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Mythical Bards 3 (Swan Song)

Created by Raden Studios

Kitsune, kraken, and griffin make music and tell stories in the continuation of my Mythical Bards enamel pin series.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Please Vote in Poll #3 for Final Bards (with Sketches!)
4 months ago – Fri, Jun 26, 2026 at 01:55:22 PM

Hiya, Adventurers!

Our third poll is up, now with sketches of the three possible final bards. I've included the sketches below, as well. I know my sketches are rough, but please vote and let me know which you prefer now that you can see what they might look like!

  • Mermaid playing a lyre: My take on mermaid is a little more fish than you're typical mermaid, with fins and gills and seaweed and lots of greens. The specific shape of the tail might still shift, I'm not necessarily sold on the tail loop here, but I am leaning toward a sort of koi-like patterning on the tail, too. A little more unique, with earthy/underwater-y vibes.
  • Minotaur playing a battle axe electric guitar: All metal vibes all the time! This minotaur is fully embracing rock/metal musician. I'm also partial to a battle axe guitar myself, so this one should be a lot of fun!
  • Unicorn playing a pipe flute: Not much else to say on this one - pan flute hanging around the unicorns neck, will probably lean into woodsy/flower details around the unicorn.

Meet Kraken and Kitsune + Poll Update
4 months ago – Fri, Jun 26, 2026 at 06:43:36 AM

Hello, Adventurers! Thank you all so much for your support so far! We're quickly running through our campaign time and updates are going to come fast from here on out.

First, I'm thrilled to share the first two fully completed bards for this campaign: KRAKEN and KITSUNE! GRIFFIN and KELPIE are coming along nicely, too, and I should have updates on those within the next day or two.

You might notice some changes on KRAKEN since the earlier WIP drafts, namely a pivot to oranges instead of pinks/purples to complement the blue. The top shell rattle has also been replaced with a little ship, because what's a kraken without a little watery mayhem?


KITSUNE is playing a shamisen woven through with cherry blossom branches. Lots of bright pinks and reds on this one, which makes it stand out really nicely against the rest of the bards, too!


Second, the voting poll on our remaining two bards has closed, with MERMAID coming in on top, followed by UNICORN and MINOTAUR. I will be opening one more poll later today on these with sketches attached because I'm a little concerned that you might not love my take on mermaid 😅 So please vote in this one last poll so I can get your thoughts on them once you can see what they might look like!

I'm planning on putting these bards to rest after this campaign but these last bards will put us at a whopping 15 total mythical bards from all three campaigns! These have been so much fun to make ^_^ and thank you all for coming on this journey with me!

That's all for now, but more to come very soon!

Wow! Funded in Less Than Three Hours - And Then Again!
5 months ago – Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 08:26:31 AM

Wow! Thank you all so much! The campaign officially funded in under three hours, which unlocked the first three bards, and as of this writing we are *just* over the line to unlock the final three - which still need to be voted on!

Vote Now on More Bards (Even If You Voted Before)

I set up a poll with the launch yesterday to get feedback on the mythical creatures you'd like to see and the poll overwhelmingly favored adding a kelpie, so I made the call and kelpie will officially be joining kitsune, kraken, and griffin in this final set of bards! The voting on the rest of the bard options were really close so I've opened a NEW poll so I can get a better understanding of what the favorite(s) are with kelpie removed from the poll. Please vote and let me know what you'd like to see!

If there's a mythical creature NOT on the list that you'd love to see as a bard, please leave a comment in the poll. I'll be adding these as I see them so they can also be voted on.

Finalizing Pin Designs

I wasn't able to have as much progress done as I'd hoped by the time we launched yesterday (so sorry, progress incoming!) BUT I am chugging away on these and am so excited to share these designs as they get finalized. For now, here's a little look behind the scenes at the KRAKEN bard with seashell rattles, from sketch through wonky shapes through refinement. It's about 85% done by the last picture here, but near enough that you can see, more or less, what that final vision will look like.

I've had kraken on my list for a while, so super excited to see this one come to life!


 

Campaign Updates

A brief note here, but Con Adventurer 2 fans, I haven't forgotten about you! You'll be getting an update from me this week and we'll be wrapping everything up very soon.

I have so much more to share but just wanted to check in for now while we're in these first 24 hours with my heartfelt gratitude. You'll be hearing from me again soon!