tumblesticks

@tumblesticks

(Sue K.) 🇨🇦 Artist, drummer, relaxer. She/her #yeg Currently into: all things Tolkien, Arkham Horror LCG, pixel art, gouache, Long Covid recovery, #canucks, my cats Currently out of: my wheelchair, except for long trips!

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tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jul 28

Most recently drawn character from @officiallotro.bsky.social is my high elf Champion! Back to my favourite chalk style for this one. I tried to do each of these portraits super fast (for me), and tried to be okay with the imperfections since they’re just personal projects

An elf drawn in a soft chalky style with no exterior line art. She’s drawing a large sword with moon and stars from a sheathe, and she looks very serious. She has long pale blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and is wearing armour in shades of cream and gold

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jul 25

Next for my Tolkien art is another Beorning character! This is Sieglinde, or “Sigi”, Rathlifa’s little sister. She’s a healer (for this I tried going back to my coloured line art style). Pose reference courtesy of @jookpubstock.bsky.social

Cel-shaded art of a blonde girl in leather armour. She’s raising her hands like claws and making a Grrrrrr! pose, but she’s grinning so you know she’s not scary :)

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jul 24

I’ve been finding time for fun art lately, and have been drawing some of my characters in Lord of the Rings Online. Meet my favourite: my Beorning tank Rathlifa! (This started as an attempt at a watercolour underpainting, but it was too muddy so I changed it to a sketch)

A sepia sketch, done in Procreate on the iPad. Hopefully it looks similar to the sketches at the end of the Lord of the Rings films? A large smiling dark-haired woman holds an axe over her shoulder. She’s wearing leather armour, and a warg-skin cloak.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jan 13

It's #portfolioday ! I'm not selling anything and I don't need a job right now, but here's some of my work anyway😊

Fan art drawing of Cirdan the Shipwright from Rings of Power.

T-shirt and pajama pattern design for the Ikea Blåhaj shark. The top image is a cute stuffed blue shark swimming through a little seascape. The bottom is a repeating pattern of waves with shark fins in them.

8 of the unit portraits I did for the Dawn of War II Retribution game. I do not remember all their names.

4 repeating patterns I designed: Manta rays (batik inspired) in lime green, Stylized clouds on a deep blue winter night, Penguins in sweaters in ice blue and light pink on a black background, Alberta leaves on a Boho/Art Deco styled scale pattern

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jan 9

I used to make a lot of historical costume for reenactment groups, so I got really into researching what these characters might actually wear in the mid-1920s Shown below is my vizref board, and some of the layers in procreate. Reference poses from @adorkastock.com and @nullentitystock.bsky.social

A screenshot from the ipad app "VizRef", where you can collect lots of images into a mood board for whatever project you're working on. In this board I have lots of photos from the time period, catalog pages, pose reference photos from stock artists, and some photos I took myself of hands

Just a screenshot of my Procreate file with some of the layers, in case anyone finds it interesting

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jan 9

yay, rare new personal #art ! The Dunwich Legacy was the first Arkham Horror TCG campaign my husband & I played, and while we’ve played many, many other campaigns in the years since then, I’ve always wanted to draw a movie-style poster based on our first “real” game together (details in alt-text)

alt text:
A hand drawn 1920s style movie poster. Top text:
“Sebastien Moreau presents
THE DUNWICH LEGACY
A Thrilling Journey Beyond Time and Space”
Beneath are 6 figures which I’ll describe in the next images, standing in a sort of creeping fog.
The bottom text is my husband & my names starring as the lead characters, with the names of the ally characters underneath.

Close-up of the two player characters: In the front are William Yorrick and Sefina Rousseau, player investigators from Arkham Horror The Card Game.
William has longish red hair and a beard - not a common look for the 1920s, but it makes sense considering he’s an actor. He wears a Trenchcoat, and carries his trademark lantern and his “Cherished Keepsake” Mr. Pawterson. I decided to give him WWI style boots and pants, perhaps he’s a veteran? Or maybe he got them at an army surplus store? His shirt is a typical style for the 20s, complete with a detachable soft collar that saves on laundering costs.

