#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

The idea of dragons in modern times is so fun because imagine a hot summer day on your vacay and go to use the hotel pool and staff is like "valued guests we regret to inform you that the pool area is out of service at the moment, we apologize for the inconvenience"

And people like "wtf why" looking out their hotel room window and there's this. This dragon just curled up in the pool chilling, literally, cooling itself down

Some of the staff are trying to gently shoo him away and the dragon does a soft little "rrrrrr" like a grumpy cat and a warning puff of smoke and they're like "fuck it i don't get paid nearly enough for this" and no ones using the pool today sorry!

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

Isn't it amazing that there are little beasts you can bring into your home and they bond with you and happily lay in your lap for a snooze and rest so deeply they snore and purr in their sleep and just generally want to hang around with you and bonk their little heads into your hand for pets and purr when you talk to them and let you kiss their little paws and forehead

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?

Hrrmmmm maybeee this one? I feel like this was a rare instance where I kind of got the look I was picturing, and the scale of the elk and the forest even without the deer for comparison.

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE OCS OF YOURS

Ooohhh man I love them all for various silly reasons, but I think top three right now will go to:

Azra and Vex for being My Aesthetics personified

And Lou also for aesthetics but like her whole deal y’know

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

What is your favorite jelly fish? 🪼

Oh man that's tough, they're all so cool... I'm going to try to narrow it down to three...

Your good old classic moon jelly

sea nettles

and crystal jellies!

#ellotalks #thank you for indulging me <3

[ellohcee]

I am once again thinking about surfer Jasp and mer Davey who is always interested in Jasper's woven bracelets until one day Jasper surprises him with one! And Davey is like so wowed and touched that he figures out how to make them himself with shit he finds in the ocean like fishing line and scraps of cloth until he has a pretty decent grasp on how to make a repeating pattern. And he makes one for Jasper and it's made out of trash but it's actually nice? And Jasper is gifted this bracelet and is double wowed and touched like you just figured out how to do this for me? And like it's a bracelet made out of literal trash but he's never taking it off

#ellotalks #oh what be normal about them? #no

[ellohcee]

Woe to be a creature thats been drawing for 30 years and still being like "man once I learn how to draw..."

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

what's the most interesting flower you know of?

Hrrmmmm I'm gonna go with a few and I'm going to narrow it down to ones that I have a personal fondness for!

Where I grew up my mom had lantanas in the backyard and I was always obsessed with them, the colors themselves but it's the gradient of them? I love it

We also had fuschia!

And last I remember seeing these growing on a fence somewhere in my neighborhood and I'd always stop and look at them bc they're pretty wild looking, passion flowers

Also this is not a flower but honorable mention to coleus because look at these colors??

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

Yeah I have a thousand different mermaid AUs but did you know in one of them Davey is a siren? And he almost kills Jasper. And Jasper's just the kind of guy who's like "shit I ruined this guy's lunch" and bring him fish and chips? And tries to make friends with said siren who almost killed him and eventually falls in love with him? That's a thing that happened.

#ellotalks #just thinkin about that one today

[ellohcee]

Hey talk more about that siren au because I'm fucking intrigued. What do you mean Jasper feels bad for surviving so he gets Davey fish and chips

David doesn't like eating people! It feels wrong to him because they seem so alike, even though he knows he's a monster in their eyes. He tries to fight his nature, and catching fish can be hard when you're hungry so sometimes he gets really hungry. Jasper's just walking along the rocks at the top of the beach and David sees him and his predator instincts take over they're like hey A GOOD MEAL.

So does that siren thing and sings and he gets Jasper out there, all the way to the rock he's on, inches away, he can easily rip his throat out and have the first good meal he's had in ages. But Jasper -under the siren spell- is seeing someone he loves, and is looking at David in such a way and touches his face and says "I missed you"

And David snaps out of his predator mode and goes into oh shit mode bc he was about to munch a human. So he breaks the spell and dives back into the water as Jasper's coming back to himself. He barely catches sight of someone or something and tries to get a look but slips and grazes his leg on the rock.

The smell of blood almost gets David but he swims around to push Jasper back towards the shore, where he finally gets a look and mistakes him for a merman that is helping him and not a siren that just almost killed him.

Jasper comes back a few days later to find David, and does, and manages to get the truth out of him and instead of being scared he instead kinda feels sorry for this guy. And he's like... "what if I brought you something to eat?" and introduces David to human food!

And he keeps coming back!

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

I like when you reblog your old art because it reminds me how pretty everything you make is. It's like getting surprised by an old beloved friend when I'm scrolling through my dash and I see things I remembered loving when you made them.

Waahhhfhdg that is so sweet, thank you!! I appreciate that you still like my art after so long! <3

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

slides in tell me about that reincarnation au you posted my dear :)

Oh thank why thank you for asking my most wonderful Scribby~

SO the very basic premise was inspired by this lovely animation (warning for some brief scenes of animal death), but I kind of went way off the rails beyond the simple setup. There's also hints of inspo from Princess Mononoke but it's more visuals than anything. And well it's gonna get long so I'll put it under a cut

Okay so David is a spirit who guards this forest and the animals there from hunters. Jasper lives in a town nearby and while he's not a dedicated hunter he is excellent with a bow and arrow so he's tasked with finding and killing this forest spirit. David's never harmed anyone but he simply chases any hunters out of the woods he protects so the nearby townspeople want him dealt with.

So Jasper is sent out, not super enthused about the whole thing because again, this forest spirit has never hurt anyone that they know of,AND he doesn't even really know what to look for bc the stories are inconsistent. Is it a beast, an animal, a human? No idea!

He gets deep into the forest which concerns him because he hasn't been chased out yet and he's in the heart of the spirit's territory. He breaks for a minute to watch some deer grazing in the sun, admiring how they're not at all afraid of him for some reason, and a fawn runs by him playing with another, and he turns and hi! There's the spirit he's been tasked to kill, just watching him. At this point David is a little bit of a sight, in a wooden mask and a cloak of leaves.

Jasper raises his bow on fear and instinct, the arrow ready to go, but doesn't fire right away, frozen. David walks closer, hand held out, and gently turns the arrow down without a word and Jasper relents easily. David walks by continuing on his way and Jasper follows him. Eventually they get to talking as they walk, and once Jasper see's David's face and smile for the first time this Bozo is done for.

It watches him, emotions hidden behind the wooden mask, eyes shadowed, as Jasper holds his hand out hesitantly. The spirit’s head tilts, the leaves rustling, and offers it’s hand. Jasper takes it, turning it palm up and gently wiping the dried blood away, hearing a soft hum from the spirit as he works. Once it’s palm is clean of blood, nothing left but a small red dot where the arrow had broken skin, Jasper looks back up and gasps, his heart racing once more. But it’s not from fear this time. The spirit had lifted the wooden mask when Jasper was engrossed with cleaning the wound, watching him with a very human face. His eyes are green, not as striking as spring grass but a little more towards teal, watching him curiously. His cheeks and the bridge of his nose are scattered with freckles, and Jasper can see a few strands of auburn hair falling beneath the mask, obscuring one of his eyes just a little bit. Jasper stands rooted to the spot by surprise, entranced by the spirit’s eyes, his gentle expression, the slow upturn at the corners of his mouth as a most beautiful smile lights up his face. Oh no.

So basically they hang out, get to know each other, David shows Jasper around the forest, places people would usually get chased out of (it's based on ill intent, and even though Jasper starts off thinks he'll have to kill the forest spirit, it wasn't ever gonna happen even because he's not like that!)

And because this killing never happened, Jasper just kind of... doesn't go back. At first he's just camping out until morning to head back, but he ends up staying for another day. And another, and so on. And what if he goes back, lies and says he didn't find anything? Will they send someone else out here to try to hunt down David? He doesn't like the thought

Eventually more people DO show up, assuming Jasper's dead or abandoned the job. They scuffle because he's not going to let these assholes kill David, but he's outnumbered and gets hurt Bad because they'd gotten separated in the fight and David can't reach him in time.

They share a few last moments, David promises to find Jasper again in another life if he'll wait to be found. He passes on some magic to help Jasper's spirit come back. He doesn't know when or where, but he knows he'll find Jasper when the time is right.

Fast forward, David's forest is shrinking as society expands and evolves, picking off his trees from all directions so he can't stop it from happening as it's all taken for building and clearing space. Every tree and every animal killed weakens his powers as a forest spirit, and eventually finds himself in the modern world with nothing left to call home, so he has to adapt and live amongst humans.

He's just starting to wonder if he's missed Jasper, that he's lost everything, when they meet again! Where? Oh yeah I'm gonna be that guy we're going classic COFFEE SHOP BABY. He doesn't realize right away because his head is down reading, but he hears that name called out at the pickup counter. He's met a few other Jaspers but none of them have ever been his, but despite how long it's been he KNOWS this is his Jasper finally.

Jasper sees David when he turns from the pick up counter and he's hit with this sense of familiarity, painfully so, even though he's pretty sure he's never seen this man before. But something pushes him to walk over and ask to sit, and after a few awkward moments, he asks if they've met before.

David's like ELATED on the inside because he finally found Jasper again, but J clearly doesn't remember him on the surface level and he doesn't want to freak him out so he's like "yeah a long time ago"

They chat for a bit to get reacquainted, David offering vague and careful answers, as close to the truth as he can get without scaring Jasper off. They eventually leave the coffee shop to walk and talk for about an hour when it starts getting late and David excuses himself with an offer to talk more another time so he doesn't overload Jasper and give him time to think.

