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Hello fairy friends! It's time for a very another update!

We have the final poll for this week's make-a-fairy ready for everyone to vote on. Go vote!

We have less than four days left before the campaign ends! Ah! 

As a special weekend treat, I'm revealing the sketches for last week's fairy animal companion.

The first of these sketches is the animal companion. He has lizard traits, a unicorn horn, fuzzy mammal fur, a mermaid tail, and the appendages of a insect. I chose praying mantis. The sword wasn't a winning thing, but it did tie with all the secondary traits. The winning accessory, a cute friend, is what the second drawing is of. The cute friend is wearing earrings and carrying an umbrella. I didn't quite know how to fit the sweater in without it being too much, sadly.

While these creatures look aquatic, and can swim if need be, they are more apt to levitating above the ground. They swim through the air.

I'm excited to ink these very soon! I hope you like them!

And be sure to vote on the polls for the latest fairy!

Fairy friends, we did it! We configured our first fairy. I'm going to put it in the kiln to cure. It takes about a week for the pieces to set. For review, here's what we used to craft out fairy (AKA, the poll winners):

What an interesting and beautiful fairy!

One of the high-fey, Blutterbarts, Princess of the Stink Swamp, is looking for an animal companion that's as beautiful as they are. As long as we make the companion with some fairy magic, we'll be still fulfilling our mission to make more fairies. We'll need to decide on body features and the kind of hat Blutterbarts' new companion should wear, as well as an accessory.

Check out the first of these new polls below. Then, go check out the other ones!

Ah! A wild moth! Where did that come from? Well, I guess there's no harm in letting the little fella hang out.

Now, onto Book Bazaar news!

We've completed our first week. Yippee! Fairy Seasons is almost 50% funded! I think that's pretty awesome. We have two weeks left and I think we can reach the initial funding goal for this project. 

Please continue to share Fairy Seasons with others. It helps more than you think! And share often! There's quite a few times that someone shared something several times, and at the right time, I saw it and got it. Perhaps, with a little luck, we'll all share this project at the right time.

On November 23rd, The Book Bazaar will be streaming a reading of my Fairy Seasons Sampler. It's read by the author (me!). Be sure to stop in and listen. It'll start at 6pm (CST).

I hope to see you there!

Heeeeeey fairy friends and fiends!

It's time for an update! Yaaaaaay!!!

It's a short one. Basically, I'm going over written things, doing some personal edits, before I send things off to my awesome editor, Steph (https://storyotters.wordpress.com/otters-editing/). While they are looking over things, I'll be working on layout elements and art things.

I have the mushroom forest to paint, and only have one remaining Make-A-Fairy to finish. Though, I do have some small details I still want to add to the Swamp critter fairy.

I'll be finally sending surveys out around the end of March, once the mushroom forest and last make-a-fairy (the venus fly trap one) are finished. I wanted all the art done before I did that.

Anyways, here's some cool art I've finished (and one sticker design I haven't finished yet):

This here is the Crystal Fairy in their final form! They're so beautiful and soooo deadly.

Now, for the swamp critter, I still have some detail stuff I want to do. I want to add scales to the lizard parts, and make the mantis arms look more dynamic. I also realized I didn't add much shadow to the critter itself. I changed the sword to a rusty machete. Thought that was more fitting for the swamp. Also, the jellyfish-like swamp friend just didn't quite fit. So, eventually I'll use that design for some cute critter sticker. If I have enough time, I might even have it ready as an option for sticker packs! I won't promise that. Though, I will absolutely try.

My version of a wisp. Well, at least one form of a wisp. I feel like they take many forms. This particular fairy creature wanders the swamp. They guide lost travelers to safety. They are not to be confused with their evil cousins, whisps. Whisps love to trick and confuse lost travelers.

There really isn't a good way to tell the difference between a wisp or whisp until it's too late.

And that's it for this State of the Fae update. I'll be sure to have more next month!

Hello fairy friends!

It's been awhile, huh? Surveys are ready to be sent out, however, I'm waiting another month or two to do a smoke test and then the initial send.

Things have been as chaotic as ever, but I'm mostly on schedule. I'm really glad I built in extra time for myself. I won't mention the horrors of the world directly, but oof bagoof... I'm sure many of you are aware. It's hard not to be a despondent pile of goop as your brain tries to process just what the heck is going on.

