Featured Artist: Brandy Woods – Ellen Million Graphics Blog

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

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 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.