Frequently Asked Questions
1. How did you become interested in dragons?
(Its a long story)
When I moved to a new home, at the age of three, there were no other girls (my age) in my neighborhood. I ended up befriending some neighborhood boys, they were brothers. They had no interest in my girly little games, and we began to drift apart. Until one day, I asked to join them in one of their role playing games. They said it was only for boys, but I insisted. They said I needed to make up a character that would work with their story. (their story was a medieval fantasy type of thing) so, since I loved animals, I began looking for fantasy animals, for my character. I had considered dragons, but I then decided that they were to "evil" to be my character. Then, I came across a book in my school library. It was called "how to raise and keep a dragon" I read it, and I loved every part of it. It talked about many different kinds of dragons and their mythology, along with where their story originated, and of course, how to take care of one. My favorite was always the Western dragon. From then on my role play character was a dragon, or a wizard of some kind with dragon powers. In about fith grade, I began writing the dragiconicon (a reference book for different dragon species, some made up by me, some in real mythology), which I kept in a binder. I posted the entire dragiconicon here: obsidiandragoness.deviantart.c… I would use the dragiconicon as a guide for our role playing games, and when I filled up the first binder, I made the second binder, and called it the second volume of the dragiconicon. But after the sixth grade, my friends moved. Out of state. I stopped writing the dragiconicon after that. The second volume was only about two thirds done. After a while, I finally added another dragon to the dragiconicon. Nightmare Dragon I called it the nightmare dragon, because them leaving was my worst nightmare. And the dragon represented how I felt. Much more time went by before I added another dragon. Healing Dragon It was the healing dragon, because I was beginning to heal after my best friends left. Then, they came to visit. I was ecstatic to see them at first, but... they had changed. They weren't the same people that I remembered. They liked different things, thought differently, acted differently. They weren't themselves any more. Finally, I decided that I had to let them go. I couldn't keep hurting over them leaving. By then, I had joined Deviantart. But I had only posted a few things that I drew at my public library. I decided that I wanted to post both volumes of the Dragiconicon, but for that, I would need to finish the Dragiconicon volume 2. So I got to work designing the last five dragons. It took a lot of work to scan and post every single dragon all at once, but in the end, I did it.
My activity on Deviantart was really taking off, so I got a premium membership, a drawing program of my own, (I had been using my library's program before then) and a drawing tablet. And here I am today, living my dream of making digital art.
2. Do you role-play with your characters?
No, I don't, sorry. I'm not really interested in online role-play.
3. What rating is Shadows Rising?
Short answer: PG-13.
Long answer, here's the breakdown:
Violence:
Does it happen in the story? Yes. Do I show it? Yes, although mostly just blood, not guts. If all the characters were human, this might disqualify my comic from a PG-13 rating. However, I've heard that if the violence is among non-human creatures, the rating can remain at PG-13. I don't know how true that is, but this is where the grey-area resides in my comic.
Sex:
Does it happen in the story? A little. Do I show it? Not at all.
Language:
Does it happen in the story? Sort of. I try to replace most curse words with fictional curse words since I'm "translating" dragon's language. So do I show it? No, I just show the replacement words.
Other:
My art is often used as a way to tackle difficult subjects in life, and so there are some topics throughout the natural course of the story that may be not be palatable for everyone. However, my goal is never to simply dwell on these difficult things. I hope to analyze the challenges of life through the ways the characters cope, learn, and overcome. That said, there is some trauma and mental illness among the main characters, as well as cruel behavior on behalf of the antagonists. You may think it's silly that I feel the need to mention this, but I know some people (especially those who have experienced trauma themselves) sometimes prefer not to see these things in the media they consume.
In general, my goal is to neither censor nor be gratuitous, but to be an honest and fair storyteller.
I hope that helped, I really tried to cover everything without spoiling the comic. But yes, in summary: it's PG-13 (with a bit more blood).
4. Can I create Fan-art or Fanfiction of your characters?
Yes! With some conditions. I'm flattered anytime someone loves my characters enough to want to draw or write about them, but because there is a fine line between admiration and theft, there are a few requirements to ensure everything is done in a fair way.
- Always give me credit for the characters and original story in a very clear way, so there's no confusion over who the creator is.
- Always keep it brief, like a post or two. If you're interested in creating a saga, series, role-play, or lengthy comic, I promise you you'll get more enjoyment out of it if you create something totally original.
