Dragonscale Clippings | Harmony Thoughts

Illustrating for Freya Pickard

by Elisa Choi Ang on February 22, 2022 with 1 Comment

Last year, author Freya Pickard and I had another collaboration. She wanted me to create a series of illustrations for her newsletter and Pure Haiku for 2022. The first one was a volcano for Pure Haiku. She wanted the left side to be grassy, with flowers blooming and a dormant volcano, while the right side is a dark sky and lava pouring from an erupted volcano. I lightly sketched the elements and created a dividing line. I used watercolor to … Read More

Slippery Chameleon

by Elisa Choi Ang on September 27, 2020 with 1 Comment

Author Freya Pickard is working on another story called Arturina. She wanted a picture to portray a space opera. Like the previous collaboration, she gave me free rein to draw whatever that inspires me from her collections of Pinterest images. I chose the chameleon because its skin looks interesting to paint! Freya said that the chameleon in her story is a slippery one because it changes its shape a lot and he cannot remember his original form! He is both … Read More

Grassland

by Elisa Choi Ang on July 12, 2020 with No Comments

Author Freya Pickard needs a picture to portray a character in her novel Hrukham. I’m excited for another collaboration with this creative writer. I checked her collection of inspiration over on her Pinterest board and decided on a sunset grassland image. Freya shared that the image depicts the grassland of the southern plains. They are verdant and filled with life, but, from beyond their borders, an evil threatens that kills and maims and poisons the land. I’m sharing my process … Read More

Lady Parsley Wigglinis

by Elisa Choi Ang on February 17, 2020 with No Comments

The author Freya Pickard and I had another collaboration. For her Dragonscale Clippings, she wanted me to illustrate Parsley who has long, reddish hair in ringlets, green eyes, and pale skin. She is looking annoyed with her hands on her hips. Writing down the specification helps organize my thoughts. I did some research and roughly sketched Parsley and a variation of her annoyed facial expressions. I transferred the ideas into watercolor paper. I enjoyed painting the different shades of greens … Read More

Dancing Goddess for Pure Haiku

by Elisa Choi Ang on February 3, 2020 with 1 Comment

The author, Freya Pickard wanted me to create an image for her Pure Haiku website (where she publishes her own + other peoples’ traditional haiku). She wanted a female character, possibly a goddess or angel. She is fire and water, ice and electricity. There will be lots of bright colors, energy and swirling lines. She is dancing and turning about. I began to write down the guidelines on a notebook. I checked Freya’s Pinterest board for inspiration and did additional … Read More

Edge of a Dark Woodland

by Elisa Choi Ang on March 13, 2018 with 1 Comment

Collaborating with an author who writes imaginative stories challenges my creativity. I know I have said this numerous times before but I’m thankful to Freya for this opportunity to create artworks that I have not dared myself to create. I think that’s one great thing about working with someone from a different creative field. Freya Pickard wanted me to create an eerie, sinister feeling of a painting, because that’s how the characters were right from the beginning of the story. They were at the … Read More

A Cold Frosty Scene

by Elisa Choi Ang on February 1, 2017 with No Comments

watercolor on paper Creativity takes courage, as the famous old master, Henri Matisse said. I believe creativity is to make something that I have never done or tried before. To nurture creativity would mean not only looking inward– into my ideas and imagination, but also outward–creation of God and man made words, ideas and things. It also helps not to hang out too much at the online sphere, lest the creativity will die–at least for me. Freya Pickard‘s words feed my … Read More

Insides by Freya Pickard

by Elisa Choi Ang on October 26, 2016 with 2 Comments

Freya, a good friend of mine, launched her first poetry collection called Insides. She is a cancer survivor currently awaiting the final all clear. She wrote Insides as a kind of therapy to help her embrace the terrible things she endured; cancer, surgery and chemotherapy. She wanted to bring comfort to other cancer sufferers as well as enabling people with no experience of cancer at all, to understand a little of what it means to go through such an ordeal. … Read More