Kaydreamer

One of my chihuahuas demands a diet of purest souls.The other one is just happy to be included.

#dogs

"Pleasure doin’ business with ye,” mumbles the courier, through the cigarette between his lips. Practised fingers dance along a dashboard panel as he switches his vessel to autopilot before standing and stretching with a crackle, humming absent-mindedly as he wanders from the cockpit.
#art #writing

Hello #portfolioday! I'm Kay, a writer and illustrator who is working on a series of illustrated novels. I'm getting fairly close to the point where I can begin posting chapters in serialised format online, so if anything tickles your imagination, follow for more.

Across an ancient, reddened galaxy called Thuliv, a nightmare chases a man. In it, a child screams. A shadowed figure tugs her away, the wails of her parents joining hers in anguished harmony. The child has many faces. Sometimes she is an elf. Sometimes a faun, or a naga. Sometimes she is a child of a species the man doesn’t recognise, with silver fur and tall ears. And sometimes, on the worst nights, she is human, with a spray of freckles and candle-flame hair, and he wakes to the sound of his own screams. He doesn’t go back to sleep, those nights. The courier is no stranger to restless sleep and fitful dreams, but this nightmare is new, unique to the galaxy he’s passing through. It haunts the old, cold stars and haunted planets he flies between. It’s fitting, he supposed, that nightmares would hunt men in so bleak a place as Thuliv.

My opinion of my own writing may be strapped to a dunning-kruger see-saw as I painstakingly chip away at improving it, but I can honestly say, at least the opening paragraph slaps.

"If they're consistent in one regard, it's underestimating us," says Merry, a smirk on the corner of her lips. "We have a target. Get the crew ready for intercept."

"Could be a contractor," says Duke. "They know we've been lookin' for the lab they send those kids to. Why would we suspect a civilian ship?"

"He's not wearing a uniform."

"Remarkable powers of observation, dear Merry" says Glitch in a mock-posh accent. Merry flicks her ear as she cackles.

"What do we know about him?"

"Zzzzzzilch."

A few taps later, a grainy face appears, his dark scruffy hair framed by the stars of the orbital dock. A seperate video feed displays a group of dock workers loading a large, covered crate onto a waiting ship. The man hardly looks villainous . . . but then, villains rarely do.

"That's him," says Glitch. "The one with the cigarette."

Merry squints at a lean figure on the screen, dressed in an aviator jacket. "Zoom in, Glitch."

#art #fiction #writing

Human Artists

Use one piece to convince people to follow you 🌟

A blue-skinned male elf with long, dark blue hair.

"I trust your judgement of him--but such a revelation is still a risk. One we can ill afford. I am sorry, my sister. That secret must be kept, for now."

#illustration #art #fantasy

It's not like I don't have two big couches on the porch they could tuck a package behind to keep it somewhat hidden. Nope, gotta dump it in front of the door.

Yeah, they never bother knocking anymore. The posties have been replaced with cheap contractors who have huge daily quotas, so it's a choice between knocking or having the time to deliver everything in the truck.

As someone who has to deal regularly with Australia Post (I run a lil' Etsy store) I lament the state of our once-fairly-reliable postal service. They're currently in the habit of leaving everything I order on my doorstep, in a kinda dodgy suburb, in plain view of a BUS STOP. 😭

A red elf looking upward as black lightning-like magic crackles down behind him.

It had to be done. It had to be done. It had to be done. It had to be done. It had to be done. It had to be done. It had to be doneithadtobedoneithadtobedone . . .

. . . didn't it?

#art #originalcharacter #OC #horror

Scruffy man smoking cigarette against an amber starscape.

"Outlive enough o' your friends, ye start to just . . . keep to yourself."

#art #illustration #fantasy #fiction

It's darkest before the dawn, friend. Focus on the light you can bring to others - let that be your purpose and your guide through these times. Where there is no light, we must create it within ourselves. It's all we can do.

But she would have to betray him for such a world to be woven. And so her dream dissolved, like spun sugar in the rain, leaving only pain and impossible choices.

In a more perfect world, everything would glow with the colours reflected in her dreams. In a more perfect world, she could trade grey jumpsuits for flowing white dresses, breathe the air of her homeworld, and know peace in the arms of the man she loved.

#dreamcore #art

In the dream, she didn't wear a uniform. Instead, she danced beneath the moonlight in a white sun-dress, frilled with a blush of pink, as the hushed ocean harmonised with the chiming of the stars.

#dreamcore #fairycore #dazecore #liminal #illustration #art

In the dream, she didn't wear a uniform. Instead, she danced beneath the moonlight in a white sun-dress, frilled with a blush of pink, as the hushed ocean harmonised with the chiming of the stars.

#dreamcore #fairycore #dazecore #liminal #illustration #art

This one is my favourite. 🤣

I feel you. Mine have been horrible since my teens as well, and they flare up in the cold if I sit still for too long. It huuuuuurts.

I'm a singer myself, so naturally, I can't resist giving nearly all of my characters nice singing voices. 🎵 Piper here can even play the bagpipes!

...opening onto endless stars. A shen'navyre perched above her, white feathers iridescent with soft pastels, carolling into the sky.

A musical trill chimed from somewhere within a fantasy of sunset clouds, sweet-voiced and bell-like. The dream swirled, sugar-scented, and then he saw her - a young woman with candle-flame hair seated upon golden stairs, the arched doorway behind her...

#portfolioday #art #liminal

It's #portfolioday? What a nice surprise! I'm Kay, I draw sparkly illustrations of OC's I'm writing books about.

🎨 Patreon: www.patreon.com/kaydreamer

At no point has the existence of digital art undermined traditional art, nor made it less valuable. Traditionally painted canvasses still sell for hundreds, often thousands of dollars. It's the DIGITAL artists who are being hurt most by AI - we don't need this resurrected wave of gatekeeping.

Absolutely not. Digital and traditional art are both time consuming, demanding years of practice to master. They both require an artist to sit down for hours and paint/draw. Digital art has advantages in its flexibility - traditional art has the advantage of being a valuable physical artefact.

Just last week I found out, to my immense disappointment, that NaNoWriMo had jumped on the AI slop bandwagon. (I'm late to the party.)

Today, I found out they've filed for bankruptcy. Financial bankruptcy, to match their creative bankruptcy.

Poetic.