Auraboo's lair

I finally swatched my oldest and all-time favourite inks, which are from the Colours of the Earth line by Caran d'Ache. Unfortunately, this particular series was discontinued in 2013 and replaced by their Chromatics series, which I'm less fond of. I managed to buy five colours before the inks disappeared from my local art shops, so they're very old by now!


The fifth one I used to own was my favourite, Caribbean Blue, but it was apparently the only faulty one as well, because after about a year or two of use the pigments or some other components started separating and created a rather unpleasant greenish brown hue. I don't know enough about the making of liquid inks to guess at what exactly happened there, but I ended up having to toss that one. Still miss you, Caribbean Blue.

The rest have held up well all this time. I've used them a lot over the years but as ink tends to be pretty plentiful even in regular use, they're not even half empty at this point. I like to use them like (and with) watercolours, sometimes making monochromatic paintings and sometimes using them to create the first big washes for backgrounds. I've also used them for toning comics in the past!

Out of these four my favourite is probably Storm, because of the shifting hues from purple to gray and brown. The purple itself is very warm and highly pigmented and breaks into lots of different shades when diluted with water. There's also a lovely depth to the Amazon green - a rich, almost emerald hue. I've been entertaining the thought of doing a series of paintings all focusing on a single hue, if I can just figure out a common theme for them...

A couple of examples of art I've done with just one hue under the cut:

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I've been thinking about where to start with introducing some of my story projects, so I guess I'm gonna lead with my biggest and longest running project: The Threefold Soul (link leads to the official homepage of the story). It's a high fantasy focusing on the romance between two men - one mortal and one immortal - and the end days of an ancient empire. I'm currently releasing the novels only in Finnish since I ran out of stamina doing everything bilingually on my own, but I still release art and comics about the characters and the universe in English. Here's a short introduction of the world itself with some hand-drawn maps!

The Threefold Soul takes place on the planet of Melkem, inhabited by various humanoid species. The dominant one, the taivashi, are colloquially also known as demons; functionally immortal, powerfully magical, they have built powerful nations and seized control of most of the world on its two continents.

Maps, rambling and some facts about the important locations in the story under the cut!

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All maps drawn traditionally on watercolour paper with fineliner pens and coloured with coloured pencils and watercolour. The map of the Hytherlands was toned with tea before drawing to give it a more aged look. Text and edits added digitally in Photoshop 7.

Originally posted on Pillowfort February 4th 2025. I have edited the post here and there to reflect my current writing projects better. Some links to PF have also been omitted as these will be dead soon.

It's been a while since I did any blanket boxes and this one by Bunns on PF seemed really fun. Let's go, writing friends!

A blanket box is a post (the box) containing a set of questions or prompts (blankets) that you can answer to help build your Fort and introduce yourself and your interests or projects to others. Make your own post, copy the questions/prompts into it and answer them. Each blanket box has its own unique theme and questions/prompts to answer.

1. The first rule is that there are no rules!
2. You can interpret the questions/prompts however you see fit, and answer with as little or as much detail as you like. You can also edit or skip questions/prompts, or add your own. This box is your oyster!
3. Optional: tag your post with 'project blanket box' so others can find it.
4. Optional: link this post to your post so that others can find and use it

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Originally posted on Pillowfort August 6th 2021.

Written for Writer's Month 2021 on Tumblr. Day 6 prompt: amnesia. Cross-posted from my Tumblr.

Original fiction
Tags: fantasy, chosen one, villains and heroes
Rating: PG-13
Language: English

Preview:

You crumple to the ground, the Sword of Destiny clattering out of your grasp, its glow dying like cooling embers. The Sword has rejected you, in the midst of your ultimate test; it will never let you wield the power again.

The blast of conflicting magicks has left your eyes hollow and empty of essence, empty of all that was you seconds ago, and I know what you will say before your mouth opens.

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Originally posted on Pillowfort August 2nd 2021.

Written for Writer's Month 2021 on Tumblr. Day 1 prompt: protective. Cross-posted from my Tumblr.

Original fiction
Tags: fantasy, pre-relationship, winter swimming
Rating: PG-13
Language: English

Preview:

Theodius was never a morning person, but if he were to choose, October mornings were to his liking the most. Frost-hardened leaves crunched beneath his soles. The air turned white with his every breath. The sky and the lake were the same silver glass, mirrorsmooth and still. There was thin, translucent ice clinging to the reeds, and his toes twinged when he dipped them in the water.

There was nothing pretentious about Octobers. No unnecessary promises. Everything was exactly as it appeared, and that pleased him. Theodius waded in the lake and kept going until the water reached to his chest, inhaled as deeply as he could and submerged himself entirely.

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I'll put together a proper masterpost for all my creative projects and where you can read/view them asap, but since I today got the happy news that I've been accepted to table at Tampere Kuplii (one of the biggest comics festivals in Finland) next March, let's do a quick roundup of my wip projects for the time being!

All of these will eventually be free to read online, so no worries if you're not from Finland and can't make it to events here (or can't read Finnish for that matter, haha). I'll post links to completed works once they become available!



PS. I figured out how to install a custom theme! This one's by gelateria, I'm adding a permanent credit somewhere on my page once I figure out how to do that.