KNIGHTSFOIL SCRIPTORIUM V ✤ July 2026

Well met.

Whew! June was a busy month at the SCRIPTORIUM. There was two events, three art projects, and much more!

I am also starting the process of opening an online Etsy shop! While there are a number of issues with Etsy, it’s also true there is no true alternative that does SEO quite as well for new shops without an established audience. In future I’d prefer to find a different site. I plan to start with digital items first. Once I’ve added any items, members of the SCRIPTORIUM will receive an exclusive discount code.

I’ve also had time to work on a number of exciting illustration projects!

✤ ART ✤

For a long time now, I’ve wanted to do some sort of music album art. Unfortunately, 1. waiting around for things to happen accomplishes nothing, and 2. I need a portfolio example for prospective clients. So I decided to start an unnecessarily detailed album art for a fictional band! Naturally, I decided to make one within the genre conventions of dungeon synth.

Dungeon synth is a fairly esoteric genre of electronic fantasy music that emerged from black metal in the 90’s. It sounds like both early video game soundtrack music, and of course, black metal, with a focus on dark ambiance. Dungeon synth strongly prefers physical media. With any given release, the album will be released on tape, record, and CD, as well as streaming platforms. Serious devotees of the genre prefer to listen to dungeon synth on physical media, and distain streaming it. The music itself is often recorded in a way that makes it sound like you found a tape in a dusty cardboard box, in a dungeon, that hasn’t seen the light of day since the 80’s. I love it.

Because of this preference for physical media, there is a strong tendency to design the album art even for the digital release to look like a flattened cassette J-card. For the youth, a J-card is the piece of paper found in the plastic protective case that accompanies a cassette tape. As a Gen Z myself, I freely admit I did not know this paper had a particular name prior to this project. Dungeontroll’s album art is a perfect example of this phenomenon. And I enjoy their music.

The design process started by locating a CD jewel case, a record sleeve, and a tape case. I carefully measured each one, added bleed, and made CMYK files at the correct sizes. I designed a composition inspired by the J-card style, and made up a band name, album name, and song titles, all inspired by genre conventions. Then I finally started drawing. Here is a small sneak peek!

Should I offer prints of this? Or is it too niche?

I have also been making progress on my foiled Fjord Stone print! I hope to have this done by the end of August in order to have enough time for printing, since I won’t be able to foil these myself. Here’s a very much in progress snippet!

Before I make a whole sticker sheet of these (expensive), I thought I’d try just one out, and picked my favorite. The Bubonic Plagued sticker will be available at future events!

Lastly, I happened to be in the market for a dishwasher magnet; the sort that tells you the condition of the dishes (dirty or clean) inside. I realized I had no need to buy a boring mass produced one. I could simply handletter one! I thought I’d also test this design out at events, and it will be available at FanX. This is my very first magnet design, and I was trying to prioritize functionality. This is why it’s square, rather than an exact die-cut of the shape. I think it will be more durable. Once they arrive, I’ll do some testing to see if they are waterproof, and if they are easy to reposition. They will be about 4” x 4”.

✤ EVENTS ✤

UPCOMING EVENTS (UTAH, USA):
✤ FanX Salt Lake, September 24-26, SLC
✤ yArt Sale, October 10, Ogden
✤ Utah Renaissance Faire, October 16-18, Mona

New designs available at upcoming events:
✤ Bubonic Plagued Sticker, $4
✤ Dirty/Clean Medieval Dishwasher Magnet, price TBA

farewell for now,

Emily