Editorial Articles, Writing/Articles

Digital Artists You Absolutely Need To Follow! – Part 3

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Hey Readers!

Welcome back, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these articles here on my blog, so I thought well it’s about time to showcase some more artists! Art continues to matter so so so so so much, and with recent stories coming out of AI apps stealing from actual artists, there’s been a sort of digital revolution brewing of showing more support for artists, especially in the online bookish community on platforms like Instagram and Tiktok! Personally, I do appreciate some AI art and what it can do, yet I do agree that it shouldn’t involve stealing from other artists who have copyrighted work.

Below I’ve gathered an extensive list of talented individuals to add onto the other articles I’ve posted in previous years (Scroll to the bottom to get links to Parts 1 and 2!!) and I’ve included their Instagram profile name and/or their actual names if known or mentioned, I DEFNINITELY recommend giving them a follow!

I also own NONE of the images used in this post, and while I gain no financial benefits from this post and just like to help get names of artists out there, should any artist mentioned on here wish for me to take down any of their work because they don’t want it reposted on this platform, please feel free to reach out to me in any way to let me know! I’d be more than happy to do so with as little drama as possible!

Enjoy the beautiful artwork! This list is in no particular order!

FYI: you can click on the artwork to get a closer look at it!

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Rosita Popova / @rosalynnarts

Here’s an artist I really enjoy who’s from Bulgaria, and my eyes BULGE out of my sockets at the incredible-ness of her art style! Yeah, there’s going to be puns in this, and I make no apologies whether they’re good or bad…Anyways, she does a wonderful job of making her character art look soft and cartoony, but still have an edge to them. As you can see from her work shown above, I first noticed her because of her work with book series like Vampire Academy, A Court of Thorns and Roses (or anything Sarah J Maas), and even Serpent and Dove!

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Olivia / @vvivia

Another cartoony style that I absolutely love! Olivia has done a wonderful art piece of Rowan and Aelin that I noticed and helped me discover them on Instagram, and from then on I’ve loved seeing her posts of other SJM characters, Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and even Danny Phantom for Nostalgia sake!

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Otoko Bara / @otokobara

Anyone who follows me on my bookstagram account (@goodyreads) knows I’m a BIG fan of muscular shirtless men, and this artist LOVES to push the boundaries of hot male objectification with his artwork! He takes beloved kid TV/Movie characters and sexualizes them up for the fans that grew up and can now see them in a new light…or that light is blocked because a certain phallic shaped object is in the way…that depends on what your perspective is!

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Beriz Art / @berizart

This artist really reminds me of others I’ve done in previous parts of these articles: I feel like there’s definitely some inspiration from Charlie Bowater and Sasha Lee Coleman with the similarities I see if their styles. I would say I especially love the artwork done for “The Shadows Between Us” I included above with Allesandra’s flowing red dress and Kallias’s hair….so much yes in that art piece.

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Michelle Ryckman / @whimsicalillustration

You can tell this artist is a big “Caraval” fan based of a good chunk of her artwork, and I cannot blame her in the slightest because of how much fun that whole world Stephanie Garber created is! I can also really appreciate this artist because she wrote her own trilogy and illustrated her own covers for it too! Whimsical is the perfect way to describe Michelle’s style.

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Juliet BxRomance / @bxromance

I would argue that Juliet is one of the most recognizable artists in the whole bookish community! When you see her work, it’s instantly recognizable and stands out amongst the rapidly growing names of artists in this community. I LOVE her work and have ordered MANY prints of her stuff wherever its available, it’s just too bad she hasn’t been active on social media because (allegedly) since she’s in Russia and there’s a big social media ban over there with everything that’s been going on?

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Beth Gilbert / @bethgilbert_art

Beth Gilbert has really made her name known by doing the obvious: doing ACOTAR artwork that looks AMAZING, but she’s also done some of the best “Zodiac Academy” artwork as well too, She drew one of the best Lance Orion artwork portraits that I’ve seen! Unfortuntale I just couldn’t get an image of him to share on here, BUT @atouchofmagicdesigns on Etsy has it for sale if you want to grab a copy for yourself!

