iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Caelan Conrad @caelan.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

We have to kill the ocean.

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pool chemicals @chlorinesea.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

First year last minute art fight!! #artfight2026 artfight.net/~chlorinesea...

Team Tragedy artfight trading card for Chlorinesea (OP) it's my first year and i do not know what i'm doing!!!!!

I attack ??? elves/drow, merfolk, androids, friends probably?

Team Tragedy lineup for this year:
- Siira (and her brother Sen, a ghost possessing a mask)
- Liirem, whiny blood magic elf
- Omera, confident blood magic elf
- Zeb, a cool robot
- Lueali, D&D elf added to fill in the 5th slot.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

little test using #CSP and WonderUnit Storyboarder

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THE MEANS OF DESTRUCTION @meansofdestruction.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

The Darkest One promised us much. World domination. Two square meals a week. But his promises are emptier than our bellies! He may control the Citadel itself, but our minds remain our own. Do not let him deceive you, no matter how many delicious maggots he offers. I just made myself hungry again.

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THE MEANS OF DESTRUCTION @meansofdestruction.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Gobins, Trolls, Undead, Demons. Some of you may think we are very different. But Undead, weren't you like us long ago? Demons, aren't you too tired of chasing your lord's approval? Trolls, don't we all enjoy smashing skulls? Then let us unite under one banner, and conquer the realm TOGETHER!

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THE MEANS OF DESTRUCTION @meansofdestruction.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Cronies and peons! As our warbands return from the front, we hear of their pillaged spoils... Sacks of gold, fine silks, salted meats, even kingly foods like "soap". But did we see any treasures? Did a morsel fall off the tables atop the citadel?! I SAY, FAIR PILLAGE DEMANDS FAIR PLUNDER!

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Serak breaks one of his horns but I can't decide which one. #orc #oc Which is better: right horn only, or left horn only?

Left horn Serak with downturned eyes looking serious.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

I don't want to do social media, I want to make up stories with my friends about weird little guys. :(

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Kilobytten [Comms Open] @kilobytten.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

A little #pixelart of Mia of @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social :> Featuring the banded and unbanded version! Maybe one day I'll learn to animate in pixels...

Two copies of the same pixel art illustration side by side. It is of a young woman with a black and blue jacket, light shirt, and yellow skirt. She has short red hair and grinning at the viewer, hands outstretched. In one version she has a red band around her head, and in the other the band is missing but has fire coming out of her hands.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

little test using #CSP and WonderUnit Storyboarder

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

excitedly printing this out to put on the fridge !!!

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Harmonic, masculine/feminine, dissonant, shapeshifter, and "orc."

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

I personally did more than the US government to respond to January 6, and all I did was write a story about blood magic elves.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

I forgot to flip it, she's left handed. Maybe one more pass on this later.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I am trying to sketch digitally so I can try out colors more easily! Some rough thoughts on Araan's outfit and "Adventurer" uniforms. #art #oc #elf

Clip studio paint screenshot with a blue-toned elf in black and blue tunic and cloak. They have knee-high boots and asymmetrical gloves. They hold a wand in the dominant hand and a staff in the off hand.

I feel silly signing little sketches like this but we live in hell so there's also a signature and a little disclaimer that I am not a fucking LLM and I drew this with my hands (and one single CSP brush)

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Hi i have been busy with work and an art show! I'm trying to refine the character designs for the main cast. I know them better now, if that makes sense, and need to do another pass on them. Here's some tiny sketches of Rhem and Araan, whose body shapes felt too similar. #sketch #humanartist

Tiny little doodles of two elf characters beside a finger, for scale. Nail looks like shit in this photo sorry. Rhem is nearer the nail and he's doing some kind of move with his staff. Araan beside him is just standing there.

Rough sketches trying to differentiate two characters whose body types were both "rectangle" also there's like a wiener dog in the upper corner? I don't know what's going on with that.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Hello to my 12 followers I am working on this story about the end of capitalism when I have time but until someone kindly eats my real life landlord, i have to have another job. And in the unlikely hypothetical where this ever takes off, please don't let me turn it into a "Brand"

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

When I first started writing, I planned to give Mia 2-3 throwaway shitty friends who we wouldn't see past the first episode. But then I liked them so now they get whole character arcs. Here's Rieni, gravity magic specialist.

