iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Working on something a little more complex than usual! 👀 #oc #illustration #fantasy #characterdesign

A crop of a much larger fantasy illustration that will feature the elf lady, a baby dragon, and a warm winter fireplace. The picture here features the character, wearing a dress decorated with teardrop pearls to match her accessories.

Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Clothing practice in the sketchbook. After doing the Oën illustration recently I wanted to draw more baggy clothes. So many folds 👖 #sketchbook #artist #illustration #pencildrawing

A page in my sketchbook with a pencil drawing of baggy trousers, drawn in 2B pencil using the 0.7 mm mechanical pencil resting on the sketchbook to the right.

A close up of another clothing sketch drawn in pencil, focusing on the folds and shapes.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

When I was ill I caught up on my (massive) backlog of TV shows, which included Tale of the Nine Tailed. Lee Yeon ended up infiltrating my sketchbook as a result 🦊 #taleoftheninetailed #kdrama #sketchbook #artist #pencilsketch

A pencil drawing in my sketchbook that I sketched of the fictional character Lee Yeon after watching the K-drama "Tale of the Nine Tailed".

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

So much has happened in 2025 looking back. I started an art blog, pushed myself to join communities and network, and ended up taking part in a bunch of art collabs and projects as a result! Thank you to everyone I've met and connected with along the way 💜✨ #artvsartist #artvsartist2025

A grid of 9 images for the annual "art vs artist" challenge. I've compiled together some of my sketches and illustrations I created in 2025 of characters, fantasy creatures, and animals.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Illustrated a friend's oc since she's going through a rough time. This is Oën, he's a conjurer on a quest looking for his sister. I traditionally inked and painted him with watercolours. #oc #art #illustration #fantasy #watercolor

A traditional ink and watercolour fantasy illustration of Anaïs' original character Oën. He's an elf conjurer, who wears bright jewel-tone loose clothing and uses a moss covered staff.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

End of the year palette tour? 👀

A photo of my main watercolour palette sat on top of a colour mixing chart showing the pigment mixes.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Museum sketching with the crystal exhibit. Of course I picked a hard one for myself and ended up frying my brain halfway through! #sketchbook #amethyst

My sketchbook while I was at the museum gallery. You can see some of the crystals and stones displayed behind the glass in the background. On the page in my sketchbook is a pencil drawing of an amethyst crystal slice.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Wandered around a botanical garden to fuel up on inspiration for a dryad illustration series. Came across this wonder of a tree. #botanicalgarden #creativeinspiration #artist

A photograph of a beautiful tree in the Sheffield Botanical gardens.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Filming for the next video. I think this is gonna be a favourite layout for colour mixing for me now. #watercolor #painting

A close up of my watercolour sketchbook, showing two circles of paint mixes. Each circle contains two pigments in each to produce a secondary colour. The top circle features green mixes, and the bottom circle purple mixes.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

The hand sketching session will be up tomorrow (alas, tech issues did occur today after all 🥲) but here's another peek at the spread! #pencilsketch #handdrawing #sketchbook #artist

One sketchbook page in a spread of hand studies. The sketches were drawn with HB pencil. This page features a smaller hand closed in a loose fist (top-right) and a larger hand gently grasping a sword hilt.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Close up of the tiger on the fallen tree. I really want to explore this way of painting trees more, and I have some dryad-filled plans to potentially do so 👀 #watercolour #traditionalart #illustration #artist

A close up crop of one of my traditional wildlife illustrations, featuring a tiger stood on top of a fallen tree. The illustration was drawn with graphite pencil line work and then painted with watercolours.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

I love the yew trees this time of year ❤️

A photograph of yew tree evergreen foliage peppered with green and red berries.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Finally got around to scanning this boyo 🐅 I still love this method of painting trees and I will be making use of it again for an upcoming project 👀 🦋🦋🦋 Graphite pencil and watercolour on cotton paper 🦋🦋🦋 #wildlife #watercolor #tigers #lineandcolor #traditionalartist

A traditional watercolour illustration in a line and colour style. The line work was drawn with 2B graphite pencil, and shows a tiger standing on a fallen tree trunk nestled in the grass.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

WIP line-art for my upcoming tiefling bard character Klara and her chameleon companion. I've joined a new group, which is exciting! Besides the DM and I, most of the other players are new to D&D. It should be fun guiding them through their first experience ☺️ #dndcharacter #lineart #wip #illustration

A work in progress fantasy illustration of my tiefling bard player character for an upcoming D&D group. She has her companion chameleon on her arm who judges her singing and poetry. The illustration is being drawn and rendered digitally in clip studio.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Can you guess the two watercolour pigments that made this mix? #watercolor #colortheory #colormixing #paints

Two swatches of the same watercolour mix. The bottom swatch is diluted with more water. The mix was made by combining two watercolour paints together to create a chromatic black/grey. Can you guess what they are?

