ElfQuest Fan Art

This is a well thought out idea and it looks like you really spent some time figuring out how to lay out the panels to get the visuals of the story to flow.  That part of this piece is quite excellent.  Bravo!  My only criticism on that part is the shading is pretty murky, even for grim Blue Mountain.  Some of the panels get a bit lost, and the idea is so good that I want to see it all better!

Unlike Maggie, I am not bothered by the amount of text or what it says, like other commentators I think this is an interesting interpretation of the history of these two characters.  But it is true that the text doesn't flow as well as the visuals.  I am finding, as I create my own comic pages, that getting speech bubbles to work and flow is much more difficult than expected.  They really need to be on a separate layer so they can be moved around until they work.  I also think that you have a theme of round shapes in the art that the sharp edged speech bubbles create major discord with that.

But I really like this piece and it was another "runner up" for me.

This was one of my favorites of this year's entries, for the reasons Maggie said, but also that there is a marvelous atmospheric quality to how this was colored.  Not the usual hard light we see in the troll caverns, but that rosy glow - perhaps of troll love?    Anyway, there is a certain magic here.

When I saw this entry was from you, I had a WOW moment.  This is such a huge leap forward for you from your entries last year.  Your drawing was good last year, but here you've also added more subtle color, textural depth, and emotion.  I hope you stick around, young lady, because I really want to see how you mature as an artist!

All the rich textures and lighting, lovely details, and strong character drawing I expect from you two!  Fun idea too.  Wonderful!

Yeah, I agree with Maggie - I get annoyed even when Wendy does the copy and paste thing.  However, it does work when you need to further the story and are in a time crunch.  This is a very strong entry, but could have been even stronger with maybe two long and skinny horizontal panels at the top showing Tyleet and Cutter hunting their prey through the forest and sending about tactics, which would give the big final panel a real "TA DA!" with the reveal that it is Nightfall they are hunting.  Still, a very beautiful piece you two created.

I agree, this is a wonderful idea and I laughed at the expressions.  The body language is excellent as well (both for Ember and Skywise).  I hope to se more from you!  This was another runner-up for me just because the story is so strong.

Gotta love a good gag!

I love this idea so very much, as I have a pup who is forever in play mode even when I am trying to work.

My only criticism is that the setting in place/time/characters isn't really established and that makes it a bit confusing.  I understand this was done very quickly?  With a little more time, I'm sure you three could have sorted that out, because otherwise this is very good.

This was a runner-up for me, and a hard decision it was to exclude this from the calendar.  I love your humor, Yavia.  Your whole Haken and Timmain series from the last calendar project were just so fun and silly, they are little gems.

I don't know if it was that you felt you needed more panels, but I think this would be an even stronger piece if you bumped up the silliness a notch or two.  It really is a goofy situation and could benefit from the full force of your sense of the absurd, which you have amply demonstrated in the past.  But in any case, I really like this entry and hope to see more from you.

It is Winnowill and her expression that makes this entry work.  Winnowill's "stink eye" gives it a whole other (ominous) layer that wasn't seen in Wendy's depiction of this scene (though, of course, it came up later).

One of the things that stands out to me is how the movement lines of Voll and Winnowill are in conflict and going two different directions, like they are pulling apart.  I don't know if this was intended or a happy accident, but it really adds to the piece.

Ha ha!  Maggie, you do the bestest silly drawings!  And a big thank you back for keeping this site alive!

Aww, thanks for making me look so young, Afke!  LOL  I always love how real your elves are, and this is no exception - I did look rather a lot like this a couple decades ago!  Now I am the "old salt" of EQFA and you'd have to put in more "crinkles around the eyes (as Shuna said of Savah) along with frizzier/messier hair. 

Treefox: yeah, I am not much of a costume designer, but in that doll I tried for a sort of sailor look, along with the sailing gloves and board shorts and/or sarong I often wear at the dock or aboard in nice weather.  The "foulies" worn in bad weather are about as un-elfin as you can get and not much of an inspiration!

Oooh!  The pretties!  Wow, I feel so humbled by the love here.  Big hugs to everyone.  I can't wait to see each one of these up close so I can read everything you all wrote and enjoy the pictures in detail. 

But what I can see is great!  What fun seeing all the art styles in one image like this - you guys know I have a big love for everyone finding their own style and encouraged that in the calendar.  Here, I can mostly tell who contributed which art even without reading the labels, having watched many of you grow and bloom at EQFA.  Lately, real life has just got too crazy for me to be as active in the fandom as I used to be, and to tell the truth I have got a little discouraged with the whole scene, but you guys here at EQFA remind me of why I love the EQ fandom and this place in particular.  You guys are family! 