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Aejujubes Sricharachai / @aenaluck_jujubes

This artist is an absolute favorite of mine for VERY obvious reasons…I love the ab-tastic, sexy fantasy men drawn here, there’s like a spicy MM Witcher vibe that I am all about and if anyone has any book recommendations based off that, I’m all ears! the smuttier the better, and speaking of smutty, if this art really draws your eye, go check out this artists Patreon where things get a LOT more NSFW!!

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Dominique Wesson / @dominiquewesson

Dominique became a household name in the bookish community for her amazing work with the ACOTAR characters, and from there she’s become one of the most popular artists…I mean, just LOOK at her men! I’m drooling more than if a freshly hot pizza was placed right in front of me.

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Jeleynai / @jeleynai

This artist had my full support as soon as I laid my eyes on her version of Casteel Da’Neer (top image). I loved it so much I bought a giant print of him to eventually hang on my wall to be able to appreciate his beauty every day alongside my bookshelves…I’m not obsessed!

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Jonas Pina / @joninhaart

I absolutely adore this artists work with popular pop culture figures and reimagining them into whatever way he’s feeling at the time! He does a lot mainly with Disney and Marvel characters, but he’s also done plenty of big Hollywood actors, and even the Scooby Doo gang! He has this comic idea of Henry Cavill and Chris Evans being secret agents, and I NEED this to become an actual thing, or I may just have to write a story of it myself, but my twist is to make them gay lovers as well! YES PLEASE!!

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Holly Fox / @thehollyfox

Holly Fox is an Australian artist I discovered because I REALLY like their artwork of Aelin and Rowan out of the third ToG book “Heir of Fire.” I also just really enjoy her style, it reminds me a lot of my own with the heavier outlines and the more graphic-novel-esque style!

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Mads Schofield / @madschofield

Mads is a name who’s become very well known amongst SJM fans as she became well known by doing ACOTAR page overlays for ReadingPortal Co. and I feel like there isn’t much more to say beyond that! I love her style, and as I’m typing this article, she’s coming out with more personal ACOTAR portraits of the cast that have just been absolutely spectacular to look at! I mean, the emotion behind them is just top tier.

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Rio Burton / @rioburton

Rio is one of the artists who was commissioned to do inner artwork for a special pair of Throne of Glass dustjackets that Jo Painter designed, and I fell in love with her work! I especially love her mystical, new agey wolf art, my wolfpack and I on bookstagram especially love it!

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@irenhorrors

Okay, I don’t normally do creepy vibes, but I’ll for sure make an exception with Irenhorrors. I LOVE this creepy, gothic, and even slightly darkly romantic vibe they’ve got going on! I would absolutely read a graphic novel with their work all over it, and even just looking at this stuff makes me want to dive into a gothic romance/horror story! I’m especially drawn to the art piece with the woman on horseback fleeing from a nasty bat creature.

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Yliade / @yliade.art

For any fans of ancient mythology: particularly Greek, Egyptian, and Norse, you ABSOLUTELY need to be aware of this artist! I love the colors especially, so bright and vivid, and the deity featured is always centered and this style is just so unique, I don’t need to explain any further, BIG FAN!

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Thibaud Zamora / @thibaudzamora

This one is a unique choice because they actually use AI technology to create these works of art. AI art is a very controversial topic lately with piracy and stealing copyrighted work from other artists, but I feel like this particular artist is going about it in a different way that may actually be a better way of utilizing the technology after the lawsuits that are currently taking place are settled. First of all, those colors…everything pops and is so vivid!

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Sandra Winther / @sandrawintheart

This artist is very recognizable for her close-up portraits, and the enchanting, hazy yet somehow crisp details mixed in too. VERY airbrushed look, she almost gives her character art an anime-like look with the detail in their eyes. Also, be sure to check out her store, she’s very giving with textures and stamps and brushes for other digital artists, which I myself am and very much appreciate!

