Once Upon a Donna: Fantasy Characters

SO IT'S BEEN A WHILE AND EVERYTHING IS CRAZY.
Here are a couple of sketches and drawings I have finished enough to post on here. Including a Bluey-style drawing of my dog, because one day my brains said "what if..." and that's usually a start of many drawings.

Redraw of Wolf Creature

Jan 2021

This is a redraw of the wolf elemental I did for a sketch challenge in 2015. I liked the initial sketch of the creature and wanted to see if I could recreate it as if it were a real beast. It was a bit of a challenge to recreate the sketch and maintain the whimsy of it. The first pass I took at the redraw was too close to a wolf. Here I think it looks just different enough.

Dancing in the Rain

Jan 2021

Children's book style picture of amphibians dancing in the rain. Personally, I enjoy the rain too.

Bat vs Mouse Sketch.

Dec 2020

Quite often inspiration will strike while watching nature documentaries. Here a Questing Mouse hero is ambushed by a Woolly False Vampire bat. A bat that preys upon mice, frogs, and even other bats.

Quick Mermaid Sketches:

(2017)

Koi Fish Mermaid

Sailfish Mermaid Hunter

Hammer Head Sisters

Spring 2016

Unseelie Faerie.

Face in Progress. This is the closeup of the (at the time) unfinished commission piece for Ryan LeBlanc's Iron John. To see the finished piece go to my commissions page.

Winter 2015

This is Staggle. This challenge was to create a race of Aliens that would exist in the Star Wars Universe. Staggle's race is a lot like a swarm of Bees with a little bit of Wild Boar thrown in for no-good measure. They live on planets with vast desserts and do not live in big communities, because they tend to break out into fights when around too many people.

Staggle is one of those characters that just pops into your head fully formed and ready to go.

Halloween Sketches 2015

These are part of a Halloween challenge to draw something spooky everyday of October. Here we have a Vampire, a Rat (which I experimented with just using line work) a demon and a Zombie. Zombie's creep me out the most, but I'm pleased with his rather cartooney appearance.

Summer 2015

These drawings were also done for a Facebook challenge. The theme was Elemental Beasts. I have a wolf creature that will occasionally appear in my doodles. So I took the basis of the wolf and made it an Elemental. Here we see Lava, and Ice. It is the same wolf, from the same doodle, but colored differently.

This challenge was to draw a Jaeger. A giant battle-bot. I was toying around with some ideas while watching the tv series Sharpe. The show followed a Rifleman during the Napoleonic War. So with influence from that I drew a Riflebot. He had to be the biggest thing in the picture so I drew some Calvary men next to him. This was also my first long drawing with my new tablet.

This was a Tea Party Challenge.
At this tea party we see the Foxy Whiskered Gentleman is re-enacting Aesop's fable about the fox and the crow, or in this case, Raven. Either way, the Lady Raven is losing the last of the cupcakes the Hare's had served. Luckily, Mrs. Hare is bringing out another tray of goodies. Mr. Hare tries to point that out to the Foxy whiskered Gentleman. Grandmother Hedgehog is not impressed by Foxy and judges him as she clutches her tea cup. Miss Mouse is unabashed. She just enjoys being invited to any soiree. Even it is, the weekly "tea and scandal"

April 2015

This character is a Farmer. He lives in an isolated swamp where he quietly raises chickens. But he also has several hatching toads. The toads are a crucial part in hatching Cockatrice, since raising Cockatrice is the Farmers true profession.

Since he is blind he is not affected by the Cockatrice lethal stare, and is capable of training the beasts for others. The big Monster size Cockatrices, like Edgar here, are often sold for the battlefield, since they are capable of turning a small army into stone. But he also sells Fancy Cockatrice, like Humphrey (in his arms), to the ladies of court who could do with a tiny assassin, should there husbands be found in the arms of another woman. The Farmer is very attached to the monsters, naming each one while he himself has forgotten his own name. He thinks of the Cockatrice as family. Should anyone try to take his family, all the Farmer need do is remove Humphrey's falcon-hood and all will be well again.

