Elves And Psychos || An Interview with Dirhaele
Elves And Psychos || An Interview with @dirhaelee
Elves and psychos, fairies and murderers! Who balances out the genre of high fantasy and gory horror through her art than Valeria, aka 'Dirhaele'?
Valeria is yet again, another wonderful artist I'm thankful to have had a chance to sit down and chat with. From family roots to favorite 'Outlast' characters, we had a ball!
And now it's time for all of you to find out:
Who really is Dirahele?
With 937 followers on Instagram, Valeria is a semi-realistic, multi-fandom artist from Argentina, who comes from 4 generations worth of artists in her family(more on that later.) She's been uploading art consistently since 2017 on Instagram, and if you were to scroll for yourself, you can see the improvement developing with each upload.
And please, if you haven't already, give her a follow! You can follow her Tumblr here and her Instagram here!
How Did This Interview Come To Be?
Me and Dirhaele had already established a very pleasant friendship before this interview! I had Dirahele in mind ahead of time as a guest, back when I was just thinking of getting back into journalism, so I'm very happy she took me up on my offer.
The Beginning..
(The following text will be transcripts straight from our conversation with small edits being made for grammatical purposes, along with notes in between segments.)
October 20, 2025 4:11 PM
S: "I think a fantastic, real interview question to start with is to ask, how did you start your art career? How did you know art was something you wanted to do?"
D: "Well, I'm one of those people that has been doing art 'forever'. In my family, there has always been this thing where for the last four generations (if not more, but we just lost track of it) have had at least one artist in it.
My great-grandfather was alive during my childhood and he was a professional painter. He dedicated his whole life to oil painting and watercolors, he mainly pursued art for publicity! Back then, there wasn't a lot of photographers for fashion magazines or advertisements for products, and he worked painting the subjects for it!! The art "gene" was passed down to my grandmother (still alive today!) who specialized in watercolor, then to my uncle, he did oil painting, as well as pottery. There's Tiffany who does glass blowing, sculpture and jewelry designing. So with that all being said, I've been exposed to art my entire life, and I'm the one of my generation who is dedicating her life to it!
I graduated from secondary studies in 2016 and started studying Fine Arts at University, mainly traditional. But when the pandemic started, I had the chance to keep exploring digital art and my passion there. So, I started doing courses and lots of self-taught learning, trying to constantly improve!
It was only natural for me to understand what I wanted to do for my career but was (is) a really difficult choice to make. It would have been safer for me to study some traditional "well paid" career, but my happiness and passion is with art."
S: "That’s honestly so fascinating to see how far back art really goes for you, 4 generations worth! That’s incredible, man!
And this is actually leads me to a question I’ve been meaning to ask for awhile, but are you a professional artist? Specifically, a concept artist? Your art really reminds me of professional concept art that I’ve seen for Games like ‘Overwatch’!"
B: "I consider myself a professional artist, yes! I'm able to live off of my art today (some months are better than others, oh the freelance life!).
I'm currently doing my own thing, like art I enjoy, commissions, and I'm able to make some extra money with my Patreon.
But sadly, I haven't been able to get into the industry yet. I had one project with an indie game company in the past, but that's been over for a long time.
Now that you say that though, concept art is kind of the art that I do! I would love to be able to create art like that professionally in the future! I've always been super inspired by games like 'League of Legends' and 'World of Warcraft' and I've always tried to get my art up to those industry standards. But in the end, I'll always try to maintain my own artstyle with everything I do!"
S: "The work you do is absolutely gorgeous, it’s seriously so impressive. And I really hope you’ll be able to insert yourself into bigger projects in the near future! You deserve it, and I can’t wait to see you be credited as an artist one day on some big game!
In the meantime, yes some months definitely can be better than others, especially in the freelance world but! I know that once I get myself more situated with my financial situation, I’ll be sure to subscribe to your Patreon!
