Lyss Menold
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lyssmenold.bsky.social
Lyss Menold
@lyssmenold.bsky.social
270 followers 220 following 130 posts
Freelance illustrator, sci/fi fantasy nerd, board game fan. Also loves robots. they/them

https://linktr.ee/lyssmenold?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=3cf45145-3b9a-4d4e-8b90-4686c23b5103
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lyssmenold.bsky.social
Lyss Menold @lyssmenold.bsky.social · Jan 14
Hi #portfolioday!

My name is Lyss and I love painting colorful and surreal things! I'm hoping to do more book cover and tabletop work this coming year 😁

💙 www.lyssmenold.com
Digital painting of a woman's back breaking apart to reveal an android underneath Digital painting of Jack Frost in a hoodie being formed from snow Digital painting of a woman's with a dress made of raven feathers Digital painting of an android repairing herself in front of a city
lyssmenold.bsky.social
Just finished a cover for an upcoming book "Trans in the Machine," art directed by the wonderful @foxenlock.bsky.social! Check out the campaign here: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...
Cover for book "Trans in the Machine" showcasing a woman rising upwards, a city made of digital noise emerging from her hands
February 2, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
robotleblanc.bsky.social
I've gotten a sneak peak of this book, and I am SO excited for it.

You should back this if you want a fascinating analysis of the history and current state of the art of (trans) cyberpunk!!!

(I'm also writing the forward for it!!)
foxenlock.bsky.social Stefanie 🏳️‍⚧️ @foxenlock.bsky.social · 5d
Trans in the Machine: Chronicling the new Cyberpunk Canon is now live!

The crowdfund runs all month.

Accessible pricing and a portion of funds go to good causes.

Let’s make this happen together!

🔗 www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...
A cyberpunk cityscape in shades of blue, pink, and grey with the text 'Trans in the Machine: Chronicling the New Cyberpunk Canon. Insight // Analysis // Experience From Trans+ Community'
February 2, 2026 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
foxenlock.bsky.social
Powered by community.

The forward will be written by @robotleblanc.bsky.social. Editing will be undertaken by Lillian Boyd. Artwork by the phenomenal @lyssmenold.bsky.social.

And featuring dozens of insights and interviews with Trans+ creatives & media experts, including:
February 2, 2026 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
neonhemlock.bsky.social
And then for some swag to go with paperbacks, @mspencerdraws.bsky.social has illustrated paper dolls of our butch cover babe.

I’m obsessed with these sorts of artist inspired by artist moments (kinda like Dante Luiz doing a comic inspired by Matt’s cover for SHATTER THE SUN)
Paper dolls of WHAT ELEGANT STARS cover butch with a low grav outfit and a fashiony one and a casual hoodie situation. Illustrated by Matthew Spencer.
January 31, 2026 at 3:55 PM
lyssmenold.bsky.social
Fuck ICE
The president's dumbass long tie turning into blood as it stains the presidential seal on a podium
January 27, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
bencollins.bsky.social
It can get lower!
January 26, 2026 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
mehdirhasan.bsky.social
Abolish ICE is now the moderate minimum position,

Prosecute ICE is where Dems should be at next.
January 24, 2026 at 7:18 PM
lyssmenold.bsky.social
Here's a cover (along with some sketches) for neonhemlock's new book, "What Elegant Stars." Thanks to dave ring for the super fun project! You can check in out now on Kickstarter www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav... 💜🪐
Cover for "what elegant stars," featuring a person in blue smokey robes filled with stars walking forward in front of a sci-fi city and Saturn. Sketch for the final cover Sketch showing a person rising from a planet, reaching for a hand. Sketch showing a black hole dress with light swirling around it
January 23, 2026 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
foxenlock.bsky.social
Trans in the Machine: Chronicling the New Cyberpunk Canon

A first-of-its-kind book exploring transness in cyberpunk.

Featuring interviews with @jessiegender.bsky.social & @tillybridges.bsky.social & insights from dozens of Trans+ creators.

Crowdfunder launching 1 Feb. Sign up now!

#Booksky 💙📚
Get Ready for Trans in the Machine: Chronicling the New Cyberpunk Canon
From Stefanie Carter Cuthbert - Get Ready for Trans in the Machine: Chronicling the New Cyberpunk Canon
www.backerkit.com
January 15, 2026 at 7:19 AM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
gingerpk.bsky.social
Goodbye December ❄️

Wishing everyone a beautiful ending to the last day of the year tomorrow and a beautiful start to a new one!!
December 30, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
neonhemlock.bsky.social
I’d be grateful if folks followed this project on Kickstarter 🖤

Aiming right now to go live in January, depending on when I get all my materials ready.

We have some exciting invited authors and @mspencerdraws.bsky.social is on board for interior illustrations.
December 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
dieworkwear.bsky.social
Photographer Christopher Anderson on the Vanity Fair photoshoot
An excerpt from The Washington Post's interview with photographer Christopher Anderson: Question: "Were there moments that you missed? Anything that happened that’s on the cutting room floor?" Anderson: "I don’t think there’s anything I missed that I wish I’d gotten. I’ll give you a little anecdote: Stephen Miller was perhaps the most concerned about the portrait session. He asked me, 'Should I smile or not smile?' and I said, 'How would you want to be portrayed?' We agreed that we would do a bit of both. And then when we were finished, he comes up to me to shake my hand and say goodbye. And he says to me, 'You know, you have a lot of power in the discretion you use to be kind to people.' And I looked at him and I said, 'You know, you do, too.'"
December 18, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
rj-palmer.com
The thing thats so insidious about using AI this way is that one of the main ways artists get hired are studios looking for art references and they find us and reach out.