Pencil and paper sketch of an elf lady floating around. She has a skinny upper body and big legs, curly hair and lipstick smirk. She's wearing a scarf-like cape and thigh-high elf boots (for elfs)

Her hand intersects Omera's boob on the side of the page here but that's just unfortunate sketch placement. If that actually happened, Rieni would Die. Because Omera would kill her.

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Oh, I could scream about this for HOURS. But suffice to say: This is what happens when large studios don't want to fund original projects, anymore. They make Scooby-Doo for the 16th time, and the hot young talents goes off, runs a Kickstarter/gets backed by Glitch, and succeeds without them.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

New elf gender diagram about elf genders (for elfs) (only) "baby's first nonbinary gender system" in intent, it's pretty straightforward and hopefully easy to grasp for people who are only accustomed to binary genders. #oc #gender #lgbt #nonbinary #enby #thecrystalcityfalls

Digital illustration drawn on wacom tablet in clip studio paint.

This shows three elves in similar but color-coded outfits, standing around with staves to display their haircuts and sleeves. They are labeled "masculine (he him)", "feminine (she/her)" and "harmonic (they/them)" The masculine elf has long hair and loose, wizardly sleeves. The feminine elf has short hair and fitted sleeves. The harmonic elf has a braided updo and puffy sleeves that are loose on the arm and tight at the wrist. The outfits are otherwise the same.

Masculine and feminine elves are both seen as broken, flawed halves of a whole person. They are expected to pair up into a "harmonic"
relationship with an individual of the opposing gender. Masculine elves are associated with low "studious" energy, cities, technology, potions, and chemistry. Feminine elves are associated with high "alert" energy, the wilderness, exploration, archery, and swordplay. Some of this (eg hair length) is intentionally reversed from real world present day stereotypes :)

"Harmonic" elves or "harmons" can be either individual elves, or a paired masc/fem couple that is treated legally and socially as a single person (think: obnoxious straight couples who only have joint social media accounts)

Harmonic individuals have both "feminine" and "masculine" energy in equal parts. Harmonic couples function together as a single harmonic entity. This is the "privileged" gender. Harmons are the only elves seen as "whole" people or considered "complete." However, they're also expected to be twice as good at everything as a masc/fem individual.

Harmons are stereotypically associated with leadership, politics, magic, and family.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

Three pages on process of designing the wands for this setting. Explanations in the alt text! Human art will ALWAYS produce better, more interesting, more usable results than anything an LLM could do. There are reasons behind each choice. #conceptart #sketches #humanartist #humandesign

Sketchbook page thinking about wands.

This isn't modern fantasy nor medieval fantasy, it's magicpunk. I wanted them to have a phone-like magic device they use for everything--but why would it be a metal rectangle they call "phone"? How would THEIR technology have developed?

I thought of wands and staffs/staves, fantasy staples. But also was thinking of our smartphones, and lightsabres, which *I* first encountered in Rockman X but if you prefer Star Wars that's close enough.

You can see a first attempt to mash those ideas together but it looks like a wiimote or a vibrator. Which isn't the vibe i wanted so time to iterate on the next page.

Also on this page: staffs. I figure wands are common and everyone has one basically, you can buy them in stores, and they're utility devices. Staves i think seem like they would be much more powerful, specialized, and dangerous, so those are restricted items, like buying a rifle vs buying a cell phone. The city guards have staves and the adventurers are issued a staff, but most regular citizens only have their wand.

Next two pages of sketchbook.

On the first page i have four different shapes of wands and four iterations on each. First line is a lightsaber-like wand, second is gun-like, third incorporated ideas from both of those, the final line i tried a cell phone-like one, and hated it lmao.

On the second page i picked one i liked and started trying to turn it around in 3D and consider its design and then I was like

What am I doing.

This is for a 2D animation project. I'm not making a 3D model. Do I REALLY want to draw this thing 24 times a second inside a human hand DO I REALLY WANT TO.

So I scrapped all of that and simplify simplify.

Final design.

Minimized down so it can be drawn quickly at a distance, a little detail if we looked close. There is a handle that presumably houses some kind of artificed workings, a power source that looks easy to break, and a projector that emits an illusory wand tip, hovering holographic magic circles, etc.

