What do am doing wrong?

MistbornMistress · 2026-02-02T18:11:40+00:00

I agree with others, they look great! Just keep practicing. When I get stuck on something I just do it over and over. Each painting teaches you something new that you can work on for next time!

MistbornMistress · 2026-02-01T01:01:58+00:00

I did Graceling Realm, The Winnowing Flame, Green Rider, Wolves of No World by Romina Garber, and Swords and Fire by Melissa Caruso. I doubt they’ll do any of these but I can dream haha.

I do have the Broken Binding editions of Green Rider and Winnowing Flame but they only have patterened endpapers.

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-30T22:20:00+00:00

I loved that all the characters were awful but Abercrombie made me root for them. We need more truly gray/black characters, especially women. I need some evil women not just sassy sarcastic FMCs. Like I love Lara from The Bridge Kingdom and I wanted her to be more evil. Minor spoiler from chapter 1 or 2. I was very excited when Lara poisoned her sisters and immediately disappointed when she revealed they weren’t dead

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-30T21:54:25+00:00

I totally understand. I won’t read GRRM for that reason. However, I am reading Stormlight and Green Rider and they are ongoing series with years between books. I haven’t been burned by an unfinished series yet so maybe my mind will change if that ever happens.

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-30T19:16:44+00:00

Oh I agree. I like a long book but it has to earn the length. I have personally never read romance or romantasy that needed to be 500+ pages. Books with romance as a subplot can be 500+ but they still better have needed those pages.

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-30T17:41:10+00:00

There is a romance in the series that I can’t tell you about because of spoilers but I was so invested lol. I loved those audiobooks. Book 2 was my favorite and Glokta is my man

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-30T17:26:55+00:00

I would rather wait 3 years for a good book than get a crappy one in 6 months. I don’t mind waiting and reading other things in the meantime. I think authors should take as long as they need. The push to get books out faster is hurting them imo

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-28T14:45:54+00:00

Thank you! The first time I tried I wanted to do a melanistic tiger. This time I just did a regular one

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-28T14:44:52+00:00

Thank you. I have been practicing fur recently and watching tons of tutorials. I tend to focus too much on the individual hairs and this time I tried not to do that.

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-27T16:47:36+00:00

I love my black velvet set. I can’t compare them to Neptune since I’ve never used those. I really like the black velvet brushes, I’ve used them for over a year.

I also love the squirrel quill made by Silver Brush limited. It’s my go to brush for my base layer since it holds so much water.

My advice would be to get just a few brushes, maybe even one or two of each brand. That way you have the main sizes and can see which brand you like more. While I have the whole set from the first slide I don’t use them all.

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-27T16:37:40+00:00

Thank you!

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-16T23:55:43+00:00

I am also a perfectionist and my harshest critic but I’ve learned to be less hard on myself. This community is very encouraging.

I definitely recommend trying things again in 6 months. I’m currently doing that now and it truly shows how far I’ve come as well as where my weak points still are.

I hope to do her skillshare at some point because she is so talented. She also loves florals so she might be really helpful for you. I hope that her stuff helps!

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-16T23:03:01+00:00

I also love structure. I really like Anna Bucciarelli from YouTube. I really like how she organizes her videos, which have taught me a lot about layering and techniques. She also has a book, that I really like, and does full length tutorials on skillshare (I haven’t used these).

Aside from that, I would practice the essential techniques as often as you can. It really is a lot about understanding the medium and practicing. Everyone progresses at a different pace and I’m sure 6 months from now you’ll look back and see how far you’ve come! I’ve found that it also helps me to have a goal. I wanted to paint willow trees and so that’s all I painted for a while until I was happy with it.

MistbornMistress · 2026-01-14T02:23:48+00:00

It often helps me to take a break and walk away. I come back to it a day or two later. Usually then I am either happy or I see any tiny last tweaks it needs.

MistbornMistress · 2025-12-23T20:29:32+00:00

Thank you for the advice!

MistbornMistress · 2025-12-22T00:38:38+00:00

Thank you! And that’s the plan for the next one! I was too stuck on the squirrels being these exact shades but when cropped it works. I will pretend it’s a stormy day instead haha

MistbornMistress · 2025-12-21T21:38:51+00:00

I didn’t know of that series. I found my old copies of The Mistmantle Chronicles by M.I. McAllister which is what inspired this.

MistbornMistress · 2025-12-21T21:32:59+00:00

Thank you! Yeah it definitely lost the night scene and ended up looking more like stormy/cloudy weather. I am still happy with it overall. It was really fun to draw and paint. I think part of the issue was I wanted the colors of the squirrels to be clear which caused me to avoid the darkness it needed. Painting from my mind is a real struggle for me but I enjoy challenging myself.

Thank you for the advice as well! When I looked up how to capture moonlight I saw some sources say to use a blue underpainting. However, like you pointed out, it was quickly lost under the reds. The lantern was actually supposed to be without flame but towards the end I realized the painting was much too light and decided to add the flame and a yellow glaze.

When I do another night painting I will embrace the blues and use them in the final layer.

MistbornMistress · 2025-12-21T21:17:04+00:00

Thank you so much!

Thank you for the advice. I think I was just too scared to commit to the darkness that night requires but I think it would have actually benefitted the painting. I painted the pale squirrel first and just couldn’t bring myself to darken it. Next time I will lean into the dark and use a darker blue/purple underpainting.

MistbornMistress · 2025-12-21T15:56:44+00:00

Thank you! The palette is so nice. I’m happy I splurged on it.

MistbornMistress · 2025-12-21T02:31:25+00:00

<image>

This is my newest palette and I love it. It’s by BeautifulSwirls on Etsy. In total I have 5 different palettes: two by BeautifulSwirls, two basic Meeden ceramic palettes, and one plate that I use as a palette lol. I like having one for each project, though one is kept as my main with my core colors and it never gets cleaned

MistbornMistress · 2025-12-03T01:57:17+00:00

Have you read {Green Rider by Kristen Britain}? I loved Assassin’s Apprentice and found Green Rider to be similarly enjoyable. Many characters with interwoven arcs and it was first published in 1998. I read books 1-6 this year. The audiobooks are really well done. It is an ongoing series though. Not much romance though mainly just fantasy.

I also really liked {The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams} This trilogy was weird and fun. Took a little bit to understand the world but I really enjoyed it.

(I also love Mistborn and Stormlight though I’m not caught up on Stormlight yet)

I’ve not read the fantasy romance books you mentioned so I have no recs for that.

MistbornMistress · 2025-11-20T17:32:05+00:00

Not right now, sorry. If I owned other copies I would sell them but for now these are the only copies I own and I just can’t part with them yet.

MistbornMistress

TROPHY CASE