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Tal Lewin / @caravaggia13

The hot male subjects and the easy simplicity of this artist just go so well together! I’ve started to notice this artist used for multiple MM romance alternative book covers, and I’ve very quickly become a fan because of it! Big mystery as to why…..

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Elizianna / @elizianna.the.one

Elizianna is an artist who got their name on this list for multiple reasons: One, I like her style, Two, she’s usually the first to post new artwork of characters who don’t get as much attention from other artists, and three: she does A LOT of NSFW art of book characters to help our fantasy’s become a reality!

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Tony Viento / @tonyviento

Another artist who does really good artwork of the bat boys from ACOTAR and has a Patreon with NSFW artwork too?!?! Hmmmm, I wonder why this person is on here….

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Wictoria Nordgard / @wictorian_art

I actually just recently became introduced to this artist thanks to my special dustjackets by Jo Painter for the Throne of Glass series! Her artwork of Manon Blackbeak with that fierce ponytail was featured as the inner dustjacket artwork and I really enjoyed it! They’ve got some serious skill, and I expect to see more of their work inside books in the future!

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Fernanda Fernandez / @mftfernandez

Fernanda is such a fantastic artist! I love the artwork of Aelin (with red hair too!) and Rowan from “Queen of Shadows!” I’m also just a fan of how she does her character’s hair too, the lighting and the texture work is so inspiring; I want to see more of their work inside special editions of books!

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Meri / @cebanart

For some reason, I feel like this artist is very collagey (not sure if thats a word, but hopefully you know what I mean), I feel like their style is kind of similar to AI where they find things online and kind of remix it and not exactly copy and paste it, but definitely edit it enough to where its not exactly full on copying. I could also totally be way off base with this, so don’t quote me or start attacking the artist for whatever reason!

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Abigail Larson / @abigail_larson

VERY similar in style and content to Irenhorrors as seen above, another artist to definitely take note of if you enjoy things on the spookier, gothic, and creepier side! I could definitely see this artist doing work for a Tarot deck if they haven’t already!

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Pandy Als / @pandyals_art

One of my wolfpack members on bookstagram LOVES this artist, and I gotta say I like their work too! I really appreciate their painterly style that has a little bit of a colorful and chaotic feel to it! And since they do so much ACOTAR artwork, I’d say this artist is who I’d most likely say Feyre’s art most resembles!

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Therese / @warickaart

Another gothic artist who makes me think of Leigh Bardugo books and The Folk of the Air series, there’s just a somber and edginess to all their work that really makes it stand out and feel instantly recognizable!

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@jessdraw.s

Another one of the wolfpack recommendations! I just get ultra-glam, beauty magazine vibes from this artist, or some of the straight on shots of the female characters look right out of this game I used to play: Covet Fashion.

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Fernanda Suarez / @fdsuarez

If you like FIERCE females with a bit of an edge, this is an artist to become aware of this artist ASAP! I especially am a fan of their Zodiac personification pieces, like this Phoebe Tonkin as a Capricorn siren/mermaid artwork.

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Gonzalo M. / @gonzalom.art

Okay, but Gonzalo’s Kieran and Casteel are the HOTTEST I’ve seen of those two! The detail in this artist’s work is so astronomical, so amazing…I wish I would come up with better words to describe! The small details throughout each piece are the true highlight of this artist’s work; if you can, zoom in and just scroll around to see what I mean!

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Linnea / @feefal

Feefal is an absolute delight! Her work is absolutely spectacular and I love the inspiration from nature that she gets with all her work! She is a master of character design from evolution within nature with the moon, the stars, plants, and gives them such a fun, fairytale-like aesthetic that folks of all ages can appreciate. Her work really reminds me of my friend Kayla Nyre, whom I listed in my part 1 article!

