Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)

@aaronradney

He/Him. Illustrator at www.aaronradney.com No AI or NFT. Patreon: commissions@aaronradney.com #Ha-Nahn Email: aradney20@yahoo.com

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jul 10

I really like this one. I wanted to do something a bit more natural lighting wise and this lighting set up is something I've wanted to do for years and finally felt skilled enough to do it.

Dangerous Secrets
A khemite individual stands before a stone wall with a four eyed mask atop it. The wall is covered with moss and plant life in places. His hand pressed a stone in the wall down and a segment of the wall opens revealing a pathway into a cave beyond with a figure with a glowing lamp at the end of it. The khemite man’s eyes glow with the same eerie magic as the mask on the wall.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jul 10

Newest illustration is live! Thank you to my patrons who help make this possible. All the supporters who were such at the time of the piece's completion are listed here in the credits!

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jul 10

This wouldn't be one I submitted but a dragon head like this could be my final EDO submission piece.

brown and white pencil on tanned paper. A dragon with bull like horns and its mouth open in a roar. A stone circle fames it and energy roils off of it like heat lines or lightning.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jul 10

another one. I kind of want to do one more but I'm uncertain what I want to do. Kind of feel like a classic Aaron Radney dragon head might be the way to go here. But I also really like this elven strategist

an elvish woman at a game table leaning forward and scanning the board in thought. A lattice window behind her lets in light that highlights her chair and her hair.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jul 10

I have another version of the dragon god done in pencil It was fun seeing how she differed between mediums. Labeled because of artistic nudity I don't want Bsky to be obnoxious about. Part 2 of the EDO application portfolio.

pencil drawing of a giant dragon goddess looming over a city on a cliff. She has a humanoid body, wings growing from her arms and a long split tail.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jul 10

Getting things together to apply for Everyday Original this year. It's been fun to get back to physical pencil work again.

a pencil image of a giant god sitting in an underground pool with a city around him. He's seen from the gest up with his hands dangling just barely in the water.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jul 3

Late to the party but I'm Aaron and I make fantasy illustration of many different kinds. But I'm in a better mood than usual so I'll show off some brighter work today. You can support me at www.patreon.com/aaronradney or at my INPRNT store here: www.inprnt.com/gallery/aaro...

Great Spirits
A figure stands on a rock out at sea and looks out across the cold, grey/green waters toward the distance. Rising from the ocean and mingling with the clouds and sea spray, a massive spirit in the vague shape of a whale combined with a flying fish rises and arcs as if jumping through the surf in the open ocean. The image gives a sense of the power and majesty of a massive spirit far out to sea. A representative spirit of the ocean itself.

The Street
A digital painting of a busy fantasy street with architecture that draws from both feudal era Japan and modern Venice. This is not a canal street however. It’s a long tiled street/plaza with multiple levels where people are not just at the ground level but walking on the roofs of buildings as if they too were streets. At ground level there are trees providing shade as well as places to sit and people hustling and bustling about. There are several ramps throughout for wheelchairs but they’re too steep to roll up. Instead there are clear lines that indicate magic that pulls wheelchair users up the ramps without them needing to use any effort. And you can see figures in wheelchairs on this street as well. The tiled ground is clean and polished to shine so slight reflections are visible and there’s a feeling of openness joy ad lightness in the space. A large golden fountain statue of a woman with a stylus and a bowl pouring water into a basin takes center stage in the space.

Auroris Galana
A digital painting of a pale redheaded woman in robes with a blue outer shall, a white inner robe and a red high necked body suit stands in a study with three glowing panels of energy before her. She looks to her left over her shoulder at one of them, her finger is pointed at another in front of her and her other hand taps easily at a third. The background is dark to separate her out from the rest of the image and make her clear. Her hair moves slightly as though she's just turned her head or there's an unseen wind blowing it.

