Category: Art

Story Sparks Cards sketches, part 1

For decades, I’ve been poking at a deck of writing prompts that I’ve named the Story Sparks Deck (literally decades – I was doing drawings for it for one of my final art classes). But I could never figure out an illustration style that would work with the more abstract prompts. If you follow me on Dreamwidth, you may have seen the events I’ve hosted on AllBingo with the prompts. I’ve revised the list some, which I’m probably going to end up doing more, but I’ve settled on about 76 cards.

I’ve finally figured out a symbolic style that’s working for me. After I had sketched a few, I revised the palette a little, so I have some that have two versions. I’m going to share sketches here in multiple parts. I welcome comments on whether or not the ideas work – I’ve gone very abstract and I worry that some of them are too abstract.

Some of the cards are reversible, sometimes with different meanings depending on orientation. Those ones I’ll show both ways.

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Silvercat x3

line art of Silvercat in three poses, overlaid over each other, in blue, teal, and green

An experiment to use up one of the last prompts on Beige. A T-1 line allows multiple calls to made over a single line. So I was thinking of animation and that sort of thing. I don’t know how well it worked, but I like the poses.

Traced over three photographs of myself. Technically fits into Up at Silvercat’s because the non-UAS version has furry wings.

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The One Where They’re Human (and Also Magical Warriors)

My first AU (alternate universe)!

Felino is now Felipe, aka Crimson Puma. He’s Latino and a trans man, previously a butch lesbian. He can’t grow facial hair and he’s annoyed by it. He’s always ready to fight. He took a while to figure out his new name, so different groups of friends know him as different things. When people need something, he always knows a guy. He like punk music and fashion.

Mya is now Miyako, aka Saffron Lioness. She’s still cute and sweet, and likes to cook especially pastries, but now she’s Japanese-American. She’s very femme, and no, she doesn’t know martial arts.

Silvercat is now Sky, aka Indigo Tiger. Their gender is somewhere between “gender? I don’t know her” and “BUTCH.” They’re always tired. They’re white. They’re introverted and would really just like to be left alone to read and write. Her style is best described as comfortable. They do know martial arts.

The three of them were friends in high school. Now that they’re in their 20s, they’ve started a coffee, tea, and ice cream shop together, until one day a chocolate-brown, and rather chunky, talking cat strolled into their lives and told them they were destined Magical Warriors, and gave them each a transformation talisman.

Crimson Puma’s is a friendship bracelet. As Crimson Puma, he has the most raw power, and can fit in anywhere. (because mountain lion’s have the largest range of almost any animal)

Saffron Lioness’ is a barrette. Her power is the power of teamwork, cooperation, and charm. And also the magical pride of lions she can call up.

Indigo Tiger’s is a pen. They are a master of camouflage, stealth, and disguise. And also can claw through almost anything.

They all grow a couple of inches when they transform, which makes Sky and Felipe very happy. The hoods on their uniforms can hide their faces. And they can transform into their cat, a housecat sized version, or a magical energy version.

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Maa in snow gear sketch

(took me awhile to get around to scanning this)

Cold weather means layers. The layers she’s wearing are:

  • chemise
  • fur-lined trousers
  • heavy-weight tunic with fur-lined sleeves
  • fur-lined boots with ice cleats
  • mittens
  • tail sleeve
  • belted poncho
  • fur hat with drape/scarf (the hat isn’t transparent, I just wanted to make sure it had room for her ears)

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Comic icon tutorial: Speech Balloons 1

If there’s a word balloon in the section you want to make into an icon, you have a few options: you can remove it, you can remove the text, or you can just leave it as is. The last one is usually not a great option, because often the text is too small to read (or there’s just way too much text). I’ll show two ways to include the text or balloon in a later tutorial. Today, we’re going to cover removing it.

a panel with two thought balloons. Brian Braddock is shown wearing safety eyewear and doing something to make a bright spark. The entire panel is magenta.

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Silver’s Ultimate Text Readibility Trick

I’m going to be doing some icon/avatar tutorials, but this one works for any graphics.

Have you ever been stuck behind a truck with a wrap with a super busy background and looked at it thinking, “hope you have good word of mouth, because that phone number is impossible to read”? (this may be an ailment limited to graphic designers) How to keep that from happening with graphics you make? CHUNKY TEXT OUTLINES.

I’ve done literally hundreds of banners for RainbowLists / RainbowFic and I’ve used this trick for every one. Here’s the most basic form:

an ice cream counter with a number of tubs, with one being scooped into a cone. Text reads "time for dessert" in white with a black outline

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Rainbow/rainbow-ish icon bases

I found these images to make icons for Rainbow Fic on Dreamwidth and it’s related communities. There’s actually more than I can use. Anyway, I’m sharing them in three sizes – 100px, 200px, and 600px – which should work for wherever you want to use them. (I think it’s Discord that wanted a great big size). Credit to Silvercat17 if you want; I don’t really care. Do whatever you want with them.

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Ocelar (OC)

Ocelar is Thunderian oc of mine, from a story that I am likely never to finish writing. She from the Ocalen clan, who are the guardians of plants on Thundera and beyond, welcome even on Plundarr (mostly). Ocalen can sense life force and can instantly tell who is their lifemate. Because they’re the guardians of plants, they eat as little plant matter as possible.

Ocelar ended up crashing on Third Earth after getting caught in a wormhole. The original plan was for her to be Lion-o’s lifemate, but whether I go with that and what form it takes, is very much up in the air now (they might be platonic).

I may end up doing some more reference sheets for her, of her fur pattern under the clothes and her hoverbike thingy.

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