It's time for the Patreon OC poll, pt. 2! Thank you to everyone who submitted their characters for this poll!
(Quick reminder that I also have poll suggestions open for fanart & my own OCs! Be sure to submit something there too if you haven't. That poll will be going up at the end of the month!)
Vote for your favorite characters out of the options below! π This poll is multiple choice. The winner will be the subject of the bonus illustration for this month! The runners up will also receive a sketch (how detailed it is and how many extra characters I do will depend on my workload & how spread out the votes are!) :D
I've been meaning to make another update like this for a while, so this one's a little lengthy! It's broken up into subjects to make it a little easier to read (hopefully). I find that it's helpful to write these thoughts down and share them with people who are interested in what I'm doing. π
β current works in progress
Right now my main focus for the month is completing two works in progress: Professor Novis' Vtuber model and my Fields of Mistria zine page illustration. The zine illustration is at the end of this week and is about 90% done, just needs some touching up and refining. The zine was a big of a personal project, but I think it's important to do things that are a little bit self-indulgent at times. Deadlines are always kinda stressful though, so I'm hoping to finish it up within the next few days!
Novis (formerly Tetsuo) is also very close to being completed, but just needs a lot of fine-tuning and tweaking to make sure the artwork is ready to be rigged. The plan is to have the art all finish and ready to mark as completed by August 31st. I'll be sharing more WIPs soon! (I need to take some more WIPs/screenshots still! It's a little complicated because there's so many layers and things to toggle on and off lmao)
β commissions
Once those to major deadlines are out of the way, I'll be able to shift my focus back to finishing all the remaining commissions in my queue that have yet to be started (thank you to everyone who's been waiting so patiently for me to be ready to invoice & start your commission!), and start taking on new ones! I'm really excited for that, because it feels like I've been in limbo for most of this year and haven't been able to start a lot of new projects.
My focus at first when I open up new comms again will probably be smaller scale projects like sketches and sketch pages. I'm thinking of making some new comm types that I can offer at a lower price that are a bit quicker to complete, and I'll probably be asking patrons to be guinea pigs for them so I can make some example images, so keep an eye out if you're interested in that :3
β new patron benefits / patreon updates
Posts have been slim here lately because of the aforementioned projects, and also a lot mental and physical health issues getting in the way of things. The health issues are ongoing, and I do hope things get better, but I hope to restructure things a little bit to make it easier to have new content to post for you all even when I'm not doing well.
My ideas for that, which I'll be working on in the coming months:
Posting more WIPs and sketches, like small OC doodles and fanart of things that I'm interested in. I'm hoping that I can start a habit of spending ~30 mins each day on something like this that I can post when I'm ready.
Drawing my friend's OCs and patron OCs more frequently. The OC polls have been fun so far, and while I might not do them every month, I'd like to incorporate something like that into my regular schedule. It's a little tricky finding a good balance, especially because I need OC commission requests coming in to keep myself afloat financially. I might expand or make a new tier for people who want to get recurring OC art - we'll see!
On the subject of OCs, I also would like to start making low cost adoptable specifically to offer to patrons so that more people can get one! I'm aiming for something in the $20-50 range per character, probably on a pose template or base body that I'll make for customizing. If this sounds interesting to you, I'd love to hear it! I'd love to start amassing a list of adoptable ideas!
β quick note about mental health & personal stuff
Last month, my mental health took a nosedive due to resurfacing trauma and the impact it's been having on my life. The good news is that after it started getting so bad, I doubled down on my search for trauma therapy and now I have some things established. On top of that, I've just been trying really hard to improve myself and take care of myself. It's challenging, but I'm proud of my progress. There have been times in the past where I struggled just as badly but neglected my health and ignored my own needs in order to keep it business as usual, even though I was isolating myself and dissociating from my pain in the process.
I'm a different person now than I was even just a few years ago, and I am no longer stuck in any of those toxic environments from the past. I can prioritize bettering myself and taking care of my own health. That's the biggest comfort I have right now, and it's helping to keep me moving forward.