The first art piece I saw of yours, I believe it was the infamous Leland Coyle piece! The one where he’s in the chair looking all fancy n fine, I love the artwork you do of the outlast characters! I think my favorite piece of yours has to be the art you did of the Pouncer?? I mean, she looks REALLY good in your style!
How long ago did you get into Outlast? Has it always been a thing you’ve been into, or is it more of a recent discovery?"
B: "Thank you so much, I appreciate your beautiful and kind words! Let's manifest success for both of us.
Oh Leland Coyle! And don't get me started on the Pouncer! I've known 'Outlast' games since they came out back in the early 2010's.
I was super fan of a Spanish gaming Youtuber and he played it a LOT. He got me super hooked on it for years, but I was super young and very easily scared, so I never got the courage to play it until 2 years ago!
But I do remember when I asked my mom to buy the first game for me when I was 15 years old , and when she asked for it in a game store we had near my house, the guy of the store told her that the game was going to be super scary for me, and he was right!! I couldn't pass the hanging soldier in the first five minutes inside of Mount Massive, hahaha.
I saw the bundle for sale over on Steam two years ago and I finally had the nerve to play it. And it was definitely an AWAKENING for me."
S: "HAHA I don’t blame younger you for being scared, I’m almost 20 years old and I can’t even play Outlast Trials alone!! The last time I tried, I hid in a locker for at least 3 minutes before closing the game, too scary! Can’t do it!
But let me tell you, Red Barrels SERIOUSLY knows how to make a charismatic character. You’re telling me I’m supposed to be SCARED of Richard Trager? I’m supposed to be SCARED of Leland?? Absolutely not, they should be running from ME if anything .
You draw everyone from Outlast so well, I cannot stress it enough. If you had to choose, who’s your favorite character to draw?? And who’s your overall favorite character in general?"
B: "Red Barrels knows how to make charismatic characters indeed, they are all so unique and (in their sordid existence) so incredibly well written, designed and portrayed.
My favorite to draw is Pusher drawing him has plenty of complexity with his mask and gas spitter! In my head-canon, he's a major twink, and I love that for him SO MUCH. But my favorite character out of all three games has to be Marta, from the second game. I just… she's a gigantic nun with religious delusions that uses a giant pickaxe with a rosary tangled into it. I love her design so much. But, some honorable mentions I will also choose are Mother Gooseberry, Eddie and Night Hunter."
S: "I would have never guessed that Pusher would be your favorite to draw, honestly! That’s such an unexpected surprise, I’m so glad I asked! He IS such a twink but it fits him perfectly, absolutely!
But your favorite character list, even if they’re honorable mentions? Valid as hell! I’m a big fan of Nighthunter, too! Nighthunter and Pusher are just made to be together, they’re one of my favorite ships for Trials! ^^
Also, can I just mention how much I love that your two favorite genres to dabble in, are so different? You have Outlast which is just gory horror, and then you have League Of Legends and DND, just fantasy based stuff! Fantasy is so fun, honestly."
B: "I love that ship, too!! And to add, I'm happily having a lot of commissions this month. So unfortunately, I've been very slow with the Patreon illustrations, BUT. I am making a set of 3 drawings of Pusher, NH and Pitcher, the three of them having a party with themselves. Hopefully I can get it done before Halloween comes!!"
I know, I always say those are my two genders, high fantasy and (probably erotic) horror. One is a passion that I had my whole life because I've been exposed to playing fantasy games all my life since I was little. And the other one (erotic horror) was more of an awakening that happened when I was able to fully understand and enjoy every aspect of it, and that happened when I was a lot older. I love it so much.
S: "I’m so glad you’re getting a lot of commissions this month, first of all! That 55$ combo deal you put out for October was INSANE it’s no wonder you have a lot of clients this month and I’m so glad I could have been one of them!
Have you ever thought about creating a character or a story that combines both the elements of erotic horror and fantasy? That would be a neat combo! ^^
And hearing how fantasy is something you’ve been into ever since you were little, that’s so sweet. We’re all just girls who played fairies and princesses."
