Crystal Lyon
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crystallyon.bsky.social
Crystal Lyon
@crystallyon.bsky.social
Author | Artist | Arts Educator | Creative Advocate

www.livingillusionstudio.com
Instagram: @living.illusion
My submission to LUMA Projection Art Festival 2025 for the Peg Johnston Living Lights Project. It's my fourth year submitting (we'll see if it gets in! ), and I'm excited to have gotten my students involved this year. Can't wait for September 5 & 6.
#projectionmapping #digitalart #artfestival
August 18, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Today I taught myself how to animate in Procreate Dream. Finding quiet moments to create and learn.

#animation #fantasy #digitalart #procreatedream #art #creativity #storytelling #elf
May 3, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I'm writing & world building, & full of existentialism. Working on original art & stories hurts right now. The process is the point. Screaming into the void...
April 1, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Quietly working in the quiet process of writing. Taking a break to work on some art. The old gods are telling me their story. I'm eager to write them in the form of poetry, prose, and short stories.

#art #fantasy #writing #noAI the process is the point...
April 1, 2025 at 11:41 AM
The only way I've been able to unwind lately at the end of the day, and find the motivation to get going in the morning. Continuing to explore developing the visuals of my life and dieties.

#fantasy #art #illustration #characterdesign #digital #creativewriting #wip
March 29, 2025 at 5:21 PM
What I've been doing while completing riveting and required training for my day job. My camera had to be one, but they didn't say I could draw!

#wip #fantasy #art #elf #worldbuilding #lore #creativewriting #character design #illustration #procreate #digitalart
March 25, 2025 at 11:11 AM
I haven't posted in a while but I am in need of a dopamine hit, honestly.

Quietly writing. Exploring the world I'm building with some digital art, looking through archived art from when I was a kid to see how things have come.

#fantasy #fantasyart #creativewriting #elf #magic #art
March 23, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Art is a HAPPENING! The second opportunity to watch me paint LIVE! Friday, March 7 at 8:00pm at the Cortland Corset Building. I will be painting a corset while worn by a fellow human with a few other artists. #art #communityart #performance #painting
March 3, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Two opportunities to see me LIVE paint this week as Living Illusion Studio. Art for GOOD!I'm so excited to be featured alongside so many amazing women owned businesses and creatives! Prepping my canvas...
#painting #performance #art #womensupportingwomen #communityart
March 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Process. A quick stick figure is leading to fun character study. Exploring OCs with Tarot.
The Hanged Man.
Quietly working...

#dark #fantasy #creative #writing #tarot
March 2, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Writing is my creative escape. I've reached out to my amazing editors for the next steps of this world building journey. A little sketching and a little snippet from one of my stories.

#darkfantasy #writing #art #vampire #elf #souleater #assassin
February 4, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Today is Saturday. Time to relax. Revisiting this last sketch of this misfit pair. I'm trying to focus on characters specific to book one, but the world has (quite by accident) gotten much larger. Writing and world building brings me peace and purpose.
#art #creativewriting #fantasy #dragon #elf
January 25, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Who knew the stories I am writing, my continued desire to tap into my artistic potential and coax it out of others while remaining in the flow in the journey of creativity, would become a necessary act of human rebellion?

Cover art iteration: three.

#darkfantasy #creativeprocess #writing #art
January 22, 2025 at 1:40 PM
It's time to get back to it... IX 2025! Time to launch a book.
January 16, 2025 at 12:17 PM

Excerpt from the rough draft of book two of Legends of Rathvyn: The Fall of the Sun used as a traditional prompt (🚫NOT AI!) for the Father of Blinding Light. Beginning to explore deeper mythos. The Three were once one...

#darkfantasy #fantasy #demon #gods #mythos #art #characterdesign
December 14, 2024 at 10:06 PM
WIP
I don't wanna go to work today. Can I stay home and not adult today and draw instead?

Exploring character interactions, value, color and environment.

#WIP #art #darkfantasy #creativewriting
December 10, 2024 at 11:18 AM
Working out ideas quickly in the digital space on Procreate, experimenting with the visuals evoked by my creative writing. Then I'll shift into studio media when I hit the right one. These scenes are abstract and complex and a fun challenge to convey.

#darkfantasy #elf #magic #writing #art
December 8, 2024 at 12:30 AM
"Amethyst Skull"
Mixed media on a skateboard deck

See it/buy it at the Deck the Halls art exhibition organized by the Cathedral Art Collective in Syracuse, NY. Art for charity to support local youth programs.

#communityart #designforgood #mixedmedia #art #design #skateboards
December 5, 2024 at 7:39 PM
I see things in my mind & describe them in words,helping me to see what the character looks like. This creates a feedback loop where I can define the writing & the visual representation. A WIP from my current project, book 2 in a series, The Fall of the Sun. I love shape-shifting dragons!
November 27, 2024 at 2:07 PM
I saw something else that was fishy and you had a repost there. They also sent me a DM. Is this a sketch account do you think?
November 21, 2024 at 8:23 PM
Dwyva the Huntress, One of the Three, has taken me on quite the journey getting to know her as a character since her creative conception. She is one of my favorite (& most terrifying) POVs to write. I like to explore gender fluidity, manipulation, brutality & control with her character motivations.
November 21, 2024 at 4:33 PM
@i-make-da-things.bsky.social Thank you! I've been working on this character for a long time. I taught myself Procreate over the summer & will paint this full body version in oils soon to keep me busy during the winter months.
November 21, 2024 at 4:20 PM
I taught myself how to use a Glowfroge in my classroom and made a pair of earrings inspired by one of my original character's.
November 21, 2024 at 11:23 AM

Today is a good day to write dark fantasy & lore:

"The Three were once one,
Just as the Gods were once many. Until their sin..."

I turned these into individual magnets and they stare at me from my fridge as a reminder that even though I now have a full time job, I still have time to write. 🖤
November 20, 2024 at 10:53 AM
I'm here! Screenie shot of 990. Let's do this!
November 20, 2024 at 10:34 AM