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[nicolecadet]

Shuren - FFXIV Au Ra commission

I realise I uploaded the images, but never did the writing for this painting. This was done I think in 2020 before I took a long painting break. While the ability to work from home in my day job was great for my mental health, the separation between work and digital painting was a very, very thin line. The work I was doing was important from a societal perspective, but it involved a lot of brain power and I found myself getting exhausted and wanting to step away from the computer after 8+ hours in front of it (I moved back into the role of Software Architect within an enterprise space, though a lot of it was reading through design proposals, doing costings, risk assessments, and security governance. You have to know a little bit of everything, see the bug picture, and also consider your part within the enterprise and all that goes with trying to develop quality software).

At the time of painting this, I felt really free doing this piece. Unfortunately I could not finish the last piece for the client (added the sketch down the bottom of the post) because I was so completely wiped out. Water was Shuren’s element, though her skin was also greens - so balancing out the colour palette, getting a sense of flow as though dancing through the water, and bringing in elements from FFXIV character design.

Below is the final client version. The client wanted her facial tattoos/ patterns to be a more royal blue than a light turquoise. These are the kinds of tweaks I do at the final client check in. This is a character portrait and illustration. There are things that you can negotiate with your client, but certain details are core to a character design, regardless of any art or design preferences and illustrator may have - and custom commissions are ultimately about capturing the client’s design - you want the client to be happy - for me, commission work, particularly character portraits has always been about trying to take someone else’s designs and painting it in my style - it’s very collaborative.

[nicolecadet]

This was another commission where I had complete freedom with pose/ background and didn't have the normal feedback processes. I did make a tiny adjustment to the colour of the tattoo for the client version (client's version the tattoo is more ultramarine than turquoise). The colour scheme was based more on the description the client gave me than the screenshots provided. Au'Ra from FFXIV

[nicolecadet]

2 Miquo'te mages FFXIV character portrait commission

I’ve been really fortunate to do a series of character portraits for FFXIV game characters. This one features two Miquo’te mages casting some spells (cat like beings from FFXIV).

This commission was a little different in that the client had really definite ideas about what he wanted, even sending through a rough sketch of the poses he wanted the characters in. This made the process really straight forward as I knew exactly what he wanted - there was no guessing about costumes or ideas, we could go straight to the sketch phase.

From an artistic POV, I did flip the female character so that it made it a little more compositionally tidy, but it mostly matches their ideas.

If you’re ever worried about offending an artist by sending through rough sketches, or embarrassed by what we might think of your drawings, don’t be! We are visual people ourselves so three marks on a page often means more than a paragraph of writing. It’s a great way of conveying your thoughts, and you’re hiring us to do the painting so we know that you may not be a trained artist so we are not going to critique your anatomy!

The client provided game screenshots, some costume screenshots, colours he wanted for the magic and the poses. I got to play with the background so that it loosely represented something from the general landscape. I still spent a number of hours hunting for the costumes and weapons to understand them from more than a single view.

For further information about my commissions, check out my Sales and Services/ Commission page

[nicolecadet]

Athena's Wellspring book cover

I love working with authors, particularly character driven covers. This piece was painted where the focus is on the 3 young women, who are warriors/ knights, share the same white breastplate with an owl insignia, but each are very unique in their looks and weapons.

I wanted the characters to be in focus, so deliberately painted the background in a looser style. There is definitely a triangular sense to the composition. With three characters on the cover, they each need to feel equally important. There was no leader indicated by the author (though there may be in the book), but I did have a favourite given I love purple ;)

I also wanted to make the armour in some way believable, while still having a fantasy element. I decided to keep the legs and arms fairly light in armour, though toughened leather or fabric would form some protection. Given they use weapons such as a staff, tonfa and a rapier, they needed to be able to move around so I designed a lighter looking armour. While none are in fighting poses, I wanted them to seem like they could spring into action at any stage.

The other important thing for me as an artist, was capturing the diversity of the characters. Yes they are all young, fit and able, (Ines should probably be more muscular than I painted her), the author was very specific about their skin tone. When I worked through the colour concepts I was able to keep Ines and Sophie fairly neutral, but I did provide a medium and a much darker skin tone for Serena.

When it’s released I’ll do a shout-out to the author!