The situation with increasing internet censorship and payment processors has been a big source of anxiety too, and I wanted to talk about it here briefly. I'm sure most of you are as invested in queer art as I am so you've probably heard a lot about it already. As someone who draws naked people and queer art of various kinds, I feel this vague sense of unease, like I'll wake up one day and be banned from XYZ service or app. I draw a lot less explicit art these days, but I still don't want to self-censor just to try to avoid some kind of ban wave of 18+ creators. Even if I purged all my explicit art altogether, I think the moving goalposts will continue to close in on anyone creating overtly queer art, if these organizations behind the push for censorship get their way.
So I don't know what's going to happen. But I've been trying to focus on the things that I can control, and surrounding myself with lots of 18+ and queer artists, trying to build more community and solidarity with people in a similar situation as me. I've been very reclusive in the past and just posted my art without really talking about myself or trying to connect with people, and I really hate how that's lead to me feeling pretty isolated. That's something I've been working on. I think that community and solidarity is one of the most important things we have right now, and I know my happiness and peace of mind can improve the more I work on this. ----
That's about it for now! It's a long post, so thank you for reading! Please feel free to drop a comment if there's something that you wanted to provide feedback on / ideas for / etc. I'm going to keep working at these things, so I'll have more to post up soon <3
Just like with Ciaran, I've been working on a slight redesign and new ref for my other incubus character Salim (he/him)!
Salim is a character that I've technically had for a long time, but I never made a proper ref for him and haven't drawn much in general, so he's transformed a lot between appearances. I'm still brainstorming some outfits for him - the one pictured is just a "hanging out at home" kind of outfit. I'm still not certain what his sense of style is going to be, but I think it'll be a lot of relaxed fit and activewear type clothes. He's rapidly becoming a masc character that I can project myself on, so I'll probably also draw him in things that I'd wear if I had the self-confidence to do so π (Ciaran is also like that for me tbh.)
I meant to post this WIP last month, but it's been very hectic for me and I got weirdly nervous about having to write up my thoughts, for some reason. I'm trying to shift my focus to sharing more WIPs and more insight into the things I'm working on and how I feel about them. I hope that this approach ends up being enjoyable for you all too (and hoping that it will help me get over my posting anxiety so I can post more often!) Will be making another general update post once I finish writing that up. Thank you all, as always (Β΄β½`Κβ‘Ζͺ)
Some recent art for two of my Vtuber spawn (friends), Stella and Cereza! She/her for both.
I recently got to spend time with Stella in person and wanted to make her a little doodle as thanks for all the food and treats she always gives me when we're together (βΒ΄β‘`β) ...It was supposed to be a doodle, anyway, but it ended up detailed because I got carried away designing the outfit. It's a little bit similar to an outfit I made for her in the past by coincidence. Stella just looks cool in layered dresses and fabric with a lot of movement (not sure what you'd call this fashion style???).
The second pic was for Cereza's recent birthday! I drew her in this goth swimsuit kinda thing last year, but wanted to draw it again with some extra embellishments. I like the twin braid hairstyle πβ¨
Sketch page comm for Cassi, she/he pronouns for this character! This commission type is normally monochrome, but this character's colors are normally like this, so he looks perfect in this style!
I'd love to hear which pose is your favorite (^β^*)
For this monthβs patreon bonus, I drew the top 3 winners from the OC poll! I wanted to make something like a little pinup for each character, so I decided on a theme of black lingerie (or maybe swimsuits for Katya and Denby, depends on your interpretation)
The characters are: Denbysona (twoheadedenby, they/them), Katya (for Emprisa, she/her) and Lyssalβs mothsona (she/her)!
(This was a lot of fun, and Iβm planning on doing it again next month! <3 If you want to submit your character in next monthβs poll, youβll just need to be in the Silver patreon tier next month when the submission post goes up. And thank you again to everyone who sent in a character for the poll! :D)
Take this rough sketch! I have been working on revamping Ciaran's design a little bit and I sketched a new base for his ref sheet today. Ciaran has evolved quite a bit since I first made him, and he's been needing a new reference for like, years. On top of making a new ref that better expresses how I want him to look, I've been wanting to give him some new outfits!