Wizard Token
A Black male wizard in long robes steps out of a painting like a portal with a stylus like wand as dark energy eminates out of it and around him. He's wearing round glasses with a flat top haircut. His robes are blue and black.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jul 2

years ago I concepted this as a possible cover for my Ha-Nahn story. I am, at long last 13,000-ish words into actually writing this novella... thing.

The Next Mage Chief
A picture of Amudan, a medium dark skinned Black male mage standing in front of a circular window with a gentle smile on his face, his arm leaning on a stack of books as 3 others magically float around him. Green energy eminates from a pendant around his neck. His head is shaved bald and he wears green robes in the style of the Ashanti from West Africa.

The image has text over it in red letters (an honestly poor choice considering the coloration of the piece). The letters say "The Next Magechief"

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 26

There is a part of me that hates this is the first political cartoon I've done of this era when there are so many more important issues that could've had it happen. But all of those hurt in a way I couldn't muster the power to draw out. This is just so damn foolish!

a political cartoon of a man being robbed by an elephant in a pick pocket costume. A paper on a wall says "Amendment 5 = GOP Blank Check" and the text reads: "Don't let Republicans pick your pocket. On 8/4 vote NO on Amendment 5"

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 26

Thank you for hosting! I'm Aaron and I do just about any fantasy thing that grabs my attention but I have a penchant for the mythic and the titanic.

Ayrmael, God of Creation
A digital illustration of a massive divine dragon with purple and gold coloration. The massive beast flies over a mountain city with floating islands all around. As it turns in the sky its wings trail through clouds. The creature has a thick almost gorilla like body and stripes like a tiger but made of something like gold that seems to flow beneath its skin.

Marked
An assassin leaps from the window entrance to a tower, lit from behind by a full moon into the study of a wizard, her blades glinting in the light. She wears a dark blue cloak as she falls ready to land a fatal strike. The wizard before her turns as if interrupted in his work. He's startled and unable to defend himself.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 26

In #Ha-Nahn magic flows from stories. The lessons of a tale are internalized and harnessed before being willed into existence in the world. What stories would you harness? What lessons would you internalize, and what effects do you think they'd have?

Father Son, Lesson Number One
A black and white digital painting of a Black father and son in a library. The son has a small book in one hand and a glowing orb of light in his other. His father kneels down looking over his shoulder with pride as the child conjures his first spell.

At a distance, Amudan could see pandemonium still raged. Warriors fanned out across the hall. Desperate to close the gap with weapons useless at range. Others surrounded the headchief and dignitaries. Last resort human shields. Three warriors nearly carried the headchief to an exit hallway. They couldn’t see another assassin hiding beneath the stage, readying to fire another dart. This time from a sling!

Time slowed as Amudan could see him take aim and draw back. The warriors couldn’t notice the threat, their backs turned and focused on their tasks. There was no reaching them in time. But there was a single option open.

Before, the assailants had caught Amudan, and everyone else, by surprise. When surprised, story magic was almost impossible. But the element of surprise was gone and in that moment a story flooded into Amudan’s mind and soul faster than any dart could possibly move.

Amudan threw his will into a story. An old one. The Tale of the Twins. A children’s tale. Yet in dire moments, those were often the easiest to call upon, their lessons ingrained and their words well worn.

It wasn’t the standard lesson of the spell but he focused on the brother’s compassion in the tale. He was often branded a fool in the tellings. The primary lessons typically centered on what could be learned from his sister’s actions. But in that moment Amudan needed something else! He focused on his willingness to protect! He called upon the story’s lessons and like the twins in the story, light erupted from his palm in a violent flash of gold. But Amudan wasn’t done. He spun the light outward further until it filled the space. The light would blind those with wicked intent and protect his allies. The application was a bit clumsy from speed but it had the desired effect.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 25

When I painted this project I had a relationship in mind. The one between my buddy and his wife. His name even inspired the name of the husband (Yavon) for this piece. There's a lot of reasons I like this piece and that's one of them.