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

My big project for this week is to make a mixing chart for my main palette after making changes to its line-up. Here's a completed section of it so far: #watercolor #paint #pigments

A completed section of a colour mixing chart for watercolour pigments on my main palette. Running diagonally from the top left to bottom right are the pigments on their own. Below them are mixes in high saturation, and above them are the same mixes watered down into tints.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Moved paints around on my now-main palette. A lovely way to start the day 💜✨ I'll do an updated palette tour video, but I'll leave it for the end of the year :D #watercolor #artist #paintpalette

My newly rearranged watercolour palette. It's a Holbein RP-24 palette with slanted wells that can be moved around. I arrange my paints starting with yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, teal, green, yellow earth tones, orange/red earth tones, dark earth tones, then neutrals.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

All-Natural Chew Stick, watercolour and white gouache I'm editing the process of this together for a video at the moment. Aiming to schedule it for next week, so I don't rush it. The heatwaves have been kicking my 🍑 and energy. #animalart #watercolor #gouache #mountainlion

An original traditional watercolour painting of a mountain lion chewing on a large stick or small branch. The dark bark is cracked and peeling, revealing the green interior of the wood. The cat is mid-chew, because I wanted to challenge myself with an awkward mid-motion pose of the jaw. I painted this primarily with transparent watercolours, then finished it with white gouache details for the whiskers and final highlights.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Sketchbook torso warm ups🧍‍♀️Blue ballpoint pen + lilac marker is becoming a favourite 💙💜 #sketch #artstudy #ballpointpen

A page in my sketchbook featuring studies of human anatomy, focusing on the torso and shoulder block. The drawings were sketched with a blue BIC ballpoint pen and lilac Tombow marker. There are three torsos in total. The one at the top has a single arm raised, while the two on the bottom of the page have both arms raised.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Mixing charts mixing charts mixing charts mixing charts mixing chartsixingsmsj

A watercolour paint colour mixing chart for Transparent Orange DDP PO107, mixed with various primary and secondary colours.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

"No, I didn't want that last cake slice anyway..." #sketchbook #pencildrawing #art #sketch #leopard

A pencil sketch of a leopard judging you silently, drawn in my sketchbook with a copic marker background.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Reminder to self to paint this later

Fallen apples in the grass, intermingled with fallen rose petals.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Good guy, bad guy, just a guy? He won't tell you, he will just keep smirking. Watercolour, colour pencil, and white gouache (9 by 12 inches). #watercolorillustration #fantasyart #mixedmedia

A traditional mixed media fantasy illustration made with watercolour, gouache, and colour pencil. The subject is a male elf character holding a golden hourglass with white sand turning into black sand.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

We have so many blackberries growing in this year! Some jam may be in order 👀

A photograph of wild blackberries just starting to turn from green to red to their deep ripe colour.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Sneak peek of the colour mixing chart with Transparent Orange PO107 #watercolor #paint

A close up preview of a colour mixing and pigment properties chart with the watercolour Transparent Orange PO107. I gradually mixed it with other pigments to create a range of hues to test its mixing range.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Exploring colour mixes with the pigment PO107. I'm in love with the range of bright and muted tones it produces 🧡 #watercolor #colormixing #painting #palette

A close up photograph of a watercolour mixing palette, with a pan of dried professional watercolour paint in the central mixing well. The paint is Transparent Orange by Winsor and Newton (PO107).

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

I have a scanner (FINALLY) so enjoy a proper look at my fisherdess ink and watercolour illustration from a couple months ago. #illustration #fantasy #mermaid #inkandwatercolor #lineandcolor

An original traditional ink and watercolour illustration in a line and colour style. The illustration features a mermaid shepherding a group of large fish inspired by coelacanths.

Close ups of the fish, showing the watercolour layers and textures.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Giving in to the desire to add more wear and tear to the armour and shield #sketch #illustration #art #swordandshield #fantasy

An in progress ink drawing of a battle-hardened warrior character guy person dude in my sketchbook

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Joining in with #portfolioday 💜✨ I illustrate fantasy and nature, mainly in ink and watercolour. I also love to paint animals, including pets.

