Field notes & deep dives
One long-form genre guide per genre we paint, plus the studio notes — guides, walkthroughs, and process pieces. Start with a genre guide, explore the deep dives.
The genres we paint in
Cornerstone guides for every genre on the studio’s slate. Live where written; the rest are in the queue.
Commissioning Fantasy Character Art: A Complete Guide for Players, GMs, and Writers
Species cues, faction-warm palettes, magical effects without the sparkles, weapons that aren't generic, and what actually goes in the brief.
The D&D 5e Player's Guide to Commissioning Character Art
What a D&D 5e character art commission actually delivers, what to put in the brief, and how class and lineage shape the painting. From a studio that has painted hundreds.
Sci-fi Character Art: From Starfinder to Original Settings
What two years of painting sci-fi characters taught me about hardsuits, alien species, body mods, Starfinder, Mothership, and original-IP worldbuilding briefs.
Cyberpunk Character Art Commissions: The Neon-Lit Aesthetic Guide
A studio guide to commissioning cyberpunk character art — palette, chrome, archetype cues, lighting rigs, and what RED, Shadowrun, and 2077 each demand.
Horror Character Art: Painting What Should Not Be
A studio guide to commissioning horror character art — dread over shock, gothic vs cosmic vs body horror, 1920s investigators, and what to leave to the painter.
Modern Character Art: Urban Fantasy, Crime, Mundane Heroics
A working guide to commissioning modern character art: World of Darkness portraits, urban fantasy leads, modern crime PCs, and the person-in-jeans brief.
Historical Character Art Commissions: Getting the Period Right
Medieval, Viking, samurai, Edwardian. How I narrow a year range with the client, check references, and avoid the costume-drama mistakes that ruin a period portrait.
Souls & Anime Fan Art Commissions: Tribute Portraits Done Right
Souls-style and anime style commissions, palette by palette, plus the calm IP conversation about fan art that most studios won't have with you. A founder's field guide.
Western & Weird West Character Art: Frontier, Gunslinger, Outlaw
A studio guide to commissioning western character art — period-accurate fashion, firearms, dust-and-golden-hour light, and how the weird west really works.
Field notes & process
Guides on commissioning art, walkthroughs of recent pieces, and the occasional studio dispatch.
Reference-checking: how we verify historical period accuracy
The studio's internal reference-checking process for historical commissions — sources, double-checking, common brief errors caught before painting, and the homework that helps.
Edwardian and Victorian portrait commissions: from Penny Dreadful to Call of Cthulhu
Late-Victorian-through-1920s portrait briefs done right — silhouette by decade, gaslit and electric lighting, the Penny Dreadful and Call of Cthulhu crossover, and props that anchor the year.
Painting elves, dwarves, orcs: race-specific design cues that read at portrait scale
Ear families, beard architecture, and tusk profiles — the painterly choices that make each fantasy species read at thumbnail and at full resolution.
Magical effects in character art: glow, runes, and particles without the mess
How to paint magical effects in a fantasy portrait — glow, runes, particles, levitating objects — without sliding into Marvel-poster territory.
How to brief a fantasy character commission (species + palette + pose)
A seven-section checklist for fantasy briefs: species and build, skin and hair, outfit, mood and light, pose, references, and the mistakes that re-paint a portrait.
Fantasy weapon design references: swords, staves, and bows that don't look generic
How to specify swords, staves, and bows in a fantasy commission brief — silhouette families, signature details, and the anti-MMO-generic rule.
Building a fantasy color palette: faction warmth, tonal hierarchy, and the 7-color rule
The seven-color rule, warm vs cool faction logic, Frazetta-Klimt-illuminated palette references, and the colors we ban from briefs.
Multiclass character art: visual storytelling for hybrid builds
How to paint a multiclass D&D character so both classes read in the portrait. Hierarchy, silhouette, color split, and the brief that gets it right.
Class-by-class portrait inspiration for D&D 5e
A class-by-class round-up of what makes a D&D 5e portrait land. Painterly hooks for all twelve classes, anchored in silhouette and brushwork, not stat blocks.
Street samurai vs netrunner vs corpo: archetype visual cues for cyberpunk portraits
Five cyberpunk archetypes, five silhouettes. How street samurai, netrunner, corpo, fixer, and nomad each paint differently — and how to brief them.
Neon palette painting: pink, cyan, and sodium yellow done right (and done badly)
Pink, cyan, sodium yellow — the cyberpunk neon palette. Why pick two of three, when to break the rule, and how to keep neon-pink rim light from melting a face.
Cyberpunk RED character art: a TTRPG-specific brief guide
Briefing a Cyberpunk RED portrait isn't the same as briefing a 2077 piece. A painter's checklist for role, lifepath, cyberware, gang, and RED-era fashion.
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New work & new thinking, monthly
Every few weeks, a roundup of recent commissions, process notes, and slot openings. No spam, no marketing fluff — just the good stuff.