Assurances
An image of a Black couple sitting in their room. The woman is dark skinned and wearing yellow and orange wraps while sitting cross-legged with a paper in her hand. There's a scroll lit by three candles on her left. She looks over her shoulder at the man behind her lovingly. The man is wearing blue and purple lounging clothes with an open shirt/vest. He has a thick afro, well trimmed beard and gentle eyes as he looks at her with care. He has a hand resting on her belly with well formed abs. Colorful banners and a bookshelf decorate the room behind them.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 21

Examples

Ha-Nahn: Ponder
An image of an old mage with a head wrap with closed eyes and thinking. His head is flagged by bronze rings and the background is a field of stars representing him thinking of infinite possibilities. Within the circles, the symbol for story magic floats in space.

Mwindaji, Remnant Leader
Image of Mwindaji, a named Remnant (a type of living weapon in Ha-Nahn that is formed when a weapon absorbs so much hatred and malice from its owner that it tries to keep on fighting even after that person dies) stalking forward through an eerie yellow orange night with a full moon. She wears a purple torn and tattered garment with great blades for her arms and a masked, eyeless face. She leads a small troop of others behind her as though prepared to destroy an unsuspecting village. Her body is full of indications of damage from previous battles and yet she still exists.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 20

Who is the voter base for the Dems. Who turned out? Who didn't show up? Please think long and hard about your answer.

Autumn:

Well, them winning assumes they would have had to put out a winning vision for the voter base, no?

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 19

I mean this was literally my youtube screen when I scrolled by this. Also, I've been wondering and hope you know. His song called "the Idiot" that's all about going to work on a refinery. What the heck is his actual attitude on that song? I feel like it could go either direction.

a shot of my youtube feed which is me listening to Stan Rogers "The Witch of the Westmorland from his "Between the Breaks" album.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 19

Share your couples art. I only really have 2.

Trusted Allies
Two men, one a noble, the other his consort/boyfriend and bodyguard stand together in an alcove in a palace as a party moves around them. They look at each other lovingly even as the bodyguard is clearly tense and keeping his hand on his weapons. The noble rests his hand on the other man's shoulder lovingly as if telling him it's okay to relax.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 18

I need a break so badly. I'm going to throw in some art I don't normally show so it gets some more attention.

A map of a crescent shaped volcanic island done in black and white. A the top and bottom of the crescent are two mountains named Mt. Odeladani in the south and Mt. Degerel in the north. In the middle of the crescent is a crater lake called Lake Arabian. The island has a few settlements and is implied by the amount of things on it to be huge. Many of the places seem to have proper names for them as though this was a place named by outsiders through conquest.

The Infiltrator’s Lament
An image of a woman hanging from a rope by one hand as she reaches down to snag a glowing magical half-orb in an old looking vault. The woman has medium dark skin and slightly east asian features. The image is painted in hues of yellow, brown and green.

Final Confrontation
A centaur and a harpy battle in a snowy forest. The image is dark with a greenish cast to the sky and the centaur swings a bident at the harpy as it leaps backwards. We only see the harpy from behind but the gashes across the centaur’s back and rips in his cloak indicate this is a hard fought battle. The male centaur looks old but muscular with medium brown skin, dark brown hair with streaks of grey styled into something like an afro mohawk. His lower body isn’t like a horse but instead is more like an oryx antelope a type of African antelope. He’s bleeding from other wounds as well.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 15

Here are some things I've done as portfolio examples. More at www.aaronradney.com for client work. I also make maps.

A trio of characters seen on the deck of an airship. A woman in white with a black belt and reddish black undergarments stands with a boat oar over her shoulder, a compass in hand and looking to the left, her black/blue/purple hair blowing in the breeze. A buff man in a gray shirt and dark pants sits crouched on a clearly unsafe back part of the ship with a rake as a weapon. A woman stands on the back part of the ship under the mast and magical sail in a patchwork outfit with broken chains dangling from her wrist. Blue glowing crystals can be seen keeping the ship aloft.

