cardstock setting and AGAIN, I got the results I wanted:

A stack of waterproof, free cut, smudgeless stickers! (end of edit)

Anyway, with those changes, we ran it again and here’s the result!

Please ignore the crease as I apparently don’t know how to handle stickers.

You can look forward to this and some other designs going on sale AND/OR be included in pre-order bundles! More to come on that soon!

As always, stay tuned!
🦑💜🦇

An additional edit:

Encountered a weird issue with this one during the cut phase, but it was probably because I put the sheet in crooked. Most of them came out just fine!