Crescentlightning

❄️ MERCH STORE OPEN!!! ❄️ It's been a labor of love for over 3 years and I'm excited to start my journey of making merch to bring a bit of happiness to everyone! Merch: Genshin Impact Honkai: Star Rail Zenless Zone Zero Fire Emblem: Three Houses Persona 5 Store below!

My predictions for the Sumeru story: Everyone rolls up to fight. Alhaitham stands face-to-face against Dottore and calls him a loser, but it's all according to plan I think

The completed diptych 🐎🧧🎊 Yin and Yang It took longer than expected, but I'm happy with the details :) 马年快乐！ #Zhongli #Jingyuan #GenshinImpact #Honkaistarrail

ルカキリ　 #Varflins

@nutmegnogart I LOVE!!!!!! 💖💖💖 The lighting and atmosphere are so soft and beautiful!!! Alhaitham being a gentlemen by offering his arm to Cyno gets me weak and they're both so handsome in your style 😭😭😭😭😭🙏

🌱⚖️

The artist alley "easy money" discourse is so interesting... people really have no idea how much it cost to make merch + tariffs + shipping + time + self employment taxes + table + travel + food + event insurance + website fees + sales tax + display/storage + etc

#Flins in this dress

#kaeya training his knights

@nutmegnogart LOVE THIS!!! ❤️❤️ The lighting and atmosphere are perfect for them in these outfits!!! Cyno's scarf A+++++ Alhaitham being a gentleman for Cyno gets me weak EVERY TIME 🥹🙏

to prepare for a con we have to: -sign up for notifications on when applications open 1 year to 3 months ahead (you don't know when they will open so you better check your email every day) -be ready on the millisecond it opens if it's fcfs -prepare your portfolio and docs (1/?)

THEM HITTING EVERY SINGLE MOVE?!!! GO MY CHRYSOS HEIRS GO!!

*long unstructured ramble incoming* FWIW, my sales have been in the green for AA and have a handful booked for the rest of the year BUT AA income is not enough to support me and my whole family. I work a full time art job, juggle 3-5 freelance gigs, try to manage an ecomm shop, and am trying to make a future for Space Maria all while being a father of 3 and husband of one. I have a tremendous amount of respect for AA who can fully support their craft from AA income alone. AA first and foremost is a business investment = spending money to make money. It's not free. It's not easy. It takes literal thousands of dollars and months of planning to make these events possible. It's full of stress, long nights, no sleep, and lots of scheduling. We do ALL of this to share our passion with others at niche events with people that hopefully share that same love of art as yourself. We get to nerd out about video games, anime, comics, and other artists we idolize. Being able to share your art with others is priceless. Artists are incredibly vulnerable people especially in-person at events. Our greatest fear isn't going financially in the red, it's having people come up to your table and tell you that your art is ass. The first thing we think about when sales are down is not the money, it's "Am I just bad? Do people not like my art? Why did I do this? What am I doing wrong?" There's no easy street as an artist and hasn't been since I started doing it 30+ years ago. There's no golden ticket to carry all of your financial burdens as an artist. It's a constant grind and hustle to ensure you and your family are covered. Art was only possible bc of the 10+ years I put into the restaurant industry bc it funded my passion. Full time restaurant while moonlighting the art grind. You have to make things work and evolve and adapt constantly. Especially in the incredibly fickle art/animation/gaming industries. So if something isn't working for you as an artist or sales arent hitting what you need, what are YOU doing to try and adapt to the situation? You have to evolve and adapt especially in a creative industry. Artist alleys are fun bc you meet and talk to so many amazing people face to face. You meet other artists and create a camaraderie with them bc we know all too well the emotional and mental toll it takes to put yourself out there like that. Art is hard. Art hustle is harder. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

as someone who’s living in 🇯🇵, has been to events here, & is currently working on a fanzine as a cross-border project, i think it’s easier to create fan comics & zines in jp bc of how doujin culture works + there are print shops specifically dedicated to doujinshi (THREAD⬇️)

I'm a little sad that there are people out there who think artists alley in the west is some greedy profit machine that doesnt care about the art itself, we would love to make doujins and niche interests but we work two jobs and my mother's health insurance bill is $1000 a month

@nutmegnogart YOU TOO!!! 💪✨️

@creslightning i believe in you! you got thiss! 😤💪

The hardest part about drawing these resplendent feast outfits is Cyno's scarf pattern 😭

@nutmegnogart SO REAL At least the rest of his outfit is easier 😭😭 About to draw a third time with Alhaitham (pls be easier) 😂😭🙏

@creslightning youre so strong 😭😭😭 i tried stealing the pattern from cosplay pics but it just didnt work need to brute force it

"The character with whom you have the most pleasant memories" #GenshinImpact #原神 #Kaeya

Elation🦚 #Aventurine

🌱⚖️ #haino #アルセノ

🦚 Legends Never Die ✨ Kaeya Alberich the man that you are. Will never stop drawing him 😭 #kaeya #kaeyafanart #genshinfanart #genshinimpact