This is removing a major avenue to get work if they can just generate nameless derivations of our ideas.
Swen Vincke @LarAtLarian Holy fuck guys we’re not "pushing hard" for or replacing concept artists with AI. We have a team of 72 artists of which 23 are concept artists and we are hiring more. The art they create is original and I’m very proud of what they do. I was asked explicitly about concept art and our use of Gen AI. I answered that we use it to explore things. I didn’t say we use it to develop concept art. The artists do that. And they are indeed world class artists. We use AI tools to explore references, just like we use google and art books. At the very early ideation stages we use it as a rough outline for composition which we replace with original concept art. There is no comparison. I talked about how we use ML here if you would like to know more: https://gamespot.com/articles/baldurs-gate-3-dev-embraces-machine-learning-for-tasks-that-nobody-wants-to-do/1100-6531123/ We've hired creatives for their talent, not for their ability to do what a machine suggests, but they can experiment with these tools to make their lives easier.
December 17, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
tylerwalpole.bsky.social
Watching someone toss away S Tier good-will for the sake of…AI is…kinda hard to watch.

Hope companies start to figure out the toxicity of AI, because their employees and consumers do.
jasonschreier.bsky.social Jason Schreier @jasonschreier.bsky.social · Dec 16
NEW: I spoke to Larian boss Swen Vincke about their ambitions for their new RPG Divinity, cutting down development time, pressures from Baldur's Gate 3, why BG3 wouldn't have happened without Tencent, how Larian uses generative AI, and much more www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Maker Promises ‘Divinity’ Will Be ‘Next Level’
‘I think this one is going to be way better’ than ‘Baldur’s Gate 3,’ Larian CEO Vincke says
www.bloomberg.com
December 16, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
everydaymerlin.bsky.social
LOOKING FOR WORK!! i’m merlin and i’ve worked in animation, games and comics as a visual developer and illustrator 🫶🎨 past clients: netflix, d&d, magic the gathering, volta

🎨 www.artstation.com/merlin-gg

📧 [email protected]
December 2, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
benmce.bsky.social
Autumn’s Waning 🍂
A digital painting of a large tree in fall. A figure walks through a creek in the foreground, surrounded by fallen leaves.
November 28, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
evelynepark.bsky.social
Cover illustration for The Broken Binding special edition of ALL THAT WE SEE OR SEEM by Ken Liu

acrylics on watercolor paper
November 24, 2025 at 12:59 PM
lyssmenold.bsky.social
I got to do an endpaper for the Broken Binding edition of Ken Liu's All that We See or Seem. And I got to paint little robot dinos in it!! Thanks to Petrik Leo for the super fun project 😁
Painting of a woman descending digital stairs that originate from a mind, with psychedelic elements like robot dinosaurs and matrix-y lines of code around her.
November 21, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
nozomimats.bsky.social
It's my birthday today! ☺️
If you could spare a repost, it would be much appreciated!
A woman with pale skin, white hair in two braids, and delicate gold tattoo on her face floats in the night sky with a full moon and starry sky behind her. She is wearing a thigh length purple dress with long sweeping sleeves. There are glowing blue lines etched on the fabric of the dress, and two ribbons of light with geometric patterns are trailing behind her. A ring of magic with glowing orbs is circling around her as she floats. Commission work done for YeetMaur A dark skinned man with dark brown hair and a beard framing his jaw, dressed in a white robe and dark brown pants crouches with one hand on the ground as he swings at demons with his katana. The enemy demons are dressed in red rusting armor that looks worn and damaged. The scene is set in a bamboo forest with a path cutting through it, red banners on either side of the road. It appears to be in the afternoon, with a rich orange glow streaming in between the bamboo. A man sits in his study, contemplating a dark, box shaped artifact, while a dark spirit looms behind him. This was a commission work done for JacenLandry
November 20, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
olliemnjones.bsky.social
Hi, looking for some illustration work at the moment, send me a message if you'd like some art for your project. You can also email me at [email protected]
Thanks!
November 20, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
igdoods.bsky.social
holidays are coming 🎶
November 16, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
emiliusdraws.bsky.social
#3157 A helpful tutorial
A digital drawing of one of those drawing tutorials that says 'don't do this, do this.' The drawing is of an almost naked middle-aged man doing a flying kick. The 'Don't do this' one has a bunch of areas circled and a cross under it. The 'Do this' one is exactly the same but without the circles and a tick instead of a cross. The text reads 'Needlessly adding red circles will ruin your art' and a smaller bit of text at the bottom reads 'Bonus tip! Add a tick under all your art so people think you did it right.'
November 17, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
reikomurakami.bsky.social
Got my contributor copies the other day! Cover art for “Awkward On The Rocks” by Marcel Feldmar
Cover art for Awkward On The Rocks. A mysterious male figure presenting a burning drink over the bar counter. His face is hidden in the shadow. A photo of the book Awkward On The Rocks by Marcel Feldmar
November 14, 2025 at 10:05 PM
lyssmenold.bsky.social
I had to say goodbye to my sweet Clair Bear today. I'm heartbroken. She was the best dog.
Photo of the best dog
November 11, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Lyss Menold
cotronis.bsky.social
My alt cover for @joeyesposito.bsky.social and @pandamusk.bsky.social MADAM comic book, now on Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/joe...
November 1, 2025 at 12:02 PM