Other than that, just follow the golden rule and all should be well! Also, if you do create fan art, please send it to me because I would love to see it, and I may feature your creation on my page or blogs or otherwise. :)
(Its a long story)
When I moved to a new home, at the age of three, there were no other girls (my age) in my neighborhood. I ended up befriending some neighborhood boys, they were brothers. They had no interest in my girly little games, and we began to drift apart. Until one day, I asked to join them in one of their role playing games. They said it was only for boys, but I insisted. They said I needed to make up a character that would work with their story. (their story was a medieval fantasy type of thing) so, since I loved animals, I began looking for fantasy animals, for my character. I had considered dragons, but I then decided that they were to "evil" to be my character. Then, I came across a book in my school library. It was called "how to raise and keep a dragon" I read it, and I loved every part of it. It talked about many different kinds of dragons and their mythology, along with where their story originated, and of course, how to take care of one. My favorite was always the Western dragon. From then on my role play character was a dragon, or a wizard of some kind with dragon powers. In about fith grade, I began writing the dragiconicon (a reference book for different dragon species, some made up by me, some in real mythology), which I kept in a binder. I posted the entire dragiconicon here: obsidiandragoness.deviantart.c… I would use the dragiconicon as a guide for our role playing games, and when I filled up the first binder, I made the second binder, and called it the second volume of the dragiconicon. But after the sixth grade, my friends moved. Out of state. I stopped writing the dragiconicon after that. The second volume was only about two thirds done. After a while, I finally added another dragon to the dragiconicon. Nightmare Dragon I called it the nightmare dragon, because them leaving was my worst nightmare. And the dragon represented how I felt. Much more time went by before I added another dragon. Healing Dragon It was the healing dragon, because I was beginning to heal after my best friends left. Then, they came to visit. I was ecstatic to see them at first, but... they had changed. They weren't the same people that I remembered. They liked different things, thought differently, acted differently. They weren't themselves any more. Finally, I decided that I had to let them go. I couldn't keep hurting over them leaving. By then, I had joined Deviantart. But I had only posted a few things that I drew at my public library. I decided that I wanted to post both volumes of the Dragiconicon, but for that, I would need to finish the Dragiconicon volume 2. So I got to work designing the last five dragons. It took a lot of work to scan and post every single dragon all at once, but in the end, I did it.
My activity on Deviantart was really taking off, so I got a premium membership, a drawing program of my own, (I had been using my library's program before then) and a drawing tablet. And here I am today, living my dream of making digital art.
2. Do you role-play with your characters?
No, I don't, sorry. I'm not really interested in online role-play.
3. What rating is Shadows Rising?
Short answer: PG-13.
Long answer, here's the breakdown:
Violence:
Does it happen in the story? Yes. Do I show it? Yes, although mostly just blood, not guts. If all the characters were human, this might disqualify my comic from a PG-13 rating. However, I've heard that if the violence is among non-human creatures, the rating can remain at PG-13. I don't know how true that is, but this is where the grey-area resides in my comic.
Sex:
Does it happen in the story? A little. Do I show it? Not at all.
Language:
Does it happen in the story? Sort of. I try to replace most curse words with fictional curse words since I'm "translating" dragon's language. So do I show it? No, I just show the replacement words.
Other:
My art is often used as a way to tackle difficult subjects in life, and so there are some topics throughout the natural course of the story that may be not be palatable for everyone. However, my goal is never to simply dwell on these difficult things. I hope to analyze the challenges of life through the ways the characters cope, learn, and overcome. That said, there is some trauma and mental illness among the main characters, as well as cruel behavior on behalf of the antagonists. You may think it's silly that I feel the need to mention this, but I know some people (especially those who have experienced trauma themselves) sometimes prefer not to see these things in the media they consume.
In general, my goal is to neither censor nor be gratuitous, but to be an honest and fair storyteller.
I hope that helped, I really tried to cover everything without spoiling the comic. But yes, in summary: it's PG-13 (with a bit more blood).
4. Can I create Fan-art or Fanfiction of your characters?
Yes! With some conditions. I'm flattered anytime someone loves my characters enough to want to draw or write about them, but because there is a fine line between admiration and theft, there are a few requirements to ensure everything is done in a fair way.
- Always give me credit for the characters and original story in a very clear way, so there's no confusion over who the creator is.
- Always keep it brief, like a post or two. If you're interested in creating a saga, series, role-play, or lengthy comic, I promise you you'll get more enjoyment out of it if you create something totally original.
Other than that, just follow the golden rule and all should be well! Also, if you do create fan art, please send it to me because I would love to see it, and I may feature your creation on my page or blogs or otherwise. :)