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@Myrmidia

I discovered this artist on Twitter and I especially love their amazing work with fantasy characters straight out of campaigns from things like Dungeons and Dragons! This artist hasn’t done a whole lot of work in the bookish community, which is actually why I wanted to include them! It’s nice to have some variety on here.

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Rachel Hanke / @rachelhanke27

This artist is one I feel needs more recognition! And if I saw her Rachel’s name listed as an artist for a special edition book that a box like Fairyloot or Illumicrate or whomever was doing, I would get excited!

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Ellie / @mageonduty

I first discovered this artist for her GORGEOUS male art commissions for the Aisling Sea trilogy by Vanessa Rasanen, and from there I’ve just really come to appreciate all of her artwork, but especially the males! Oooofda, especially these bottom two pieces with the pink clouds in the background.

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Don’t see a certain artist??

Be Sure to check out my part 1 and part 2 to see more! That artist may very well be on either of those!

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:: Click HERE to see Part 1 ::

:: Click HERE to see Part 2 ::

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Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

New Adult, New Adult Romance, YA Fantasy, YA romance

My Review: All the Stars and Teeth (All the Stars and Teeth #1): by Adalyn Grace

Publish Date: February 4th, 2020
Number of Pages: 384 Pages
Publisher: Imprint
Genre(s): YA Fantasy

Total Star Rating: 3.75 Stars

Boarding a magical ship and following the tail of a wandering mermaid, you’ll be absolutely shanghaied into joining a fearless heroine with ominous magical abilities and her newfound crew as they set sail to save the kingdom!

This title has been one of the more highly anticipated YA Fantasy releases of 2020 so far, and it’s also the author’s debut novel as well! Saying that, it’s a pretty impressive work to say the least, and with a solid first book under her belt, Adalyn Grace has a bright looking future in YA literature. Not much is known about her, but in her short author bio, I thought it was worth mentioning that she was actually an intern on Nickelodeon’s animated show, The Legend of Korra, and is a big fan of burritos; add those two facts with how she’s written a story taking place on the high seas with pirates, mermaids, curses, romance, and plenty of danger, I may have a friend-crush on her!

Adalyn if you’re reading this, you’ve got a bookish friend in me! Let’s grab some burritos sometime and talk bookish topics!

It was a lot of fun to get this book as a surprise in the February Owlcrate box with the theme that was “The Power Within” (For those of you who don’t know, Owlcrate is a YA Fantasy monthly subscription box where there’s a theme, several bookish gift items based off well known books that fit that theme, and a special edition of a newly released book that they don’t reveal until the box literally plops onto your doorstep! I personally recommend trying it out!)

Here’s a link to their official website: www.owlcrate.com

You saw the original cover on the top of this post, but check out their exclusive edition that came with the order:

They added more colors to the scheme of the cover but kept it in shades pertaining to the ocean and it’s many majesties and mysteries, it’s own original foil design inside the jacket, plus was signed by the author herself with a special letter!

Alright, so special editions and gorgeous covers aside, back to the book itself and my reasoning behind my rating. Basically, overall it was a fun read filled with interesting imagery and enjoyable characters, and while the adventure they partake on in the story was action packed it never really blew my mind or made it feel like the stakes were high enough. I never felt like the characters were in real danger. The intensity and emotional impact wasn’t all there, but like I said, this book was fun and pretty impressive for a debut!

What It’s About:

A map of Visidia, image courtesy of fiercereads.com

As princess of the island kingdom of Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer—the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for her, it’s never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the Visidian throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy’s dangerous soul magic.

When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he’ll help her prove she’s fit to rule if she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic from a conniving tyrant.

But sailing the islands of their world holds more wonder—and more peril—than Amora had ever anticipated. A destructive new magic is on the rise, and if Amora is to conquer it, she’ll need to face legendary monsters, cross paths with vengeful mermaids, and deal with a stow-away she never expected… or risk the fate of Visidia and lose the crown forever.

