mcahogarth

Dragon Dude Bros

Is it dudebro or dude bro? *muses*

Anyway, while going through my sketchbooks for images of Jahir and Vasiht'h I ran into this series of ink doodles I did while trapped in a two day meeting, and a lot of them are really fun! Given that I did them with a pen and no pencil and no prompts for brainstorming. (The meeting topic did NOT provide any help that way. Trust me. So boring.)

I thought I'd scan them for you! The elf-dad-and-child from Father's Day was one of them. This is the next, in...

Cleaning Up Vasiht'h

Getting close, I think. I like drawing on the tablet but boy howdy it hurts my wrists. Good reminder to stop and do do other things.

Lisinthir's Wonderful Tor.Com Review

You'll find the link above (or you can click here if you're getting this in email). This is the first time I've ever been on Tor.com and it was startling (and gratifying... the reviewer really understood what I'm doing! All the <3).

This review also hit the web right when I was starting work on something related to Wingless, which was a solution to the issue that ...

Crowstories Con't

My poor crowminions. Between the molt and the constant rain, they look like extras from a zombie movie.

A few days ago, all four of them arrived, yelling at the top of their lungs, so I walked outside. Carefully, because there was a stormfront and it was almost on top of us: big piles of black clouds and thunder and winds knocking the tree limbs around. I looked up and said, "Crows! What are you doing! There's a storm, this is not time for eating!"

But they didn't stop making noise when ...

Teaser in Progress

SO MUCH SCRIBBLING

But I am now as happy with Jahir as I'm going to get. (Also, I want his clothes.) Time to tidy up everything else!

Dreamhearth Launch Plan

...because you all have been asking for this book since Mindline was released, I figure it should be a big deal! (Plus, this is the book with the Kickstarter cameos in it!). So I am trying to figure out how I want to handle the launch of Dreamhearth. My vague plan so far:

• Finish draft (target is about two weeks now)
• Hand over to first readers (who's on board this time?)
• Upload third edition e-books of Mindtouch and Mindline with expan...
  2017-06-19 14:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Happy Father's Day!

"Nuzzle"

"Time for Bed"

"Read Me Another Chapter"

I found this page of ink sketches in a book from last year and thought it apropos. To all the dads in the audience, you are important, and you do important parenting work. It's not all about us moms no matter what society says. So have a great day today!

Scribbling Intensifies

Not quite happy with the robes, but it's close enough that I guess I should take on the feathers.

*cries a little*

Doot do doo doo

...only about a month out now, I think, time to work on marketing fluff...

Silk Robe

*soldiers on*

I will probably use this image for the "you get a cool thing from me" physical object for the patrons signed up for that. Because obviously I am determined to finish it. Because I am into torture or something. It's the only reason I can think of for this much embroidery.

Angel Progress

I'm still messing with this, apparently.

Pearl in the Void, Hour 5

The story continues... (You can use the tag 'pearl in the void' to catch up on any bits you've missed!)

Found You!

One of the things I do want to use the tablet for is drawing more of those teaser graphics for my books. (Did I show you those? They're over on DeviantArt if you missed any of them.) Anyway, last night I started this one for Dreamhearth, which is only 13 scenes from completion (go jaguar, go jaguar, go go, go jaguar) in which Vasiht'h is looking adorably starstruck. This is okay, since Dreamhearth is mostly abo...

Worldbuilding: How the Empire Got Its Mark

Otherwise known as "the animation with the WORST HANDS EVER." Seriously, what is that. My only excuse was the sangria I had with dinner. >.>

Anyway, this is what I wanted to show you, with the three middle fingers creating the downward swipe, and then the counter mark with the one finger. One of the things I enjoy best about worldbuilding is that it makes you stop and ask 'why do we do things a certain way?' There's almost always a reason, even if it's obscured by history. Most of the ti...

Let's Talk Digital

As I said a bit ago, I got a new Surface and have resumed my self-education on digital art. Some of this is actual art training ("how do I use this tool?"). But at least half of it is understanding a context for digital art, in my life and in a broader social framework. And, as usual, I'd like to expose some of that thinking for you so you know what goes on in the brain of an artist working in professional spaces.

So, first. The angel, which you've seen glimpses of. I've included the workspace...

Birb Guest

For a while now, my family of three has been coming to call, and these are the bold ones who don't fear me. (But thankfully haven't perched on me yet.) In the afternoons, sometimes I get a singleton, and this particular crow is wary of me, and likes to yammer at me. It's not aggressive, but it is talkative and doesn't want to come close.

