Featured Artists – Ellen Million Graphics Blog

Featured Artist: Samantha J. Decker

Welcome to Ellen Million Graphic’s Featured Artist of the Week! Each week, we select an EMG artist and share their work and history. We hope you enjoy getting to see incredible artists this way.

Everyone, please turn your attention to the prolific and talented Samantha J. Decker! An American born in Germany, Samantha grew up in classic military brat style and is currently settled in Texas. She holds a BA in Art, and has owned her own art business since 2008. She does freelance work in graphic design, children’s book illustration, comic book covers, and more – including great custom chibi characters over at Fiverr. You can discover her work – strongly influenced by fantasy, mythology, and Disney – over at her website.

Samantha has participated in EMG Sketch Fests since 2013. She’s steadily contributed playful and refined sketches, from her innocently gluttonous “Blueberry Dragon” and her Disney-influenced “Baby Phoenix” to fierce wolf-accompanied Warrior Princess and enigmatic “Dragon Moon.” Samantha’s work has also been featured in EMG coloring books, and she has her own solo title: Fairies and Friends. The “Cozy Socks” fairies above are a coloring page in that book!

We invite you to explore more at her pages over on EMG as linked below:

Samantha’s Sketch Fest gallery.

Samantha’s work is featured in the following coloring books:
Fishtank Fantasies
Scheherezade’s Shimmy

The images featured above are:
“Cozy Socks.”
“Blueberry Dragon.”
“Freckles.”
“Rainy Days.”
“Bookworm Fairy.”

Featured Artist: Jenny Heidewald

This week, we’re celebrating the effusive and dedicated Jenny Heidewald! Jenny joins us from the eastern US, and is a proudly self-taught artist. She remembers the exact moment she decided to become an artist: when she was touched by the hand of God. She recalls watching her mother drawing, an illustration of the hand of God reaching forth from the clouds magically flowing into existence on a blank sheet of paper. And that was it: the moment she knew that’s what she wanted to do. She’s been practicing her craft ever since. You can explore more of her work on her Facebook page and at her DeviantArt gallery.

Jenny has been a great friend to and supporter of Ellen Million Graphics for many years. She even participated in Sketch Fest before the first official Sketch Fest! Jenny has over 1000 playful and colorful sketches in her Sketch Fest gallery, and has provided hundreds of prompts for Sketch Fest artists as well. Her work is featured in several EMG coloring books, and her Portrait Adoption gallery has encompassed over 100 portraits – over half of which have been adopted, proving her character illustrations are popular indeed!

We invite you to explore more at her pages over on EMG as linked below:

Jenny’s Sketch Fest gallery.

Jenny’s Portrait Adoption gallery.

Her work is featured in the following coloring books:
Fishtank Fantasies
Apples and Roses
Wings of Night
Scheherezade’s Shimmy
Fishpond Fantasies
Steam Dreaming

Check out all the current EMG coloring book titles in our shop.

You can also find her work in The Art of the Business of Fantasy Art, Volume 1, found at this link.

The featured illustrations above are:

Another portrait adoption, customization available.
A portrait adoption, some customization available.
“Star Queen.”
A portrait adoption, any customization available! Minor tweaks free.
“Queen of Foxes.” The original ACEO drawing is available!

Featured Artist: Mitzi Sato-Wiuff

This week, our spotlight turns upon the gleaming and diligent Mitzi Satu-Wiuff! Mitzi is originally from Japan and, while she now lives in Colorado, creates work imbued with the cultural spirit of her homeland. She identifies shojo manga, tattoo art, and woodblock prints from Japan as distinct influences upon her work. Her passion for ballet also shows in the arrested movement of her painted and sketched figures, and her erstwhile focus on landscapes and florals brings a remarkable layered detail to her current work in fantasy art. Read more about her, her work and honors in art, and see her galleries at www.aurorawings.com.

Mitzi has worked with Ellen Million Graphics since she first achieved her dream of publishing a coloring book with us in 2011: you can still find Gardening and Goddesses (along with a second volume!) in our storefront linked below. She’s also been a staunch supporter of EMG, and a gleeful participant in Sketch Fests – her Sketch Fest gallery is filled with adorable sprites, nature-bedecked ladies, and macabre beauties.

We invite you to explore more at her pages over on EMG as linked below:

Mitzi’s Sketch Fest gallery.

Her Coloring Books, available via EMG:
Christmas Sprites.
Garden Sprites.
Midnight Gardens.
Gardens and Goddesses, Vol. 2.
Gardens and Goddesses, Vol. 1.