What I Liked:

  1. The Main Cast of Characters! Our Protagonist is Amora Montara, who is the princess of Arida, about to ascend the throne if she can showcase her particular soul magic in a ceremony. We also have Bastian, a pirate of a ship named the Keel Haul, and he was a fun & sexy character to add to the story. He’s certainly keeping plenty of secrets, but has a nice romantic dynamic with Amora. There’s Ferrick, who’s betrothed to Amora through an arrangement much like plenty of royal family histories, and he was a little tropey by being the skinny, naive boy who makes it easy for the MC to pick the other love interest, but he does grow a pair later on in the story which I appreciated! Then there’s Vataea, a kidnapped and vengeful mermaid who is rescued by the others in order to save the kingdom. She was vicious and adorable all at the same time if you can believe it!
  2. The Group Dynamic Aboard the Ship! One of the real highlights of the book was the group aboard the ship and their development as their mission is acted out. While Bastian and Amora have an obvious attraction to each other, the author also explores that possibility with the other two, and am curious to see how that plays out in the next book!
  3. Pirates & Mermaids Aesthetic! I’ve always been a fan of them since I’d first watched Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl back in the day! I still consider it to be one of my all time favorite movies, and I’ve always had a love for the ocean and mermaids. Ariel from The Little Mermaid was always my favorite Disney princess growing up! I’m glad to see a Fantasy novel have these qualities that I adore, and not just for that reason but because they aren’t used as often as I’d like!
  4. The Gorgeous Cover Design! Add this book to any list of books that have absolutely stunning and artistic cover design! It certainly draws the eye, both the Owlcrate Edition I have and the original!
  5. 7 Magic Systems! People that love well thought out magic systems will appreciate that this novel can boast an astounding number of them! Each island in the story hosts people who have a specific ability as it’s a part of the history of the land and is basically law.
  6. Amora is Morally Grey! She’s not some Mary-Sue, goody-two-shoes type that will bore you to tears; the princess has a dark side! She’s not afraid to draw blood in a fight and smirk at the sight of her weapon protruding out of her enemies, and you really see it in the ceremony in the beginning of the book. Amora having her boss-bitch moment and embracing her dark side had me like:

What I Didn’t Like:

  1. I Wanted More Mermaids…The hype surrounding this book was that there were many vengeful mermaids the characters would come across through their journey, but all I’ve met so far is just Vataea, who says she may be one of the last of her kind! I hope the next book will show us more of the sirens of the deep, and have them be as beautiful and terrifying, much like the ones you saw in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie!
  2. This Was A Little Too Predictable…Honestly, as someone who’s read quite a few Fantasy titles, both Adult and YA, this book didn’t bring too much “new” to the table in terms of plot, story arcs, etc. Nothing really shocked me, none of the twists really blew me away; for the most part I’d seen it all before.

Conclusion:

Overall, All the Stars and Teeth was not a bad debut novel by any means! I enjoyed the characters, the setting, the worldbuilding, and the fact that there’s romance treated as a subplot rather than being a big driving force. The plot was more or less the same sort of story any sort of fantasy reader has read before, especially in YA Fantasy, but it’s still easy to get swept away if you connect with Amora and the crew of the Keel Haul. While I wasn’t disappointed and definitely plan to read the second part of this duology when it releases in 2021 most likely, it also didn’t exactly blow me away to the point of me obsessing and immediately pushing it onto my friends/coworkers to read. I still had fun reading it, it was just nothing too new or mind-blowing for me personally, BUT the positives do outweigh the negatives!

I would recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a more ocean-centric Fantasy/Adventure title to try out, and of course anyone who enjoys Pirates and Mermaids! Quite honestly, I don’t see as many novels coming out that feature those aspects, so it’s a nice change of pace to keep the genre a little fresh, plus I plan to write a Fantasy book series with a lot of similar aesthetics, so it gave me an opportunity to compare and think of how to take the idea even further! If you love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, the Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes, or the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas, I have a feeling you’d enjoy adding this title to your bookshelf!

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell