Exalted Art Challenge 2024 – Week 1 Round Up

The first week of this year’s Exalted Art Challenge has flown by!  Have a look at my entry for the first week, plus some of the cool entries by other artists I saw around the internet.

Topic – Player Character / Fave Caste

I didn’t get as much time to work on my first topic as I wanted. However, I’m still excited with how this is coming out and wanted to share this work-in-progress!

I’ve dug up my old Circle’s banner portrait where I’ve decided to re-use Kalara’s baller pose here for a new piece inspired by 3e’s core rulebook art.

(I have been trying to finish this banner portrait for years. I’m double-dipping to get Kalara’s portrait done in hopes I can one day finish this portrait of the circle from our Sorrow Resplendent campaign.)

(One of my favorite pieces of official art for the Exalted 3rd edition book cover, which is the point of reference for my first topic’s cover portrait of my Eclipse, Kalara.)

Kalara’s also getting a slight redesign from this most recent iteration of her.  I’ve never been quite satisfied with her old hairdo and some of the difficult aspects of her costume.  We’ll see how this new look comes out!

From Around the Internet

Here are some amazing pieces created for the challenge I spotted around the internet.  Go give the artists some love!

Guybitesatgames on tumblr

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Kessinder on tumblr

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jarjaross on tumblr

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See you next week for another round up!

– Ang

The 2024 Exalted Art Challenge BEGINS!

Rejoice, for October has arrived bringing with it spooky times and this year’s Exalted Art Challenge!  Here’s the prompt list for those who’d like to join in the fun:

I started this challenge back in 2020 as a way to indulge in the joy that is creating work for this amazing and unique TTRPG setting.

(My take on the Deathlord, The Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears, from the 2020 Exalted Art Challenge and one of my favorite sketches done for the topics.)

For this year, I’ve updated the Challenge to include 3rd edition topics, as well as weekly challenges to suit those with tighter schedules.

I’ll be sharing as much as I can from the #ExaltedArtChallenge hashtag around on The Uncrucified’s social media accounts as well as doing some drawings, myself!  Stay tuned for art posts here during this year’s event featuring my art and round ups of cool entries I see around the web.

Thinking of participating?  Don’t forget the free resources I’ve got here in my Ko‑fi shop!  There are Solar caste marks PNGs and a character backdrop you are free to download and use.

We still have some time left in Day 1’s topic, so get to it, Exalts!  I look forward to seeing what you’ll create.

– Ang

Want to help me spread the word about the Exalted Art Challenge?  Feel free to share the following posts!

Introducing The Uncrucified + The Ko-fi Central Manse

This project is opening up a central manse on Ko-fi! I’ll be centralizing new posts, art, etc. to be shared on Ko-fi, with this site, theuncrucified.com, being more of the permanent archive just in case Ko-fi ever goes gills up.

Cross-posted from The Uncrucified’s Ko-fi intro post:


It all started in 2014 when my good buddy and Storyteller, Brian, sat us all down and told us the story of The Unconquered Sun and his Chosen.  He convinced us all that we’d have a hecking good time playing Exalted (the 2nd edition) where we’d get to punch gods in the face and change the world for the better like full-power Shonen protagonists.  

For the next couple of years, we were on a roller coaster of a ride as heroic Solars building a city and fighting next-level baddies in Sorrow Resplendent: City of the Free!

During that time, my muse was captured by my character for this game, an Eclipse Caste named Kalara Vadras – a Guild reformist with a vendetta against the Guild Factor responsible for her fall.  

Kalara’s concept came to me as a visual of martyrdom where The Unconquered Sun appears to a failed revolutionary, pulling her down from the cross she had been nailed to. This powerful mental image lingers with me still, as I knew this martyr would rise again, a force to be reckoned with, a nuisance to the order of things, a force society couldn’t ignore anymore.

Kalara’s tale, and the tale of many Solars, speaks of the price of maintaining humanity, of the cost of freedom, and of seeking hope against the impossible.  I want to tell these compelling, hopeful stories and have been trying to do so since that initial spark in 2014.

From that lightning strike of inspiration spawned Kalara’s first story, a memoir of her rise from slave to Solar published posthumously after her presumed death.

Now, I want to expand on what those first breaths of inspiration started. I’ve been working to retell these stories with more authenticity, more attention to detail, and in a new visual format (comics!), as well as sharing resources I make along the way.

What’s the Plan?

  • Teach myself Clip Studio Paint to help with telling stories in comic form. I’m an artist, but I have limited comic experience. Backgrounds are scary!
  • Teach myself how to write comic scripts (in case I want to hire others to help with art)
  • Make worldbuilding resources to help writers & players (including myself!)
  • Publish fics, comics, and story-related stat blocks via the Storytellers Vault

See this project’s front page for my specific To-Do List and see The Uncrucified’s FAQ for more details.

About Me

I’m a geek from Atlanta, GA who’s an illustrator/indie artist by day and a gamer/tabletop roleplayer by night.  This is a passion project I have been working on in-between the moments since 2014.  

Things have been waylaid in the past years by serious health conditions for myself and my husband (from cancer to a serious shoulder injury that kept me out of the art game for awhile), but I’m back at it again, this time with the power of Ko‑fi to help kick things into gear!

I hope you all feel inspired and empowered by the words and deeds within this project.  If I can finish at least one of the stories I have in the queue, I will consider my life well spent.

Thanks for making it this far!  If you read that original story when it first came out, sound off in the comments.  I’d love to hear from the old timers who remember the first age of this years-long endeavor.  If you’re new, tell me how you found me. I’d love to hear from you!

Stay strong, Heaven-Chosen,

– Ang