This was done for Bi-Weekly challenge for a Facebook group I belong to: The Scarlet Mansion. Right now it's mostly people I went to college with, a new character design challenge is posted every two weeks. This one was for a Dungeons and Dragons-like character. I had been meaning to draw this guy for a while, so it seemed like a good time to do so!

Jan 2015

My nephew asked me draw a couple of pictures for a contest he and his friends were having with each other. He recruited me onto there team and offered to give me majority of the prize (10 bucks and a candy cane). Eventually he dropped out of the competition since the kid in charge kept changing the rules. He still offered to pay me, bless him. I told him, because he was my nephew and a minor it was ok. Plus his parents had payed me for a legit commission a couple months ago. These are the pictures I ended up doing, I was allowed to draw whatever. Once I inked the drawing, I sent the uncolored version to my nephew to color since it was supposed to be a team effort. So here is my finished version

Abby Ax Wielder lives on post apocalyptic world where magic and mutants rain supreme in the vast dessert like wildernesses. She runs in a crowd of other magic weapon wielding young women, traveling from one oasis to another. Abby is the main fighter of the group.

This one just sort of developed by itself. I had a vague idea when I started: I wanted to make some sort of fighter. And then a whole bunch of elements just combined to create this dude and his tiger. I was thinking of Tiger Style from kung-fu movies, then I thought of where tigers habitat, then I thought of East Indian clothing style, then thought of Henna tattoos, and then this was the result. I'm still not wholly satisfied with the human, but I rather like how the tiger turned out.

Working on more, hold your horses.

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2014

Sometime ago, I decided to draw some Orc Half-breeds. Well, not exactly 'half' since most of these creatures are already mixed to begin with.

Astrophel, is half Orc and Elf. He is very intelligent, patient and friendly. He can speak and write in many different languages. Even though he is a lot stronger then any other elf, he still gets picked on by elves that are not from his village. He spends most of his time split between his study, inventing little things that make his families life easier, and in the elven forge where he can put his natural strength to good use.

Nox is a Harpy/Orc. He is a male harpy which is a rarity. Like most of the Harpies he is not very smart but relies mostly on his instinct. He recognizes the other half breeds as his siblings right away. He is very territorial and speaks in third person and clicks like a bird when he is annoyed. He is easily confused and is impulsive. When they finally meet, Astrophel takes on the role of protective big brother, and is always keeping an eye out for Nox.

Tempest is Orc/Centaur. He is a fighter and one of his herd/families best warriors. He has a good sense of humor, but he is quick to the fight. Tempest and Astrophel have known each other since they were little when the delegation of Centaur met with the elves and the two groups discovered each others illegitimate offspring. Tempest was already a thriving member of his herd/family, while Astrophel was stuggling to fit in, even with his protective mother and grandfather. Astrophel was periodically sent to spend time with his half brother. Between Tempest and Moonfall (more on him later) the two Centaur were able to give young Astrophel some much needed confidence and friendship.

Seana, like Nox, was treated no differently by her people then if she were pure mermaid. Unlike her sea bound relatives, she can walk on land for as much as she wants, whenever she wants, no matter what the moon or the tide is doing. She is very curious about the world around her, and she is always trying to push the limits, whether it is deep in the ocean or deep in a forest. She has a very playful nature but true to her mermaid ancestry, she will turn on you if she suspects you are up to something.

Tuuli is Orc/Werewolf. Tuuli started off rejected by the pack due to her wolf form's deformities, but was accepted when it became obvious to the Alpha that her abnormally long legs were beneficial when it came to running down prey. Now, Tuuli is a respected pack member. She is confident, a keen hunter and has a short temper. She is always ready to fight, although the pack won't risk her in a battle since she is a key factor to there survival. She is also used as a messenger to allies who do not speak Howl.