digital illustration of Huayra, a young Peruvian women with very long braids and an ornate mask in front of her face. The mask is round and golden with snakes slithering over it, big eyes and a mouth with tusks that is sticking out its tongue. On top of it is a little guy. The shape is very reminiscent of a stylised sun. The image’s color palette is limited to gold, cyan and red, like the mask, as well as the off white paper texture of the background. In the right bottom corner is a photo of the actual, real mask from sometime between 300 BC and 1 AD. On the left there is a full body illustration of Huayra dancing, face hidden by the mask, braids whirling around her. She is wearing traditional Andean clothing: multicolored layered polleras, a jobona and lliclla, all heavily embroidered. She is barefoot. She is swinging her skirts in a way yo show off the layers. To the right is a closeup of Huayra lifting the mask off her face, so half of it is visible. She is grinning mischievously and sticking out her tongue. Her braids are flying behind her as if she’s running past the viewer. The little guy on top of the mask is winking.

Today's #30DaysofCharacters girl is Huayra, who somehow ended up bonded with an ancient mask's spirit and gained some wind powers from it. She uses them to return other Andean artefacts back home and to cause mischief. Lots of mischief 🌪️

Look at everyone's cool things: 30doc2026.thecomicseries.com

digital sketch of Luciana, a very slim and very hairy dryad-type woman with long limbs that end in root-like feet and hands. The hair in her shoulders is a bit longer than on the rest of her body and she has a horse-like tail. She’s wearing a skirt and a bralette that look like they were made from leaves. Her long wavy hair is swaying in the breeze and she is smiling down at the viewer with pitch black eyes. Leaves grow upwards from her head abd she had one hand raised as if to support them. The plant has four ball-/puff-like flowers growing from it, one of which is half hidden by the leaves. To the right is a closer look at her face. In the bottom right is a screenshot of the 15th century mandrake illustration she is inspired by.

It's Day 4 of #30DaysofCharacters and I found a cool 15th century herbarium in the Public Domain Image Archive I just had to give my own spin 🌱 Meet Luciana the Mandrake 🌱

Also look at all the other cool designs here: 30doc2026.thecomicseries.com

digital sketch of Hiyo (pronounced hee-oh), a fat butch woman with East Asian features and tusks, flexing with a cocky grin. Her short spiky hair is slicked back and ends in a bit of a point at the back of her head. Her ears are very square and so is her nose. There are some bristles on her temples and under her eyes and they continue on her chest and arms, including underarms, and in a happy trail below the navel. She’s topless and wearing a garment similar to a sumo ringer’s mawashi over hakama that are tucked into wrapped tabi. She is wearing zori on her feet. To the right is a close-up of her mouth showing her tusks as well as the gap in her upper front teeth. Below is a view of her side profile. Her design is based on illustrations from a catalogue of Japanese toys from 1924, called “Unai No Tomo.” The double page in question is from volume 10 and shows three different variations of a boar toy (plus a vey tiny forth one), presumably made from wood. Hiyo is mostly inspired by the most prominent one in the middle.

Day 3 of #30DaysofCharacters - meet Hiyo! 🐗 She's a sumo ringer inspired by a Japanese toy illustration from 1924 and by Hiyori Kon, who is working to establish a professional women’s sumo league in Japan which is really cool (and really hard)

Look at the project here: 30doc2026.thecomicseries.com

digital sketch of Needle, a slender girl with dark hair in a high ponytail. she is wearing a boots, a tunic and a spool (for sewing) tied to her back. With her right she is raising a shield defensively which is in fact a button. With her left she is throwing a needle at the viewer that for her is about the size of a rapier. The needle is attached to a string that wraps around her arm and into the spool on her back. The design is inspired by an illustration of a needle tip and a bee stinger crossed like rapiers in fencing from the book "Microscopic Delights of the Mind and Eyes"

digital sketch of Sting, a stout, muscular woman charging at the viewer. She is wielding two bee stingers as weapons and has a contraption with whirring wings strapped to her back. Her light buzzcut has two dark stripes at each side and her face has dark painted marks as well. Around her neck she is wearing a fluffy collar and her shorts are equally fluffy albeit with a black stripe. Her knees and shins are protected by chitin bracers and she is wearing over knee boots that are tied at the top. The design is inspired by an illustration of a needle tip and a bee stinger crossed like rapiers in fencing from the book "Microscopic Delights of the Mind and Eyes"

I'm doing #30DaysofCharacters over on ComicFury and I'm using more or less random pictures from the Public Domain Image Archive as prompts. These are the first two after the book “Microscopic Delights of the Mind and Eyes” 🔬

Look at everyone's things here: 30doc2026.thecomicseries.com

Doing an art challenge of 30 Days of Characters. There's more story in my art depository.

1) Baeza, a kabren.
2) mahahnu, the void.
3) The Cloud Emissary
4) Sterout, the Pursuer

#30daysofcharacters #traditionalart #sketch #pen

Tavern sign with the legend "The EMPTY DRAWER" and a picture of an empty drawer.

Back to #30DaysOfCharacters to explain why I'm not making it to 30 this year and show off a sign for a fictional tavern called The Empty Drawer, because sometimes you wanna go where nobody else has any spoons either.
Yes, those things are related.