Her work is also featured in the coloring books Apples and Roses, Brain Celebration, and Scheherezade’s Shimmy. Check out all the current EMG coloring book titles on their redesigned page.

The illustrations featured above are:

“Bone Queen.”
“Sakura Fubuki – Urei.”
“Day of the Dead Marigold Sprite.”
“Las Calaveras,” the cover to her Midnight Gardens coloring book.
“Honey Bee Sprite.”

Featured Artist: Nicole Cadet

This week, we’re proud to spotlight Australian artist Nicole Cadet! Nicole’s been a student of fantasy art since first discovering libraries at a young age. She’s particularly intrigued by medieval and mythical imagery, and that interest weaves through her fantasy art in pomp and pageantry, and the wild or whimsical glory of the fae. You can explore more of her art, find her Etsy shop, and learn about commissioning Nicole at her website: www.nicolecadet.com.

Nicole has contributed art to EMG-Zine, and we’re featuring her “Rose Unicorn” piece today in honor of National Unicorn Day! (This is apparently a thing in the US, and we’re not complaining!) She also has a good array of portraits available for adoption, ranging from Star Wars Jedi to a number of elves and a well-armored fellow. Nicole has also been an enthusiastic participant in Sketch Fests since 2010, leaving many prompts for fellow artists and creating fantastic sketches herself. A couple of her original sketches are even available for purchase at her Sketch Fest gallery.

We invite you to explore more at her pages over on EMG as linked below:

Nicole’s Sketch Fest page.

Nicole’s Portrait Adoption page.

Here are the illustrations featured above:

Portrait Adoption, available now.
“Earth Goddess,” by Nicole Cadet, original sketch available for purchase.
Another Portrait Adoption, available now and quite popular.
“Queen of Diamonds,” by Nicole Cadet.
“Rose Unicorn” by Nicole Cadet, featured in EMG-Zine: “Unicorns.” (April 2008)

Featured Artist: Casandra Ciocian

This week, we turn the spotlight on Casandra Ciocian! Casandra joins us from Cluj Napoca, Romania, where she has worked with digital illustration and animation studio Deveo Media Illustration, providing artwork for children’s book series HUDSON AND ME by Nicola Preskett. Over at her Behance gallery, she features her work in background studies and fantasy illlustration. You can see that at this link.

Casandra has been a prolific portrait artist since 2008, and is responsible for over 100 portraits in EMG’s Portrait Adoption program! Her work spans characters of multiple races and ages and has been very popular, resulting in dozens of portraits placed with players. All of her portraits capture layers in their featured characters, providing adopters with prime story fodder. She’s also joined in on Sketch Fest weekends, and has contributed a coloring book page to Scheherezade’s Shimmy. (We gave away a free sample page from that book earlier this week! Scroll down to see it.)

We invite you to explore more at her pages over on EMG as linked below:

Casandra’s Portrait Adoption gallery.

Casandra’s Sketch Fest gallery.

Coloring books ft. Casandra’s work: Scheherezade’s Shimmy.

The pieces featured above are:
A Portrait Adoption, available now.
A second Portrait Adoption, likewise available.
″Heart of Winter.”
Protector of the Secret Garden
A third Portrait Adoption, also available.

Featured Artist: Tiffany Toland-Scott

Welcome to Ellen Million Graphic’s Featured Artist of the Week! Each week, we select an EMG artist and share their work and history. We hope you enjoy getting to see incredible artists this way.

This week, we’re spotlighting Tiffany Toland-Scott! Hailing from the Cascade foothills, she’s been a full-time artist since she was 17 and sold out her first art show. She’s been inspired by the mythic from childhood, and counts American folklore, Southern Gothic media, and Victorian cemeteries among her inspirations. Her work has been featured and published all over the world, and you can explore art both haunting and beautiful at her website at www.epiphany.gallery.

Tiffany’s been a Portrait Adoption contributor since 2008, contributing popular figures that appear caught mid-movement. She’s also been a dedicated contributor to Sketch Fest since 2010, crafting remarkable sketches in the single hour allowed and then adding finished paintings later – you simply must wander through her Sketch Fest gallery!

There are two Portrait Adoption pieces included in her featured illustrations, and we invite you to explore more at her pages over on EMG as linked below.

Tiffany’s Portrait Adoption gallery.

Tiffany’s Sketch Fest gallery.