The old version has one button. The new hotness has THREE so you better throw that old one in the TRASH and run right out to buy the new Wand 14 Pro Max

Bonus sketch trying out the design with Araan (in feminine sleeves) and Omera (in harmonic sleeves) who won't meet until like 2/3 through the storyline and will not get along, i don't know why they're hanging out here, maybe they accidentally put on each other's tops and they're going to have a duel about it.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Liirem's younger sister, Mia. She's a fun, irresponsible, short-sighted person who's fixated on her own pet issue, but struggles to see the big picture. Her hobby is fire, which is also coincidentally the cause of most of her problems. #oc #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Fast sketch of Mia jumpin around. This one's old but was character-defining. Mia wears a cropped and hooded jacket with a tall collar, a short and ruffley skirt, and tall boots. She has pointy teeth like a shark and her hair is pointy. She is a gangly skinny girl with knees and elbows and a totally flat chest, built just like her brother but shorter.

Ballpoint pen sketch of Mia sitting on the floor and browsing social media with a magic wand instead if a smartphone while eating a bag of chips.

Storyboard panels. In this sequence, Mia uses her wand to summon an illusory eyeball. It blinks a screen out into her face, which reflects whatever it sees. It looks down at Mia before it flies off to get a good view of the front of the crowd.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

A small test with character Mikel, who doesn't show up until act 2. #oc #HumanArtist #process #sketch #csp

Blue elf with gold magic glasses on does an "oh no!" face. It's then broken down into three step sketch that is basically

1. ball with some perspective lines on it
2. a literal emoji of the emotion you're trying to capture
3. draw the rest of the fucking owl

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pool chemicals @chlorinesea.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

#thecrystalcityfalls starts as a murder mystery and ends as anarchist propaganda. Here's every character in the pilot, and a few characters who aren't. #art #oc #ocsky #indieanimation #indiepilot #fantasyart #cyberpunk #solarpunk #traditionalanimation #csp #elves

Dramatic poster in style of abstract character heads smashed together. Almost all characters are blue-toned elves, excluding one shadowy background orc and a handful of compositional waterfolk.

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pool chemicals @chlorinesea.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Process shots, starting with pencil and paper thumbnails. :)

Six thumbnails working out the composition and positioning of various characters with rough pencil sketches.

Digital sketch based on thumbnails. Waterfolk were added later, in blue.

Cleaned up (but still pretty rough) linework.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Most of my work for this project is in pencil and paper sketchbooks. #art #oc

Two sketchbooks lying open in a car. One has a drawing of character Liirem, an elf with long hair, lying in deep water with flowers, looking alarmed and clawing lines of blood into his chest. The other has some notes and environment sketches and a screaming head and a full body drawing of character Omera wielding a wand. There's a mechanical pencil in the foreground and a little dog in the background.

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Marie Lum 林 @puccanoodles.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

this one is for all of you

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Catsuka @catsuka.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

A little throwback: In 2018, The Line studio had already handled the animations for Gorillaz "Humility" music video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5yF...

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〚Ẋ〛 @projectendo.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

🕊️

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

There is no way I can produce this story fast enough to be timely and relevant, let alone cautionary. The real world is too ridiculous. "In my story about magic elves they made magic illegal" that's nice, in reality they are gambling on assassinations.

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Catsuka @catsuka.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Long live 2D animation (& practical effects).

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Alex the Unenthusastic @afterdarkalexi.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

this goes so fuckin hard ”A revolution must be started by yourself. An egg, opened from the outside, is food; opened from the inside, it is a new life.“ Ovum exteriore apertum cibus, interiore vita nova. Revolutio exteriore est incursio.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Anyway all of this to say, most adventurers are fems. - short hair - archery - cool backflips - sneaking around in the forest

Very tiny little sketch of five elf fems in matching little outfits. They have staves and swords and magic items.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

The elves of #thecrystalcityfalls have a very basic four-gender system, to explore some ideas that might be unfamiliar to people who are only used to binary genders. 🧵

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Vehicle designs for fascist magicpunk mountain elves.

Three hovering vehicles of similar design and different size: a motorcycle, a sedan, a truck. The motorcycle has been sketched in perspective. All the vehicles have bars of red light on either side, like the runners of a sled.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

This setting has three culturally-accepted genders and it took me some time to figure out the expectations for clothing and hairstyles. A lot of my early Omeras have "harmonic" (puffy, layered) rather than "feminine" (slim, fitted) sleeves!

Too-skinny harmonic Omera walks away from screen. Pencil sketch on paper.

Harmonic Omera and Narrow Araan holding wands together and it looks like Araan is looking at Omera's butt. I don't think these two meet at all until like episode 12 or so.

