I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal. This line of pieces is going to take a while before everything is done...

Sketched out Phineas's revamped design. I'm glad I finally got around to doing him because in previous iterations, It kind of felt like he stuck out too much from the rest of the cast, like his story or concept was kind of a hangnail that existed just because.

I wanted to take Phineas's background more seriously than that first iteration, so I ended up writing a ton more for him than I could fit into the established optical limit, so much of the time on this one was just spent trying to trim it all down to size. At this point, I'm not sure what I could possibly omit without losing some important context or making the passage sound completely utilitarian. There might be more ways of shortening it that I come across when I give him his render pass, but I'm not sure.

I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal. This line of pieces is going to take a while before everything is done...

Sketched out Lucius's revamped design (i.e. I finished Doom TDA). Huge change from his original, Clint Eastwood-esque look, I wanted him to look much scrappier and more coltish. This was also an opportunity to reiterate on the Vaulidons' appearance in general, leaning even heavier into the humanoid velociraptor / horny toad hybrid look with prominent feathers, long necks, and wide, flat heads.

I also wanted the clothing to reflect their mesothermic cardiovascular system and their habitat, so I based it on layered fabrics. That way, the Vaulidonic wearer can quickly put on and take off layers of warmth depending on the ambient temperature.

I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal. This line of pieces is going to take a while before everything is done...

Sketched out Quill's and Koda's revamped designs. I thought I'd end up changing him a bit more visually, but I ended up liking his original face enough to not leave it totally behind. I've absolutely made him more buff/wide than he was before, though.

I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal. This line of pieces is going to take a while before everything is done...

Sketched out Vivian's revamped design. Vivian as a companion is meant to showcase the game's invention system wherein she will develop better prototypes for her Shock Saber as the player progresses her storyline. The mechanism on Mk. 1 is inspired by Thaddeus Cunningham's static electricity generator, but later models omit the hand crank in favor of less obtrusive implements.

Also, a mock-up of the shock saber's design. The gauntlet that covers the forearm is made of porcelain, as it acts as an insulator (rubber has not been invented yet)

I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal. This line of pieces is going to take a while before everything is done...

Sketched out Cyrus' revamped design. Finally, I've got him out of that plague doctor's mask, that was just incompatible with the setting. I was worried his appearance would not stand out as much without it, but I feel like this should do a good job, especially with how much more dramatic I've made him. I also took this as an opportunity to tune the design of the Hren in general, with more deer-like facial proportions, antlers that blend into the brow like the other primordial races have with their horns, and a distinctly longer, cervine neck.

I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal. This line of pieces is going to take a while before everything is done...

Sketched out Wisp's revamped design. It's kind of crazy to me that there are some parts of her original iteration that are still apparent here (at least in my eyes), but I'm much happier with her characterization now compared to before.

I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal. This line of pieces is going to take a while before everything is done...

This is a sketch of Baltimore's revamped design. His backstory was a bit difficult to get working with Freeland's new history, but I'm pretty happy with how I've got it here. I even figured out how to work in proto NOVA :)

Also, to give some more detail on the Loganites, they belong to a Hvaldist denomination informed by the lectures of the Hrenish missionary named Logan Aiseth.

Logan spoke of free will as not just a gift from the brother-god Qu’in, but as a direct link to divinity that is shared by all individuals. As such, the Loganites believe that mortals exercise their godliness through friendship and cooperation, for the act of creation, of constructing something tangible or intangible and placing it into the world, forthrightly mirrors the gods’ abilities to do the same.

Logan had inanely hoped that these beliefs would inspire reform within the Church, but the Nocrothians would not take kindly to the notion that the Restitution of Knowing could be paid through any means outside their own glorious grief, much less that mortals were divine in any way.

The Church would declare the Loganites to be heretics and persecute them, forcing the survivors to flee the continent. Most would settle with the Niami in the Leilamani Archipelago, but Baltimore and his family were among the few to indenture themselves and escape to Freeland.

I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal.

Here is a sketch of Willow's revamped design. I ended up changing her a little more than I initially planned to, and I've updated her backstory to give her more agency and another layer to her character.

I’m currently working on revamping the designs for all the characters in Armada’s party. I’ll be uploading my WIPs through my news section because I only want to submit the complete illustrations to the Art Portal.

Here is the sketch for Armada. No big changes for her designs, I mainly wanted to her personality better with this render.

Also, I’ve created a concrete backstory for her now. I’m plotting out her hero’s journey, so there’s much more written down elsewhere. For this series of illustrations, I was wanting to try and make the descriptions a bit more digestible, and I’ve been sweating over condensing the content of the text down to fit in this small column (please let me know if you see any typos!).

The descriptions are all going to be written by Armada’s S.T.A.R., Azura, and I’ll be getting a design down for her in this set as well.

Happy birthday to the United States of America <3

Sadly, I don't have any new artwork to share today, but I'm still chipping away at the big one. In the meantime, here's a little historical rambling from me:

Technically, the USA was realized on July 2nd, 1776, when the Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution which declared the independence of the colonies as sovereign states. July 4th is considered the honorific anniversary since that is the day that the Declaration of Independence was adopted, signed, and published by the Continental Congress. John Adams believed that July 2nd should have been the day marked for celebration, but the founding fathers proclaimed July 4th to be such because most of them had surprisingly forgotten the anniversary until July 3rd of the next year.

Adams’ Federalists and Jefferson’s Anti-Federalists would continue to fight over how the country’s anniversary should be celebrated, and both men would pass away on July 4th in the same year of 1826. Jefferson wrote a letter just two days before reminiscing on the importance of the day, how it should stand to refresh our memories of the sacrifices made by our forebears to earn the rights we protect now. In reflecting this, we may better understand what it takes to do the same for ourselves and for our future generations.