Sefina is a Tahitian woman, wearing a matching dark green travel coat and cloche hat. She has unfashionably long, dark, curly hair-but like many women of the time who were reluctant to bob their hair-she’s styled it impeccably to fit current hat silhouettes. Her hat is decorated with artificial Tahitian gardenias, and her coat has Polynesian tapa cloth inspired embroidery. Her drop-waist pleated dress is a lighter green, and her leather shoes have the low flared heels typical of the period. Her clothes are clearly made especially for her, none of this new-fangled buying “off the rack” for Sefina! Pearls are a very popular accessory at this time, but in keeping with her theme I gave Sefina Tahitian black pearls. Lastly she has two paintbrushes in her pocket because she’s a forger artist, and she’s gesturing enthusiastically at a map she’s holding.

Close-up of two “ally” characters:
Leo De Luca is an ally that gives you an extra action in game. How does he manage this? In my opinion, by being rakishly charming! I’ve drawn him standing with his jacket slung over his shoulder, showing off his simple worker’s shirt and suspenders. He’s wearing a light brown hat, cuffed pants, and some gorgeous wingtip shoes that I imagine he’s super proud of. He has short, dark blonde hair (the official card art makes his hair colour hard to discern so I just picked), and he’s holding a lit, hand rolled cigarette.

The Arcane Initiate has bobbed red hair styled with finger waves, and is wearing a dark orange sweater vest over a long sleeved shirt and flowy skirt. Her card art has her wearing an outfit that really doesn’t look appropriate according to my research, so I gave her something that a student might typically wear while still looking a little bit like the original art. She looks very worried (after all, she gets placed with a Doom on her!), and is holding tightly a purple book with a glowing Mystic symbol on it.

Madame LaBranche is a stout older woman wearing a fancy steel blue housedress. I found that lot of photos of older women of this time show them wearing slightly out of date dresses; I guess it was hard for many to adapt to the new and shocking knee-high hems that all the kids were wearing. I chose a sort of compromise outfit for Madame that I found in a Montgomery Wards Schoffner’s catalog, because catalogs were all the rage back then! Her white hair is done up in a loose bun with finger wave styling, and she’s holding up a single silver coin while looking disdainfully at the viewer. (Her ally power is that she gives you a resource every turn if you have none). She wears white pearls and seems to be a Woman Of Means, even though in our games she always ends up being your weird landlady.

Behind her stands a tall man wearing a striped grey suit and a fedora. His back is towards the viewer, and his face is partially obscured. His bright leather red gloves stand out from the dark background. He is The Red Gloved Man and he declines to be described further.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Nov 12

dang, it's not even 8:30pm and the aurora is DARK RED, even with the full lights of downtown! I've never seen it like this here before #yeg

kind of fuzzy phone camera photo of the night sky over a lowrise apartment building. In the sky is a fuzzy-edged, deep magenta stripe of an aurora, with a little cyan/jade green to either side.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Nov 1

Celebrating 🎃Halloween tonight with Arkham Horror: the Card Game by playing this team of older investigators with husband Yes, for the first time since they disbanded in 1887, the League of Respectably Capable Gentlefolk reunite for once last mission: to solve the mystery of the Scarlet Keys!

A player card from Arkham Horror LCG: George Barnaby, The Lawyer. He's an elderly man with shaggy hair and a long white beard, holding a book in one hand and a pipe in the other. Class: Survivor

A player card from Arkham Horror LCG: Norman Withers, The Astronomer.
He's also an elderly man, with a long white beard, pictured in this card looking through a pile of books with a globe to one side. Class: Seeker

A player card from Arkham Horror LCG: Charlie Kane, The Politician.
An older man, balding, wearing a dark suit with a red tie and smoking a cigar while grinning. He's standing at a lecturn. Class: Neutral

A player card from Arkham Horror LCG: Agatha Crane, the Parapsychologist.
An elderly woman with short, 1920s styled white hair. She's turning the pages of an ancient tome wearing gloves and a white labcoat. Over one eye she wears a special device- the Ocula Obscura. Class: Mystic

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Oct 26

Good news, Esme's doing a lot better! She's still got some sniffles, but otherwise she's eating and sleeping well, and is almost back to full cheek puffiness! (I still feel like a the world's biggest asshole when I have to give her the daily antibiotics though)

A photo of Esme, our cute dilute calico cat, sitting on a green blanket. Her fur looks much nicer than before.