[nicolecadet]

Bolormaa - FFXIV Au Ra commission

The second in a series of commissions from a regular client. This is Bolormaa, a much darker, more sensual Au’Ra, a race from FFXIV (an online MMORPG). She’s a creature of seduction and the night, though she is damaged.

The client gave me complete freedom over the pose, the background again, though this time one of the costumes from the screenshots they sent me I really liked (after painting all the gold details I may rethink liking the costume! Only kidding - this character has so many gorgeous options).

I got stuck for a while with the colour scheme. Although her skin is pale, it has a notable blue tint to go with the hair, and her eyes are red. The costume was a pink/ red tone so for the longest time I felt overwhelmed by nothing going with the red and blue. I found some artworks that had lots of blues and red-pink tones in them and generated a loose colour scheme from them, making clouds of random colours. I love painting starscapes and I’d purchased a digital kit with a whole bunch of brushes and textures. It was literally me just playing with stars and galaxies and clouds… but it was enough that it got me out of the funk and I could happily finish the painting.

I’m thinking about opening up a limited number of cheap commissions like this for December/ January where I have complete control and there are no revisions (unless I’ve forgotten a detail - like I initially forgot the scar, oops). If you’d be interested, let me know!

Painted in Photoshop

[nicolecadet]

Recent character commission of an Au’Ra named Bolormaa.

[nicolecadet]

Zaya - FFXIV Au Ra commission

It’s been a little while between paintings, but I was glad to get a commission request from a client I’ve worked with many times in the past. Zaya is an Au’Ra, a race from FFXIV (an online MMORPG) who works with herbs and tinctures and poisons.

The client gave me complete freedom over the pose, the background, even the costume - it just needed to be fairly conservative and modest, but still pretty. I looked at a lot of gothic lolita clothes after looking at the screenshots of the kinds of costumes the character wore in game. Because her hair is so vibrant, I wanted the clothes to be a more toned down colour, yet still point to her connection with flowers.

Painted in Photoshop

Oh and yeah, I redid my website. I’m still tweaking things here and there. I was with pretty limited internet for about 2 weeks so it was pretty much impossible to upload anything. I could still game surprisingly, but doing anything on the internet was an effort in frustration.

I’ll do up a separate post on the redesign of my website, plus a few things I’ve learnt, as well as some tools and bits and pieces in the coming weeks.

[nicolecadet]

Zaya - a commission of an Au Ra from FFXIV MMO. I was given a lot of freedom with this piece... some screenshots of the character and a description guided me, but I got to make up the costume, pose and play with the textured background.

The character tends to wear more conservative pieces, but I wanted to make it a little fun so she got the lace added to the gloves  and neckline. The flower is from memory a ginger flower, though I’d originally drawn a peace lily, referencing the herbal shop she works in. The gloves are due to the poisons she excretes

Character belongs to the commissioner.

Photoshop

[nicolecadet]

Tyrian Gazette: 3200 Gem & Signed Book Giveaway

>> Gleam Giveaway Link: https://gleam.io/hwYxo/tyrian-gazette-3200-gem-signed-book-giveaway

The contest asks you to help us pick one of the designs from the stream (painted with Qesque and Zorav)! The exclusive enamel pin design will be pulled from the results (provided for free to anyone who does the cross-promotion between Echoes of Thunder and Tyrian Gazette).

You can also get entries from completing the other steps and watching the streams from Sunday, July 7th on ArenaNet’s official Twitch channel. There’s one code per stream (21 hours total). There are 9 ways to enter total.

GIVEAWAY ITEMS:

1 Signed Book by the ArenaNet team

3,200 gems total (3 winners - 1200, 1200, 800 gems)

3 enamel pin winners

3 sticker sheet winners

No purchase required. Ships internationally, tracked to door. Runs until 7/10 at 11:59 PM PDT (timer can be found in the link). Gem portion of the giveaway sponsored by @guildwars2. The project is officially promoted and sponsored by ArenaNet.

[nicolecadet]

Echoes of Thunder is now LIVE on Indiegogo!

Echoes of Thunder is a 200+ page art anthology that features works from 75 contributors from around the globe. The book is a celebration of The Dragon Prince and its characters, who we follow on various adventures in the hit Netflix series. In the book, we attempt to paint  under the theme of the six core emotions and how they define a character.

