Huzzah and all that

Drew ✦ she/her ✦ 29? ✦ Artist and Storyteller This is my inspiration/personal blog~ Art Blog - @drewzelledraws

[drewzelle]

⭐Greetings!⭐

I'm Drew - a concept artist / 2D generalist passionate about environment design, worldbuilding, and narrative-focused fantasy / sci-fi stories!

This is my main blog where I post my art and collect all the art things that inspire me and that I can learn from. Sometimes I post personal updates too! If you’re looking for my other blogs:

@drewzelledraws is my art-only sideblog where I just post my art!

@dr-zl is my sideblog where I shitpost and reblog cat videos

If you’re looking to follow me elsewhere, I am also active on BlueSky and Artstation! 2026 Edit: Tumblr is basically the only place to find me now! I’m mostly in lurk-mode, but I’m still checking things regularly!

Thank you for stopping by :>

[nattousan]

ok so, I approached my local library with a proposal to donate a mural as a way to A: build portfolio/gain practical experience and B: give back to a beloved public institution. The director was very enthusiastic about it and i've been working on it since the beginning of March. Come with me as I endeavor to paint what is in all honesty an excessive amount of birds

I wanted the birds to look like they were actually in the space so first thing after doing the draft was to do a lighting study

after that I covered the walls in letters in lieu of a projector/vr headset bc i have neither of those :) Then i take a picture of the section of wall and superimpose the lineart over top of it so I can pencil in the lines

et voila

and that was a whole week on it's own so next comes the paintin' >:)

[nattousan]

and now, the birds

Birds 1 and 2/14: Red Winged Blackbird, Male and female, Agelaius phoeniceus

[nattousan]

Bird 3/14, American Robin, Turdus migratorius

[nattousan]

hoo boy, ok *out of breath*

GIVE IT UP FOR BIRD NUMBUH 5, THE CANADIAN GOOSE, Branta canadensis!!!!

this guy took me about 4 days to completely finish, all of those freakingk coverts were a bear to render

[nattousan]

speaking of obnoxious coverts:

bird 5/14, Bluejay, Cyanocitta cristata

the friggin stripes almost got me chat, i may not make it

[nattousan]

Madam....

[nattousan]

birds 6 and 7: American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, male and female

pleasantly simple to paint! next is the flickerrrrr

[nattousan]

*melts into goo*

BIRD NUMBER 8, (yellow shafted) NORTHERN FLICKERRRRR, Colaptes auratus

genuinely made me start questioning my sanity around day 3, it's half the size the of the goose, WHY did it take me 4 days to finish??

nothing but pain and suffering, i'm sure hope the next bird will be much easier and with FAR less barring :)

[nattousan]

in other news, I am losing my mind hairline

[nattousan]

SHE'S DONE!!

Bird number 9: Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

my chains are broken i am FREE. although i did have a great deal of fun with this, the barring on the wings itself took me like four days and i am READY to move on

this was a week and a half of continuous work so please excuse me for getting a little emotional in the bg 🙏

[nattousan]

*does a little jig*

BIRD NUMBER 10!!! The Male Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos

the male and female ones are gonna be posted separately bc they're taking a lot longer lol but yea! super happy i was able to capture the iridescent green of the head, i found metallic green and blue paint at a craft store that really made his head POP. it looks better in person i promise

ALSO!! As this is the 10th one, BIG announcement. The end is in sight!!!!! I plan to finish within the next 3 weeks and there will be a small dedication ceremony/ unveiling happening at the library to commemorate its completion on the 16th of May. If you live in the Western New York region and want to check it out for yourself shoot me a dm!

Also thank you everyone for your kind words and support throughout this whole process, it's been a genuine treat thinking there are potentially thousands of you out there cheering me on while I paint this 🥹

[nattousan]

aaaand another one bites the duck,

we're movin right along with bird numero 11!! The lady Mallard!! Anas platyrhyncos

the 16th is looming in the distance so i'm trying to get thru these as quickly as i can so i can have as much time for the GBH as possible. i still need to do the names next to all of them so i've got about a week and a half to finish everything which is GREAT because i have adhd and nothing gets my ass in gear like a fuckin deadline, let me tell you

