Once upon time. Spook.

October is half over.  I'm actually saddened by this.  Its my favorite month, and already the trees are getting more and more bare.  It is getting cooler though, and the nights are that wonderful grey with breezes that blow leaves around, giving a 'Sleepy Hollow' vibe.

Since its mid way through the month, I've sent out the next patron sketch note to the next person on the list.  After taking last month off I'm actually really looking forward to sketching something out for someone.  I hate missing a month and feel a little bit like I'm cheating somehow.  I've only missed one month before (I believe because I was going through a complete re-install and had a book cover to finish).  So, onward we go!

I'm touched that you all don't mind that I post map stuff here as well.  Its still not the bulk of the work I do, but Its something I can do and just kind of chill out while still learning the finer points.  I'm trying to keep maps as minimally 'mechanical' as I can.  While they're digital, I want to draw them out myself rather than rely on Photoshop tricks and textures to do everything for me.  This isn't putting down that technique, rather a personal preference.  I like maps that look a bit hand drawn.

I had a bitter-sweet end to a short gaming campaign I was running.  It was a test campaign to get back into the swing of running a story again.  While it ended on a good note, it was only planned for 6 sessions.  That said I have all of this art I want to do to commemorate it.  Much of it will involve the Tuktuarri (caribou) people.  The more I got into their culture, the more I'm loving them.  They are definitely a 'fringe tribal' society that is about to be a power of nature and fire.

Moving forward, I'm going to have a lot of sketch work I'd like to get out of my head while I still remember it.  Sometimes I'll go for a few weeks just sketching out all manner of things before I start painting things.  This is one of those months, with the last picture (Ajaatu) being a character that came to mind that really fit the month.  Leaves, wolves, lanterns and spirits.

As always, I'll keep posting previews and high res images here.  And as always I thank you all so much for the support and kindness you've all shown.  May you have warm things with cinnamon to drink, and may leaves never fall in them.

-T.J.