Gave him some color in marker.

And it's done!

(To reiterate, this is an illustration for a short fantasy story I recently wrote and am in the process of revising.)

#illustration #fantasy #slavery #african #middleeastern #art

Lineart stage...

I gave this fantasy map I made a few months ago some updates. I want to use this as a setting for my sword and sorcery stories from here on out. #maps #cartography #fantasy #art

BTW, the slavers here have a culture based on ancient Ethiopia whereas the enslaved are based on pre-Islamic Arabs.

Thumbnail Time again! This one is for an illustration to go with my next short story, depicting a slave caravan. Don't worry, the story's heroine will liberate the enslaved people here. #sketch #thumbnailsketch #illustration #art

An Habesha warrior from the setting of my latest fantasy short story. His culture is of course based on ancient Ethiopia. #fantasy #worldbuilding #ethiopian #african #art

Sketchbook doodle of an anthropomorphic T. rex character. He came out looking rather like Crocodile Dundee, but if he ever got a voice actor, my top picks would be either Keith David or Clancy Brown. #tyrannosaurusrex #dinosaur #anthro #characterdesign #art

I can see that being true for ancient South Semitic peoples like the Sabaeans, whose languages and cultures would have been distinct from those of early Arabic-speakers who on the other hand originated closer to the Levantine region further north.

If you're wondering why she's so dark-skinned, the inspiration came from the scholarship of Dr. Dana Reynolds-Marniche, who has argued that the original inhabitants of Arabia had darker skin prior to absorbing waves of migration from more northerly areas of the Middle East.

Marker portrait of a queen from the Sabaean civilization of ancient South Arabia. #ancient #arabia #middleeastern #blackwoman #womanofcolor #art

I wanted to give my new OC Makena an environment, so here's her in the deserts of Ahrabiyya (her setting's equivalent to our Arabian peninsula). #originalcharacter #african #blackwoman #womanofcolor #fantasy #art

Her story is about her searching for a lost treasure out in the desert, but once she stumbles upon a slave caravan, she takes it upon herself to rescue the captives.

A new #originalcharacter of mine named Makena, heroine of a short sword & sorcery story I recently drafted. #characterdesign #fantasy #swordandsorcery #african #blackwoman #womanofcolor #art

Gotta love the modern film industry, especially modern Disney.

The inspiration comes in large part from a certain Robert E. Howard story about his Puritan hero Solomon Kane fighting Arab slavers in Africa, but I wanted to invert the races a bit by having an African heroine fight other Africans who had enslaved Arabs.

Finished drafting a new short story today. It's a sword-and-sorcery fantasy about an African adventurer giving up her quest for treasure in order to rescue some enslaved Arabs. I hope to have it reviewed and revised shortly.

Design in marker of a prehistoric-fantasy character from a desert region. #prehistoric #fantasy #worldbuilding #characterdesign #art

A “sea snatcher” (or plesiosaur) attacks a couple of fishers who have rafted too far away from the coast. #prehistoric #fantasy #african #blackpeople #art

And here's the line art stage. Colors coming in tomorrow.

Sometimes I wonder what actress would play her in the unlikely event that my novella ever got adapted into a movie. I can't be the only author out there with such fantasies, right?

Another marker drawing of my #originalcharacter Yandi, from my prehistoric-fantasy novella "Yandi and the Fire Mountain". #prehistoric #fantasy #african #blackwoman #womanofcolor #art

Thumbnail sketch of a plesiosaur attacking a pair of primitive fishers on a raft.

For this morning's Thumbnail Time, we're going back to the genre of prehistoric fantasy (paleofantasy?) with this scene of a plesiosaur attacking two fishers near the continent's coast. #thumbnailsketch #sketch #art

It's strange to me that Hollywood has not invested as much in updating animatronic tech as it has CGI. Imagine them making animatronic dinosaurs move and act to a degree that makes CGI dinosaurs unnecessary. Why haven't we gotten that?

The image depicts a stylized work-in-progress drawing in the Procreate app of a young Black woman. Her hair is tied into two low afro puffs that frame her shoulders. She is wearing large, chunky, star earrings. Her gaze is curious and turned upward.

Life has been a lot, and drawing is hard, but I'm thankful to have the chance to be a little creative! 🌟

#art #digitalart #Procreate #BlackSky

Its been a while since I've drawn Nubia

Marker drawing of an #alternatehistory scenario in which an Old Kingdom Egyptian fights an invading Akkadian. #ancient #bronzeage #egyptian #mesopotamian #art

My interpretation of the modern-day Axis of Evil. TW: Politics. #politics #fascism #evil #art

A couple of sketches showing how I construct the human figure when drawing. I usually start with a simplified skeleton and then put on it the muscles and other stuff. #drawing #anatomy #sketch #art

A soldier from one of the Swahili city-states of medieval East Africa. #medieval #african #warrior #art