Ava Dalo
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avdaldesigns.bsky.social
Ava Dalo
@avdaldesigns.bsky.social
Professional fantasy illustrator. Book covers, boardgame art, tarot, commissions.
Find my full portfolio at avdalart.com.
https://ko-fi.com/avdal
An older piece from 2022. The characters and vines are illustrated, the background made in #photoshop :)

#illustration #artsky #fantasy
July 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Two pieces of #boardgameart I made earlier this year :) I was trying a different approach and style than my usual. Ink and marker on bristol paper, then finished digitally.

#illustration #art #characterdesign
July 22, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Sometimes the final lighting and special effects make all the difference.Cover art for a novella and an oracle deck.
Drawn ink and marker on bristol, painted in #krita, finished in #photoshop

#illustration #booksky
July 20, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Dryads from my Oracle Deck. Ink and marker on bristol paper with just a little bit of digital coloring done in #krita

#tarot #artsky #illustration
July 17, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Little bit of #thefolkofair #fanart I made last year. Its not my usual style at all, but I just wanted to try something different. Originally drawn ink on bristol, finished digitally in #krita

#booksky #hollyblack
July 13, 2025 at 8:07 PM
A quick #fantasyromance sketch. Ink and marker on bristol, finished digitally in #krita

#artsky #illustration
July 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Congrats on the 7.5k!

For me, I'm Ava, a fantasy (mostly) illustrator who uses a traditional to digital hybrid approach. I've illustrate more than 100 book covers as well as two #tarot decks and I'm hoping to branch out into #boardgame projects soon :)

#illustration #booksky #artsky #fantasy
July 4, 2025 at 7:07 PM
An older piece from 3 years ago, right when I had transitioned from fully digital to a traditional-digital hybrid approach. It's not as clean and crisp as my newer works but I have a soft spot for this particular OC (her's name's Blue, btw, and she's from the #firefly RPG :)

#illustration #artsky
July 4, 2025 at 5:59 PM
HUMAN ARTISTS!

Use one piece to convince people to follow you!
July 2, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Just finished a dragon shifter #illustration for premade book cover (available on my website, link in bio). This piece was so much fun, I need to draw stuff like this more often! Ink and marker on bristol, finished digitally in #krita

#booksky #premadecover #fantasyart #art
July 1, 2025 at 4:35 PM
WIP for a #monsterromance premade book cover I'm hoping to have up in a few days. I'm very happy with it so far, especially the lighting (good references are essential!). I sketched this one out on paper in much more detail than usual and I think it def helped.

#bookcovers #booksky #illustration
June 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Like my sexy gollum? I like my sexy gollum. Or maybe he's a gargoyle who lost his wings and that's why he's sad, lol.
Anyhoooo, I was sort of inspired by the cover of Quicksilver by Callie Hart and wanted to draw a male character for a change.

Hand drawn ink on marker paper

#illustration #booksky
June 9, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I thought I'd share some of my very rough pencil (and pen) sketches before I turn them into digital art.
All of these are for #monsterromance #bookcovers that I'm making so, if anyone's interested, please feel free to DM me :)

#illustration #booksky
June 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
A #mermaid for #mermay. I’m undecided whether I like the bluer or redder version. Both have some good qualities. Hmmm…

Drawn ink and marker on bristol board, finished digitally in #krita
#illustration #fantasy

avdalart.com
May 29, 2025 at 7:25 AM
WIP for my late entry to #mermay
I suddenly realized I have no idea how to draw water that's underwater. Um... off to the youtube tutorials!

#mermaid #illustration
May 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
The Sun and Moon for my upcoming tarot card deck I'm working on. I'm trying for an #artnouveau style
May 26, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Talk about dating myself! Most people have probably never even heard of this one and Starflight II was better (and also part of the inspiration for Mass Effect!) If you can look past the graphics it's a really fun open world (er, galaxy) trade and exploration game that's never quite been surpassed
May 25, 2025 at 3:53 PM
#thelostexpedition is one of our favorite shorter games. We play it all the time, so much so that we started coming up with ideas for our own cards. Here's a little bit of my fanart I thought I'd share :)

#boardgames #boardgamesky
May 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
If you see this, post a sword ⚔️
Swords in 1 and 2 are technically 3d renders but I sculpted and painted them in blender myself so i say it still counts!
May 6, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Mostly finished WIP, ignore the background it's just a placeholder. I'm going to draw a whole art nouveau style geometric background separately. To be the Queen of Cups for my #tarot deck.
Can someone help me decide what colour to make her dress? The sky blue, gold, or green?

#art #illustration
April 20, 2025 at 11:08 AM
I typically draw the sketch and sometimes shading traditionally, usually ink and marker on bristol, then scan it in and finish digitally in #krita which is a free drawing program that I HIGHLY recommend.
One of my #artnouveau tarot cards, this one's for The Sun

#arttrain #illustration
April 20, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Hi everyone! I'm Ava, a professional artist and illustrator. I focus mostly on character and fantasy art but also #tarot art and #boardgame art as well. My full portfolio's in the link in my bio but here's a few of my favorite recent pieces :)

#art #artshare #illustration
April 20, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Just having some fun with it today!

#artnouveau #art #illustration #fantasyart
April 18, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Finally got the article up!
"I read 18 novellas over a single weekend to understand what makes a good short story good and a bad short story bad..."

Part 1 of a ongoing writing series. Find it at: avdalart.com/i-read-18-no...

#books #authors #booksky #writing
April 17, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Not often and not too well, but I'm working on getting better 😅

#art #illustration #fanart
April 14, 2025 at 8:03 PM