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daenafae.bsky.social
Daena
@daenafae.bsky.social
100 followers 62 following 290 posts
Illustrating fantasy and nature with whatever materials I can get my hands on. Usually watercolour, but a little digital every now and then. 🧚🏻‍♀️✨

Website: www.daenafae.com
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Reposted by Daena
littlestpersimmon.bsky.social
A Drop In The Ocean
two figures embrace as the soul of a bird, flying over a field of blue flowers above a pond. blue pencil sketch
December 31, 2025 at 2:46 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
December 31, 2025 at 5:43 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
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".
December 29, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Daena
vanessagillings.bsky.social
❄️🦋

#kidlitart #illustration #watercolor #gouache
calm gouache painting of a girl in a white dress standing in a fantastical frozen pond holding a butterfly net while her other hand reaches out for a butterfly
December 28, 2025 at 9:17 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
December 26, 2025 at 2:06 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
December 23, 2025 at 4:19 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
December 13, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Daena
emilyhare.com
'The Brood' - another dragon piece from this year. Also available in my shop with a layaway payment (if desired) over 3 months. Any big pieces like this I would wait to send in January anyway so as not to get lost in the melee of Xmas shipping!
www.emilyhare.co.uk
#dragon #art #originalart
a blue dragon prepares to land on its nest which has two eager dragonlings waiting for it. In the background are pink misty mountains.
December 4, 2025 at 12:02 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
Currently working on a secret illustration that I can't share yet... but I'm filming it for when I can!
December 4, 2025 at 6:08 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
Back to the dark months

#sketching #cuppa
My desk with my open sketchbook and a cup of tea. On the sketchbook is a blue ballpoint pen, which I used to draw the sketches of a hand and portrait on the open page.
December 4, 2025 at 6:05 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
A recent commission from a lovely friend ✨🐦‍⬛✨

#fantasyart #fantasyillustration #dnd #dungeonsanddragons
An original digital illustration that I painted by hand because humans have those to do things with. The fantasy illustration features a cute magical bird wearing a witch hat adorned with a star and moon, and is perched on roleplaying dice.
November 26, 2025 at 2:35 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
Do you like sketching at museums/art galleries? Here's an art journal entry of my sketching trip at the Ruskin Collection a few weeks ago.

www.daenafae.com/blog/sketchi...

#artjournal #artist #sketching
Connecting with artists through time by sketching at museums — Daenafae
Sketching supplies in hand, I revisited an art exhibit I visited earlier in the year. The Ruskin Collection rotates out occasionally, and this time the exhibit was themed around colour. Watercolour pi...
www.daenafae.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Daena
bifanoland.bsky.social
A little peel for your evening ❤️
November 12, 2025 at 3:48 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
Breaking out my painting sketchbook for this one!

youtu.be/Z81hFtpnidk?...

#watercolor #landscape #painting
Tackling the limited palette & ugly stage blues #onlyTHREEpigments
YouTube video by Daenafae
youtu.be
November 11, 2025 at 7:09 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
New blog post about a visit to Sheffield Botanical Gardens to help prep for a dryad illustration series 🌱

www.daenafae.com/blog/absorbi...

#artist #creative #dryad
Absorbing Autumnal Inspiration — Daenafae
Being an artist involves so much more than time spent glued to the drawing board. Recently I went on a walk through Sheffield Botanical Gardens to help inspire my upcoming dryad illustration series.
www.daenafae.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:30 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
Mixing paint and deciding if I can live in a world without granulation. Could you?

youtu.be/ooMDY9ssgdc?...

#watercolor #pigments #paint #limitedpalette
Only 3 watercolour pigments forever?! A desert-island art challenge #onlyTHREEpigments
YouTube video by Daenafae
youtu.be
October 22, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Daena
bobeggleton.bsky.social
“All in a Night’s Work”. Oils on canvas. 15 x 30. A sketch I did years ago finally sees completed work.
October 22, 2025 at 4:38 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
The art community tag video will be live tonight! I have a little challenge for us all, and you get to see me struggle with it myself first 🥲
October 22, 2025 at 10:12 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
October 22, 2025 at 10:10 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
October 21, 2025 at 8:41 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
October 20, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Daena
himmapaan.bsky.social
🧐🔍✏️
Rough thumbnail sketch next to a work in progress: a light pencil sketch of a hen facing a small bird on a low, leafless shrub. Both pieces are very small; the linework of the work in progress is very fine and delicate.
October 8, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Daena
vanessagillings.bsky.social
My twelfth piece for my solo show at @gallerynucleus.bsky.social!

#kidlitart #illustration #watercolor #watercolour #gouache #originalpainting #fantasyart #fantasyillustration
watercolor and gouache painting of a girl in a feather cloak floating midair above a standing stone as a crow and a storm come to greet her
October 8, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Daena
melissasuestanley.bsky.social
"Rest a Spell"
🌙 🌿 ✨

Taking the night off to wind down ~ sitting with my knitting and chamomile tea and dorky monster movies on the tv.
There's so much to do, but don't forget to take wee breaks when you can.

💖
(also one of the mini prints available only through my kickstarter - link in bio!)
graphite drawing with a white border and small grey text underneath. The drawing is of a sleepy looking small chicken-legged Baba Yaga hut with an eyeball near the peak of its roof. It's standing in some grasses and looks a little bedraggled. The text underneath says "Melissa Sue Stanley" (me) and "Rest a Spell"
October 9, 2025 at 1:50 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
The hand sketching session is up! Using the pencil that people picked in the comments on the previous video ✏️

#sketchwithme #pencildrawing

youtu.be/_egoGp916v0?...
sketching hands
YouTube video by Daenafae
youtu.be
October 8, 2025 at 6:04 PM