Whether you’re new to the @dragonprinceofficial​ fandom or have been following since the first glimpses of dragons made their way onto the internet, we welcome you to join us on this artistic journey and hope you’ll support us!

Click here to join the campaign! Live from June 25 to July 25!

Details of the book:

7″x9.3″ (Upgrades up to 9″x12″)

Over 100 art pieces on high-quality art paper

Full cover, hardbound 

Fully designed from front to back

Also available in the campaign:

3 double-sided charms (Claudia, Rayla, Aaravos)

5 square postcards

2 sticker sheets

4 unlockable hard enamel pin designs

6 unlockable vinyl sticker designs

2 unlockable CMYK foil cards

3 poster prints (upgradeable to giclees)

2 sketchbook designs

1 unlockable gift box

GIVEAWAY: We are running our giveaway through Gleam, including 1 book, 5 posters, and 3 charms! You can enter here, including reblogging this post!

For more information, head to the campaign, @dragonprinceanthology​ or email us! We’re really looking forward to this campaign! <3

CONTRIBUTORS | PREVIEWS | ALCHEMY | FAQ 

[nicolecadet]

The Dragon Queen

This started out as a 1 hour sketch for Sketchfest which I occasionally participate in. The topic was Queen of Dragons or Dragon Queen. To be honest, I’m not a Game of Thrones fan, so I wanted to do my own queen - someone that is beautiful and strong, yet still feminine. I decided to turn it into my dragon painting goal for 2019. This had been planned as a watercolour painting, but I ended up turning it into a digital piece.

I’ve included the WIP shots I took along the way. With commissions everything is planned, while personal pieces kind of ramble. This is not a great way to paint if you have a deadline, and I ended up repainting things several times as a result, but I’m happy with the final piece :)

The final piece is available as prints and products on Redbubble. Unfortunately Society 6 has a problem with slow internet connections and I can’t upload the file there.

[nicolecadet]

Klaus - DnD knight portrait commission

Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been working on my own painting of a Dragon Queen, but it’s been taking a while as I’ve repainted bits and pieces. In the mean time, commissions have been quiet. This is my latest piece, a DnD commission of a Germanic inspired knight/ cavalier. The hair design was specified, the emblem was also required to be a hawk (though there’s some crossover with eagle heraldry in this piece). The armour is based on mounted armour from the 1500s in Germany, though it’s not tilt armour (meant for jousting). The character Klaus is meant to be a cavalier which were mounted knights. Although cavalier is often associated with the English civil war, this is DnD fantasy so it’s more mounted knight/ chevalier .

[nicolecadet]

Digital colouring page - Instant Download - Epona goddess line art for Cards & Crafts by Nicole Cadet

AVAILABLE FOR PERSONAL USE & LIMITED COMMERCIAL USE (PLEASE SEE TERMS BELOW)

Adapted from a sketch I did several years ago of the Celtic goddess 'Epona’. Epona was traditionally associated with horses and the forest. This was an experimental piece that I wanted to focus on a more stylised look . This digital stamp has been created so that you can create your own craft projects, or simply colour it in!

What you get:  A high resolution black and white jpg file, 8~.5 x 11" at 300 dpi (4090 x 2890 pixels). This is a printable file that is available as an instant digital download. . JPG, transparent png file, and PDF included in the zip file.

Terms of Use: * All digital stamps are © Nicole Cadet * The digital file and printed version must not be shared or resold in any way * You may NOT alter the digital stamp in any way and claim it as your own creation. * You may NOT use the images in this shop on Zazzle, CafePress, Red Bubble or other print on demand (POD) venues. * You may NOT use the digital design as web graphics. * You may NOT create patterns, collage sheets, prints, coloring books, stamps, CDs or claim the art as your own to sell.  * You may NOT create art prints (including ACEOs) or transfers of any kind (iron on, rub on, etc) to be made into stand alone paintings whether on paper or canvas, or for adding to things such as T-shirts, bags etc. 

Limited Commercial use:  * Finished items must be individually made and sold in limited numbers (i.e. not mass production). Each item must be created as a one of a kind piece, and you must credit © Nicole Cadet (somewhere on the card). Items cannot be downloadable, or made into any kind of stamp form (i.e. physical or digital)

[nicolecadet]

🏮 The Essence of Red: SOCIAL MEDIA GOALS! 🏮

Aka, get free stuff for the Essence of Red campaign! These mythical animals are common cultural references that might be familiar to you!