The pieces featured above are:

Sand Witch.
Wreath of Moths and Butterflies.
Lost Books.
Portrait Adoption, with some customization available.
Another Portrait Adoption, with some limited customization available.

Featured Artist: Mayumi Ogihara

This week, the spotlight turns to Mayumi Ogihara! Originally from Japan, Mayumi now lives and creates in BC, Canada. While she began as primarily a portrait artist, she discovered a talent and love for creating fantasy art – which she’s been practicing with great skill and passion ever since. You can discover more about her, explore her a portfolio full of soulful and emotive illustrations, and even watch videos of her process at www.mayumiogihara.com.

Mayumi has been an excellent friend and supporter to Ellen Million Graphics for years – her Sketchfest gallery is especially impressive, since she’s been a regular participant for the last four years. She also provides portraits to the Portrait Adoption site, where she even now has several portraits available that are rife with story potential.

Each of the illustrations included in this feature gallery have products available, and we invite you to explore more at her pages over on EMG as linked below.

Mayumi’s Portrait Adoption gallery.
Mayumi’s Sketch Fest gallery, including art available on various products.

The pieces featured here are:

Portrait, ready for adoption.
“Star Bright.” ACEO print available!
“Elven Prince.” Original available!
“Guardian of the Forest.” Print, and ACEO print available!
Another portrait, ready for adoption.

Featured Artist: Kir Talmage

Welcome to Ellen Million Graphics’ Featured Artist of the Week! Each week (or so), we select an EMG artist and share their work and history. We hope you enjoy getting to see incredible artists this way.

This week, our spotlight picks out that artist of adorable whimsy and organic delight Kir Talmage! Kir joins us from a cabin in the woods of Vermont, where she lives among creek and fauna and forest.

She’s been creating art since she was a child drawing on the walls of her grandmother’s summer cottage, and kept up the practice for stress relief and “casual comfort” for many years as her focus stayed riveted on STEM studies. Now she embraces her art as a journey, part and parcel of the fabric of her life. She finds herself inspired by and learning from so many other illustrators, and also found her work grounded by excellent art teachers in high school and college. Some of her inspirations include the work of Trina Schart Hyman, John Bauer, Alan Lee, Brian Froud, Jill Barklem, Mary Jo Koch, and Stephanie Pui-Min Law. While she most often draws with pencil and pen, she adores watercolors, saying “I am astounded and amazed and delighted and befuddled by them.” They help her evolve as an artist. She doesn’t have much time for hobbies, but also doesn’t see a sharp delineation between her work and her play. There are always family relationships to nurture, books to read or create, hikes and outdoor activities to enjoy, and so much more as part of life. You can explore more at her website.

Kir has been a friend to EMG for at least half a decade, participating in many Sketch Fests and contributing to the shared world and worldbuilding project that is Torn World. She has contributed over 100 sketches to her Sketch Fest gallery, depicting everything from a present-toting dragon and a behatted coffee-rower to a hookah-smoking unicorn and a rock-and-roll naiad. She’s also a prolific and creative prompter, leaving over 200 prompts from the simple “crab apples” to the involved “where Neverland, Neverwhere, Otherwhere and the Borderlands meet.” Over at Torn World, you can find an illustration of longfingers that she did and an article on the Dorruuyirv, a sort of polar seagoing mammal. We invite you to explore her work at EMG via the links below.

“The Song of the Twisted Tooth (a personal concert)”

Kir’s Sketch Fest gallery.
Kir’s Torn World creator page.

“Grandmother Fox Stitching Up the Stories”

The featured illustrations are:
“Ocean Child”
“Mage Rat”
“Rocking the Water”
“The Song of the Twisted Tooth (A Personal Concert)”
“Grandmother Fox Stitching up the Stories”

Featured Artist: Madison Stuart

This week, our spotlight picks out that artist of colorful characters and fantastical folk, Madison Stuart! She joins us from Massachusetts by way of Indiana by way of her birth state North Dakota. Madison’s been drawing as long as she can remember, benefiting from generous parents who bought her art supplies whenever she asked for them. She cycles through visually creative periods where she draws most days, and fallow periods when she doesn’t – and finds herself most inspired by the science fiction and fantasy worlds she’s read about throughout her life, along with all the fandom and webcomics she’s encountered in her years wandering the Internet. She took a few art classes in high school – and did chalk portraits of many of her teachers! – but is largely self-taught.