Another photo of Esme, laying down on her blanket and squinting happily.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Oct 22

ok! I think I got these from an artist's youtube many years ago but I can't remember who it was for the life of me. Anyways, I find this works pretty well for most brushes

an image of the pressure sensitivity graph in the ipad app "Procreate"

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Oct 18

My little girl cat is extremely sick with something (fever, sneezy nose, lethargy) and we're headed to the vet right now. She's only lived with me less than a year but she means everything to me and I am so stressed right now. Prayers and good thoughts appreciated

A dilute calico cat sitting in front of a window. She is young (1 1/2 years old) and her fur is not as well kept as usual :(

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Oct 14

#tolkientober #tolkienTrewsday Day 14: Colours  After the defeat of Sauron and the destruction of Dol Guldur, the wood elves celebrate as colours begin to return to the once dark forest of Mirkwood, now renamed Eryn Lasgalen (Wood of Green Leaves) 7”x7”, gouache on 100% cotton coldpress

A small gouache painting in teals, greens, and yellows. A tangle of moss-covered tree branches in the foreground are darker, and in the background lighter. Bright new leaves sprout from all the foreground trees, and small round lanterns that glow with a soft yellow light are hung from various branches

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Oct 10

Fire department was doing testing in our building. Immediately after hearing “testing, testing” through the speaker I looked over and saw Stitch standing on the end table and making this face. He did not move AT ALL for at least a minute

Photo of a white cat, standing up with his front paws on a living room end table. He’s looking into the distance, and his mouth is shaped in a tiny little frown. How could an interesting stranger be somewhere in the house and not pay attention to gentle Stitch?

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Oct 5

Acalico Mouth yes a place for a box put box in calico mouth can trust calico for giveing good cronmch to box. friend calico #caturday

a small calico cat biting the top flap of a cardboard box. along the top of the flap is an almost perfectly even row of teeth marks from previous bites

a cardboard berry box, on a table. the tops have been completely chewed, just little crescent bites taken out of the tops of all the sides

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Oct 5

put box in calico mouth calco Mouth perfec t size for put box in to c\ronch! inside very Sharp and Perforate box crunch sound put box in Calico Mouth. Put Box In Calico Mouth. no problems ever in calicco mouth because good Teeth and Bite for box weak cardboard side and flaps. #caturday

photo of a small calico cat with her mouth open, top fangs exposed and about to sink into a delicious cardboard box

a closer photo of the same calico cat, still trying to bite the cardboard box. Her tongue is out and her eyes are intense!

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Sep 30

finally kicked this guy's butt last night

Three game cards representing Cthulhu, the final boss of the latest Arkham Horror Card Game campaign "The Drowned City".
The art is gorgeous (Fantasy Flight are committed to only using human artists for their games!) and each card shows his wings, visage, and claws that you have to fight. In the background, the city of Arkham both burns and floods.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Sep 28

anyway, trying new things is hard, but fun! for me, the process of gouache painting feels sooo good even if I don't (yet) like the results as much as my digital art, and I'm excited to keep going And yes I DO keep trying to tap the "undo" buttons when I make a brushstroke I don't like 🤡

The background layer of my painting, which has a blended glowing sky (to put the lantern over later), and the farthest trees of the forest silhouetted against it.

The next layer of the painting, which are the dark foreground trees. The tree on the right has its details mostly filled in, but the one on the left is still entirely dark.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Sep 28

Here's the actual professional image from the tutorial (Ruth Wilshaw is the artist) I tried to make my painting look a bit like Lindon with the lantern, different foliage, and the leaves on the path but I think I may have been overly ambitious

A screenshot of the tutorial I watched, from Ruth Wilshaw’s “Get Goauchey” course. It shows a much more adept version of the painting I tried to make!

