James_D_Fawkes

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Trust 3.2

You guys beginning to see why this arc is named "Trust?" If you haven't, it'll become really clear next chapter.

Monthly Visitor (August)

Please make sure your information is all valid and up to date, as we are about to enter the end of our monthly cycle.

Thank you for your support. I don't have the words to express how much I appreciate it.

Another Mysterious Pendant

Why, that's another mysterious pendant. This one looks significantly more like a key or a puzzle piece or something. Whatever could it be for, I wonder?

Do any of you have any guesses? 

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Trust 3.1

Well, as ways of connecting with your dead mother go, learning to play the flute isn't a bad one.

But, uh...Taylor? Taking your flute playing to superhuman levels probably isn't a good idea. 

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Pendulum 0.2

Nimue is such a tease.

I'm such a tease, for giving you a few implications about how powerful she is and what her NPs are without actually saying anything concrete.

Amy Dallon (Panacea) Concept

Well, so I didn't much feel like doing anything today. I didn't sleep too well last night. I figured I'd at least finish this, though, so here she is.

She's so incredibly...average, that I can't help but find this imagined version of her so very endearing. She's not super attractive or some idealized supermodel. She's a little soft around the edges and not amazingly pretty - and I prefer her this way.

This is the "official" version of Amy for Essence. 

Essence Taylor

So, I originally meant to go into Daz and work on building a model for Amy, but I got distracted with Taylor.

Anyway, this is "officially" what Taylor looks like outside of her costume in Essence. 

Third Goal - REACHED!

We've passed the $300 mark, everyone! Thank you so much! You guys are awesome!

This means that there will be an extra interlude for each subsequent arc, starting with arc 3. You guys already got a taste of what it looks like to have a bonus interlude - Overture 1.b was supposed to be an example, but it turned out to be a not very good one.

Now that we're here, though, I'm thinking of removing or changing the $500 goal.

Wait, now, hear me out.

It was fine and even good to have...

Commission: Kittyhime

A commission I did for one of you guys. He wanted a cat in Kiyohime's outfit, so that's what I did.

Never. Again. 

I can do people just fine, but cats... This thing had over 40 layers to it, by the time it was all said and done.

Almost there!

So close! Wow, we've almost made it to $300!

You guys really are amazing. Somehow, I don't doubt we'll pass that $300 mark by the end of August, which means that come September, I should be able to get that Huion Kamvas and really take my artwork up a notch. 

Thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart. The dream hasn't quite come true, yet, but we're well on the way.

A Great Thing to Wake Up To

Wow, guys! Waking up to find a whole bunch of new people giving me support, and we're getting ever closer to the next goal - you guys are awesome!

Gimme a little bit to get caught up on everything, and you new $13+ guys will get the invites to the Chapters In Progress, so make sure to check your email tomorrow (Sunday). In the meantime, make sure you're caught up to everything up to Interlude 2.a. Essence story posts will be tagged with "AEoSaS," so you can find it all that way.

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Disillusion Interlude 2.a: Fractured Paragon Parallel

I'm not totally happy with this one, but there comes a point where you have to look at a chapter and say, "Yeah, this is as good as I'm gonna get it." 

But don't ever ask me to write a procedural crime drama. Apparently, I'm not very good at it.

Exceeding Expectations

Well, I didn't think this was going to happen anytime soon, but since it has...

Geez, you guys. You really want this stuff as soon as you can possible get your hands on it, don't you?

Guess I have to increase the cap a little. Let's be clever, use a reference, and call it "Palingenesis." 

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Disillusion 2.6

Mount Taylor erupting in 5...4...3...2...

Lady of the Lake|Nimue

She's finished.

So, she's not perfect. The line weight could be better. There are parts where I kind of ad libbed and parts where I could have maybe done better.

Overall, the part I like the most is the hair. That, and the face.

According to what's said in Pendulum 0.2, there should be flowing golden designs on her robe, but I couldn't think of what they should look like more specifically, so I never drew them. Oh well.

What do you guys think? Did she turn out okay?

Back on Schedule

Things should be back to normal. Knights ($13 Patrons) should have access to An Essence of Silver and Steel 3.4, now, in Chapters-in-Progress via Google Docs. 

Thank you for your patience, everyone.

Jeanne la Pucelle (TMatH front cover)

Finished it.