Before they part ways, David abruptly moves forward and wraps the other man in a hug, startling Jasper into sucking in a soft breath. “I’m sorry,” he breathes as Jasper stands only a little tense in his arms. “I just… missed you so much.” Jasper remains still, flushed, his heart racing. “Um, did… were you...” he trails off, wondering how he could forget this man who seems to know him so dearly and how he could possibly forget... “It’s hard to explain,” David says in a thin, wavering voice, that hint of sadness creeping in once more. Sadness and longing, as if he’d lost something very dear. Jasper’s not used to being dear to someone, and he feels his heart constrict at the raw emotion in this man’s voice. Jasper searches his memory, trying so hard to recall. He has to remember. David is so sweet, but holding back, maybe trying not to push him. He has to remember for him. He closes his eyes tight, returning David’s embrace. He hears the ginger take in a shaky breath, his hands trembling where they rest on Jasper’s shoulders. He keeps his eyes shut. He searches, desperately searches. There has to be reason for the kindle of a flame he’d felt upon first catching David’s eyes in the coffee shop. There has to be something, he’s not just some guy he’d met once before, they must have been close, but he can’t remember anyone in high school he’d been friends with and parted ways, or junior high, or even grade school. So where where where does David fit into this picture? Where are those missing pieces that he hadn’t realized had been missing? Why does he need them back so badly? “It’s okay that you don’t remember,” David whispers hoarsely. “If it helps, I once told you I’d find you again, if… if you would wait for me.” Jasper sucks in a breath as flash of a memory rips through the uncertain haze around David. Trees, open sky, birdsong, a wolf… “We-” he cuts off, voice catching. “We met in a forest…?” he trails off hesitantly, trying to remember when he’d ever been in a forest. He hates camping but his parents had taken him when he was younger. But would it have been that long ago? “Yes,” David replies softly, amazed, pulling back to look at him with wide eyes. Green eyes, not so striking as spring grass, but more teal… Jasper’s breathing a little shaky now, brows furrowed as he searches the ginger’s face. His head starts to hurt, a wince pulling at his face. “Are you alright?” David asks softly, concerned, reaching out to hesitantly cup Jasper’s face, unable to fight back the old gesture. His heart races at the familiar warmth, those eyes staring right into his soul, begging to be remembered even though David is being so patient on the outside. “Yeah yeah just- headache,” Jasper explains. “Why- why wouldn’t I remember you? Did something happen?” he asks in confusion, looking a little pale, his heart clenching at the way David hesitates. “Jasper, you don’t look well,” David shushes softly, running his thumb just below his eye. “Why don’t we pause this for now- would you like to sit down and rest for a bit? And maybe after some water, if you feel up to it, we can talk more…?” he asks hesitantly. “Yeah,” Jasper immediately replies, because the more time he spends with David, the stronger this feeling is becoming. A nagging sensation that he’s forgotten something, someone important. And he wants so badly to untangle this whole mess. He wants to know.

This is getting way too long I'm sorry but that's the TLDR!! Here's some concept sketches for David and you can see where the Princess Mononoke vibes come in as his look was heavily inspired by San but more... David

And he's got a beast form!

#ellotalks #thank you for indulging me i love you #forest spirit au

[ellohcee]

I can't draw right now but this whole thing makes me think of

Like Jasper is definitely a Tumblr local. He'd go up to David (who is not so well versed) and boop him on the nose with no explanation.

David: what... What was that?

Jasper walking away: don't worry about it

David: Jasper!! Tell me!

Jasper from the other room as David gets up to follow: don't worry about it!

Bc he knows that shit drives David nuts when he's not in on the joke and he does not explain

#ellotalks #jasper would be a boop fiend

[ellohcee]

To keep it spicy, I used a random number generator to pick 5 numbers :3

10, 19, 17, 7, 23

7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.

how about this experiment

10. What do you like most about your art?

hrrmmm the colors I guess? I really admire artists who use really soft and muted colors but still make their art pop, I would love to do stuff like that, but I do like my oversaturated sunsets!

17. What would you absolutely refuse to draw?

I will do my absolute best to avoid drawing detailed buildings and interiors! I have not the patience or the technical ability!

19. What medium/program do you use the most in your art?

Procreate when I'm on my ipad so that is almost exclusively where I draw, but if I'm on my laptop it's clip studio paint

23. What do you think you could stand to improve on?

EVERYTHING always always always trying to improve drawing people and humanoid figures. Proportions and heads/faces especially give me trouble!

#ellotalks

[ellohcee]

I love seeing my plants come back after the winter

#ellotalks #plants #this is over 3 weeks!! look at her go!

[ellohcee]

What is the worst movie you've ever seen? (Or just a really bad movie you hate)

Hrrrmmm a bad movie... I'm gonna do one cheat and one for real

The cheat is because I haven't seen this movie in full, only in passing and clips, but Foodfight! is some hot ass garbage

And the for real one that I've seen all the way through (well mostly) is Birdemic!

#ellotalks #runner up goes to anything that tried to do the Scary Movie genre #like movies that make fun of a whole genre but just end up being.... tiring #I haven't even WATCHED any of them just the trailers that I've seen in the past make me Upset #thank you for indulging me <3