[nattousan]

power couple that they are, here's bird number 12 and 13,

the Northern Cardinals, Cardinalis cardinalis

and NOW that they are complete, ITS GO TIME, in the next five days (library's closed for mother's day 😭😭) i need to have the GBH fully rendered, the names of the birds vectored, weeded, masked, applied to the wall, and then painted, plus additional cattails throughout. I may be able to get away with just getting the GBH done in time for the unveiling and then just have the names and cattails added later, but i'm gonna really try to get it all done in time. BUT, i have a plan. Part of why i take so long on these is because i really am just figuring it out as I do it lmao. there have been many a time where i am sitting on top of the ladder googling "how to paint birds" but I think if i take the time tomorro to do all that figuring out how to approach it beforehand, this will go a lot faster. I may also recruit some of my artist friends to help with the placing of the names... hrmm we'll see.

Anyways, shout out to the librarian who tracked down exactly the thing i needed so i could figure out where to place the highlights in my birds eyes, ur the real mvp

[nattousan]

thanks for the reminder, kid

[nattousan]

at long last, we've reached the end...

Bird number 14 out of 14,

The Great blue heron, Ardea herodius

thank you to everyone who reached out or got excited about this project, it genuinely gave me the fuel i needed to keep going. In total, the 480+ total hrs it took me to cover this wall pales in comparison to how long its expected to spend on there, hopefully imparting a sense of beauty and love for the natural world to the next generation and here's hoping i'm only getting started with these.

i'll see y'all soon :')

[sarenhale]

omg who is this… could it be… ?!

also this is a little sneak peek of the portrait commission style and direction I want to offer for that commission slot!

[sarenhale]

WAAH you guys are too cute, im glad you missed Aydee 🥹 I have a drawing idea in mind with her and Estinien! !

[bees-with-swords]

"Do you ever dream of land?" The whale asks the tuna.

"No." Says the tuna, "Do you?"

"I have never seen it." Says the whale, "but deep in my body, I remember it."

"Why do you care," says the tuna, "if you will never see it."

"There are bones in my body built to walk through the forests and the mountains." Says the whale.

"They will disappear." Says the tuna, "one day, your body will forget the forests and the mountains."

"Maybe I don't want to forget," Says the whale, "The forests were once my home."

"I have seen the forests." Whispers the salmon, almost to itself.

"Tell me what you have seen," says the whale.

"The forests spawned me." Says the salmon. "They sent me to the ocean to grow. When I am fat with the bounty of the ocean, I will bring it home."

"Why would the forests seek the bounty of the oceans?" Asks the whale. "They have bounty of their own."

"You forget," says the salmon, "That the oceans were once their home."

[hearnoweevil]

Last year I finally had an excuse to illustrate this simple little Tumblr story I've had bookmarked forever for class.

I hope you like it :]

[stevelieber]

I was talking shop with an artist in the studio today and I shared this page from Andrew Loomis, which might be the single most valuable page I've ever encountered in a how-to-draw book. I can't BEGIN to say how many hours this "hanging figures on the horizon" technique has saved me.

(EDIT: Over on another site, someone said they didn’t understand how to read this pic, so maybe adding a second pic and some explanation will help?)

Let’s say I want to draw “Joe” standing further back. I need to know where to place him so he looks like he's the same height, even though he's further away. If I get it wrong, he’ll look giant or tiny.

I can do that by making sure that the horizon cuts thru Joe AT THE SAME HEIGHT, no matter how close or far away he is. In the original picture, it cuts thru the original Joe at the waist.

So let’s look at three different Joes.

A: Wrong. Horizon goes thru his knees. In this context, he’s a giant.

B: Correct. Horizon goes thru his waist, just like the original Joe!

C: Wrong. Horizon goes thru his head. In this context, he’s tiny.

[stevelieber]

Reblogging because it's been 75 years and Loomis is still right.

[sarenhale]

Finally I've finished the Knitting Witch I started drawing during Christmas 😄✨

Her name is Becca, and she has a little cute rat as a familiar! She is an addition to the "Little Witches" character lineup I made a couple of years ago.

I always love revisiting that project and adding to it! Hope you like it!

