Art Trade With Auriel!

Recently, Auriel Martin and I came up with the idea to do an art trade. As avid readers of each others WIP stories, we picture the characters in our heads and see them uniquely. It was an interesting challenge to draw a character from the other girl‘s book in our own style while also keeping it accurate.

Here is the process of my drawing of Elva from one of Auriel’s books. Elva is a brave, beautiful character I have quickly grown attached to throughout her story. I hope one day everyone will be able to pick up a copy of her tale and love her as well!

Before I began drawing, I needed a reference. For the specific pose I had in mind, I needed a photo of a real person to understand where the folds of the clothing and bends of the limbs would be placed. So I took a photo of myself holding a few props in place in Elva’s ice skates. For privacy reasons I won’t share the reference here, but I will tell you I felt very funny trying on a dramatic warrior pose while staring at a wall.

Next step is the skeleton of the drawing. I started out by forming basic shapes with loose, connecting lines to keep everything together.

With a pencil I went over the skeleton and added the lines of Elva’s face, limbs, and clothes. You can also see the beginning of her ice skates which she will be using for weapons! Her hair was a big, blocky shape with a few wavy lines for hair direction, and her loose shirt was made of quick upward strokes for the cloth’s folds.

Focusing more on her facial features, I sketched out her eyes, lips, nose, etc. Sketchy lines on the rest of her body became more defined when I took breaks from her face to fix things elsewhere. Soon everything was pinned down and it was time to go over with ink!

Elva was in a fairly bright, snowy environment, so I didn’t stress too much about shadows. I colored her hair with black ink, leaving large white spaces open for highlights. Dark hair is very shiny. After erasing the pencil lines and signing my name, she was finished.

Thank you so much Auriel for letting me read your story and draw your character! Elva is very special and I love how you created her. I hope all y’all enjoyed this post!

Keep writing, drawing, and creating everyone 💕

-Selena Stellington