I never really joined the holt scene, so "Windrider" is just myself as an elf.  So interesting to see Treefox and Afke run with that.  And Treefox even included my boat!  Yay!  I think these are a younger Windrider - currently I feel a bit like the Savah or Suntoucher of the fandom.  LOL

Anyway... thanks so much everyone, it is a beautiful gift.  It has been a pleasure managing the calendar and watching the steady artistic growth from year to year.  I'll still be helping Maggie out, so I won't be totally gone.  Please feel free to drop me an email if you want to chat about art.

I am so glad you all like this!  I get discouraged when I read people post things on the Scroll about how "yucky" it is when the "old" elves are shown as sexual beings (in particular, I remember a few fans objecting to Ekuar joining in the big before-battle romp.  Yes, kids, your parents DO have sex!  ).  But it did seem out of character to have Savah in a full-out pinup girl pose.

Savah, even more so than the Gliders, has a very Art Nouveau design and I wanted to highlight the debt her character design owes to Erte.  The central pinup pose is loosely based on Erte's "Dream Girl" sculpture.  I can so see her doing a veil dance just a well as the younger Sun Villagers like Leetah and Shenshen, just a more stately version.

This composition originally had way more green frills and ruffles, but it was getting out of hand and cluttered.  So I simplified everything and when for the classic color scheme of using secondary colors (green, purple, orange).  This is not as unified as my other pinups - mostly because I was kind of winging it instead of planning ahead as I usually do - but I think I pulled it off.  For those interested, the "going out" pose was created using the watercolor version of Batik.  It was drawn with a latex frisket, the background painted, then the frisket rubbed off leaving white lines  That is why it is fairly rough - painting lines with latex is a pain!

Don't make me snort my drink out of my nose.  You are embarrassed by a pantless Dart after that Teir pinup?  With the bits nearly showing?

It can be excused that someone would think that Dart had no pants in the comic.  He is wearing those skin-tight, almost painted-on pants that the elves often favor (does Moonshade use a leather-spandex blend?).  

Wow, I must have been really distracted trying to get the whole calendar put together, because even though I was really pleased with Foxeye's atmospheric coloring of my pencils, I am just now noticing that Dart has no pants in the action shot!  :snerk:

Not my original intention, but hey... this is pinup art after all and Foxy is welcome to do any interpretation to make it sexier!

Yavia, yep, I was talking to Eregyrn about what a strange thing the human brain is.  As a very visual person, I often feel that my brain sees things like poses, color combos, etc., files them away and then later spits them out again unexpectedly with me wondering where it came from.

I drew that pose mostly as is, free-hand and without reference.  But it kept bugging me that I'd seen it before.  I looked all through EQ trying to find it because I didn't want to "steal" it.  Obviously couldn't find it.  But yes, is was "stolen" (I prefer "homage"    ) from the great Michael Whelan.  There are some differences, but the main idea of the pose is the same.

My brain obviously had that pose filed under "tall, elegant being in zero gravity/flying situation."  

What little shorts, Maggie?   A powerful glider decides to go hunting mostly naked on a hot Indian Summer day and thinks to himself that he should probably protect the tender bits even if his airborne self doesn't even need boots - and grabs a tiny scrap of leather and belts it on.  

Originally he was going to be wearing only the belt, but even that size knot wasn't big enough to hide the "naughty bits."  From what we see of him dressing in the Kahvi series, he definitely goes commando under those trousers - so no loincloth here!

Glad you stopped by to comment, Raksha!  Yes, whenever drawing a character, I try to cover many aspects of their personality (as in my Skywise too).  Here, I was going for a little bit of Aurek being amused that such young, mortal humans might be lusting after his ancient bod.  

I agree that this is one of your best portraits ever - which is why I made you enlarge it in the composition so people could enjoy it even more.  ;-)

The amount of comments is not at all tied to the quality of the art.  Sometimes people are just chatting in the comments section, other times they don't know what to say and don't just want to put "ooh and aah."   LOL

Like you guys, I've found my best art doesn't get too many comments.  I think one of my EQ bests was the "Star's Welcome" cover, but it only has 4 comments.

Oh, heck, this really is "old school."     Brings back so many memories of cutting that dang Zip-a-Tone over an inked image.  We are really dating ourselves that we know how to shade with that stuff.  Do they even make it anymore?  Did you really use it to create this or is it just made to look that way?  Publishing sure has come a long way in a short time, eh?

Wonderful image, though.  There is something to be said in favor of simplicity in the tones to bring a lot of impact to the image.

I dunno, Nilla.  Look at Chitter in Discovery.  Did you ever see such a cub who had to climb all over any object or person within reach?  I think the "monkey" vibe is totally intentional!  Both here and in the original.