I have several pieces of news to share today. First, an apology for not making an update sooner. I have been trying to juggle several projects and commissions among things like grad/school year shenanigans, etc. Things just didn't happen as quickly as I would have liked, thanks to too few spoons. I also lost my hard drive a couple of weeks ago (losing all my art/data) which has set me back on several things. And, since it's summer, I have been taking a few days/weeks to spend time with my family camping.
Good news:
All the designs have been approved by me. Here are some sneak peeks at the 3D mockups so you can see the textures!
The War Horn:
Overall I am so happy that we were able to preserve much of the original art in these designs while still making them 3D
Stretchgoal:
We didn't quite get to unlock this little guy during the campaign, so he will be available in the surveys as a stretch goal:
He will only be 2" instead of 3" like the other pins. But I think he would be an adorable addition!
Surveys/Fulfillment:
I will try to get surveys set up over the next two weeks before I go sailing for a week, but if not, I will likely have these to you in September once I fulfilled my other Derpy pin campaigns.
We are in the final hours and have unlocked all 4 designs! Thank you!
But we still have time to unlock the 5th design: Meet Scuttle, the adorable animal companion rock-muncher. If we can get the campaign to $7500, we can unlock him too!
(Don't worry if we don't get it in the campaign, I will add him as a stretch goal in the pledgemanager)
I have some treats for you today! (Namely, spinning sneak peeks at the 3D mock-ups of the designs ^_^) ***Important: these are digital mock-ups and final variations are inevitable***
But before I share them, have you read the first part of the story that inspired the relics yet?
Below are two character illustrations of the main characters that inspired these relics. The books came to be when we were playing D&D and discussing what our real life class/races would be and my husband determined that I was a dwarven barbarian. Initially I wasn't too happy by this, because there are no female dwarven barbarians in my favourite book genres!
My husband's response? Write it....
So I did! I wrote book 1-3 last year (over half a million words!) and are currently halfway through book 4 (the final book in the series)
I also leaned very heavily into some D&D stereotypes when I created the original character concepts. Naturally they took a life of their own, and very little of the original concepts remain exactly as I imagined. But the core is there. A bard and a barbarian--only not like you're used to seeing them.
Ioke - FMC - inspired the Axe and Horn relics - dwarven barbarian/blacksmith
Cye - MMC - inspired the white raven relics - nightmare fae bard/bounty hunter
A cursed, outcast dwarven warrior and her fae heartmate must confront the resurrected evil threatening the world and each other, journeying through trauma, divine manipulation, and war to forge both magic and meaning in a land shaped by ancient betrayal. To save their found family and prevent the world’s destruction, they must master powers linked by love, rage, and forbidden song while wrestling with hope, fate, sacrifice, and their own brokenness.
Dragon talisman:
White Raven and Legendary axe
Legendary Horn:
I am still tweaking the flying raven design, and will hopefully be able to share some more details of that one with you soon!
Today I will share the drawing process of the Horn of Summoning. For this one, I used elements from existing art to create the design. Throughout the story, I like to weave a lot of symbolism and imagery into the story itself. And because I want a cohesive look, I like to reuse elements I have already drawn.
I originally drew this horn to be a cover element, so many of the elements were sourced from Book 1. This horn is featured on the 3rd or 4th book cover (I can't remember😂)
The horn itself is crafted across 3 different books in the series. It's harvested in book 2 from special Spiritwood trees, in book 3 it's crafted both through carving over weeks while travelling across harsh conditions and using magic for the metal elements, and finally in book 4 it gets used in the climatic battle against the villain. I actually just wrote the battle scene this past week, and honestly, I wish I was already publishing these books so I can share it with the world so I'm not the only one crying with my characters.
You're probably wondering why I am running a pin campaign before I have even published the books. Simple—I'm impatient and the art was done even if the books aren't yet. Anyway, I hope you love these updates with the behind the scenes and WIP art.
Apparently you guys like the raven pins because they tied in the last poll! So today I am being evil and making you choose which one you like more! But I will also be nice and share the progress video and WIP art of how I drew the flying raven pin ^_^
(Unfortunately, there isn't one for the axe one because the axe was part of the character art I drew of the main character.)
Hopefully, this video works:
The white raven appears as a recurring element in my series as it also happens to be what my MMC turns into. I chose a raven because they are viewed as spirit animals that can cross the veil across many cultures. And since my MMC is a nightmare fae (literally born in the realm of dreams and nightmares) I felt it was the perfect symbolism. If you want to read more about the story and see more art from the series, be sure to check out my Patreon. You can follow it for free (though the naughty art is a paid tier - but you get 1 month FREE with this link)
Hope you guys have a wonderful day! Can't wait to see which raven you pick in the poll!