An ink and watercolour illustration called "An Early Riser", featuring a mystical deer carrying a floating mini moon through the forest.

A traditional watercolour pret portrait of my dog Bella. She's a rescued mix, with a little yellow labrador in there somewhere.

A traditional media fantasy illustration of my OC Lady Isabella, a half-elf with costuming inspired by late-medieval/early-renaissance clothing styles.

A watercolour and ink illustration of a mermaid creature inspired by nudibranchs (sea slugs). The mermaid is primarily blue with yellow/orange accents.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

An hour long process video of my "Tiger on a Pale Rock" watercolour painting for July's reward 💜✨ #watercolor #artist #artprocess www.patreon.com/posts/tiger-...

A side by side comparison of two stages during a watercolour painting process. Shown is a close up of the tiger, focusing on it's portrait.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Deep in the "trust the process" mines

A close up of an in-progress traditional mixed media fantasy illustration. The picture features an hourglass that the character is holding, made of warm toned metal, and sand that turns from white to black.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

The sketch that's inspired the illustration I'm currently working on ⏳✨ #sketch #character #pencildrawing #sketchbook

A pencil drawing in my sketchbook of an elf character holding an elaborate hourglass.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Tiger on a pale rock, watercolour and white gouache (7 by 10 inches). #tiger #bigcat #wildlife #watercolor #painting

An original traditional watercolour painting of a tiger laying on a pale white rock, casting shadows onto it.

Close up details and textures of the watercolour painting. The picture shows the portrait of the tiger, to highlight the layering of the watercolour.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

A bit of a beginning/middle/end vibe to show the process of the recent tiger painting 🐯 #watercolorpainting #tigerart #wildlifeart #artist

A finished original watercolour painting of a tiger. The close up shows the portrait of the tiger, who is facing forwards looking at the viewer.

The middle stage of the watercolour painting. At this point the fur textures are still being established, and the large shadow shapes are just beginning to form.

The earliest watercolour layers, primarily with yellow ochre, transparent pyrrol orange, and nickel azo yellow.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Using the tale of Loki and Idunn to test an all-traditional media process of making comics. This one page experiment helped me figure out so much! #comics #inkandwatercolor #watercolor #norsemythology

The first panel of a comic page. The panel reads "Well that wasn't so hard" and shows a view of falcon-form Loki from below.

The second panel of the comic. The panel reads "soon I'll return Idunn to Asgard..." and features a close up of Loki carrying Idunn (transformed into a nut) in his talons.

Panel three and four of the one page comic. The third panel reads "...and everything can go back to the way things wer- SCREEEECH" and then "Ah" on the fourth panel.

The third panel features a close up of Loki as a peregrine falcon, and the fourth panel shows him turning to see that he is now being chased.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

It's a pigment alchemy kind of day today. So far 4 parts new PO71 to 1 part PR254 is winning! #watercolor #pigments

A test trying to mix a colour that matches my favourite discontinued paint. The bottom half shows a swatch of the discontinued PO71 by Daniel Smith. The top half shows a swatch of a mixture of PR254 and a new PO71. The not-discontinued PO71s are a lot more orange.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

A little before and after of the falcon-form Loki comic page 🪶✨ #comics #artprocess #ink #inkandwatercolor #traditionalartist

A close up of a comic page, showing crops of two comic panels. The panels feature the Norse deity Loki in falcon form, rescuing Idunn who he transformed into a nut to be able to carry her away.

The final panel during the inking process. In the photo I am inking the falcon using a brush pen, on smooth watercolour paper.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

The latest addition to my palette! I adopted a used tube of QoR's Ultramarine Violet from Cyane (CyaneInk Art on YouTube). #watercolor #painting #palette

A freshly poured slanted well of Ultramarine Violet watercolour, at the end of the row in my Holbein RP-24 palette. The colour is a soft violet that granulates.

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Daena @daenafae.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Plein air sketch "The End of the Hedge", because while I sat drawing this the hedge was being cut down. Art creation sketchbook, 2B 0.7mm mechanical pencil. #sketchbook #illustration #pleinair #drawing

A sketchbook page with a plein air pencil drawing of a hedge stump and ivy growing up it.

Close up of the ivy leaves growing up the hedge stump, sketched in mechanical pencil.

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