B: "I really enjoy drawing characters that are not mine, because it makes me open my eyes to new body-types, poses, and clothing that I usually don't draw!
When you have your own OCs(Original Characters) drawing them can get a little repetitive. This opportunity really nourishes my mind, both from an art perspective and also from a personal perspective.
I'm making connections with lots of wonderful people, and I'm very grateful for such an opportunity. It's always been a little difficult to me to socialize on social media, so this has opened a lot of doors for me to talk to amazing people from communities I truly love and enjoy being a part of! And that includes you.
The closest thing I've done to combining horror and fantasy.. Well, It starts with my OBSESSION with drawing elves, so I created two of them, one for each Outlast (1 and 2). They are fantasy characters in a horror setting, so subconsciously I kind of mixed my interests there!"
S: "I completely understand, it can be really hard to talk on social media and get involved in communities long enough to make new friends. For the longest time when I first joined the Transformers community, I literally felt like everyone around me was just apart of the cool kids group! I genuinely felt like I was the new kid at school, trying to make friends but it really does get easier. And I’m so glad you branched out! The Outlast community genuinely has helped me meet some of the nicest people I’ve ever met, personally, and that absolutely includes you!
ALSO. ELF OBSESSION. YES. I love the way you draw elves. There’s a short video you posted on your Instagram I saw, where you were just recording yourself draw an elf-like character and you make it look so EASY. How do you do it?"
B: "That's so real! It really does feel like being the new kid at school! But the Outlast community has been so sweet so far, I don't feel so intimidated.
Yes!! Elves are my comfort zone, I could probably draw them with my eyes closed! They are my obsession and passion, so my Outlast OC's work perfectly in my mind. They're just elves and they're just rolling in the filth of that beautiful universe, nothing could be more perfect!"
S: Oh, you know this actually brings up a good question! How would you describe your art process, if you could even begin to describe it? I know that can be a little hard to put into words for some people."
B: First, I try to imagine what I want to draw. In my mind, I see and feel the overall vibe, but not the details.
So, I start doing some action lines without any specific shape, just to get an idea of where things should be placed. I sometimes even find myself acting out the poses, expressions or feelings of the characters I draw, it's so interesting!
When those rough lines are placed, I already know how to start and let my mind relax a little. All of that visualization, and trying to translate it into the canvas, it really requires me to be super focused.
Once I'm settled, I'll start drawing the basic shapes of the body with cylinders, spheres, and random shapes. Next, I look for anatomy references online, I can't draw all muscles from all angles from memory!
Next would be the detailing stage. This one is really fun to do, since this is when you have to imagine how the fabrics bend, how the shapes of the clothes cover certain objects, etc. And after that, when the sketch is done, I start on making clearer line-art!
After the line-art, everything is as smooth as a smooth operator. I love coloring and rendering, so I just let myself be and enjoy the process.
Last but not least, the post-production. That involves playing with contrast, brightness, and making sure all the colors look on point. And, also adding some glow or texture if necessary, and that would be all!"
S: "NOW THAT IS AN ARTISTIC PROCESS! That’s impressive!
I’m not an artist by any means, I like to doodle and sketch for fun, but I always start with a messy circle or square with a crosshair grid and go from there. That’s my artistic process, coming from someone who does art for fun.
But your way is truly the way of a professional!
To wrap this all up, do you have any advice, or words of wisdom to the artists or overall viewers out there?"
B: "Oh my words of wisdom… I don't feel like I'm very wise at all!
But, I would love to motivate and inspire everyone to do what they love. To make art, to write fan-fiction, to make music, to do interviews, whatever you want to do. Remember that your passion is super valuable, not only for your heart, but for everyone surrounding you!
I really do enjoy seeing the Outlast community grow. That makes me so excited, thinking about all the beautiful things that can come from so many talented people! I'm looking forward to keep being part of it's growth, to welcome new fans, and to have such wonderful interactions with people from the community!"
And that marks the end of another wonderful interview with a stellar artist. Thank you so much again to @dirhaelee for her time, and thank you, viewer, for reading.