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Sep 28

for the first time since I got Long Covid almost 3 yrs ago, I was able to finish a painting today! please be encouraging of my attempt😅  I’m still very much a beginner when it comes to gouache & I’m also fairly weak when I have to sit upright for long periods (which doesn’t help my brush control)

This is a small gouache painting of a path through forest at night, illuminated by a fancy lantern hanging from a tree branch over the path. There are fireflies glowing all about.
The colours are various blues, greens, and pale yellows with a touch of burnt sienna.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Sep 6

in loving memory of Maru 💔😭 , here is Esme carrying on his proud tradition #sad #caturday

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Aug 6

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you joy and happiness.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jul 6

you were right! 375 for 12 minutes turned out to be the optimal temp/cook time they were the perfect side dish for the fried haloumi cheese I needed to use up tonight, thanks for the inspiration and notes!

A bowl with a few servings of air-fried potato chips, sliced 1/4 inch thick and spiced with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. The chips look crispy and golden brown

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jul 2

celebrated Canada Day as a Canadian citizen last night by walking down to the legislature bldg to watch the fireworks (I love living downtown!) also got this very tiny Canadian flag. Mr. Tumblesticks says every year I'll receive a slightly larger flag until I've fully & comfortably assimilated

A small crowd stands in the large fountain plaza in front of the brightly lit legislature at night. In the sky, red and white fireworks explode as the crowd looks up

A small red and white Canadian flag attached to a toothpick, laying on a table

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jun 21

today starts my husband's 3rd year of volunteer tree planting, and my first! he dug the holes for me, but I was able to plant ten whole trees myself, and I bet I can do a lot more next week #yeg #RootForTrees

A photo at a local park. There are about six flats of different kinds of native baby trees for the volunteers to plant, such as Trembling Aspen, Balsam Poplar, Green Alder, plus some wild rose bushes and Saskatoon berries.
The grass behind them is very high, but apparently that helps the little trees to survive.

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jun 20

Reminder: tonight's a good night to check out any old maps you've been carrying around for secret moon runes, because it's mid-summer's eve and there'll be a crescent moon! (credit to www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfan... )

An image of Thror's map to the Lonely Mountain from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit". The moon letters that were read by Elrond on mid-summer's eve are shown, and can be translated to, "Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole"

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jun 19

Advice please! I accidentally own an ultrasonic diffuser now, along with a bunch of ... stuff? and while I do believe in a lot of nonsense I'm also Granny Weatherwax & don't hold with aromatherapy is there anything else can I do with all this? can I get it to make NICE smells?

a package of wellness stuff I guess? It's all sitting on my little cafe table in the morning sun. There's a white diffuser packed in its box, two leather zipper pouches full of oils, a cleaning kit, and some kind of gift pouch I haven't even looked in yet

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jun 19

turn the sound on if you want to hear my weird cat snoring because he fell asleep with his face inside a cracker box on top of a pile of junk

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jun 15

it's the weekend, time to make another big batch of chickpea vegetable salad! there's something so soothing about slicing lots of different pretty foods

a big metal bowl full of brightly coloured food: cucumbers, red bell peppers, grape tomatoes, red onions, chickpeas, olives, & feta cheese

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· Jun 6

guess what, i'm now watering six little guys each day! i got a new big hanging thing full of petunias at the grocery store pictured below with Esme the beautiful and perfect girl

A little spotted calico cat stands in a deck chair and sniffs a hanging planter with purple spotted petunias in it.

Almost the same photo, and the little cat is still standing on the deck chair, but now she gazes brightly up and to the left, excited by all things around her as usual

tumblesticks@tumblesticks· May 17

in LC recovery news: today I was able to go to the garden store with mr. tumblesticks and get a few plants & strawberries for our balcony! Esme (pictured below) "helped" me pot them I feel like I'm at a point where I can absolutely water 5 little guys once a day? but I suppose we'll see 💧🌿🙏