[1,098 words, 6 min estimated read time]
This month I focused a lot on character design and storytelling! I’ll start with the character designs and talk about some writing towards the end.
New Character Idea: Wythe
Continuing with the character design, I thought of a new character idea. It sort of spawned from reading The Ranger’s Apprentice for the first time. I got the idea for either a Scout Rogue or Hunter Ranger if playing them in a d&d game, some sort of stealth archer build. I’m thinking of the name Wythe for her, but that’s about all I’ve decided so far.
I had a general idea for what I wanted to go for but experimented a bit with things like Wythe’s facial features and hairstyle.
Next I experimented with outfit designs, I vaguely knew I pictured Wythe wearing big pants with a vest or corset, so it’s mostly just been a matter of picking out the more specific details.
And finally I settled on an outfit and drew out her reference sheet!
I’m really happy with the outfit, I might change it up later but for now I think it’s fitting for her. I took time to try and think about the construction of the outfit and how each piece is used- for example the larger, baggier shirt in the last image is the one she uses as a nightshirt. She’ll wear it on top of her regular outfit if it’s colder out.
I ended up making a moodboard for her. It looks a bit generic medieval fantasy, but I think when you set it beside the other moodboards I’ve made for characters it feels unique to her.
Another New Character Design: Circle of Dreams Druid
I also had the idea for a circle of dreams druid, but much less of an idea for what I was aiming for. I think maybe if playing in d&d I’d make them a firbolg or satyr/faun. I tried to go for more pastels mixed with muted teals. Normally when working on outfits I just do the drawings first, but this time I worked on a drawing, then colors, then a drawing, and so on. I’m glad I tried a different process but I think it’s hard to tell what I actually like most and whether it’s because I like the color combo or the outfit.
One thing that actually really helped was making a moodboard earlier on. Usually I wait until I have a clearer vision for the character, but doing the opposite helped when I had such vague ideas for the character. I’m also glad I made one just cause I really like making moodboards, and I like how this one turned out a lot.
Oathbreaker Paladin
I was designing armor for an oath of vengeance paladin for a d&d one-shot I’ll be joining. I’ve had this character idea sitting around on the backburner for at least seven years.
Her name is Moira Hellfire, I based her off of Doom Guy from Doom, I love her quite a bit. I finished the design for her but got a bit dejected that someone immediately pointed out she looks like Sevika from Arcane (I will not deny it, I know she does now… I know…)
Anyway I’m happy with how her sheet came together, I really like how the armor turned out. Good mix of pointy sharp bits and practicality. It matches her personality for sure. She is Intense™ but has taken a Mercenary Guild mission to chase down a fairytale because her teammates told her she needs to chill and experience some whimsy. And the closest she will get to taking a vacation is taking a job involving fairytale myths.
Writing a Short Fic
So. Each year I pick a thing to focus on with my art. Last year was character designs, which really only kicked off the end of last year and has bled into this year. But my art focus for 2026 is on storytelling.
Maybe I’ll write a whole blog post about it, but I’ve been wanting to shift gears from my comic story dreams to plain old written text. For a number of reasons. Most important reason right now is that it feels less daunting. Generally, I feel pretty good about my art, but not my comic making skills. But my writing skills I feel like, okayish about. Which is solidly in between feeling Generally Good and feeling Not Good!
So I decided to tackle storytelling with the medium I felt slightly more good about, and plan to rework the six written drafts I’ve had sitting around for an anthology series of comic stories, turning them into solely text based stories. But the first step before that was to just write. Something. Anything.
So I wrote my something anything story! You can read it here on ao3, it’s a little fic based on the videogame Oblivion, (I’ve been playing the remastered version a lot lately). I’ve been doing a playthrough as my character Killian, so he’s one of the characters in the fic.
I wanted to start here mostly because I know my character Killian pretty well already, and figured I’d have an easier time writing him. And also, inspiration just randomly struck and for once I had the wonderful ability to take the idea and run full steam ahead with it.
I didn’t spend too much time editing it after writing it. I wrote the whole thing out in one go, the next day went through and changed things around a bit to make the whole thing make more sense now that I knew the end, then made one more pass just checking for grammatical and spelling errors. And then I posted it online and sat around trying to resist the urge to stare at the screen. It felt pretty daunting actually working on it and knowing it was gonna be posted, but once the moment came and I posted it I guess I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be. I purposefully started with something not very close to my heart. This fic was just to get over the hurdle of posting it for other people to see. And I accomplished that! I can worry about Good Writing later.
Misc Character Designs
And just to finish off the post, here’s some extra outfit design stuff I worked on, I also worked on designs for a healer cleric and a bloodhunter.
And that’s all for this month! I’m hoping to continue writing and maybe finish the character design for the Circle of Dreams druid.
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