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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!

Ahhhh! Sorry there hasn't been an update for awhile! It's been...well, it's been.

I have lots of excited news, though!

I started going by S.P. Green for writing stuff now. And now have my personal press, Pickle Jar Press.

You can find me all over the web as Spooky Pickle, though!

Anyways, Fairy Season things! Art things are done! So, now I can send out the smoke tests. Once those are good to go, I'll send out surveys.

I'm receiving edits from my editor (The Amazing Editing Otter), so I'm working on those. Once finished with edits and proofreads, it'll be layout time. I hope to be able to send out for a proof copy of the physical version by the end of June or early July. I think things are looking to be on schedule (especially since I keep forgetting that August is a month for some reason)

That being said, I'm looking to close the pre-order store by the end of June. This is so that I can have final orders in once I get back a good-looking proof.

Also, have you heard the good word? There's a Summer Bonanza starting May 28th! You ought to check it out! It's just another cool thing The Book Bazaar is doing.

Anyways, I don't have too much else to say. So, look at some art while I slowly scoot away with an awkward expression on my face.

First up, Into Shroomen's Grove

Alt text for the painting:
A photo of an acrylic painting. The painting is called "Into Shroomen Grove". A dirt path full of little white mushrooms and glowing footprints wounds its way through a mushroom forest. The end of the path is bathed in a blinding, golden light. Several mushrooms fill the forest. There are tree-sized muscara amanitas (red and orange capped with white dots), some purple mushrooms with gel-filled pustuals, large and small common mushrooms of browns, pinks, and dark grays, there are some chanterelles, and even some small puffball mushrooms.

I'll have a scanner soon, so I'll be able to get a better scan of this rather than just a photo with my phone. This was really fun to do! I love painting, especially with acrylics. I'm most familiar with them.

Alsooooo, I finished the final Make-A-Fairy. Meet them below!

The Fae Trap and Their Collection

Alt text for art piece:
a digital artwork made in infinite paint. The subject is a Fae Trap. The Fae Trap has a large flower pod base as their lower half. It is light green with yellow spots. The petals surrounding the opening are yellow and orange. Out of the top opening springs the rest of the fae trap. They are made of a human spine and rib cage. Their arms are made of old, pinkish meat. Feathers and leaves are mixed into the arm from things previously digested. Various pitcher plants grow out of their body, as well as venus fly traps. Their head is made of a crumbling masquerade mask. Out of the eye sockets, more pitcher plants grow. Out of the back of their head are several venus fly traps and long, light green sundews. The fae trap stands before two torches. The torches have skulls on their tops. The background, overall, is a wall of bones and skulls.

Pretty cool, right?

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