November 2023

Hi there! I just wanted to reach out on how much of a creative inspiration you are to me. After finishing the Mighty Nein campaign, I stumbled upon your art and was immediately captivated by how beautifully you depicted Essek, Caleb, and the rest of the members. I haven't caught up on Jujutsu Kaisen, but I find your art for it incredibly stunning as well. I always find myself eagerly awaiting your next post. Thank you for sharing your breathtaking art with us and continuing to inspire me every day while I draw!

thank you! 🥺💜 i’m so happy to hear that my art has been able to inspire you in your own creativity!

digital fanart of Beauregard Lionett from Critical Role, standing in a dynamic pose, caught in the middle of swinging her bo staff. she is a brown-skinned woman with dark hair in a braided mohawk, wearing a dark blue sleeveless top that exposes her midriff, dark blue pants, a red sash around her hips, long fingerless gloves with wiry geometric bracers over them, and a light gray cloak that's whipping around her in the wind. she is lit by the light of the little red moon Ruidus; behind her there is a dark teal colored sky and clouds of a dust storm.ALT
digital fanart of Caleb Widogast from Critical Role, depicting him in the middle of casting a spell with a wide gesture of his hands; it looks like fiery red strings of a cat's cradle. he is a light-skinned man with dark auburn and gray wavy hair, and is wearing a dark leather duster, open in the front and revealing a book under his right arm and a number of various pouches; there is a purple scarf with a geometric pattern around his neck. he is lit by the red glow from his spell, and has the same dark teal sky and dust storm behind him.ALT

listen, i enjoy campaign 3 but i know who my favorite daddies are :)

(click on the pictures to enlarge them for more details! 💜 they’re supposed to be viewed side by side but they look really small on mobile)

i’d wanted to draw Beau and Caleb portraits ever since i’d watched the c3 episode they appeared in (which i did like two days after it aired) and i’d been hoping to finish them before the mighty nein one shot but hadn’t been able to in time. however, i have now! i’m only halfway through the live show but i do know that these designs do not contradict the official stuff too much, so i thought i could post them. i was very happy to see the empire siblings appear in c3 when they did, and it was a lot of fun trying to convey the solstice spookiness that i liked so much about those two eps 👀🔴

tip jar!

zmeess:

digital fanart of Caleb Widogast and Essek Thelyss from critical role, cropped to only show their hands. Caleb's hand is drawn palm up, with nine imperfect white pearls lying in the center of it; Essek's left hand is cupping Caleb's from below, and his right is curled at the edge of Caleb's palm, as if he's just poured the pearls into his hand. 
the painting employs a limited palette of shades of teal, purple, and orange.ALT

for how much Caleb has changed Essek, i can never stop thinking about how much Essek has changed Caleb. Caleb looked at Essek and thought, this is a man whose knowledge i might be able to use to change my past. but when Caleb convinces him to share that knowledge, the first thing Essek teaches him is how to control his future

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obligatory reblog for Caleb ‘spell mastery of fortune’s favor’ Widogast. this man really took 'i will carry a picture of my husband in my wallet at all times’ to a new level

hi I’m obsessed with your art, do you sell prints by any chance? Would love to put some on my wall lol

hi, thank you! 💜 currently i don’t sell prints due to how complicated the whole deal is logistically, but i might start again in the future!

listen, this silliness was bound to happen after the echoes of the solstice show. you can find the full thing on my bluesky and cohost (minor spoilers mentioned), and i’m still tippable here 😌

goddammit tumblr immediately hid my latest post and then denied my appeal right after. god forbid a bitch posts some naked nipples

zmeess:

listen, this silliness was bound to happen after the echoes of the solstice show. you can find the full thing on my bluesky and cohost (minor spoilers mentioned), and i’m still tippable here 😌

zmeess:

if you’d like to be put on my waitlist, you can fill out this google form!

please keep in mind that depending on my current commitments it might take me a while to start working on larger projects. this form will be closed after i’ve received a certain number of requests!

please make sure you’ve read my commission info page very carefully before you contact me! if you have a question that has not been answered on it, you can DM me here (tumblr has finally returned DMs to me!).

thank you guys for your interest in my art 💜

hey-o!

opening a couple of emergency slots! ✨ gotta pay for [frank reynolds voice] goddamn medicine men (read: upcoming medical expenses).

if you’re one of the folks that have been waiting for my commissions to open again and are ready to pay right away, please fill out this google form (it’s the same one as in the op). and here’s my commission info page. i will close the form after i receive a couple of requests, and will contact the respondents asap!