🏮 Visit the kickstarter here: kickstarter.com/projects/alchemyart/the-essence-of-red 🏮

If we have 250 likes, it unlocks:

One 2″ Hard Enamel Pin (Qilin)

Free Postcard Addition to Orders*

If we have 200 reblogs, it unlocks:

One 2″ Hard Enamel Pin (Huli jing)

Free Fu Dogs Sticker Addition to Orders*

The extra unlocks are by artists on our current roster. @isvoc is the artist of the Qilin postcard, and @koboldart is the artist of the fu dogs stickers. *Both unlocks are added to 2+ pin pledges in the Essence of Red campaign.

Note: You can check out the Twitter and Instagram posts (second post)! If either reach the goal, that universally unlocks the rewards.

[nicolecadet]

GW2 2018 Wintersday Zine - Journeys

Last year I got the opportunity to contribute to the GW2 fanzine Wintersday Zine “Journeys” by the GW2 Artist Collective. It was something I really wanted to be a part of as Guild Wars 2 is my favourite game, something I have invested a number of hours since it launched in 2012. When I was asked to pick up for a collaboration I immediately said yes. I had a few commissions happening on the side, but I made space in my calendar so that I could focus on the zine.

The collaboration process was similar to doing a commission, and because I had slightly compressed time frames due to coming on a month after the other artists I needed to be prepared. I worked with writer Jasmine Daggs (I don’t think she has any social media, otherwise I’d link to her!). The process went through several stages of feedback, redlines, and revisions, but ultimately I was able to produce work that I was happy with.

There are a few things I’d do differently, given that the game showed the Mists during the Living World episodes - If I’d seen them earlier, the Falling piece may have been somewhat different. Drawing Cantha was hard. I’ve played a small amount of GW1 Factions, but the screenshots and playthroughs I watched, the architecture was overwhelmingly red, and there was a fine line between trying to capture the essence of Cantha, while not looking too much like a copy of SE Asian/ Chinese architecture.

Also, translating game armour into actual moving, articulated armour is not simple. Game characters have limited detail, and while I tried to stay true to the designs, some things had to be modified to look more realistic, without losing the integral design.

So what do I think about fanzines and collaborations?

Participate if you are passionate about the fandom. I’d not done much GW2 art, mainly because my schedule had been so full that there was little time or energy for personal art. I’d also gone through a long period of being creatively burnt out. Working to spec was ok as there was a start and end point and structure, but personal paintings I’d just blankly look at the page and not feel happy with anything I’d done

Look at the projects that have been done by the collective to try and get a feel for how professional members are. GW2 Artist Collective (which is now under Alchemy Art Group) is run by a passionate group of people, namely Melanie Sayre and Sara Squires, with the team providing feedback and high quality products. Otherwise, join the discord groups, interact with the fan art communities… you’ll get a feel for whether you want to apply or just hang with the community.

Ask questions if you are unsure.

Take on feedback if it is offered - critique is a great process when done properly. I had some red-lines done where another artist corrects aspects of a sketch, which actually saved me time. Some of the poses were overly dramatic for a more narrative effect. I work rough ideas and then gather the references for poses, and because I normally work with private commissions, the art direction generally is the client selecting sketches or providing additional information.

Most of all, have fun with it! Remember why you are doing it. For Wintersday Zine there was the charity side of the project, and there was also the fact it was officially sponsored by ArenaNet, the games’ developer

I also got to play with some design issues that I loved from the Guild Wars concept art. Kekai Kotaki and Richard Anderson (Flaptraps) have been two of my favourite artists for a long time, and trying to channel stylistic aspects was fun.

For some behind the scene sketches, you can visit my ArtStation page

[nicolecadet]

I can finally reveal the pieces I did in collaboration with writer Jasmine Daggs for the GW2 wintersday zine @GW2Collective. The team is amazing to work with. This was for the Heart of Thorns expansion  @GuildWars2

[nicolecadet]

This portrait was recently adopted over at EMG Portrait Adoption. It was for a submitted description where the character was Elven, with 2 different coloured eyes - one autumn, the other spring. This is a really low resolution file, and is a bit looser in style than my normal portraits

https://portraitadoption.com/paartist.php?profile=38