Character portrait of Sylvain de Chalais, a fictional Napoleonic général de brigade. White curling hair, pink complexion, blue-grey eyes, wearing the dark blue almost black frac uniform with gold oak-leaf embroidery at the cuffs and collar, gold epaulettes, sash, and the medal of the Légion d'honneur. His expression is quiet and observant. Hand holding a document. Set against a blue background with his name in cursive script above.

chef d'état-major du maréchal Fressange.
visual dev pour Achevé

Illustration of Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington standing side by side in military dress. Napoleon in a redingote grise and bicorne, Wellington in dark cloak over gold-trimmed uniform. Stylized character design art

two short kings who spent fifteen years trying to kill each other and accidentally invented the modern world

There Was One Sex for Two Thousand Years A Writer's Guide to Sex, Gender, and Bodies Before the Modern Binary

the romans assessed sex by voice, skeleton, and temperament. the talmud had four categories where we have two.

then the enlightenment needed women excluded from citizenship and two thousand years of medicine got replaced by a checkbox. i wrote about what was lost.

sketch of napoleonic wars guerres napoléoniennes 18th 19th century fictional original character marshal of france maréchal sosthène fressange deadstar

fressange

i think i'm finally happy to point people to @deadstar.black where I've been active for the last year with professional stuff!
or go to @fangs.black if you like anthros and hybrids

The Cathedral of Silence: Primal's Wordless Storytelling Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal has no dialogue. Here's what prose writers and narrative designers can steal from its wordless mastery of show don't tell.

this week's craft essay is for everyone still sprinkling "he crossed his arms" between dialogue and calling it physical description. about Primal, wordless storytelling, and building scenes that work on mute.

i think i'm finally happy to point people to @deadstar.black where I've been active for the last year with professional stuff!
or go to @fangs.black if you like anthros and hybrids

Stop Making Your Protagonists Sympathetic Why the most interesting characters are the ones (other people say) you shouldn't like. Learn why diegetic writing and morally complex protagonists create better fiction than sympathetic characters. C...

this week's craft essay is for everyone tired of being told they're morally suspect for liking complex characters. about diegetic writing, why compelling beats likeable, and why fiction isn't an instruction manual.

sfw (ish) edition of the december zine from fangs.black's subscribestar of a muscular human dog hybrid getting pet on his head, wearing a harness, leash, bondage cuffs. pet play. good boy.

cover of upcoming dec zine

#elventrail | nhera dnd dark fantasy valari elf elven centipede taur homebrew not really a drider but adjacent

would or would not....? 🐛

portrait art of (original) drukhari with pale white skin and pale-lavender colored hair. he looks at the viewer with evil smile while some weird black liquid flows down his shoulder (i have no idea wtf is it)

there's something in the dark...

(12 #artfight attack, on @elvenking.art)
#art #elfenjoyers #artsky

portrait art of (original) elegant drukhari with pale skin and black hair with a few white locks. he looks a viewer with a cold sight and a slightly noticeable smirk

vicious grace

(13 #artfight attack, on @faedread.art)
#art #elfenjoyers #artsky

muscular dog boys this month. we've had girlies and femboys already and i like variety

your average consumer: i wanna pay with paypal
artists that need the money: paypal and patreon are morally shitty places, support my living here if you want to
your average consumer: i dont wanna, wanna just talk instead?

vargenir / erethane stylised character art illustration for fane, character from nhera drawing by deadstar : werewolf adlet humanoid in a spooky forest where the trees have red eyes in the knots, atmosphere is misty, faerie and dim

from halloween🐺turned him into a wuff

How to Make Your Officers Look Like Gods Naval fiction has given us competence. I want to give you apotheosis. What happens when you bring Gothic symbolic density to naval fiction. A craft guide to designing uniforms, insignia, and material ...

what if your⚓officers' uniforms didn't just show rank, but encoded what gods they survived meeting?

wrote about designing naval uniforms as worldbuilding—color as theology, insignia as mythology, and why competence can look like divinity 🔱

full craft breakdown:

aeldari

shaitaan demon from nhera worldbuild. yes his face was inspired by heinrix. uhm dont worry about the tail ok

🩸

Character art for THE REPLY, a grimdark nautical horror where the ocean is a sentient, jealous thing. Second Lieutenant Marion Gore—the sharpest officer on the Siren's Reply. #TheReply #grimdark #nauticalhorror #characterdesign #flintlockfantasy #writerartist

obedience is the sharpest blade—it cuts both ways

Lt. Marion Gore from my upcoming grimdark nautical horror novel, THE REPLY

shaitaan demon from nhera worldbuild. yes his face was inspired by heinrix

🩸demons for spooky season

The Architecture of an Arch-Inquisitor A craft-focused look into the design and psychology of Origen Thule

In a galaxy that screams, the most dangerous man whispers.

Wrote about designing Origen—the character architecture, visual choices, and why stillness can be more terrifying than spectacle.

Full craft breakdown:

imagine you're mid-foreplay and they whip out the legal paperwork

mad abt it

nhera dhampir oc einrich nostrava art by deadstar blood bleeding

even in blood-soaked ruin

my commitment to method acting is absolute. to write the perfect byronic hero, I have embraced the full experience: the brooding, the emotional unavailability, and the subsequent, crushing social isolation. my characters have never been more authentic. I have never been more alone. the process works

daud, character from my novel. his dossier if ur interested https://www.legendkeeper.com/app/clyqnuya815z40jlcgckxdmkk/o81wfp4f

trust is the anchor that drowns the most fools

got an excerpt right here for ya https://www.legendkeeper.com/app/clyqnuya815z40jlcgckxdmkk/v4qazk9j

madness is a tide that comes for every sailor

#ocart

warhammer 40k rogue trader saren von aurastor calix von fellner fanart deadstar

you claim to abhor emotion, yet you linger, watching. as if you're waiting for something.