Alyc Helms's Blog

The Untamed Assessment

My friend Wendy has been liveblogging her viewing of The Untamed. Wendy has already won the internet so many times that we don’t even bother to give it to her anymore, but her booty report inspired me to do some art (with her enthusiastic permission).

I got a lot of practice drawing butts. Enjoy!

State of the Art: One Year Check-in

A little less than a year ago (August 11, 2020), I decided I wanted to learn how to draw. I was unemployed, stuck in quarantine, and not doing all that great mental health wise. A few days later, my spanking new Wacom tablet was delivered, and for once I actually used the shiny new tech I’d purchased on a whim!

My progress has been stop and go — I’ve had much less time for practice in 2021 thanks to the new job, revising The Liar’s Knot, and writing book 3 of Rook & Rose. I tried taking a for...

Art Progress – Fan Boys, Pt. 2 – The Shadening

It’s started to feel like every piece has four stages. There’s the first stage where I dither forever about what to draw because everything seems blah and I have no inspiration. After I get over myself, there’s the stage where I’m mapping out the piece and drawing wireframes and boxes. Then there’s the rough and final lineart – the rough is usually where I actually draw clothes, and the lineart is where I do the details.

Then there’s the shading, which could probably be broken down into the f...

Art Progress – Fan Boys, Pt. I

I really like thematic groupings — they give me the inspiration and structure I need to push past executive dysfunction. I’ve found this is especially true of my drawing practice. Deciding what to draw next has been challenging for me unless I have an outside impetus (like Yuletide or a fanworks challenge week) or some sort of organizing rubric (like various pairings as their ballroom dance forms).

One of the things I enjoy about MXTX’s work is that she has a pool of tropes she likes, and she...

Shut-up and Draw Dancing

I had a few goals this month for learning to draw. I wanted to practice figures in movement, and I wanted to get more comfortably free with my shading and highlights — sort of deliberately messy? There’s probably an art term for it. I don’t know. I just know that my shading and highlighting lines always felt too uptight, and I wanted to loosen that up.

So of course, being me, that translated into doing my favorite MXTX couples as their thematically-appropriate dance styles.

I started with ...

Pie (day) Chart

Happy pi (π) day!

Those of you who’ve watched one of our recent virtual events know that I’ve been making astrological charts based on one of the magic systems and the in-world calendar of The Mask of Mirrors. Because that system (numinatria) is so intrinsically tied to mathematics and sacred geometry, it seemed fitting to do a chart for pi day.

Numinatria is an esoteric magic system of numerology and sacred geometry. The numbers 0 through 10 and their corresponding shapes have magical...

Six Month Art Progress Check-in

Back in mid-August 2020, I decided I wanted to learn to draw. I got myself a Wacom pad and a subscription to Clip Studio Paint, downloaded a few courses on Udemy and watched a bunch of youtube tutorials, and just… started to draw.

I’ve learned a lot. Mostly I’ve learned how much I don’t know, how much I can’t even evaluate the level of my own work, and that I will never get ‘good’, but I will get better.

I’ve made other posts sharing some of the pieces I’ve done, so I’m not going to share ...

Book Week Launch Events

We have two exciting events coming up for next week’s publication of The Mask of Mirrors.

First, Mysterious Galaxy is hosting a virtual book launch on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 7pm PT. It’s a joint event with Christopher Paolini, author of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, where we’ll chat about our books and writing and try not to dwell too much on the state of the world but instead focus on our hopes for the new year.

Then, on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 6pm PT, our publisher, Orbit Books, is hosting a liv...

The Clothes Make the Con Artist

The Mask of Mirrors is a book shot through with textile metaphors, from slang terms like ‘knots’ for the gangs and ‘cuffs’ for the nobility; to the pattern deck and its suits of the spinning, woven, and cut threads; to the interweaving of multiple PoVs to create a dense cloak of intrigue. We didn’t consciously start out with that model in mind, but once we started crafting the world, the textile metaphors only got stronger.

However, one thread that isn’t metaphorical at all is the importance ...

Yuletide Treasures

The lack of job and annual Christmas trip with my mom meant that I had a LOT of spare time this year to dive into Yuletide. That ended up with me writing my assignment, two pinch-hits, and a treat. For one of my pinch hits, I decided to illustrate it, so there was also art.

It was a lot, and I’ve spent the last week antsy to share it with the world. Reveals have happened, so now I can!

But first, I MUST direct everyone to check out my main gift and my treat.

Dark Under the Lamp
Fandom: S...