The Voyaging Storyteller

It has been a goodly while since I last shared some of my art, and during that time I’ve been experimenting with all sorts of artistic concoctions. If you’ve missed the first two installments, check them out here and here!

Without further ado, let’s begin!

I first saw this little girl on Pinterest and those adorable, mischievous, huge eyes just made my heart melt and I couldn’t resist attempting a drawing. (also I’m glad her hands didn’t turn out too hideously.)

Inspiration

This girl’s hand wasn’t so lucky. Neither was her dress, because creases and folds and dimples and dips are so…ambiguously horrifying. I also think I could’ve added more shadows for light contrast and clarity and sharpness, but my hand was so tired after coloring in the ocean (yes, it’s an ocean) that I just left it like so.

I do love the aesthetic though.

This was painted for a dear friend of mine, who loves dragons. I thought it would be difficult, but dragons are actually really easy and fun to draw, especially baby dragons. ❤ ❤

This young sir is Rochnil, the long-lost cousin of Legolas. He possesses a dead-eyed stare (I was trying to go for a cheerful look, I promise), misshapen lips, and a rather horse-like face, but don’t judge because it’s just how he was created. He couldn’t help it.

I don’t know what’s going on with his neck so don’t ask. But his eyebrows are alright, and his ear is rather fine, if you ignore how small it is.

I am still very fond of him.

Somehow I haven’t watched a single anime and I’m already doing fanart? Help?

This one was for another friend who is madly in love with Avatar: The Last Airbender. According to her rather persuasive speeches, it sounds marvelous and I do intend to watch it. Someday. When I have Time.

The lighting makes the color look odd. I can never figure out how to take pictures of art without distorting the color. Any tips?

Character concept sketchy thing. She’s a Scottish medieval princess who thinks everyone’s actions are questionable, except her own. Unfortunately she does not yet have a name, so if you have any ideas, please let me know. The poor child needs a name.

My favorite part of this is the puffed sleeves, and now I want to try a whole dress. A marvelously puffy, wrinkle/crease/fold free dress.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love ships? And the ocean? And clouds? Well one of my fellow-writer friends is writing a book with a splendid blend of all of those things, and I painted this for her, inspired by her story’s world. I finally got around to buying actual watercolor paper and I couldn’t believe how much easier it was to make the clouds all nice and fluffy.

Go figure.

Lesson of the day: invest in watercolor paper. Or paper for whatever medium you use. It’s so worth it.

I drew this for my dear violin teacher, who is amazing. It was so fun to mix and blend all those colors to make the violin’s unique texture. Because although I love all my instruments equally, I have to admit violin is the prettiest. Just look at the colors. The graceful curves. And even though I didn’t include it in this one – the scroll. Aaahhh.

My second attempt at drawing a realistic eye (you know how it goes, random eyeballs are a necessity for any artist’s sketchbook 😉 ) and… it’s best viewed purposefully blurring your gaze. I’ll have you know that irises are so ridiculously hard. So many geometric patterns and fractals that are gorgeous to look at and tedious to draw.

Eyelashes, on the other hand, are a whole lot of fun.

INK AND WATERCOLOR. IS THE BEST THING EVER. I thought watercolor by itself was incredibly forgiving, but the ink just takes it to a whole new level. Even when you make a mistake (sorry – a happy little accident *wink wink*) it gives off an ancient, down-to-earth, awesome aesthetic that I am just in love with.

The angle is off (I’m still working on my 3D perspective) and, in case you’re wondering, I loosely copied my reference photo for the words. Loosely. Most of them are random letters I thought looked cool.

Another gift for a friend, who is physically far away from me, but always near. 😉

And finally, a face copied from a random picture I found in the hidden depths of the internet, so I can practice my realism without feeling too guilty if I mess her up. The original young lady was much prettier than this (her eyes weren’t so vaguely focused, for starters) but I’m quite proud of her nonetheless.

I’ll have you know that shading black hair takes f o r e v e r. Worse, she was wearing a solid black jacket. Yes, my palm, too, was almost black when I finished.

I’m still not quite sure how to make black hair dark enough while still maintaining realism. If you have any tips I’d be happy to hear them!

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Well, there we are! I hope you enjoyed these few pieces.

(Also, as I start to improve in my artistic abilities and as the list of things I can draw expand, I’m running into the dilemma of having too many things to draw. This means I can never decide what to do first so I end up not doing anything. A silly problem, but a problem nonetheless, so if you have any suggestions/requests, please let me know! It’ll really help me actually get going on a project instead of mulling around indecisively. 😅)

Bon voyage, my friends!

~ Elisha