zmeess:

zmeess:

if you’d like to be put on my waitlist, you can fill out this google form!

please keep in mind that depending on my current commitments it might take me a while to start working on larger projects. this form will be closed after i’ve received a certain number of requests!

please make sure you’ve read my commission info page very carefully before you contact me! if you have a question that has not been answered on it, you can DM me here (tumblr has finally returned DMs to me!).

thank you guys for your interest in my art 💜

hey-o!

opening a couple of emergency slots! ✨ gotta pay for [frank reynolds voice] goddamn medicine men (read: upcoming medical expenses).

if you’re one of the folks that have been waiting for my commissions to open again and are ready to pay right away, please fill out this google form (it’s the same one as in the op). and here’s my commission info page. i will close the form after i receive a couple of requests, and will contact the respondents asap!

form closed, thank you guys so much!! will be emailing everyone asap 💜

digital art of a drow, lounging on a chair with his quasit familiar on his shoulders. he has grey-purple skin, long white hair done up in a high ponytail with curtain bangs framing his face, a white goatee and bright red eyes. he is dressed in black pants, lace-up boots, and a sleeveless coat; it is much longer in the back than it is in the front, with its magenta red diamond-patterned lining visible. underneath the coat he is wearing a light shirt with puffy sleeves. the quasit is a cat-sized reptile-like imp with a muscular body, long ears, horns and claws, and large red eyes. both of them are lit from the side with cool blue light.ALT

commission for @nian101, their drow/dhampir bard Quel'tos Olios! designing an outfit for this fine fella was super fun, and i loved drawing his little quasit friend 💜 thank you for commissioning me!

a waist-up digital sketch of Essek Thelyss from critical role, done in shades of purple. he is a drow with short wavy hair, wearing a high-neck shirt with elaborately decorated shoulders. he is looking at something out of frame with a pleasant smile, as if in the middle of talking, with his right hand delicately resting on his chest.ALT

quick little Essek sketch! when i drew my very first Essek ever (this baby!) people seemed to really like his hand gesture, which was super nice to hear ✨ i had chosen that pose for him on a whim because it just seemed like such an Essek thing, so when i started working on my Essek expression studies sheet a few months later and rewatching some Essek scenes, it was especially funny to see him actually make a very similar gesture in ep 91 🤭 it’s more sweet and cute in that episode than it is in that first drawing of mine, but the hand-to-chest thing has my whole heart. so i drew it again! it doesn’t fit into that sheet so i’m uploading it separately. let’s say that it’s to celebrate over a year of drawing that purple wizard pfpf

tip jar!

a digital waist-up sketch of Bren from Critical Role, done in shades of orange. he has short hair swept to one side, a short beard and freckles; he is dressed in a simple shirt with an open collar and rolled up sleeves, and has leather underarm holsters on. he is sitting and leaning back with his outstretched left arm propped on a raised knee, loosely holding a piece of amber with a cord wrapped around it and dangling from his hand. he is looking somewhere off-screen with a tired expression. on his exposed forearm, there are regularly spaced horizontal scars with dark geometric maze-like tattoos linking them up.ALT

i find scourger au’s absolutely amazing in how one of their purposes is to simply satisfy the fandom’s infinite horniness for evil-aligned wizards, and you know i had to get in on that shit too. i’ve actually wanted to draw adult Bren ever since i figured out my design for Caleb’s scars, with the sole purpose of depicting him with the glyph chant tattoos, so here i am, like months later. anyway, i enjoy some very specific scourger!Bren brainworms and headcanons from time to time, and one of them is that he’s absolutely just as sullen and gloomy as canon Caleb is

tip jar!

zmeess:

a waist-up digital sketch of Essek Thelyss from critical role, done in shades of purple. he is a drow with short wavy hair, wearing a high-neck shirt with elaborately decorated shoulders. he is looking at something out of frame with a pleasant smile, as if in the middle of talking, with his right hand delicately resting on his chest.ALT

quick little Essek sketch! when i drew my very first Essek ever (this baby!) people seemed to really like his hand gesture, which was super nice to hear ✨ i had chosen that pose for him on a whim because it just seemed like such an Essek thing, so when i started working on my Essek expression studies sheet a few months later and rewatching some Essek scenes, it was especially funny to see him actually make a very similar gesture in ep 91 🤭 it’s more sweet and cute in that episode than it is in that first drawing of mine, but the hand-to-chest thing has my whole heart. so i drew it again! it doesn’t fit into that sheet so i’m uploading it separately. let’s say that it’s to celebrate over a year of drawing that purple wizard pfpf

tip jar!

