What's Ada Up To? (Patreon)

I have been SO BUSY! If I'm not asleep or at a convention, I'm drawing. I have a bunch of things coming that I can't reveal just yet, including so, so much delicious smut.

1 - 4. Claimed by Darkness by S.R. Hamilton - It'll be a while before this is available because the author is in contract negotiations, so you're getting an exclusive peak at what's to come! I haven't gotten to read the series yet but it's a darker, adult version of Mortal Instruments with big touch-her-and-die vibes, so you know I'm in.

This was a tough piece for me. I don't have much experience drawing wings, so naturally, I decided to foreshorten his because who needs sanity? Originally, I tried to make them look different, but in the story, their fae forms start to match as they become mates. So I had to go back and redesign his wings to match hers, while keeping hers a little more feminine.

This piece is packed with symbolism that will make sense in context of the book. Little details are my favorite part about making custom art and one thing that AI can never do. I like to think it's something that sets my art apart.

Also, if you're thinking "huh, she kinda looks like Ada's version of Ginny Weasley" NUH-UH! Hush! Shhh, no she doesn't. I definitely didn't use the same references and certainly haven't drawn Ginny so many times that her face is nearly automatic now...

5 - 6. Is there a better gift than art? This couple has been playing a Hogwarts RPG together for years. They have whole lives and worlds fleshed out for their characters, and so as a gift, he reached out to commission a portrait of them as their characters. It was such an honor to work on this and be trusted with something so important to this couple. Seeing the result of that trust is one of the best parts of my job.

7. And here's one of the worst parts of my job! I made this cover for a publishing house and despite international zoom meetings, step-by-step sketches, hours on hours of edits, and the piece being entirely finished, the author pulled the kill switch. This is about 35 hours of work. I negotiated a 50% kill fee in my contract but never expected them to kill it after it was done. The best part? 6 months later, still haven't paid me. So I'm going to try and sell it as a premade cover to hopefully recoup some of the cost.

To be clear, I've never had an issue with indie authors not paying me. The whole experience was a nightmare and really put me off working for corporate publishers. I think, for now, I'm going to stick with indie publishers and self publishing authors because I've had nothing but positive, professional experiences in the indie community.

So much good art is coming, I promise! I'm drawing as fast as my little hands can gooooo