[badasserywomen]

I love the way Karlach just fans over Jaheira, we all just trying to get her approval and be called 'cub'

[pouistired]

Made a twitter thread of the brushes and textures I use!! Wanted to share them here too

Links for everything can be found here

[poststealer]

links for non twitter users (and for archival purposes). all brushes are for clip studio paint

charcoal (free)

borupenp (free)

enpitsup (12 USD)

ph math grid (free)

ph dot grid (free)

7 paper textures (free)

45 real paper textures (free)

safir pen (used in the first image) (10 clippy)

drew brush (free)

oil brush (free)

[pouistired]

Ty!! I was gonna add them but I got sick and frew up WTF

[spindlewit]

postcards from some of my favourite locations in swtor and gw2

(these were voted on and each have full posts on my patreon)

[writingwithfolklore]

If it doesn’t impact the rest of the story, you didn’t raise the stakes

              I recently went back to a chapter at the midpoint of my novel and changed a huge detail of it because I thought it didn’t raise the stakes enough as it was. Because of this change, I had to go through every single scene and chapter beyond that point and edit it to fit in and make sense. It was annoying, but that’s how I knew I achieved what I wanted to.

              Raised stakes change everything about a story.

              If your characters can continue on as they were, then you didn’t really raise the stakes at all. This heightened pressure or danger has to be heightened enough that their lives as they know them are different now.

              Consider this: at the midpoint, you introduce a mutated form of a monster your characters have been facing that’s more deadly and intelligent than its predecessor. It’s a super scary scene, but after that, your characters go back to their safe house to talk over how best to kill it.

              Suddenly, this new monster doesn’t feel as much of a threat. It’s just another element of the same threat they’ve already been facing.

              To properly use this element as a way to raise the stakes, it should take away something the characters rely on—safety, allies, powers, etc. Something they can’t get back, and don’t get back for the rest of the story. They now have to adapt to new circumstances, and things will never be as easy for them again.

              So maybe instead, they flee to their safe house only to discover that it’s no longer safe—the monster is smart enough to get through their hidden entrance and corner them. Now they’re stuck out in the open, taking turns keeping watch and slowly deteriorating to sleeplessness and stress.

              That’s a delicious steak.

[author-a-holmes]

I fucking love you.

You may have just solved a huge problem that I've been stuck on how to fix for-bloody-ever.

Thank you for making this post. Just. Thank you.

To anyone else out there wondering if you should write up a post about something you've been busy solving in your own work, I encourage you to do so. You never know who might be struggling with the same probelm <3

[xrnoodle]

DEVILISH ARCHAEOLOGIST // THE BOY IN A STRAW HAT

[mudora]

**HERE COMES THE BOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!** This is Poath, a part of my world building project for Leroy and co, and is essentially part of a race of sentient mushrooms that sell many herbs, plants, and helpful organics to aid many adventurers. He communicates in squeaks, and none have really been able to translate such squeaks into knowable common, but plenty have been able to understand that these little folks exchange potent goods from the forests for... high quality soils. Money means nothing, and the typical exchange for thyme is just a good cup of fertile soil. And they are quite picky! Certain qualities give different plants. Thankfully the wider world has accepted these strange Shroomfolk into their towns and market stalls, and what is known for each individual is typically given on a sign board next to their place of business. Once a Shroomfolk has entered a village or city, they continually go to that place for quite some time. What it is they do with all the soil, no one knows.

[sosuperawesome]

Abel Klaer on Instagram

[petermorwood]

I really admire the contrast between intricate coloured embellishments and delicately shaded pencil-work.

Take a generous helping of personal skill and talent, sprinkle with a little Gustav Klimt, mix lightly with Kay Nielsen, season with a touch of Harry Clark and mark with a Golden Compass as desired.

[victusinveritas]

Redwall concept art. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/mDeged

[ranagazo0]

Skypea Nami

[kimboltart]

ASL + Garp Mink/Furry Au

[magicalgirlfia]

At long last: BancalaWalker Splatoon 3 Band Information Translations

Translation: @3600frames, @rassicas, and myself

Typesetting: @/Octoplus (Bluesky)

Scans: @shellsfm

NOTE: Several characters are referred to with they/them. This is due to how Japanese is written, it's easy for pronouns and gendered terms to be omitted. This does not mean these characters are "canonically nonbinary.” The exceptions to this are Orion and Acht, who both use they/them pronouns in English.