zmeess:

a digital waist-up sketch of Bren from Critical Role, done in shades of orange. he has short hair swept to one side, a short beard and freckles; he is dressed in a simple shirt with an open collar and rolled up sleeves, and has leather underarm holsters on. he is sitting and leaning back with his outstretched left arm propped on a raised knee, loosely holding a piece of amber with a cord wrapped around it and dangling from his hand. he is looking somewhere off-screen with a tired expression. on his exposed forearm, there are regularly spaced horizontal scars with dark geometric maze-like tattoos linking them up.ALT

i find scourger au’s absolutely amazing in how one of their purposes is to simply satisfy the fandom’s infinite horniness for evil-aligned wizards, and you know i had to get in on that shit too. i’ve actually wanted to draw adult Bren ever since i figured out my design for Caleb’s scars, with the sole purpose of depicting him with the glyph chant tattoos, so here i am, like months later. anyway, i enjoy some very specific scourger!Bren brainworms and headcanons from time to time, and one of them is that he’s absolutely just as sullen and gloomy as canon Caleb is

tip jar!

I just want to say your art is really pretty and I have a lot of it saved in a folder on my phone and when I’m feeling bad I look at it and I feel a little better and since I’m not good at complimenting I thought maybe this long run on sentence would maybe help get across how much I absolutely adore your art because like wow, that art is arting real good. It’s doing such a good job at being art.

i’m so glad to hear that my art makes you feel better even just a little bit, that’s a really big thing for me! thank you so much for messaging me 🥺

digital sketch of Essek and Bren from Critical Role. Essek is a drow with short curly hair, dressed in leggings, a form-fitting shirt with voluminous sleeves and an elaborate armor-like piece that resembles a beetle's carapace resting on his shoulders. Bren is a human with short messy hair and a beard; he is wearing simple pants and a loose shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing his forearms and the maze-like tattoos on them. Bren is sitting in a chair, leaning back with his knees spread and his hands resting palms-up on his thighs. he's looking up at Essek with hooded eyes; Essek is standing in front of him with his back to the viewer, with one of his legs bent and the knee propped on the seat between Bren's thighs. his posture is relaxed, one hip cocked and his arms at his sides.ALT

since i got stuck in the scourger!Bren headspace it kinda resulted in me drawing some shadowgast featuring that lad. naturally it turned out somewhat horny. also i know a few of you said SHADOWGAST in response to my Bren sketch, and i’m always happy to be of service

random notes: i don’t particularly picture Essek ever wearing conventional lingerie, but i have in fact thought of what kind of clothes he could wear to add some spice, and you know what? it always ends up being some sort of almost or full neck-to-toe coverage with stupidly tight pants. i’m embracing it. anyway, this silly drawing also features another Essek mantle design i’ve been rolling around in my head (i’m always on my ‘drow are bug elves’ bullshit), wanna use it in a full-render piece soon

tip jar!

Just saw on your recent (awesome!) art that you think of drow as “bug elves”, what do you think of the God of War dark elves design?

no thoughts because i don’t know what god of war is, my apologies 🙈

(From the god of war ask) Sorry for not explaining! God of War is a video game series and the last two games have had dark elves with very insect-inspired designs, they even have bug wings.

ah i see! no apologies needed, i looked it up now that i’m not falling asleep 😂

re: your previous question, my thoughts are as follows: a) beautiful design, very scary and i love the wings and the horns and the cute bug feet, b) i think i need to clarify that when i say that i love dark elves (specifically the Kryn drow) being bug fairies i mean less them being insectoid in their anatomy and more insect-coded aesthetics-wise 😂 i know Matt described Kryn fashion as rather geometric in its design, but i latched onto the bug armor description the moment it was described as such, which was waaaay before tm9 came to the Dynasty and saw how people dressed there, so my brain is just filled with Kryn elves dressed in stuff inspired by, like, plants and mushrooms and lichen and bugs and stuff. rainbow beetle armor all the way, weird organic-looking architecture and furniture.

i would actually love to make cr elves more creaturely in my drawings, especially because it’s been driving me insane that Mr Matthew Mercer keeps saying stuff like you can tell that a humanoid is an elf by their skull or footprints alone, and elves have such distinct facial features that you do not need to see their pointy ears in order to identify them as elves, so much so that you don’t go ‘oh that’s just a delicate-looking twinky human’, you go 'ye that’s an elf’ ‼️ WHAT DO ELVES LOOK LIKE IN THE EXANDRIAN UNIVERSE, I NEED TO KNOW. do they have four toes on each foot and eyes on the sides of their heads like prey animals. anyway, i don’t make them creaturely in my drawings because i haven’t been able to come up with a design that looks good. i’ve tried a LOT. a lot of failed sketches.

