Crystal Lyon

My submission to LUMA Projection Art Festival 2025 for the Peg Johnston Living Lights Project. It's my fourth year submitting (we'll see if it gets in! ), and I'm excited to have gotten my students involved this year. Can't wait for September 5 & 6.
#projectionmapping #digitalart #artfestival

Today I taught myself how to animate in Procreate Dream. Finding quiet moments to create and learn.

#animation #fantasy #digitalart #procreatedream #art #creativity #storytelling #elf

I'm writing & world building, & full of existentialism. Working on original art & stories hurts right now. The process is the point. Screaming into the void...

Quietly working in the quiet process of writing. Taking a break to work on some art. The old gods are telling me their story. I'm eager to write them in the form of poetry, prose, and short stories.

#art #fantasy #writing #noAI the process is the point...

The only way I've been able to unwind lately at the end of the day, and find the motivation to get going in the morning. Continuing to explore developing the visuals of my life and dieties.

#fantasy #art #illustration #characterdesign #digital #creativewriting #wip

What I've been doing while completing riveting and required training for my day job. My camera had to be one, but they didn't say I could draw!

#wip #fantasy #art #elf #worldbuilding #lore #creativewriting #character design #illustration #procreate #digitalart

#WIP

I haven't posted in a while but I am in need of a dopamine hit, honestly.

Quietly writing. Exploring the world I'm building with some digital art, looking through archived art from when I was a kid to see how things have come.

#fantasy #fantasyart #creativewriting #elf #magic #art

Art is a HAPPENING! The second opportunity to watch me paint LIVE! Friday, March 7 at 8:00pm at the Cortland Corset Building. I will be painting a corset while worn by a fellow human with a few other artists. #art #communityart #performance #painting

Two opportunities to see me LIVE paint this week as Living Illusion Studio. Art for GOOD!I'm so excited to be featured alongside so many amazing women owned businesses and creatives! Prepping my canvas...
#painting #performance #art #womensupportingwomen #communityart

Process. A quick stick figure is leading to fun character study. Exploring OCs with Tarot.
The Hanged Man.
Quietly working...

#dark #fantasy #creative #writing #tarot

Writing is my creative escape. I've reached out to my amazing editors for the next steps of this world building journey. A little sketching and a little snippet from one of my stories.

#darkfantasy #writing #art #vampire #elf #souleater #assassin

Today is Saturday. Time to relax. Revisiting this last sketch of this misfit pair. I'm trying to focus on characters specific to book one, but the world has (quite by accident) gotten much larger. Writing and world building brings me peace and purpose.
#art #creativewriting #fantasy #dragon #elf

Who knew the stories I am writing, my continued desire to tap into my artistic potential and coax it out of others while remaining in the flow in the journey of creativity, would become a necessary act of human rebellion?

Cover art iteration: three.

#darkfantasy #creativeprocess #writing #art

Mine is just up all time, flaws and all, and wildly in need of an update.

It's time to get back to it... IX 2025! Time to launch a book.

Unsettling and wonderful!

Will do! I'm going to order a physical copy. 💙

I need to get my first book out into the world. I just finished the rough manuscript of my second and am working on the third. I've been dropping snippets and sharing some art if you want to check it out.

This sounds super fun. I'll be adding this to my pile of books to read this winter. Support fellow creatives and writers!

#darkfantasy

Just read the synopsis and this sounds delightful!!

Excerpt from the rough draft of book two of Legends of Rathvyn: The Fall of the Sun used as a traditional prompt (🚫NOT AI!) for the Father of Blinding Light. Beginning to explore deeper mythos. The Three were once one...

#darkfantasy #fantasy #demon #gods #mythos #art #characterdesign

WIP
I don't wanna go to work today. Can I stay home and not adult today and draw instead?

Exploring character interactions, value, color and environment.

#WIP #art #darkfantasy #creativewriting

Oh, I feel this!

I am looking forward to 2025 being the year I develop my craft and focus on personal work.

Amazing! I finished a rough draft of my second manuscript. Write the stories you want to read. 💙

That was the conclusion I came to as well.

Working out ideas quickly in the digital space on Procreate, experimenting with the visuals evoked by my creative writing. Then I'll shift into studio media when I hit the right one. These scenes are abstract and complex and a fun challenge to convey.

#darkfantasy #elf #magic #writing #art

"Amethyst Skull"
Mixed media on a skateboard deck

See it/buy it at the Deck the Halls art exhibition organized by the Cathedral Art Collective in Syracuse, NY. Art for charity to support local youth programs.

#communityart #designforgood #mixedmedia #art #design #skateboards

Love this! I also have a passion for dark fantasy and elves 💙. I enjoy world building, especially with writing.

I see things in my mind & describe them in words,helping me to see what the character looks like. This creates a feedback loop where I can define the writing & the visual representation. A WIP from my current project, book 2 in a series, The Fall of the Sun. I love shape-shifting dragons!