The best thing to do is to do what you can. Don't overstretch and / or overstress yourself. If it's 2 in the morning, there's not much you can do about a situation, so try not to panic about it.

Rest when you need it. It's okay to do nothing. I've been having some "do nothing" days myself. My "do nothing" is basically playing a cozy video game, napping, and eating yummy snacks. I'm not productive. I'm just existing.

There's a lot more I could say, however, a lot of things are more situational to where you live and to what's going on around you.

I hope things go okay for you. I hope you have some yummy food and some time to rest.

Where are we on the timeline?
I'm still working on some stories. Of the three I have left to write, I've refined my little quick drafts (outline synopsis thingies). Once finished with those, I'll be doing touch-ups.

In March, things will be sent to the editor. During that time, I'll be working on the layout art and more. Then more edits and fixes once the wonderful editor (Otters Editing) has done their thing.

Of course, I'll be giving y'all another update in the middle of February to let you know how it's going.

Beyond March, It's art, layout, and editing until June! Then, I'll order some proofs to make sure I have things looking good. More touch-ups. Once I get a proof that's well and good, it's ordering things, packaging them up, and sending them.

I'm still planning on early September for sending out physical and digital books and rewards. However, if things go smoothly, I might do so earlier. But, well, we'll see.

ART TIME
I usually work on my art things during dnd (Dungeons and Dragons) time. Unfortunately, dnd schedules have not been aligning as well as usual. It's a curse many dnd players know well. I think we'll be getting back to more of a routine schedule on all of the campaigns soon (I'm in three of them).

But, I have gotten the outline for the 1st Make-A-Fairy done! It took me a hot minute to figure out how I wanted to do the crystals and background itself.

The symmetry tool did wonders for many aspects of the fairy! I didn't end up using that when it came to the crystals though. I'm thinking a lot of blues for the color scheme. I really like how this almost has a stained glass style to it. At least, I think it does.

I also think I should add some rusty shadings. You see, the mouth for this fairy is not where the mouth is. That's just more of a mimicry. Can you guess where the actual mouth is?

Oh yeah! This design is one of the sticker designs! Isn't she cute?! A fairy holding a fairy friend! So cute! This was a fun one to make. I was going with a different color scheme originally, but these colors worked so much better.


Title Reveals
Hey! Want to know what some of the titles of the short stories will be? Heck, I'll even throw in the title of a poem.

Short Stories
-The Painter's Fairy Folly
-The Gift of Names

Poem
-What's for Supper?

Okay, that's all I'm going to bug you with! It's probably a bit longer of an update than people care for. As a quick reminder, the pre-order store is open! If you weren't able to pledge during the campaign, you can still order the book and things. And don't be afraid to share it with those you think might be interested!

How a great day! Fairy kisses and best wished to you all!
-Spooky Pickle

Why hello fairy friends and fiends! It's time for a quick update.

I said I was going to do one this weekend on Bluesky. Well, Monday morning will have to do.

Basically, surveys won't be sent out until mid-January. And then, I'll give another wonderful update full of art and more.

After the craziness that was my November, things has settled (relatively). Now I'm able to put all my focus into Fairy Seasons (which I wanted to do in November, but well life and all that). I'm excited for my upcoming five day holiday weekend, and my lack of events for the foreseeable future.

I finished the sketch for the final make-a-fairy! As a reminder: carnivorous plants, mixed with bones, and no face; aside from a masquerade mask, and a hoard of bones won the polls. Now, I don't have the environment sketch done, but I'm pretty excited for what I have in mind. I have a couple other design things to finish up anyways (which I'll share in the next update).

Anyways, here this creepy thing is!

Those arms, by the way, are made of meat. I'll be adding more detail, like bird wings and other things stuck in the arms. I'm also going to have them pop out of a giant pitcher plant rather than just hold themselves up with meat arms. They tend to sleep in the plant, with their arms sticking out. The pitcher plant has roots that can act as legs to help the fairy get around. Their court is full of bones and rotten meat. And they quite like it that way.

I hope your as creeped out by this fairy as much as I am! More lore is coming!

For now, I won't keep you. I wish you some very happy holidays. I hope they are filled with warmth, joy, and peace. I think we could all use a little bit of those right now.

If you'd like smaller updates in between these big ones, I tend to use bluesky for those. I haven't been on as much as I've been taking a social media break. But, I'll be more regular soon enough. Ta ta for now!

PS: Pre-Order and Late Pledges store is open for those interested!!!