mcahogarth

Treasure Troves Worthy of Dragons

I stopped by the micro-art store the other day, which I haven't in ages because the new, big art store is so much nicer, and there I found an amazing treasure: they had a stack of the paper I used to love, which Fabriano reformulated, in their big 'discontinued' pile.

I bought it ALL. ALL GLORIOUS ELEVEN SHEETS. *hugs it all over the place* And immediately went home and arranged five projects on one sheet, prepped them, cut them, and took one out.

This paper is as amazing to work on as I...

Little Discoveries

I just unearthed this tiny toned sketchbook and it had this really nice unfinished piece of the Slave Queen in it. I wish I'd finished it! Though maybe I should have put it on watercolor paper and painted it? *muses*

Anyway, I thought I'd share!

More Ai-Naidari Words: Stress

Wow, but we had an enormously long conversation on the chat server about Kherishdar, thanks to yesterday's post. I got a lot of word requests! I didn't get to them all, because I spend a lot of time pondering every word I "find." Etymology matters! So does the sound of the word in my mouth when I roll it around.

Here are some, though, which were requests or gifts. For Rabbit:

fojejz [foh JEHJZ ] (adj) - raw, tender, abraded. Used mostly in the emotional sense: when you'r...

New Ai-Naidari Vocabulary: "Warning Signs"

You know how people give off little signs that they're under too much stress and are about to pop? Everyone's tells are different: one person might get Super Polite. One might start forgetting things, even basic information. Another might stop engaging with people.

The Ai-Naidar, being the Hyper Social people they are, have a word for these warning signs: qonret qabe. (One warning sign is qonreti qabeni, but people rarely use the singular form.)

Etymologically speaking,...

Dude with Dragon Skull Headdress

I... have no idea. Doodling, I guess? Also, don't know why Clip Studio inverted the text layer. Maybe it thinks it needed added interest.

Um, anyway. A guy!

Need Testers/Posters for Fansite!

I have inflicted the basic set-up for the fansite on the chat members, and now it is time to inflict it on more people so I can continue getting feedback about it! If you're interested in posting to the fan blog, whacking at the forums, or helping me with wordpress themes, hold up a hand and I'll send you a URL!

Also, if you are a Jaguar Tribe member in good standing (meaning you've been here for half a year) and you have a shop you'd like to share with other community members, tell me about i...

Lunchbag Art: Firebirds

Subtitle: "Lol, I'm hilarious!" Because she likes to say that after making me laugh with some ridiculous joke.

Speaking of ridiculous joke, this is the one going around my household (and the holt, and my workplace). I'm sorry? I think? Blame Engineer Sam. >.>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t2dwPTnsyA

Meanwhile, I have been contriving, and created these:

2017-11-13 11:45:22 +0000 UTC View Post

You Can Has Schedule

Lookit all that Peltedverse stuff coming. *rubs hands together* I hope you’re as excited as I am. 

In between writing and editing and writing and putting together marketing fluff, I’ve been making cellphone charms. Because tiny = adorable.

 I was kind of messing with it until I thought of how many people read Earthrise and say something like “I need a Flitzbe of my very ...

Work Begins: PG6 Cover

In which I break out the water soluble oils (they are my compromise, since I don't have a properly ventilated studio for proper ones) to finish the final cover for Princes' Game. This is one of the few series where I feel like my covers are working as intended, so I don't feel much rush to replace them. And it's fun to finally "go home" to my very first love (oils!), even if it's not quite as perfect as the full-fatted version of the paint. :)

Anyway, we begin!

2017-11-07 14:00:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Jaguar Progress! October Round-Up

*eyes graphic* Okay, so. In October, I WROTE. *checks last progress* In fact, I wrote 71,431 words to finish the draft of PG6. 

There you go. I won NaNoWriMo one month early. >.>

We're lining up for the end of the year here in Jaguarverse:

• All Twin Kingdoms books should ship by end of November/beginning of December. This means print editions of both romances will be available for the holiday shopping season.
• E-edition of PG6 should also l...
  2017-11-06 15:35:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Vasiht'h in Court Dress

Someone asked for Vasiht'h in Eldritch garb, so... my best attempt to throw a centaur into something out of Dangerous Liaisons. >.>

It's been a productive weekend; all the Kickstarter digital prizes have been delivered, the print stuff got uploaded and I'm waiting on proofs of everything, and my first readers are *tearing* through PG6. Like, I'm not sure some of them stopped to breathe or eat or anything. FIRST READERS DO NOT DIE FROM SELF-NEGLECT PLZ THNKZ

No, seriously, they're t...

Sketching of an Evening

Last night was a good sketching night, and of all the ones I liked this was my favorite.

Was listening to this while drawing, for those curious about the scrawled lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcLKHhHCfLw

Sketches from NecronomiCon: Aliens

The folks on the chat server told me they love seeing unfinished sketches?? And I'm all 'okay'?? So here's my page from the "Creating Alien Cultures" panel. Yes, I was sketching while sitting at the table. It kept me from interrupting people who kept hogging the spotlight. -_-

Anyway, I bet a lot of you will recognize all the aliens in this picture from my books...! Well, except the jellyfish. I dunno what that was about. *scratches head*

Workspace!

After a trip to the Container Store and a trashbag of stuff, I feel like I'm sort of getting my office under control. (Note I don't actually have a room with a door--I'm the only person in the family without a room! This is the dining room, which we repurposed because I needed a place to work.) Today I picked up the corkboard, which I've wanted for a while, and under the desk that bin there is my E...

Lunchbag Art: Halloween Redux

Inevitable aftermath is inevitable.