A map of the continent of Zastos. The continent shaped like a jagged heart or an open maw with most of the settlements being on its south central potion in the valley betwen a massive mountain range. Much of the continent is uninhabited by people and small islands trail off to the northeast. The image's feel is of a cold and isolated place.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 15

Thank you for doing this! I'm Aaron I'm a fantasy illustrator who focuses mainly on non-Eurocentric stories and art but I can and have done a little of everything. Here's my current price sheet. Emails are aradney20@yahoo.com for big clients and commissions@aradney.com for person to person comms.

Contact: commissions@aaronradney.com

Flat drawings
-Objects/environments: $30 per
-Character Bust (chest up): $45 per
-Full Body: $55
-Simple Backgrounds: Always included in these (simple backgrounds are a shape or a texture or a very quickly drawn indication of an environment)
-Complex Backgrounds (anything extra I have to draw): +$20 to base line price

Shaded Sketches
Objects/environments: $50 per
-Character Bust (chest up): $65 per
-Full Body Character: $85
-Simple Backgrounds: + 25 on top of anything else (simple backgrounds are a shape or a texture or a very quickly drawn indication of an environment)
-Complex Backgrounds (anything extra I have to draw): +$20 to base line price

Cel-Shaded Drawing
-Objects/environments: $65 per
-Character Bust (chest up): $80 per
-Full Body Character: $120
-Simple Backgrounds: +40 on top of anything else
-Complex Backgrounds (anything extra I have to draw): +$60 to base line price

Maps
-Region/Sketch: $75
-Continent/Sketch: $100
-Region/Color: $85
-Continent/Color $125

Alt Text consultation/writing: $20/4 pieces

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 14

I forgot you can't send images in direct messages here so here's the tutorial. :)

an in depth and lengthy tutorial about painting skin tones.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 12

Bits like this. The full nature of using magic in #Ha-Nahn isn't elucidated much at all here but there are a few key elements. It can be modified on the fly, it requires stories and it requires concentration. This is still unedited so please forgive the fact some of this is clumsier than I'd like.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 12

Quote your art with fire! Figuring out how to paint this fire was a whole mess and a half let me tell you!

Elemental Mastery
An image done in pinks, oranges and reds of a mage casting a powerful fire spell. Three whips of fire extend from their outstretched hand in the far background spiraling out in curving lines and transforming into different African animals: an antelope, a wildebeest and a buffalo. The creatures rush forward across a savannah landscape as though charging the viewer. They are clearly made of fire but do not burn the grass.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 11

Happy birthday @superdillin.bsky.social. Sorry to say I don't have anything werewolf related to share for you today. So instead I submit a sapphic elf with a wolfdog.

Palka
An elven woman with a stern expression enters some sort of building with a large snarling wolf at her side. She carries two curved short swords at her side and the clearly cold weather outside whips her cloak and hair forward as she steps in. She's clad in a long fur cloak, coat and cloth armor.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 11

High Priestess Tarot Card
An image of a woman in a blue dress seated upon a throne with moon symbols on it looking down imperiously. She is surrounded by stones, gnarled trees and a stone circle behind her head. Her hair moves as though it's being blown by a strong wind or moved by ocean currents. Her dress flows into a waterfall that turns into a pool that flows into the foreground.

Sun Titan

An image of a giant seen from the waist up. He’s holding a spear and illuminated by a harsh desert sun. A rocky outcropping with memorial stones placed into them surrounds a small figure in the foreground that shields his eyes from the radiance. The image is done in yellows, oranges and browns.

Annanas, Clear Eyed
a giant draconic goddess with orange scales, a humanoid form and a twisting split tail stands above a city perched at the edge of a cliff. She looks out sternly and somewhat coldly as she stands poised and elegant.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 9

So the thing that was really fun about this whole project was not only getting to work on a friend's OC and practice my sketch style... but she sent me a great little sketch to work from for a whole set of these.