The final version might be a bit different, but here's a concept for an ouji (princely) fashion-inspired fit. I was also planning to make a new casual outfit and maybe a flamboyant lil suit? We'll see! If you have any ideas for outfits you'd like to see him wear, feel free to shoot them my way, too β¨
Hey everyone! This month we're doing something different for the bonus illustration: patron original characters! Thank you to everyone who submitted their characters for this poll! (If you're in Silver tier and didn't get a chance to submit a character, please look forward to the next time, because I'd like to do this again :D)
Vote for your favorite characters out of the options below! This poll is multiple choice. The winner will be the subject of the bonus illustration for this month! Depending how spread out the votes are and how much time I have, I plan to do some doodles for the runners-up too!
A character who's been bouncing around in my head for a little while! I finally made her a little reference. I feel like I tend to make a lot of characters who are interested in clothing/costume making, I guess because I'm always like "I need to learn how to sew" but never sit down to do it π One day! I really hope you all like her! Excited to make more art with Rose <3
(Also wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who commented on the previous post - I plan to go through and respond when I'm able, but I can't overstate how much it means to me. Thank you again π)
This is very difficult for me to post, but I feel that I have to speak up about what I'm going through in order to continue to work as an artist and to share my work online. I have been struggling with PTSD, as I've mentioned here before, and after beginning to write down my experiences it's opened the floodgates of all these repressed memories and things that I was completely dissociated from.
The way I started out making explicit art for commissions was through being groomed at a young age. There was one person in particular who directly pushed me into making explicit commissions, but due to the circumstances of my home life and the PTSD I was already dealing with at that time, there were multiple other people who led me down a dark path of breaking down my own boundaries to where there were simply none left.
I have written a blog post offsite about these things that I'm struggling with. I hope that it helps contextualize what I'm talking about, but please only read if you are in a safe enough mental space to handle it.
My hope is that sharing this experience with people who enjoy my work will help me regain a sense of control and safety over my own life. Healing will take time, but the bottom line is that I have a desire to create, despite this. My art isn't going anywhere, but I may be slow as I try to heal and get to a more safe place mentally, especially when it comes to explicit artwork. I will continue to share as much as I can, when I'm able.
For the bonus poll for June - a transfem character in a gown revealing nothing underneath! I took this opportunity to design a dress for Neela the bee, because she needs more outfit designs! She's definitely looking at Orchid offscreen...
The background is made out of a photo I took of some lilacs, btw!
(* I pivoted from the original prompt slightly - I felt a bit uncomfortable when trying to research/find refs for a southern belle costume because of historical associations. Nothing wrong with the request (I know nothing bad was meant by it) but I didn't want to go against my gut feeling. I think this dress design is a good alternative though, and I hope you all agree π)
Another commission that I somehow forgot to upload to Patreon - better late than never! OC sketch comm for Shovel featuring a friendβs Miqote character. (She/her for both)
Time to decide a prompt for this month's bonus illustration!
On top of the requests you all submitted, I added some WIPs into the mix for you all to vote on! (I've done a little more work on the Vivid and Liri sketch from a couple months ago, so take a peek at it again before you vote π) Even if one of the WIPs don't win, I'll be prioritizing working on whichever WIP gets the most votes whenever I have time to revisit them!
The poll is set to end by 6/29. (You can vote for more than one prompt!)
EDIT: (Note about the winning prompt: After searching for references for the prompt, I feel uncomfortable with the "southern belle" concept because of the association with problematic aspects of American history. I don't think that the original request or anyone who voted for the prompt had any bad intentions behind it, this is just my own feeling on the matter. I should have done this before posting the poll, but I'll be changing the prompt to a focus on a more generic gown costume. I'm sorry if anyone saw the prompt and was uncomfortable with it. Despite the slight change, I hope you all like how it turns out!)
