elleminster

mid-life learner sharing my art and inspiration as I teach myself to draw ✏️ Late 30s | she/her

[elleminster]

“Unleash me.”

This bad boy took abt 12 hrs to finish. I gotta say it’s been fun today to look at this compared to work I was attempting as recently as last October where i struggled to put shadows down at all, so, PROGRESS 🕺 also had fun figuring out how to incorporate 15th century clothing morphed for Faerun into his design. All around I’m so so happy with it and excited to keep goinnnggg 🤸‍♀️

[elleminster]

Having fun with CSP asset backgroundsssss. Makes the lineart look a lil more ✨fancy✨ while I gather my nerves to color it. Gale casting will never not be attractive 🤭

[elleminster]

My divwiz bb: done! 💙

This one came in at 10.25 hrs! It’s so fun to be getting a little faster and doing more complex things. A year ago I was fighting for my life to put shadows down on a tiny illustration of primitives, and now I’m feeling more and more confident with shadows on complex forms and feeling HAPPY about the result 😂 I’m just so pleased to have finally hit a point in learning art that I can make the things I’ve had in my brain for so long. It’s been deeply satisfying and has absolutely been worth the multi-year climb to get here ☺️

[elleminster]

Another study for today! this time after Juliette Brocal ( @cy-lindric ) whose art is just incredible. Trying to soak up the way she manages black vs colored linearrrrtttt 🤓 If you haven’t seen “La Lengue des Vipères” yet it’s absolutely worth snagging 🫳

[elleminster]

Trying to figure out colorrrrr. Some lil studies of Hades 2 art 🫳

[elleminster]

“The stars will be our bed.”

This one took a little over 10 hours to do. I struggled with getting their bodies to look glowy and see-throughy but also solid? 😂 so I wanna play with layer blending modes a bunch more. And also maybe do one with their usual rendering just to practice it. I got my hands on a copy of Juliette Brocal’s “La Langue des vipères” and you can see the tiny highlights I did as part of studying that comic front to back (it’s GORGEOUS). I also had a blast with the border, coming up with how to construct it is quickly becoming my favorite part of most pieces. On to the next one!

[elleminster]

Equal opportunity modesty lettuce 😌 lineart done!

[elleminster]

Been watching some of my fave period movies and shows and sketching them into my fave scenes bit by bit 🥹

[elleminster]

Pointed Cap!Gale (8 hrs)

Finished just in time to settle in and watch the anime premiere 🖤

[elleminster]

Big things happening over here (I’ve done nothing but read Witch Hat Atelier and procrastinate working on my comic 🤭) now Gale gets to be a pointy hat too. Lineart compleeeeeeete 🤸‍♀️

[elleminster]

For our lady of mysteries, might, and magic 💙

[elleminster]

I’m in the comic mines rn. lots of ideas and not enough time. I revisited this idea I posted on bsky from a few months ago and wanted to post over here as well! Currently backtracking through my thumbnails so I can finish it upppp (lest I fall victim to an ever-growing pile of WIPs 🙈). It should be abt 6 pages when all is said and done 🤸‍♀️

[elleminster]

Modesty lettuce is back 🥬 was really pleased with these two sketches after finishing the larger study of, uh, interactive anatomy poses. Been working lately on getting forms to interact, maintaining feature consistency, and also emotionnnn 💜 So sharing the crops here and sending up a prayer 🥬🥬

[elleminster]

Late night wizard doodle 🤭 saw the ref (below the cut) and was struck by the vision of Gale in such a scenario.

[lowrifaberart]

🏳️‍⚧️🌝

[elleminster]

These kinds of posts always interested me so I’m gonna share the same! Full transparency, I’m just shy of two years in to self-teaching myself illustration so this is the process I’ve slap-dashed together from lots of trial and error and advice 😂 but regardless, peeking behind the curtain is always the best part after seeing a full illustration from other artists and I know for me, a newbie, it has always helped me feel like “okay maybe I’m on the right track then” so!

First up: References! I love love LOVE hunting and gathering references. The feeling of ideas congealing in my mind is top tier. I spend a few hours across days pulling these together and then there’s usually a marination period while the visual firms up in my mind.

After marinating on the idea, I either turn to my sketchbook to thumbnail out a half dozen ideas or if I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the rough idea I want, I go straight to photo bashing and sketching over top. And from there, pretty stock standard for the steps I follow! I have tons to learn yet and I know this will change piece-by-piece, year-by-year, but for now this snapshot is serving me well 💜

[bladesingerlily]

For anyone who says that arrogance isn’t a core trait of Gale’s….

(From an interview Tim did on the craft of mo cap acting)