sorry for rambling. god of war dark elves good

I love the way your lines capture the volume and gravity of the subject. It's so skillful.

thank you so much! 🥺 i really like playing with the line weight, i think it can convey a lot of physical properties, distance and motion

if i ever art the way you art after like a million years of practice then i can die happy knowing ive archieved godhood after you

ah i’m no god at all, just a lil guy that hyperfixates on something hard enough to draw tons of art for it and get better at drawing thanks to that 😂 thank you though! 💜

currently in my college’s rare book collections looking through a book of ancient russian fashions and thinking of your art :)

hehehe making slavic fashions popular. one step at a time

i greatly recommend looking up moravian folk costume too if you haven’t seen it! the dresses are some of my fav as far as slavic folk clothing is concerned. look at the collar on that first dress!!

zmeess:

digital sketch of Essek and Bren from Critical Role. Essek is a drow with short curly hair, dressed in leggings, a form-fitting shirt with voluminous sleeves and an elaborate armor-like piece that resembles a beetle's carapace resting on his shoulders. Bren is a human with short messy hair and a beard; he is wearing simple pants and a loose shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing his forearms and the maze-like tattoos on them. Bren is sitting in a chair, leaning back with his knees spread and his hands resting palms-up on his thighs. he's looking up at Essek with hooded eyes; Essek is standing in front of him with his back to the viewer, with one of his legs bent and the knee propped on the seat between Bren's thighs. his posture is relaxed, one hip cocked and his arms at his sides.ALT

since i got stuck in the scourger!Bren headspace it kinda resulted in me drawing some shadowgast featuring that lad. naturally it turned out somewhat horny. also i know a few of you said SHADOWGAST in response to my Bren sketch, and i’m always happy to be of service

random notes: i don’t particularly picture Essek ever wearing conventional lingerie, but i have in fact thought of what kind of clothes he could wear to add some spice, and you know what? it always ends up being some sort of almost or full neck-to-toe coverage with stupidly tight pants. i’m embracing it. anyway, this silly drawing also features another Essek mantle design i’ve been rolling around in my head (i’m always on my ‘drow are bug elves’ bullshit), wanna use it in a full-render piece soon

tip jar!

Hello! I figure you closed your inprint for the payment issue, which is super understandable, but I was wondering if there was any other way now or in the future one might be able to buy prints of your work. Are you looking to move to another storefront? Or would you be open to allowing me to print one of your pieces at a business center in exchange for a boosty tip? Thanks so much - hope you're having a great day :)

hi hi! 💜

i don’t think i will be selling prints any time soon. there aren’t really any international print-on-demand services that i can use at the moment, and i’m wary of releasing high resolution files of my art into the wild. my apologies!

fun fact about me: crit recap animated Essek is one of my favorite official Essek designs. it’s ridiculous but i LOVE that little guy; i feel like it did a great job of conveying his character in a silly exaggerated manner and i adore his <:} face with cheekbones i could only dream of

i’ve wanted to draw that design in my style for a while, and i think at first i wanted to, like. approach the whole deal seriously, but it resulted in me slowly chipping away at this drawing for WAY too long when it should have been a one hour doodle at most, so today i opened it again and decided to embrace the whimsy after a few superficial touch-ups. behold ⬇️

digital fanart of Essek Thelyss from Critical Role. he is a drow with dusky purple skin and short white wavy hair, wearing black and purple layered robes. he is standing with his right hand on his hip and his left up at chest level in a theatrical gesture. he has a pleasant smile on and is saying 'I'm going to be watching over you from now on'.ALT
a screenshot of Essek from Crit Recap Animated that the drawing was based on.ALT

a shoulders-up drawing of two characters, styled like a pencil drawing on tan paper. the one on the right is a bit taller and is napping, leaning his head against the other's temple with a content smile on his face. he has short hair and is wearing a beanie; the character on the left has short slightly wavy hair, short stubble, dragon scales on his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose. he is wearing glasses and is reading a book with a slight smile.ALT

commission for @ingapotejtoo, his OC’s Spark and Pete! i’ve missed using this pencil-like style so this drawing was especially fun to work on. thank you for commissioning me 💜

digital shoulders-up art of two elven women backlit by sunset light coming from an ornamental window behind them. the one on the left has long wavy black hair and fair skin; she is a bit shorter than her companion and is looking up at her with hooded eyes and a slight smile. the one on the right has long black hair in a loose braid and tan skin, and is returning her partner's gaze. the painting is done in shades of peach, pink and purple.ALT

commission for @lirille, her characters Curunis and Avalain! these beautiful ladies were a pleasure to draw, and as always i’m very happy to have been given a lot of freedom in choosing the color palette (read: to use as much purple as possible /j)

thank you for commissioning me! 💜

Do you start working on a white/grey canvas or do you start with on a coloured canvas? Your use of colour is so beautiful and fascinating!! I’m always trying to get better/push myself to use more creative colour schemes in pieces, and your art is always so inspirational.

