Zephrun’s Imperium

My brain hurts...

Day Seventeen: Salty

Here’s Heather again. Not only is she crabby, but she is also salty.

Day Sixteen: Fowl

I freaking love this drawing. What else is there to say?

Day Fifteen: Armadillo 

So… I didn’t finish this one. I was absolutely in love with how it started, but when I added ink, it just didn’t look good at all. Beyond that… “Armadillo?” What the heck was I supposed to do for that?! I decided to go with Sophie - a character that I have since gotten rid of - because she has force fields as her magical power. Force fields make a shell kind of like an armadillo??? So… it works???

Day Fourteen: Empty

When I filled out what I wanted to do for all the prompts, this was the one of the very last ones that I determined. I’m honestly not sure how I came to the conclusion that Lucky Sliver would be the best fit although he is quite empty before his girlfriend comes along.

So… I’ll be honest, I used to be four drawings ahead and now I am one drawing ahead. That scares me a little bit. I will try to do as much work as possible over my three day weekend, but to say that I am extremely busy this month would be an understatement. I’m honestly amazed that I’ve gotten a drawing out every day so far.

On another note though, thank you so much for the support! My art is really important to me and it is definitely a risk to share it with people. It’s really inspiring to see so many people trying Inktober at all different levels. To anyone reading this who might do art of their own, I would give as much encouragement as possible. Art is such a personal thing, and anyone who dares to do it is brave. Particularly if you’re just starting out, I would encourage you to continue, even if it seems like you are not nearly good as you would like to be. I promise that with time you will improve and that you will be amazed with what you can accomplish. Thanks everyone!

Day Thirteen: Kind

Here’s Nicolae Kimby from Masquerade, someone who I consider to be an extremely kind individual despite their extreme trauma. I drew them holding a butterfly because I think that’s really cute. They look so excited about it!

Day Twelve: Forget

I had no idea what to do for this one, but I found a really cute reference that looked like someone had just forgotten something, so I decided to do that. No idea why I picked. Ember as the subject, but it turned out pretty okay! I honestly like the sketch more than the final product.  

Day Eleven: Eagle

I’ll be honest, I was stumped with this one at first. But it turns out that eagles have a military connotation? And that’s enough for me! General Caden Praetorium it is!

Day Ten: Crabby

Today’s drawing features, Heather Celeste, who I believe to be in a constant state of crabbiness.

Day Nine: Nest

Here’s Star, the woman, the mother, the legend. I drew her as a sort of 80s superhero, protecting her house and home, castle Celeste. Her nest, you could call it. I really like how her face turned out, but the rest of her is just okay.

Day Eight: Match

Here are Rose and Jahora; a set of bounty hunters from the second book in my planned series of six, Praetorium. 

This one also doesn’t have progress photos because I did it in school. Sorry! 

Caaaaaan do, @The Halcyon Girl!

So, as I mentioned previously, Fischer is a soldier fighting the withergeists to protect the kingdom of Mendahar (which is part of the premise of my and @Channelknight Fadran's book which I HIGHLY recommend you check out! We're in the third draft). However, his part in the military is not by choice; he was drafted around age 12 to be a squire and eventually a foot soldier in the decades-long war. Being drafted seperated from his life-long friend and lover Nicolae Kimby (who I'll be drawing eventually 'cause they're the freaking best). As kids, Fischer dubbed Nicolae the Prince of Daisies, and ever since, the soft innocence of flowers has reminded him of his partner. Cute stuff. Hope that helped clarify and make the drawing a bit more meaningful!

Day Seven: Trip

Drawing #7 features Pearl Celeste getting ready to embark on her long awaited vacation from the castle - her home and prison - that she grew up in. This is honestly my favorite drawing so far. 

Day Six: Bouquet 

Back again with Fischer! I’m only doing each character twice at most, but I think it’s funny that both of Fischer’s drawings ended up being back to back. 

I apologize, but I don’t have any progress photos for this one.  I drew and colored it during a boring lecture for Oral Communications and I couldn’t exactly have my phone out during that time. 

I haven’t posted very much context for any of my art this year…. If anyone desires it, speak now. 

I see no art. 

Day Five: Flame

But Star! Where’s the flame?! It’s, uh…. It’s in his left hand.  I just didn’t have enough room to draw the torch…  But the important thing is that it’s there. This, by the way, is Fischer. He is a soldier in - you guessed it - Masquerade; a world under attack from demons called withergeists.

I think this drawing looked a lot better as a sketch….

Day Four: Scallop

Okay, even I admit this one is a stretch. I had no idea what to do for this prompt originally; usually what I do for prompts that are stumping me is go to dictionary.com and see if there any alternative definitions. But for scallop? Nothing. So, my logic was that scallops remind me of rich people, and Ivian (the man I drew) is a king. That’s…. That’s it, that’s literally why. 

Day Three: Bat

If you're anything like me, then the first thing you think of when you hear the word "bat" is the small winged creature often associated with vampires. However, if you think a little longer, then you'll remember that "bat" as a verb means to hit. And that's exactly what happened to miss Riva. If you've read Masquerade (shameless plug for my novel) then you remember when, at the second ball, Riva was slapped and thrown into the mud. Poor thing. EXCEPT NOT POOR THING BECAUSE RIVA IS A TERRIBLE PERSON! But she is fun to write.  

Sorry this post came out late, I didn't create time in my morning to do it. But it's here now! Have a nice day! And I'll give you a hint, tomorrow's drawing is a m a z i n g. 

Everyone uses references; no shame in that.  I'm honored that you can learn from my work! Good luck on your art journey; if you keep at it, I promise you will be amazed by what you can accomplish. 

Day Two: Scurry

Today’s subject is Pheonix! (Yes, I spelled that correctly; it’s his name) I don’t know what he’s running from (or to) so I guess you can think of that on your own! 

I apologize for the drop in quality between number one and number two, but I figured that I should at least have a few drawings that challenge me, and this was definitely one of them (and I’ll warn you right now that the next one is hard too). This was an incredibly difficult pose for me, partially just because of scale; the paper I work with for Inktober is much smaller than my normal drawings and I’m the type of person who likes to draw BIG. But ultimately, I am happy with how it turned out under the circumstances.

As always, here’s the sketch for it. 

Day One: Gargoyle

For the uninitiated, this may seem like a strange piece of art regarding the prompt. And… I’ll warn you right now, I have taken great liberties when it comes to following these prompts. I believe they are there to inspire, not dictate. But tangent aside, I do believe this woman, Avilaine, to be gargoyle-like in that she is absolutely grotesque in character. 

Here’s some of the drawing process. 

Yeeeeah... I know the Cosmere Inktober list exists, but I'd feel weird using it when I'm not drawing anything cosmere related. Plus I spent weeks working on planning for the official prompts. 

*club music* Are y’all as HYPED as I am?! I’ll admit what you already know; last year Inktober was a bit of a failure for me. But I am back to tackle this challenge once again. I’ve done it successfully twice before and I have no intention of backing down after one mishap. The official prompt list came out on September 1st, and I have worked hard since then to plan and prepare for drawings that will be fun and challenging, but not so ambitious that I get anxious - which is what happened last year. I just hope that y’all will enjoy seeing the final products as much as I enjoy the process. 

My current plan is to draw everything a day early so that I can post my art when I wake up in the morning. That might not happen every day, but that’s the goal.  I am so excited to share my Inktober journey with you guys!

(PS: here are some sneak peeks of my art this year) 

This is literally so dumb... but Kelsier is Kirby and the tree is the Lord Ruler.

https://youtube.com/shorts/9gmMnyTVm3k?feature=share

I like "diegetic."