artbysconnor

[artbysconnor]

Updated ref sheet for my fursona, Bramble, I made in the lead up to ArtFight this year :)

[artbysconnor]

A wonderful chatty catboy fortune teller adoptable I made for Flight Rising a while back (he has since gone to a new home). He was based just on the idea of a fortune teller with a big fur coat, but I adore the way he evolved into something unique and all his own!

[artbysconnor]

My reference sheet for Calamity, my Swashbuckler Rogue from my Dungeon Of The Mad Mage campaign!

I actually did a very similar set of designs about a year ago when I started their campaign, so it was nice to revisit them and see how my style had changes and how I drew Calamity has evolved.

[artbysconnor]

The Duality of Tiefling (My two Tiefling rogues - Calamity the Swashbuckler, and Mayhem the Assassin).Calamity uses any pronounsMayhem uses they/it

[artbysconnor]

A costume reference sheet I made for Calahan, my Twilight Cleric.

He's never had a set design or outfit, so I played with different silhouettes and pieces he could have woven or embroidered himself. I kept silhouettes simple and easy to make out of full sheets of fabric, or boxy tunics that use minimal fabric cutting to make. I especially wanted to use spiderweb and moon patterns and motifs in his embroidery patterns.

[artbysconnor]

Made a reference sheet for my soggy Fathomless Warlock, Nimae, while prepping for ArtFight this year! Look at him... he's so pallid and sad. I'm still waiting for a good campaign to play him in long-term, but I've done a few one shots with him and he is a joy to play every time.

[artbysconnor]

Delilah got a new ref sheet while I was prepping for ArtFight this year! She's my BNHA OC, and has the ability to jump extremely high using her powerful kicks, as well as enhanced rabbit hearing. I made her back in 2017 and she's been with me in some form ever since, even despite me dropping BNHA as a series.

[artbysconnor]

Fae-themed gijinka adoptable for Flight Rising - he was quite popular, actually, and got snapped up to a good home very quickly!

[artbysconnor]

what happened to the jinso project??

Ah, you must mean my Avatar Academy application project!

Truth be told, I've been incredibly art fatigued and struggled to work on personal projects for almost a year now, and between that and my full-time job in animation it's just not been at the front of my to-do list. I still love the story, world and characters very much and would love to work on it in earnest one day, whether as a fan project or as an original IP with some reworks, or even just a fake pitch bible for fun, but for now it's sitting on the back burner.

I'll come back to it one day, though - I'd feel bad if I left it unfinished forever.

(I also totally promised to post the character work I did for it and forgot, so this is a good reminder to do that eventually.)

[artbysconnor]

Fire elemental adopt I made for Flight Rising a while back

Not super happy with it, but I was trying to brute force through some art block so we did what we had to do

[artbysconnor]

My favorite thing about Calamity is using her like my personal dress-up doll

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Calamity uses any pronouns

[artbysconnor]

"King of Diamonds" ♦️

Part 3/4 of my contribution to @mcyt-couture-zine! For the series, I was inspired by Doc's poker den and casino, and each piece is based off of a different card suit.

This piece was inspired by the diamond suit, and mainly the fact that Doc is the King of Diamonds in his custom poker deck, as well as general 1940's menswear.

As always, click below for full design breakdown and details!

Like on the spades piece, I had a very strong composition in mind for this piece from the very beginning, so I didn't want to design too much knowing it would all be covered up by the framing and kept most of the detail to the shoulders up.

The biggest image I knew I wanted before even sketching the design was a playing card crown, similar to this one I found on Pinterest. I also knew I needed to play with the diamond shape motif without it feeling to jester-y, so limited by colors in the main outfit to largely red and black.

The design itself was largely inspired by classic 1940's men's suiting, with padded shboulders, wide upturned lapels, and high waisted pleated pants. Because the view would be chest up I wanted that diamond paneling to be very visible in the lapel, as well as adding red piping along the seams such as at the shoulders to give a little extra color pop. The diamond applique on the collar of the shirt and the diamond-shaped tie fastener got a little bit lost in the final posing, which is unfortunate because I think they're cool.

The biggest thing I think I regret about this design is not pushing the bright blue Minecraft diamond angle more in the design and the composition. While he has diamond cuff buttons and a lapel pin, the pops of blue don't feel like enough to denote extreme wealth and 'royalty' when it comes to diamonds. I think I could've upped the amount of jewelry he had - added rings to the hand by his face, for example, or a diamond encrusted wristwatch that's so common in high end menswear. It was a bit of a missed opportunity, though I think the piece still came out quite cool in the end.

[artbysconnor]

"High Roller" ♠️

Part 3/4 of my contribution to @mcyt-couture-zine! For the series, I was inspired by Doc's poker den and casino, and each piece is based off of a different card suit.

This piece was inspired by the spades suit, 1940's outwear and men's coats, ermine fur, and Doc's own white lab coat.

See below for design notes and details!

This design was largely inspired by wanting to have a piece of Doc leaning over the roulette wheel with eerie, almost threatening under-lighting. The idea of using a big 1940's coat was perfect to add to his intimidating and powerful aura in this piece, and was the perfect opportunity to incorporate Doc's own white lab coat into the design, too!