hi, thank you so much! 💜

i always start with a colored canvas for my full-render pictures, it helps me set the mood and pull the color palette together. : )

ok your crit recap essek made me wonder! your expression work is STUNNING and it’s something i’m trying to train rn, do you have any tips on where to look for refs or how you get so much Feeling in those faces? (also totally ok if not i know sometimes this kind of stuff just spawns in from the ether and i have some stuff i’m already targeting for my practice)

aww thank you!

more often than not if i need to depict a very specific facial expression i just take a picture of myself making that expression and use it as a reference 🙈 exercising that acting muscle. there are also tons of models and photographers on deviantart who specially create references for artists and you can find a lot of good refs there, but it’s usually quicker to take a picture of my face so i don’t go the deviantart route that often haha (plus you can watch your own face in motion, and it often helps me to make the drawing less static). i do go hunting for other people’s faces though if the person i’m drawing has a facial structure that is very different from mine and i know that with this specific angle/expression my face would be useless as a reference. it’s usually the case when the expression is very extreme and significantly warps the facial muscles and skin! when using references i also try to pay attention to the fact that different people give different twists to even the simplest of expressions (muscle hypertension can change your smile drastically for example), so i try to make sure that i don’t put too much zmeess into the character i’m drawing haha. but tl;dr i just look at my own face a lot.

zmeess:

digital shoulders-up art of two elven women backlit by sunset light coming from an ornamental window behind them. the one on the left has long wavy black hair and fair skin; she is a bit shorter than her companion and is looking up at her with hooded eyes and a slight smile. the one on the right has long black hair in a loose braid and tan skin, and is returning her partner's gaze. the painting is done in shades of peach, pink and purple.ALT

commission for @lirille, her characters Curunis and Avalain! these beautiful ladies were a pleasure to draw, and as always i’m very happy to have been given a lot of freedom in choosing the color palette (read: to use as much purple as possible /j)

thank you for commissioning me! 💜

Hello! Just dropping by to say how much I enjoy your art. Your use of texture and color is exquisite, as is the way you evoke emotion and context with the poses/expressions of the characters. Essek's wardrobe is a continual delight. Thank you for sharing with us!

hi Ariadne, thank you for dropping this sweet ask in my inbox 🥺 it cheered me up so much! (made me want to draw some more fashionable Esseks and gave me motivation to continue working on my winter outfit redraw too!)

zmeess:

fun fact about me: crit recap animated Essek is one of my favorite official Essek designs. it’s ridiculous but i LOVE that little guy; i feel like it did a great job of conveying his character in a silly exaggerated manner and i adore his <:} face with cheekbones i could only dream of

i’ve wanted to draw that design in my style for a while, and i think at first i wanted to, like. approach the whole deal seriously, but it resulted in me slowly chipping away at this drawing for WAY too long when it should have been a one hour doodle at most, so today i opened it again and decided to embrace the whimsy after a few superficial touch-ups. behold ⬇️

digital fanart of Essek Thelyss from Critical Role. he is a drow with dusky purple skin and short white wavy hair, wearing black and purple layered robes. he is standing with his right hand on his hip and his left up at chest level in a theatrical gesture. he has a pleasant smile on and is saying 'I'm going to be watching over you from now on'.ALT
a screenshot of Essek from Crit Recap Animated that the drawing was based on.ALT

How did you learn to draw faces? Their so well constructed...

I've done studys, used references, followd lord know how many tutorials but Im still struggling hard... It's always good to learn from another artist if you have any advice

i’ve done the same things you have! learning the theory and the anatomy, using references, doing studies. as someone who has struggled with drawing faces since they learned how to hold a pencil, i think the best piece of advice i can give is to just continue drawing even if it feels like you’re not getting better. i’ve found that at least for me, theory and studying real people and references and other artists’ works helps and is essential to improving, but my brain still needs time to learn how to apply that knowledge and to develop the eye for what looks good and what doesn’t. i’m not sure i can recommend anything that you don’t already do, but i can say for certain that what has helped me most is just drawing a lot for many years and being patient with myself 🫶