T The Void Elf began as an exploration of foreshortening, expressive mark-making, and a more graphic approach to character illustration. I’ve been spending more time studying and pushing myself to use foreshortening lately, and this piece gave me a chance to take that further while playing with more dynamic, comic-book-inspired linework and composition.
The inking was particularly fun because it brought me back to where I first fell in love with drawing. Comics were a huge part of my early inspiration, alongside shows like Batman Beyond and Batman: The Animated Series, so there’s something nostalgic about returning to the techniques that first sent me down the path of art. I love the work of artists like Daniel Warren Johnson and James Harren. They have such a strong command of inked illustration and expressive mark-making, and I wanted to bring a little of that energy into this piece.
Another aspect I wanted to experiment with was designing an Elvish axe. I think Elves are often associated with slender swords and elegant bows, largely because so many of us were inspired by the wonderful craftsmanship and design of The Lord of the Rings films. But axes would absolutely be used by Elves. They’re incredibly effective at cutting through armor like chainmail, so I wanted to explore what an Elvish axe might actually look like.
That’s why I designed his axe with a flowing motif. I wanted it to still feel distinctly Elvish while giving the weapon a different visual language from the more familiar swords and bows we typically associate with them.
As I continue developing these characters, I want to keep exploring the aesthetic of their more futuristic armor and weapons while still making sure they feel rooted in fantasy. I’m looking forward to using this illustration as a jumping-off point for a deeper dive into their character design and visual language.
The pencil sketch from my sketchbook helps illustrate what their eyes look like. They’re like miniature galaxies, inspired by the eyes of a blind owl. I think that look would be really cool for a species that has shifted across the planes and wandered among the stars that connect them.
We were sailors of the stars. We traveled for what felt like millennia… perhaps it was.
Then we found our home.
It was peaceful. A small slice of the stars set aside just for us. For the first time in ages, we were at peace. She and I could finally build something together. Create something together. After all those years of war, I had almost forgotten what that felt like.
I’ll always cherish those few years of bliss.
For a moment, I believed my debts had finally been paid. That perhaps the gods were satisfied with me. My hypervigilance dulled with time.
I should have noticed. I should have been prepared.
But they found us. The Flayed found us.
Everything came crashing down. They must have followed us through the plane shift. Yet time’s warped embrace had granted us those few fleeting years, and the Flayed are relentless hunters. They track shifting soul-steps across worlds.
We tried to run. They caught us. We tried to fight. We were separated. There were only two of us.
They took what I loved most across all the planes of existence. I managed to escape my pursuers. I no longer had something to lose, and that unlocked something in me. A deep well of blackness.
I hunted them. I slaughtered them. Every last one. After that final vengeful kill, the emotion came like a flood. I remember weeping for what felt like months… maybe it was years. I couldn’t escape the weight of the loss. I just kept surviving, and then one day, I picked up my axe; it felt heavy in my hands, and I opened another shift.
There was nothing left for me there. She had returned to the stars.
So I stepped into this world, a land ravaged by realm scars. I initially thought the people here were mundane, dull creatures, for they had yet to glimpse the vast sea of stars that I knew so well.
Yet somehow… the Flayed could not follow me here.
I wandered these lands for years, protecting the weak where I could. Eventually, I found others of my kind who had also reached this world, but it never felt like home around them. Not anymore.
So I continued to wander. The peoples of this land call me, call us, Void Elf. I suppose that is fitting, because the void within me will never be filled.