When playing with the design I found these wonderful suit jackets with hanging heart charms, and it made me think of how the black spade shapes when hung from the point could be made to look like ermine fur, which was another point to symbolizing his wealth and power, as ermine was typically worn by royalty in medieval England and is still associated with wealth, luxury, and high standing to this day.

Doc in this outfit is representative both of the House, the all-powerful force of the casino, and the high rollers it entices to spend and gamble their money away at the poker and roulette tables. He needed to read powerful and rich but not overly flashy, while also incorporating the spades motif as much as I could. The white coat was an obvious nod to his lab coat, with the spade charms we talked abotu as well as spades motif on the collar inset into the white fur and in buttons along the cuffs. His waistcoat is 1940's style and red pinstriped satin, with diamond-embedded spade buttons and silk cord trim. The silk tie/cravat is meant to look like a spade in the way it's shaped, and the collar's spade details were just too fun to not include.

I ended up adding the leather gloves you see him wearing in the illustration later, but I think it also matches nicely with the idea of him as a detached observer of the game, urging you to play on one more round without actually getting his hands dirty or gambling himself.

Also, a moment of silence for Doc's unseen crocodile skin dress shoes with the spade detail on the toe. RIP king, maybe I'll draw you one day.

[artbysconnor]

"River and Turn" ♣️

Part 2/4 of my contribution to @mcyt-couture-zine! For the series, I was inspired by Doc's poker den and casino, and each piece is based off of a different card suit.

This piece was inspired by the club suit and poker dealers at casinos, as well as a slight nod to punk elements.

See below for design notes and details!

I knew I wanted one of the pieces to have a skirt as part of the design, and this one was the best for it as it had a full-body silhouette to work with as opposed to the compositions I wanted for the other pieces. That being said, I actually had a hard time with the design for this one, and ended up combining two of my original concepts into one for the final piece:

I knew I wanted this look to be more informal-looking, or rather less 'powerful' than the others, since his role wasn't of a high roller or a gambling boss but as the face of The House in a service role - a dress shirt with sleeves rolled up and simple double-breasted vest is perfect for that look. I played with asymmetrical panels in the skirt, plaid patterns, spiked shoes, and chunky chain jewelry as a way to add back some editorial edge, and tried to combine elements of the dressy formal skirt look with elements like the loose suspender tails of the second to have the best elements of both. The clubs design came in mainly in decorative elements - the fasteners on the suspenders, the charm at the end of the pocket chain, and the fringed applique along the edge of the skirt - but I did try to nod to it in places like the shape of the necktie and the pattern of the sheer socks as well.

I actually think that of all of the pieces, this one ended up the weakest, maybe not entirely in design but certainly in my posing and rendering. Ah, well - there's always a weak link of the group, no matter what project I work on! We forge ahead either way.

[artbysconnor]

"The Goatfather" ♥️

Part 1/4 of my contribution to @mcyt-couture-zine! For the series, I was inspired by Doc's poker den and casino, and each piece is based off of a different card suit.

This piece was inspired by the heart suit, The Godfather, and 1940's smoking jackets.

See below for design notes and details!

My main inspirations, through all the pieces but especially this one, were the powerful aura and noir aesthetics of The Godfather. I was especially struck by a particular poster for The Godfather II for the posing and composition for the Hearts piece:

I really wanted to capture the 1940's aesthetics and feel in the fashion and was inspired by 1940's mens smoking jackets, which both exude a sense of relaxed, casual energy and a distinct luxury and power - complete lack of feeling threatened by your presence, and the riches to dress well even while relaxing. In my head the materials are expensive, silk and satin and velvet, and impeccably tailored to custom fit.

My original sketch shows how I took inspiration from those historical sensibilities while still keeping things modern and more like a fashion editorial: A 40's inspired jacket shape, with its shoulderpads and shawl collar, is modernized with a draping sash and unconventional design element along the hem. The heart motif is boldly present in graphic shapes along the collar, cuffs, and pockets. The pinstripe pants are vintage feeling, but in a modern colorway - charcoal grey with deep red. The red bottom slip-on loafers simultaneously give an air of modern Louboutin luxury and relaxed casual formality, while also pulling in even more heart shapes in the details on the heel.

[artbysconnor]

Apparently this piece ALSO got selected for the Hermitcraft art gallery (my Skizzleman piece for this zine was selected as well, after I had already submitted for Cleo, too)! I'm absolutely blown away by the love these pieces are being shown, and Cleo's is one of my absolute favorites so it getting selected feels incredible.

Thank you so much for selecting it, ZombieCleo!

ZombieCleo x Versace

Part 1/18 of LifeStyle: A Life Series Fashion Zine

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I had so much fun working on this personal zine and art book, and Cleo was the first piece I did for it, all the way back in October of 2023. 19 illustrations later, it's finally being released in all it's half-toned, high fashioned glory!

[artbysconnor]

This amazing zine I participated in is finally released!! Go check it out and support all the incredibly talented artists, writers, and makers, and the all-star mod team that made it all happen!

And if you see a certain green goat man... well, I may have had something to do with that 👀 Stay tuned for more...

Works from over 60 contributors! Over 200 pages!

Please go give our contributors lots of love for their work!

High Quality Version, need to download in order to view

Low Quality Version, can view through google drive