I asked people on Bluesky what kind of things they'd like to see from me (feel free to respond to the post if you want to add to it!), and someone mentioned "girls kissing." Of course I've drawn more girls kissing before, but it reminded me that I had wanted to redraw this Patreon bonus illustration from 2022 of two transfem mermaids before I posted it again. The original illustration is in the attachments.
At first I tried painting over it, but then decided I wanted to just completely redraw it. I also cropped it because I felt like this composition just works better. There's two different versions of this WIP as well because I thought it looked nice without the background color too :3 I think I've improved a lot since 2022, so it's neat to see the differences!
Let me know if you'd like to see me finish rendering this new version! I hope you all like it π
I drew this last month on stream and forgot to post it! I made this base drawing for a new reference sheet for her, and I will definitely finish it Eventually(TM). She looks more girlypop than usual here which is a fun change of pace for her π (Avila's fashion is usually more like sexy officewear or pleather and bodysuits, that type of vibe.)
Here's some updates on things that I've been working on!
Recently, since I finished that big room project, I've switched to focusing on Tetsuo's Vtuber model commission in hopes of finishing it in the next couple months. Tetsuo's model has ended up taking a longer time my previous model comms because we both had to stretch out the project timeline for reasons outside our control. Despite that, Tetsuo has been very understanding, and I can't wait to finally have this project completed for them!! I'll also still be working on other stuff concurrently. Once that's done and I've knocked out a few more comms that people have been waiting for, I'll be able to open new slots again! It feels like it's been forever since the last big batch.
The other day I updated my stream layouts and added some other things to my Twitch! I'm working on improving them each time, so I'd love for you all to come check it out when you get the chance :3 I've mainly been focusing on Twitch streams, but I'm also planning to do more Picarto streams, mainly when I have NSFW commissions or other projects that I want to share.
Last month I made a little contest entry for something, and I should be able to see if I placed in the contest this weekend! I'll let y'all know when you can see my entry and stuff once I have more details. I also submitted an application to be part the art team for a small Vtuber group. I'm not exactly sure when I'll hear back about that application, but I would love for it to work out (βΒ΄β‘`β)
I'm participating in a fanzine this summer! I submitted my rough drafts for initial review (I'm doing a page illustration as well as some marginalia illustrations). I think they're going to post up all the artist bios to social media soon, so I'll share that when they do! I can't wait for this zine, it's gonna be so cute when it's all finished.
A colored sketch page commission for Kira featuring her and her wife's FFXIV characters π (she/her for both) They asked me to come up with the poses and everything, so I had a lot of fun with this (βΛβΛβ)
Orchid and Neela for May's winning bonus illustration prompt, "A post-op transfem having a mindblowing prostate orgasm" π I think Orchid is typically pretty dominant, so with that in mind, this is a cute little role reversal moment for her. Also, this is the first time I've drawn these two together! Can't wait to do more with them~
Hi everyone, Happy Pride!!! I have merch!! β¨ I started working with Hovercat as a creator, and the preorders for my first collection are now up! All featuring my artwork of my OCs! π Preorders will be open during Pride month!
We've got T-shirts of the Sara transition comic print as well as the Ciaran print, a poster for both of those illustrations, plus an acrylic standee for Ciaran. For Sara, there's an acrylic charm plus a 2.5" holo heart sticker! We also have Kitten in the same style sticker!
For Remiel and Micah there's an acrylic standee as well as a large 7" vinyl sticker!
And lastly there's a sticker sheet with all the little Ciaran emotes from my Discord and Twitch :3
We need to get a couple orders to fund production, and then hopefully after that there will be some extra stock of each item that I can continue to have available, but the t-shirts are printed on demand and will be staying up until the merch collection changes. The timeframe for production will be at least a couple weeks after preorder - check the product descriptions for details!
I'm so excited to release my first set of merch and share this will you all! Hovercat has been absolutely wonderful to work with and I am looking forward to the future merch releases too ππ
I just finished a huge stream background project for Cereza! This commission has been in the works since December of last year, and is one of the biggest illustration projects I've ever done aside from the Vtuber models I've made.
