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daenafae.bsky.social
Daena
@daenafae.bsky.social
98 followers 62 following 280 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
Posts Replies Media Videos
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
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
October 7, 2025 at 4:24 PM
daenafae.bsky.social
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.
October 6, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Daena
drxkth.bsky.social
A drawing of a warrior with a bronze helmet and sword
October 5, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Daena
yayoiart.bsky.social
day 5. Deer
#inktober
October 6, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Daena
zazb.bsky.social
The Sunset Vanguard
A guild made of veterans from the different armies of the City States who preferred to go adventuring than return to civilian life. Very prone to infighting.
#radiantviridia #thethiefoftales
Isometric ink drawing of four older adventurers equipped in different armors and uniforms.
October 6, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Daena
albabbgg.bsky.social
#葬送のフリーレン 🌷
October 6, 2025 at 11:44 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
It's a good day to draw 🙂‍↕️

#sketchbook #drawing #pencil
An open sketchbook with two Mitsubishi 9850 HB pencils and an open container with a kneaded eraser inside.
October 5, 2025 at 10:03 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
Studying hands 🖐️

#drawing #sketchbook #pencilsketch
A pencil drawing in my sketchbook of a hand holding a pen.
October 4, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Daena
trangmn.bsky.social
voyage 🐟 #art
drawing of a cat sailing on a small leafy boat down a stream, admiring the view of various florals and greenery in the forest
October 4, 2025 at 10:12 AM
daenafae.bsky.social
I love the yew trees this time of year ❤️
A photograph of yew tree evergreen foliage peppered with green and red berries.
October 4, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Reposted by Daena
vanessagillings.bsky.social
Making Friends 📚🕊️

My third piece for my solo show @gallerynucleus.bsky.social ! Both the painting and sketch for this one are still available!

#kidlitart #illustration #watercolor #gouache #bookillustration
watercolor and gouache painting of a young wizard turning the pages of a book into a flock of birds while his trusty fox familiar looks apprehensively on
September 29, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Daena
iceghost.bsky.social
Dont tempt me with a good time
September 29, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Reposted by Daena
uppermindink.bsky.social
🔥𝓓𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓸𝓷 𝓚𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽🔥

There is a keep, deep in the mountains, rumored to be protected by fierce warriors that wear dragon wings like armor. Some say they’re dragons in human form, but no one has ever gotten close enough to find out if the rumors hold true.
A knight with a pointy metal hat/face guard, draped in red dragon wings, holding an axe with fire at its top, and a small drake on its paldron. Stands on multicolored rocks, as flames ignite at his feet. Deep shadows contrast the vibrant reds in this dark fantasy inspired character design.
September 29, 2025 at 11:49 PM