That straggler's vanished... maybe. Because now, I'm getting four crows at a time, and three of them are clearly my family from earlier, and the four...

Breakfast, and Administrivia

Why is breakfast so good. >.> (Tomato and spinach omelet with potatoes, and sliced avocado with some lemon juice. And turmeric-lemon-green tea blend).

Anyway, yesterday there was praying. (Thank you, candle vigil keepers.) We will do it again in two weeks.

Other stuff: I've gotten all of the Pearl audiobook at last, so starting next week, three times a week (M-W-F) we will get an hour until we're done at Hour 14. The audiobook is locked at $5+ because I have to pay the nar...

*flail*

I kinda want to stop before I ruin it. 😳

Two Hours

This is what happens when artists have to wait for car repairs for two hours, after Mass.

Candle Friday

We've come again to Candle Friday!  I will be going to light one for intentions later this afternoon. Thanks to last Candle Friday's watchstanders: Maigen, Kythryne, Grey, Erin, Sarah, Anastasia, Cheryl and Eric, along with people who might have done so anonymously. ❤️ Your help is appreciated. Feel free to share your candle photos on the community wall if you wish! I'll make sure people find them. :) 2017-06-09 12:53:53 +0000 UTC View Post

Nooooo Idea What I'm Doing

lol 😂

Logo Angst

This is what logo development looks like on my end. Lots and lots of iterating. In this case I was aiming for three separate sigils:

• The Chatcaavan Empire (pre-Lisinthir)
• The Chatcaavan Empire (post-the events of Princes' Game)
• The religion of the Living Air

I knew these should be old symbols, dating back to the original writing systems of the Chatcaava, which are based on digging claws into clay. That's why they're all very austere, clean strokes. I knew th...

New Surface!

Since work wouldn't replace the broken one, I went ahead and got a new one. The Pro 4s are on big sale this month thanks to the new model hitting stores on the 15th so I got a really good price.

I am super happy with this new one, which is faster and lighter and most importantly NOT BROKEN. I can finally draw again on it! *hugs it*

Many thanks also to mysterious benefactor who bought the case before I could get to it too. >.>

Anyway. More art soon once my allergies sto...

Quick Faulfenza Sketch

I showed you Qora recently, one of Faulza's Eyes--that's a seer of the Faulfenzair god, Faulza, the Firedancer. One of you asked what the messiahs and prophets look like, so here's a quick sketch. The prophets are all black (the color of ash, as the seers are the color of smoke). The messiahs are all reds! They can be solid red or have shades of red that mimic the normal coloration of the Faulfenza (dark dorsals, red ventrals, and white between them). They are, of course, the color of fire, beca...

More Grumpy Chatcaava

You haven't met this one yet. Oviin's nestbrother, Tsonet.

*keeps plugging away at tablet, even though she has to make most strokes twice*

Qora

One of the Faulfenza from In Extremis. Faulza's Eyes don't have the dark ventrals the rest of the Faulfenza do. (Messiahs are all red. And prophets are all black. Seers are the white ones, though they keep the red bits.)

Still fighting with my tablet. *shakes fist*

Chocolate Steampunk Emporium

Even the beer had chocolate. 😋

No Fear In My House

Doodling Hesa and Pathen while listening to "Stone Moon, Silk Scarves." I lurrrv McCance's Pathen (nom) and his Hesa is wonderful, too. (Seriously. Can you imagine the stage direction on that one? "This character is neuter and should sound neither male nor female, but androgynous. Go.")

My poor Surface Pro. Work (which issued it to me) won't r...

May Book Sales

We return to the revelation of numbers (I tremble) so that you can see that 1. I'm doing okay, but 2. I am not doing well enough to give up my day job. (I would one day like that sentence to read: 'so that you can see that 1. I'm doing great, but 2. I cannot yet afford a second house in the Cotswolds', but, you know, one thing at a time here.)

As you can see, we're continuing to drift down off the high from the ad in February. Free giveaways held pretty steady for Earthrise, and the n...

Writing Progress! May Round-Up

Welcome to June, everyone! I hope the summer's start is treating everyone well. I come bearing numbers! Today's post is on writing progress, for those of you who want to know what books are coming next.

So, May. We had a major slowdown after I finished the draft of PG5, which needed lots and lots of fine-tuning before I was ready to publish. I think I read the draft six times? And incorporated two drafts of editorial suggestions, too. So a lot of my time was spent on that, and on publication w...