A mook, who looks more ape-like than the other mooks but at least had the good sense not to try to close his jacket.

#30DaysOfCharacters 2024, Day 24. Mook no. 3.
When Theodore Peele told his geneticist to create an enhanced human to serve as one of his gorillas, they initially took him very literally.

A Mook, who is a Brick. He is orange and square, stuffed into a suit, and looking aggressive. He has yellow teeth.

The deadly Rustinova systems. Maddy is tall and blonde and wears a festive one-piece pant dress in orange; Betty is short and stocky and wears a green pantsuit with matching hat and brandishes an automatic rifle; Dani is medium-height looks cute in cottagecore style complete with a flower in her hair and smiles demurely.

#30DaysOFCharacters 22:
Theodore Peele's Mook #2. He has slightly better dress sense than Mook #1 but it's simply not possible to stuff a body shaped like that into a suit. These mooks are merely Mr. Peele's muscle; if Mr. Peele wants intelligence, he hires Maddy, Betty and Dani Rustinova.

An orange, brick-shaped mook stuffed into a suit.

When Tess, Abby and Mary finally meet Absolute Unit, they don't yet know hat he is not the only one of his kind. The others, though, are working for Theodore Peele and mean them harm.
This first of three brick-shaped mooks is a simple one, because I have a headache today.
#30DaysOfCharacters

A red-headed woman on the beach wearing a green bikini. A blue bottle lies beside her and on her other side is a picnic basket. She is talking and gesturing at something off-camera while smiling.

Yeah, I'm designing extras now.
I have no idea who this character is. She's on a beach, in a bikini, and talking to someone? I did enjoy drawing the slightly more angular shapes in her body and face, though they got smoothed out a bit during inking.
#30DaysOfCharacters

And for today: #30DaysOfCharacters Day 20: Ron Dunghill, singer of novelty songs, and a staple of summertime sports radio broadcasts in the Netherlands, especially during the Tour de France when there are many dull moments to fill.

Jerry, a Cameraman holding a Steadycam and checking the light on his phone.

Harry, a Boom Mic Operator.

Where was I with the #30DaysOfCharacters catchup? Oh yeah. Jerry the Cameraman and Harry the Boom Mic Operator. Days 14 and 15. These were fun. I was experimenting with showing the (fake) paper textures more so the background was left blank.

Roy, an audio engineer, sitting on a chair checking out a mix through Bluetooth headphones.

Not feeling super inspired, so for #30DaysOfCharacters , I'm just going through a backlog of character portraits that I still have to do for ongoing projects, no matter how boring. Here's Roy, an audio engineer at a recording station on an island in the Northern Tidal Marshes.

And #30DaysOfCharacters for today: if the mascot for Punkafé Fumeurs in #Groningen was alive and drinking there today (I don't know if he's alive but the bar doesn't exist anymore), he might look something like this.
(alcohol use in image, obviously)

Local TV reporter Terry, a person in jean shorts and sandals, wearing a crop top and holding an old microphone. They have reddish-brown, spiky hair.

Ed's Wife, an older woman wearing only an apron at some sort of campsite.

#30DaysOfCharacters catch-ups: 12. Terry the reporter, drawn in pen and ink on watercolor paper but colored digitally to save time, and 13. Ed's as-yet-unnamed wife.

I think by the time I got to 9. Mary Shelley, I was finally starting to hit a modest upward trend. But that was a character I'd drawn a few times before.
And yes, it's THAT Mary Shelley, sort of. This one was allowed to age past 20 years old and do Other Stuff.
#30DaysOfCharacters

Bamber Lamb, a Southern Rock guitarist and singer from Torquay, England. He is a youngish, mustachioed man with long hair and a colorful outfit, playing a Gibson Les Paul.

Jane, a Black woman who is dressed here as a 1930s aviatrix, but she's actually a spy (though she does have a pilot's license).

Woofus Thomas, funkiest dog alive, an anthropomorphic dog in a funky suit

Theodore Peele, a straight-laced, angular entrepreneur.

Getting caught up on #30DaysOfCharacters: 5. Jane; 6; Woofus Thomas, Funkiest Dog Alive; 7. Theodore Peele; 8. Bamber Lamb. At this point, I did not feel I was hitting my stride, which is why I abandoned posting the individual drawings here.

Pulg, a blonde white man in a rather nice tunic and a blue hood. Nice legs in those tights.

#30DaysOfCharacters 4: Pulg.
A redesign of a one-off character I last drew in 1992.
He's not bright at all but he does have nice legs.

The Grifter Alchemist, a bearded white man in a lack robe.

#30DaysOfCharacters Day 3: The Grifter Alchemist, an older character that I've given a design update by taking stuff out. An easy job, because the original design was better than I thought it was, just weighed down with unnecessary stuff.

Gaspard Nevison, ostensibly a young white man in Norse garb with a rather fetching purple cape/cloak. He has long black hair and an open, inquisitive expression.

#30DaysOfCharacters 2. Gaspard Nevison
Fay's companion as she returns from wherever she's been. The cloak in that color is a flex, but he has to wear one, so he's making the most of it. So far, no one's said a thing, probably because it's such a glamorous item.
www.deviantart.com/reinder/art/...