Ugh, I need one of those fancy tablets. Like the Huion Kamvas. There are about 100,000 hairs on a human head, and it felt like I had to draw each and every one. With my mouse.

Why...

Ahem. Anyway, I think this is done. I might revisit it when I do get that Huion Kamvas, but for now, I don't have any methods of improving it.

Those of you familiar with my complaints about Nasu's Jeanne and how historically inaccurate her appearance is: there's a reason I'm...

Medusa (Antiquity)

Because Medusa was Greek, so of course she has olive skin and dark hair.

...Except she's a demigod in Eternityverse, so she should actually have gold in her hair. Whoops.

Whatever you do, don't look her in the eyes. That's guaranteed death.

So, when I first conceived of what Medusa would look like in the Eternityverse, I only had vague traits in mind. Things that she would naturally have, given her character, her backstory, and the universal traits demigods have in the Eternityvers...

Eternityverse Jeanne (The Maid and the Horseman) WIP

Since I finished 3.4 so quickly, I thought I might try and get this done, finally. 

When everything's ready, I'll smooth out those shadow zones into a gradient that looks more polished than that.

Monthly Visitor

Everyone, please make sure your account information is valid and up to date. 

(Is their any way to say, "Please check to make sure your payment will be processed properly," without sounding greedy? Ugh.)

EDIT: I'll be holding onto what I have of 3.4 until everything is processed and done. Once that's over with, everyone who wasn't declined will get whatever rewards they should.

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Disillusion 2.5

There's no experience quite like waking up to find a dead body on your front lawn. Just ask Taylor - after she's finished throwing up.

Second Goal Reward: Patron Discord Server

Here's the link to the new Discord server. Welcome!

A warning: the link is set to expire after all current patrons have used it. In the future, new patrons will receive a custom, one-use link, but since that's a bit tedious to do for over 30 people, this one is just one link that can be used over 30 times.

https://discord.gg/YkpTrUF

Second Goal - Reached!

It snuck up on me with blinding speed! Before I knew it, we'd crossed the $100 threshold!

Which means that Patron-exclusive Discord Channel. I'll have to set about configuring that later today or tomorrow.

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Disillusion 2.4: Bad End 1

Or "Darwin's Law." I went for full-on irony with the title, here, as you'll see when you read it.

Remember I was talking about divergences on Sufficient Velocity? Yeah, here's a big one for you.

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Disillusion 2.3

Ufufufufufu...

All times and places converge in Ahnenerbe...

Next week is Bad End #1. I can't even tell you its title, because even just that is way too spoilery.

Update (7/13/2017)

So, you guys haven't been hearing too much from me about arc 3, yet, and that's because 3.1 has been a bit of struggle. Apparently, I have a hard time writing arguments based more in emotion than logic, who knew?

Anyway, I managed to get through there and I did have a few zingers that even I felt while writing them, so when the time comes, I hope they hit as hard as I think they will.

So, I'm back on track, now, and to catch up, I'm going to try and get 3.2 done this we...

Concept art [Eternityverse] (Lucky 3s)

The main character of a possible upcoming project. The project itself is so secretive that I can't even tell you what it is or show you her face.

I can tell you that the intent is to make a VN that I think will surprise you in how it subverts typical VN plotlines and tropes.

If I'm quite honest, I have actually mentioned this character before. However, that was back when her story was going to be something else; since I'm shooting for a VN (and need to get a team togeth...

An Essence of Silver and Steel: Disillusion 2.2

Medea really doesn't like that word...

EDIT: Fixed that mistake. I forgot to get rid of the color BBCode and change the font to pale grey. Whoops.

Essential Material: Aite Laechrad

Aite Láechrad [Noble Phantasm]
Mentoring Great Heroes  

The crystallization of Aífe the teacher, who mentored heroes in Celtic myth. The crystallization of her legend of teaching warriors the arts of combat.   

Sublimated into this Noble Phantasm, it is the ability to create “heroes” that are on the level of Servants and endow them with combat related skills. Any skill possessed by a hero, even some that are unique, can be learned and taught by A�...

Lady of the Lake [concept art]

"At that time, a woman took away the little prince into the lake. This woman, appearing often in King Arthur's story as queen of semi-fairy-like women [Lady of the Lake], is Merlin's apprentice, Nimue (Vivian in Lancelot's story)."