Each scene also has some small animations to go with it! This is also the first time I've ever animated something, aside from tinkering around to learn how it works in Clip Studio. The animations may be rather simple but I like how it ties it all together! Now that I've learned a bit about how to do simple animation, I really want to continue making them. :3
Here's a breakdown of each piece: View #1: The whole library! Includes blank shelves in the center for Cereza to decorate with PNGs. Also made a night version and a rain animation that can be overlaid. View #2: Desk scene! Includes more intentionally blank shelves. The monitor is a magical lectern and the screen can turn into a magic tome when it's off. View #3: Zoomed in scene of the windows featuring Dollreza (she's smaller than the usual Cereza, and she also has 4 arms - the extra hand isn't an error!). For use as a "starting soon" and BRB screen. Made a rain animation for this one too, and some movement from the breeze coming through an open window.
I tried to cram in lots of little details and easter eggs so that there's plenty of stuff to stare at. And later on down the line, I'd like to revisit these scenes and make small improvements to it, maybe adding more animations π For now, though, it's done!! I'm really proud of myself for completing this project and for stepping so far out of my comfort zone. I hope you all enjoy it, too!! β¨
Time to decide a prompt for this month's bonus illustration!
So many OC requests this month!! I'm really excited to see what wins this one! The poll is set to end by 5/31. (You can vote for more than one prompt!)
Some of my existing original character references can be found here!
I have a fair bit of work from 2024 (and a few pieces from 2023) that as far as I can tell have never been posted here! I think a couple may have been posted on social media or in the Patreon discord server at some point, but I wanted to go back through and upload some art that I missed!
These are all commissions! Details and pronouns from left to right: #1: for Akibastranger, she/her for both #2: for Aoife, she/her for both #3: for Medi, they/them and he/him #4: for TheMineKnight, she/her and he/him #5: for Edgewing, he/him #6: for Fixer_dt, he/him and she/her #7: for Fly, he/him and she/her #8: for Jokulmaer, she/they for both #9: for Isabella, she/her for both
Another thing from the March bonus poll - the runner up was for me to design a buggy girlfriend for Neela the bee! I finally finished this rough reference for her.
I know Orchid is a really basic name for her, but I just feel like it fits ... after all, an orchid mantis models itself after an orchid flower, and I feel like it's a name that a transfem mantis might pick for herself. :3 I tried to make her look more like a lil alien, because that's the vibe that mantises have. Also the green markings aren't hair, they're just green markings, even though the heart is kinda masquerading as pubes.
I really hope you all like her! Can't wait to draw them together! (βΒ΄β‘`β)
The winning prompt for April was Cereza and VV in bunny suits! I went for more suggestive and less NSFW with this one just because I had this pose idea and thought it was cute...and I wanted to make something with an overall playful feeling (and to give VV her own bunnysuit design to match the one I made for Cereza a while ago). I'd like to make a more lewd followup sketch for you all, so I'm open for pose/scenario suggestions π
Building on the new adult magical girl OC I made for last month, I have another little reference sheet for her non-transformed appearance!
I still haven't decided their "normal" name. I'm kinda thinking Marie (from mariposa lily, which is the flower her magical form is based on). What do you all think? I'm still very open to suggestions! As I wrote in the sketch, she typically wears binders during the day, but when in Bright Lily form she gets a magical bust size reduction. Because I think gender affirming magical transformations are cool.
I'm excited to make more art with this character! I'm also still planning on finishing the praying mantis character design that I teased earlier this month (that'll be next after I do the April bonus illustration). π
Some recent solid color sketch commissions! She/her for both characters. First comm for June, and the second was for FadedPhantom. I really enjoy drawing in this style (βΒ΄β‘`β)
(If you'd like to put yourself on the interest/ping list for this commission type, you can do that on Vgen now! I'm hoping to open some slots for silver tier+ patrons later this month!)
Recently, since I finished 
I'm participating in a fanzine this summer! I submitted my rough drafts for initial review (I'm doing a page illustration as well as some marginalia illustrations). I think they're going to post up all the artist bios to social media soon, so I'll share that when they do!