While she’s worked with colored pencils and acrylics and even extensively with felt-tip pens, Madison is currently focusing on creating digitally. ” I’m still not sure whether I like digital art or not,” she confessed, “but I can work really quickly digitally and these days I lack patience; if something isn’t mostly done in an hour or two I put it aside and never touch it again.” She may be focusing on digital art, but she also said she’ll use any type of media that’s in front of her – even if it’s ketchup! She went on to add: “Perhaps some day I will be patient again; making lots of tiny lines is rather soothing, and I miss how easy it is to blend colors when using physical media.”

When she’s not doing art, you can find her reading (over 300 books a year!), knitting shawls (from her own patterns), and collecting weird accessories from pins to necklaces. She claims these are for one-day cosplays, but she might just be a dragon building her hoard.

Madison has been a contributing Portrait Adoption artist with EMG since 2009, and has created more than a dozen portraits for the site. She credits fan art with getting her into drawing portraits, and noted that her most frequently doodled subject are disembodied faces. She’s drawn characters from a freckled fawn-girl to finely-dressed elves and a blue-hued tiefling to characters of a dozen attitudes. Her portraits are also always stunning deals, so browse her Portrait Adoption gallery here!

Featured Artist: Brandy Woods

An elf with dark skin and long white hair occupies the right 2/3rds of the image, turned toward the viewer. Her right arm holds a white cloak with edging of golden embroidery closed at her throat; the sleeve depicted on her right arm is purple with a golden cuff. She wears a diadem of gold with a dark center-set jewel. Her eyes are tilted, and a subtle smile plays on her lips. The background is painted pale gold. — Elven Portrait Adoption

This week, our spotlight turns to illuminate that artist of colorful characters and storied scenes, Brandy Woods! Brandy joins us from Montreal, and is originally from Louisiana where the walls of her family home were papered in her childhood drawings.

A sketch of a human woman, examining a leaf held before her face between pointer finger and thumb. Her bust is depicted. Her hair long, moving in an unseen wind. She wears a simple diadem with a curved decorative element in the center of her forehead. She appears to be wearing a plain, colored dress with some small lace edging at neckline and the one cuff in the illustration's view. She also wears a simple necklace: a thin chain and some circular center element. — Curious Human Portrait Adoption

“My mom tells me that even before I held a pencil, I was using fingernail polish to ‘paint’ on my highchair,” Brandy confided. She’s largely self-taught, and drew early inspiration from Wendy Pini before being deeply influenced by manga. She’s spent the years since refining her style, and attended Dawson College’s Illustration & Design program in her 30’s, graduating at the top of her class with honors and multiple scholarships.

When creating, Brandy most often sketches in pencil before digitally coloring her works in Corel Painter or Photoshop. She also enjoys working with acrylics, oils, and watercolors. Much of her inspiration is drawn from fantasy and various world cultures. When she’s not creating, you’re likely to find her reading—”One of my life goals is to have a library like Neil Gaiman’s,” she told us (a worthy goal!)—or playing video games. She enjoys science fiction, fantasy, mythology, and more. She also enjoys collecting Breyer horses, red foxes, and fountain pens. You can discover more about her and her work at her website.

A full figure stands against a soft background of mountainous brown-grey terrain and a blue-white sky. He stands with feet spread and arms held aloft. A brown owl is just alighting on the figures left arm. He faces the viewer; his left arm is covered with a baldric and arm-length glove. His right arm is bare, as is much of his smooth chest. He wears a short cropped purple vest, a teal cloth belt gathered by a gold center buckle over draped purple cloth with golden detailing in a thick edge over bagg golden pants tucked into knee-high brown boots. He also wears a purple bandana with golden detailing over his dark hair. He has a scarred face, the line running over his left eye. He bears a serious expression, and a partially open mouth. His facial hair is dark, and sort of an extended goatee out to the sides. — Owl Guy Portrait Adoption

Brandy is one of EMG’s most popular Portrait Adoption artists, with a gallery of seventeen portraits – several of which are on wishlists and many of which come with the option to purchase the original. She’s an inspired portrait artist as well – her character studies pull off impressive characterization in expression, stance, clothing and equipment details, and more. You can even request customizations on a number of her portraits. In her gallery, you’ll find everything from women warriors in both sensible and non-sensible armor, dark elves and skeptical elves, spellcasters and unicorn companions and characters in excessively long coats. She’s also open to commissions! We invite you to discover more of her work at EMG through the link below!

Brandy’s Sketch Fest gallery.