A pen drawing of Tamar's oc a futuristic heavy set woman character in armor done on notebook paper.

A sketchbook page with roughs for the characters I designed for Tamar. The god on the gilded throne are the two sketches on the left with the crest and the snaggle toothed grin.

The God on the Gilded Throne, Zezhelanzunui of Urhalzan. A heavyset woman in futuristic armor with a face shaped like the extinct hominin Paranthropus boisei (aka flared and dish-shaped) with a sagittal crest, holding her right hand in a fist covered by her left one and smiling.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 8

I found this bit especially interesting though. Largely because one I admit it confirms my biases... but it's also funny because I had the same happen to me in school for a different reason. We had these writing assessments we had to do on a prompt once a year and I always zoned out when I did it.

brain activity with a 32-channel EEG. The ChatGPT group showed the lowest neural connectivity of the three, with up to 55 percent reduced connectivity compared with the brain-only group, and “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.” Eighty-three percent of LLM users could not quote a single line from essays they had written minutes earlier.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 7

Here's mine. Thanks @asteyni.bsky.social for sharing this so it came across my path.

“Quickly, quickly now” came the call of the functionaries as Amudan was shuffled swiftly down the hall. The great library of Atlea city was usually quiet and sedate. Ascension day was the exception. And so it was that Amudan was being rushed along like a downed tree in a flood through the narrow corridors by half a dozen or so officials as final preparations were put in place.

He urged them to slow down and take a moment but the tide of councilors had its own momentum by now and they guided him rapidly through the richly adorned archways and toward the doors of the ascension hall. He’d spent much of his youth here as a student. He hadn’t expected to return to them so soon. And certainly not as the Magechief.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 5

Hey, thanks for sharing! Congrats on 400. I'm Aaron, a fantasy illustrator mostly focused on work that falls outside of the classic European inspired stuff. I'm also working on my own pan-African inspired world of #Ha-Nahn.

Ha-Nahn Map Updated
A map of a large continent that is shaped roughly like a curving letter T. The continent is roughly divided into thirds with a lush rainforest bordered by mountains to the north, an inland savannah in the middle and an arid mountainous desert that makes up most of the bottom third of the continent. Rivers and lakes dot the north and middle with only a single large river flowing outward toward the south in the desert region.

Race Against Time
A digital painting of a Black woman in a red dashiki inspired outfit, dreads and glasses races through a tunnel running from some sort of monstrous demonic creature firing bolts of magic at her from far behind. She carries a gnarled staff indicating her status as a mage and the staff is glowing with bright yellow light.

Nature’s Aegis
An image of a Black non-binary person in a rainforest environment. They are a mage and the painting is done primarily in a green pallet. They’re channeling nature magic into a protective cloak that trails away from her shoulders and arcs gracefully across the page. They look over their shoulder at it serenely and is seen from a slightly raised angle. Small calligraphic symbols can be seen throughout the image.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 5

Things I'm learning tonight. LinkedIn is *really* slow to upload image files. I'd forgotten why I hadn't used it in ages. But for now I'd like to show off some concept stuff for my world of #Ha-Nahn

concept art of outfits and thus signifiers for my world of Ha-Nahn.

Spiritual Matters
A Black man in African inspired clothing and short dreads holds a book glowing between his hands in a dark forest. A spirit with a face like a west African mask and glowing blue eyes looms menacingly above him. The man has a book holster under his arms indicating he is a mage scholar from his setting and he looks forward confidently. Glowing symbols, representing story magic come from the book and wrap around his hand and arm.

a crop of a piece being worked on with a man wearing a golden shoulder piece and blue wrappings standing before a wall and pressing a rock inward. he looks over his shoulder menacingly.

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)@aaronradney· Jun 4

Thanks for hosting! I'm Aaron and I do non-Eurocentric illustration mostly. In support of pride month I'm going to post some of my work featuring LGBTQ characters. Left to right: Bi, Gay couple, Sapphic/Demisexual and NB