Some older doodles for the dnd campaign Heartland that @artist-rat is dming for us :3
The first one is from the very beginning of our adventure, Verna has just bought three big boxes full of caramelized nuts (her favourite snack in the whole world) but Rhiam (@artharakka) offered to carry them bc she's suddenly feeling really sick, and a few moments later both of them pass out
"I’m... now that you’re here… It was nice of you to say it wasn't bad, but it... I’m saying, it was in a room full of other people. For a first kiss. ...Do you want another?"
"...Why?"
"Why not? Or... it's okay if you wouldn’t like to. Just thought I'd. I would. ...Just asking, would you like it?"
Can I ask you where have you found inspiration for your art? For example I've noticed you have a very specific (and beautiful) way you draw jewelry and clothing. The shapes are very organic yet grounded at the same time, give a bit of a Nausicaä vibes, as well as art noveau meets iron age.
Honestly I could go on and on about the beautiful details of your art but I don't want to seem too fangirlish :D
Ohhh thank you I love those comparisons 🧡 Because I didn't even know those are the vibes I was going for but yeah that's great actually... This is like when one of you made a playlist inspired by my art... (I still have that saved btw! 🧡 And I still cannot believe!!). Here's a little Rhiam drawing with some jewelry she doesn't (yet) have in canon (earrings she does have but she cannot use them yet)
But what are my inspirations hmmmmmmm many! Idk even what all I have inhaled into my art but I try to list something (this got long so rest under cut):
Nature 🌿 I love both mundane (sparrows, plants growing from asphalt cracks, moss covered street signs... the little details) and grand formations that fill me with awe. There's something about things so vast that take my breath away. Like oceans, mountains, high cliffs, endless tundra, wind so strong you could lean against it, ancient stone that has been scraped visible by massive sheets of ice thousands of years ago. (But I'm guilty of not being that impressed by conventional beauty of average gardens. Aren't people tired of only finding planted blooming flowers beautiful!). Most often I'm drawing inspiration from nature familiar to me, that being Nordic/Scandinavian ones.
I already said nature but birds deserve a special mention! Agh I just love those funky little animals 🦅
Stories! I love making stories, I think they help me grasp and go over my thoughts. I love pouring myself into my characters, it makes them feel both personal but also makes it easier to talk about myself to my fellow storytellers. I'd love to do a long graphic novel or write a book one day, but I also love making ttrpg stories just for and with our little group 🧡 For a long time I felt kinda bad that I wasn't doing "real art" that wasn't just illustrations of my characters. But then I realised doing art for arts sake doesn't really inspire me. I don't want to do art that I'd think would be easily consumable nor do I have any great performance to create with my art. I just love to illustrate stories and tell stories through my art and I think that's great! I still love seeing and experiencing artworks that aren't this illustrative, I just don't have the motivation to do that myself. But I can get really excited of works like Emma Jääskeläinen's granite sculptures!
Other artists! There are two categories I think: 1) those whose work I've seen (usually irl) and whose technique or themes or symbolism facinates me. I usually don't want to create similar art, or replicate their style, or medium even. But there's something about them, a feeling of awe or they feel formidable. Or there's something clever about them that lets me have this sense of epiphany. For example, Jääskeläinen who I already mentioned, Marcel Dzama, Merja Palin, Helena Vaari, Marika Mäkelä, to name a few I've seen lately-ish. And then 2) there are artists whose stories and/or style inspires me and influences my art. One of the biggest inspirations to my softer line art style was and is @albabbgg. @serpentface has some really cool worldbuilding and designs, I think they were also a great influence to how I draw bodies these days. @wiltkingart has also very cool shapes and genders in his paintings. @sanctus-ingenium 's stories and art have been a huge inspiration lately. And to list a few others now that I started: @pangur-and-grim/@greer-art, @beidak-art, @elemei, @emilylorange, @pansylair, @cy-lindric, @psrj, @lokorum
And many others I'm probably forgetting now! I also have a side blog @sancta-cessatrix where I occasionally reblog cool art, check tags #art #inspiration
The first part of the fellowship's journey is over and they have reached the first mountain range in our homebrew D&D campaign. From the left to right, here ride Althea the unofficial leader and medic, Cian, Rhiam, Vernonia the other cursed protagonist besides Rhiam, and their bodyguard Trindel with her wolf Chime.
2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?
sigh... it seems like these two are answer to every second question but... Paju (Willow) and Rhiam....... I just love them so much. They are very personal to me and I feel like there is most "me" poured into them.
4. A character you rarely talk about?
Idk if I talk a lot about any of my characters besides I guess Rhiam lately? But here's a character I've drawn and thought a lot but shared almost none as she is a character to a graphic novel me, @artist-rat & @iijadraws were working on (still on indefinite pause & not posted anywhere). We all designed one protagonist for the story and my contribution is Kasimira or Kaipo for short. She is a princess to an empire who ends up far away from home during a traditional competition between emperors/empress' children to determine the next heir to the throne. She'd rather stay home and continue her relatively comortable life, but she doesn't trust that her power hungry older stepbrother would let her keep that if she lost.
7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories?
I think... all of them have some kind of story? For most of them I have some sort of book or comic projects planned (whether I actually make those isn't that important but I like to dream ✨). Some are "just" game charactes I've created but even then they do have a story. And I might have plans to snatch them for other projects as well.
37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human
Marras is a god of shipwrecks and keeper of sunken treasures and souls lost at sea in my and Rat's anotherrr comic draft world. They (he?) are a minor and not-really-worshipped deity, he (they?) works under a more prominent sea god Salvia. He has many forms including a gigantic deep sea beast, shoal of fish, a cat with too many legs and his version of a human. Though his idea of how humans look is based on corpses rotting in water and sunken ship's figureheads so it is a bit... off. And why a cat amongst other things? Well in his past life he was indeed a ship's cat. The vessel he was on sunk and the crew left the poor cat behind and Salvia took pity in it and made it a god. As you do.
He could have a more morbid look on life, but he's in fact quite cheerful. You might be even able to struck a deal with him if you are lucky enough, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. For he usually only shows up to sink your ship if you have stolen something from him.