Kickstarter ends this morning! And wow, what an ending. Four dollars off of $4300! Good lord!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mcahogarth/thief-of-songs

Now, into the breach! Here we come, Wednesday! Rar!

First Readers: Back in Business!

Google Docs has fixed their outage! Come on back to the playground! :D

PG6 First Reader Notice

No, it's not you (or me). We've been hit by this:

https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/31/google-docs-users-locked-out/

As soon as the link becomes functional again, I'll tell you! In the meantime, I'm... uh... sorry for those of you who stopped at REALLY BAD PLACES when Google locked us out? >.>

Chewing On Arm

This is what happens when jaguar novels run over their word count

Significantly over their word count

aaaaaaaaaaaarghomnomnomgrrrrrrrrrrrr

...

I thought only cats on the internet did stuff like this.

Oh wait my cat is on the internet

Poor Stardew Farmer

"Dear Mom: Thank you for the cake. I am writing this to you while eating crackers spread with my own artisanal goat cheese aged in casks in my cellar. I am kind to animals, make thousands of gold a day, and ride a horse, but I have no friends. Girls don't talk to me, and I'm too tired to go to the only bar in town. I have no life outside of work. I think the cows are starting to speak to me."

"P.S. There are zombies here."

(My poor farmer. He retreated to the countryside to get away from...

Early Warning: PG6 First Readers

I am maybe two weeks from completing the draft for From Ruins (PG6). If you'd like to first-read for this series and want time to re-read any (or all!) of the previous books, I would start now...!

I'm probably going to do a full series re-read myself after I'm done with the draft, just to fuss over the details. (Like 'where is the scar on Lisinthir's face' and 'what was the stuff the Emperor was drinking with Lisinthir in Book 1 that made the Seersa ambassador choke.') I'm not going t...

Kickstarter is Live!

...and... uh... 235% funded, 7 minutes in? But all the prizes are still available except the original artwork for the wallpaper?

Go look, anyway! This is for the print editions of my fantasy romances, with the four human sexes. About the musicians (book 1) and the sea serpents (book 2):

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mcahogarth/thief-of-songs

I'll just be over here... under ...

Poor Stardew Farmer

The folks in the JaguarHolt got me into Stardew Valley, and I am trying to decide if I like it. I used to love the bits out of the Harvest Moon series and Stardew is so much like it that sometimes I mix them up in my head: the gameplay is almost *exactly* the same. But at the same time, I feel like "get things, craft something out of them, and sell them, and oh, by the way, fill EVERY WAKING HOUR with this activity TO MAXIMIZE YO...

Meeting Notes!

Because you all were so nice as to give me suggestions! I didn't take them all, but I did some of them!

Someone asked for Pelted kids? So a Seersa, Eldritch, Phoenix (next line), Faulfenza and Chatcaava. Bottom is a sketch of a Phoenix mom and child, with a Seersa and Tam-illee talking in the background. Excuse all the horribad anatomy, drawing directly with pen is FOR HARDCORE ONLY

2017-10-10 20:13:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Author Progress! September Round-Up

We have hit (and passed) the beginning of October! Which means it's time for progress reports, starting with productivity.

So, September was broken up painfully by Hurricane Irma and my surgery, which means even though on the writing front I was concentrating solely on a single project, I only managed to get from 22% complete on PG6 to 51%. This number will hopefully accelerate now that I'm no longer beset by urgent crises. My plan is to have the draft done by Thanksgiving, so I've got about a...

Spotted at the NINC Conference

Author Michael Anderle got this shot of me working between seminars at the conference this weekend and kindly emailed it to me. I think it's a cute photo. :D

Anyway, I finished the piece for the Kickstarter! Here's a photo of the end result:

My favorite part was the end, where I got the metallic gouache and added all the gold accents in the wings and antenna and the center of the lotus. <3 2017-10-08 14:45:22 +0000 UTC View Post

Getting There!

Brought my painting of Clouds to the NINC Conference (for writers) and got a lot of work done listening to a couple of promotion seminars. The conference so far has been more notable for the chance to catch up with people I like than to learn anything new, but hey, I like people I like so no complaints. 💖

The good news is that finishing this up will let me launch that Kickstarter. I'm half-minded to go back to the conference the rest of the weekend just as an excuse to get it done. >.>...

Well That Looks Comfortable

Having never had a cat before, I am endlessly... appalled? Astonished? At the positions they sleep in. How is this even comfortable? o_O

Anyway! Chat Day was fun! Thank you all for coming! We fell back down the Patreon goal ladder this week, so we're back to hitting the "I don't have to worry about what I'm writing so much" milestone, but if we get past that again and hit the "second Chat Day" milestone, I thought it would be fun to do a "chat with Jaguar's characters" style meta-conversationa...

Thinking with a Pen

Now that I'm back to my usual writing routine, I am outlining/thinking out loud with a pen as I work, planning ahead to scenes to come. Here's a quick pen doodle from the car-line, working on Princes' Game 6. Some of you mentioned enjoying my messy, unfinished work and... well, this is as messy and unfinished as it comes. I can't even erase anything. >.>

2017-09-26 20:12:08 +0000 UTC View Post

Etsy Coupon for End Sept/October!

I am getting back into the groove of working, post-operatively, and spent a profitable morning writing PG6; so good to get back to that (and so many good things in it! Vasiht'h fans will be pleased, particularly). This afternoon, I made jewelry to start making a dent in all my various unexpected expenses. (And maybe, just a little, to sock some away so I can bake myself a glorious cake on my birthday, on October 2nd!)

I'll be adding new stuff to the store over the next few days. As usual, you ...