This commission is for  Acidapluvia who came to take an order from us at Anthrocon 2016. Her boyfriend's dragon,  Sly is collecting an Amethyst from trees that just seem to be able to grow them. Acida wanted us to draw sly clutching a crystal, but we decided to give it a whole setting because of her character's resemblance to Vie's previous dragon-sona Kahze. Because of that, things had to get somewhat personal and we set out to make an image that would satisfy Acida's needs as well as our own. We felt that Sly's design had some great colors to pair with a midnight background which is not something we've chosen paint often. (I'll be seeking opportunities to do more of those.) We sought to exaggerate the wonder of nightfall with a giant moon, a star-laced sky, and a composition of trees that suggested a sort of embrace for Sly. We wanted this environment to feel like an area around his home. Since the concept of home, in our life, has never been without some feature of toxicity between us, we added the presence of malicious, stinger endowed mushrooms. This was a way of venting about some shit that has to do with living in the proximity of demented evil. There's a serene cloudy mist around to stand contrast to that point and It's there to express that while life has been uncomfortable - it hasn't been so terrible either in comparison to say, a cancer baby. If you want to treat a cancer baby, just realize that you can't and give it a xylophone before it passes away. Then feel bad about your poor choice for it, and make it laugh via brain stimulation over a few lazy jokes that it doesn't fully understand. This is some of the philosophy that Sanders's life has run off of.

In the case of Acida Pluvia, this image was meant to celebrate her marriage to Sly. They're a nice couple who live in england and Sanders was asked to sneak in a finger ring on one of Sly's talons. We didnt' want to overstate this feature so it's easy to miss. We don't think Acida minded.