Notes on the side: all deaths, not just elves but elves too. They are the sole beneficiaries but they are not safe. Fascists are incentivized to protect elves and offset the blood cost of their immortality onto the mortals. 100 mortals die so that one 1000 year old elf can live.

Iconic harmonic Omera across two sketchbook pages, with a hand and pencil (sumo 0.9) on a sunny cafe table. The perspective is all off but I did it on paper with my hand. This one gets a great response in person but her dang sleeves are wrong.

She is sitting on a desk on top of some papers and beside a pen, like she is asking you to sign a contract but also being seductive but also probably the contract says she's allowed to kill you.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Omera is a necromancer who works for the government. Like Liirem, she's one of very few with an inborn intuitive control of blood magic. Omera didn't make it into the pilot, but she'll get an introduction in ep2. #oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Pencil drawing across two pages of sketchbook.

This is Omera Vesiin, a master necromancer. She's an elf maybe 200-300 years old. She's short and has lots of curvy/round shapes with little delicate feet and hands. Her hair is cut short and angular, with bangs that barely give space for her big round glasses. She wears a simple shirt and a very short skirt. She has a (blue) band inhibitor worn around her throat like a choker and she uses a magitech wand, which would glow golden yellow.

Outfit sketch of Omera wearing a mullet-type skirt with her hands behind her back like parade rest. A pair of quickly-sketched and very loose storyboard panels beside her reveal that she holds a knife behind her back.

Another outfit sketch trying to get Omera to wear a skirt of reasonable length, and heels (requested on Patreon). The skirt has big slits in the front so her legs stick out. Again, she has a concealed dagger.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Here's the very last named character in the pilot--Councilor Vontaas. They are a sensible moderate. They're certain they can explain the reason for the council's decisions if everyone just calms down a little bit. Oh no they are dead now. Well, anyway, #oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Page of sketches while working on storyboard for this scene. There are several "panels" showing guards escorting councilors out, Vontaas looking over the balcony, the crowd shouting up at Vontaas. There's two portraits of elves, one with wide hair over the shoulders and one with a fancy updo like antlers draped in beads maybe.

Five storyboard panels.

Above the crowd, uniformed CITY GUARDS are evacuating the seven CITY COUNCILORS through a back door of a high balcony as the crowd rushes in, CHANTING.

CROWD
(continuously)
Throw them deep into the sea! My magic belongs to me!

COUNCILOR
How did they get past the guards?

A guard hurries them along. A second councilor hesitates and returns to the balcony to look down. This is COUNCILOR VONTAAS, a placid, pompous elf harmon with rich formal robes and an elaborate hairstyle.

VONTAAS
Please, we must have order.

Five storyboard panels.

Vontaas JERKS away from the railing as though burned. A small, silver, sewing needle is stuck in their hand.

As the crowd watches, Vontaas pulls the needle out, drawing with it a thin thread of blue blood from the wound.

From this thread, Vontaas's body ENTIRELY UNRAVELS in golden magic and blue strings of gore.

Cleaned-up style test with Vontaas removing the needle from their hand.

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THE CRYSTAL CITY FALLS @crystalcityfalls.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

These two characters, Dravem (masculine) and Gria (feminine) are known as "Draagrin." They hate each other and love power. Harmonic couples are legally the same as one person and therefore Draagrin can collectively hold a title like "CEO" or "councilor." #oc #art #indiepilot #thecrystalcityfalls

Closeup of a storyboard panel, which is, itself, a close-up.

Dravem and Gria stand on a staircase surrounded by (illusory, golden) eye-cameras.

Only Dravem's right eye and Gria's left eye are visible. They stand with their heads together, like a creature with two eyes (and two mouths, and two noses...)

Design sketches of Gria and Dravem. They look like politicians.

Page of storyboard showing five panels.

CROWD
(continuously)
Draagrin, Draagrin!

GRIA
The city guard is here, and the wildland adventurers. The protectors of our fragile, harmonic peace.

DRAVEM
Your magic keeps the wildlands safe, and keeps us safe from the wildlands.

DRAAGRIN
(a magical push)
If you know what I mean.

The magic that pulses through the crowd is not illusory. The protestors ROAR, intoxicated with Draagrin's Influence.

Page of storyboard showing five panels.

GRIA
You know us for our work as Luminists.

DRAAGRIN
(whispered, shouted)
Famous luminists, illuminary illusionists, you could say. Brilliant, genius work, we're sure you know.

DRAVEM
Now it's illegal!

The crowd BOOS.

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