Interview with Artist Ismene by Anérea, Ismene

A self-taught artist, Ismene enjoys that magical feeling many artists are familiar with, of being able to draw the things they'd like to see. For her, creating art serves as an escape into that state of flow where one's focus is purely on one's work. Her Silmarillion fanart has an inherent intensity to it, whether it's the dramatic angle of Maedhros on his rearing horse (which took off on Tumblr despite being a WIP), the subtle challenge in Varda's expression as she gazes back at the viewer, or Celebrimbor and Annatar totally lost in other's gaze. In this interview we get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes of her striking illustrations.

 

You’re very much a multifandom artist. How did you get into creating fanart, and what drew you into the Silmarillion fandom?

I’ve been creating fanart since I was about fourteen, for a myriad of different fandoms over the years. When I found The Silmarillion, though, that is the one fandom that has stuck with me for a while now and I don’t see going anywhere anytime soon. I have my hyperfixations in and out of it, but I know I’ll always return to it!

Funny enough, what got me into the Silm fandom was a piece of fanart. I remember it exactly: I was on a very, very long drive during a family vacation while I had been rereading The Lord of the Rings. I wanted to visualize the characters, so I was googling pictures of them, and eventually came to Sauron. I had never watched the movies, but I had a vague picture of the suit of armour I’d seen from time to time because of them, when I suddenly found Sauron apparently did not always look like that suit of armour at all … And what was more, there was another dark lord??? (You can imagine here the exact kind of fanart it was, haha.) I started digging into it to learn the lore, and I got hooked. Mairon is still my favourite character of anything ever, period.

 

What role does creating art, and fanart in particular, play in your life, and how does it influence other areas of your life?

Art is an escape. When I draw, I can sit down and stop thinking about anything else, just my work, and everything’s quiet. Even if I put on music, I stop hearing it after a few minutes. I have a lot of other hobbies, but nothing so completely quiets everything and takes my focus like art does.

 

One can’t interact with the fandom without encountering fanfiction and headcanons—do these play a role in your art?

Absolutely. Of course I have some I am partial to, but I also really do love learning about other people’s headcanons and thoughts and works and seeing things from a new lens, as well. I draw which ones color my interpretation of things at any given moment, from how characters interact with each other to what they look like, all of it.

 

Following from that, do you enjoy collaborating, and if so, in what ways?

Yes! I don’t collaborate that often, but this is the fourth year I have participated in the Tolkien Reverse Summer Bang as an artist and the first year I’ve done two pieces for it. I always love this event; it’s fun to meet new people and to work with writers! 

 

Do you have a formal background in art, or are you self-taught? How do you develop your art skills? Any new skills that you would like to learn?

I am entirely self-taught. For a while, I’d been developing my skills by diving into a drawing I wanted to do headfirst and learning on the go, usually being a bit disappointed at the end when it didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted, and then drawing the next thing (method ill-advised, do not do this, haha). If I’d taken the time to do studies and really learn, I know I could have gotten a better, solid background, so only now am I belatedly starting to really focus on solidifying foundational skills.

I really want to get better at backgrounds based not in nature, like rooms or cityscapes or other ones where things are geometric and perspective is really important. I know that is a very large weak point for me. I also want to have a stronger grasp on values, and on choosing colors to fit the atmosphere of the piece and painting them directly, instead of relying on dozens of filter layers.

 

Would you share a little about your process and techniques with us?

In all seriousness, I gather a few references (usually off Pinterest), and then my first layer is always a super thick pencil tool scribble of bare shapes that makes sense to no one but myself (I have asked friends indeed this is no exaggeration) but so that I can vaguely picture where everything is. That's the key part; I'm not trying to get anatomy blocks good or any detail at all; this first sketch is all about composition. Then I turn the opacity down to about 20% and add the next layer. This is the slightly more detailed sketch, when anatomy is roughly blocked in and the background becomes more than a scribble. Then the first layer is deleted, the second layer is set to 20% opacity, and my detail sketch layer is added next. I think I add more detail in the draft sketch than a lot of artists with a similar style do, but I figure if I don't do this work now I'll have to do it later anyway, so I might as well!

(The images below illustrate this process, which Ismene says began mainly a color study and she then turned into one of her original characters [OCs].)

 

What gets you all fired up to start a new painting? And if (when!) artist’s block lands, how do you motivate the muse and get your inspiration flowing again?

Usually, it’s when I can imagine something so vividly I can visualize it completely, and then I itch to get my hands on my laptop again and draw it. For artist’s block … haha, it’s really bad, but I don’t usually do anything. I know I’ll want to draw again, I just need to wait for it, and it’ll always come back. I find if I try to force myself to draw, then I’ll hate what I draw, and the art block will only last longer.

 

Do you have any particular favourite artists, and if so, how do you think they may have influenced your work?

I don’t think I could pick a favorite, I love the work of so many artists both in and out of the Silm fandom! For someone in the fandom, @pansen1802 on Tumblr has beautiful art. I hope to reach their level of mastery of color one day. I think my art has been influenced by all those I like and follow, in little bits and pieces.

 

Your recent redraw of Varda features on the cover of Tolkien and Diversity. Please would you share a little about your creation process of both versions, and what prompted you to revisit one of your most popular works?

To be perfectly honest, the first thing that made me consider redrawing it was watching it show up in my Tumblr notes over and over again, and as my skills improved, knowing I could do so much better now but still seeing this less-than-perfect work being passed around. It was right then that I received the message about a possible cover for Tolkien and Diversity, and after some brief negotiation, it was decided. I had to redraw it. I feel much better knowing a more recent, better version is being used, and seen. It’s still mind-blowing to me that my work is on the cover of a book?? Never in a hundred years would I have thought that would be something to happen to me!

 

How does your work reflect your values and beliefs? And what effect would you like to have on people through your art?

My art does not reflect my beliefs, not directly, I think. I’m sure in some ways unwittingly it must—something something, all that writers/artists are capable of are self-portraits—but in terms of what I draw I really do stress the importance of the difference between fiction and reality. My own values and beliefs do not have a place in fiction (I do not want them too), and I draw what I enjoy in these fictional worlds, oftentimes things less than moral. It doesn’t mean I condone those things, at all. I have seen artists get torn down because of drawing things with very similar subjects to works I’ve done, and it’s sad.

 

What are some of the challenges you face as an artist, and how do you overcome them?

Certainly like any artist on social media I struggle with comparing myself to other artists and seeing my follower count, particularly on Instagram. It bothered me for years, but I feel much better about it now. It still does bother me some days, but what is much more important to me is drawing what I would like to, instead of giving in to trends and letting whatever audio is most-liked on Instagram Reels dictate what I create. As for how I overcame this, honestly, I simply kept drawing until I reached a point where the caring started to fade. I spent less time looking at the pages of other artists unless it was simply to admire their work, grew disenchanted with the idea of being a “big” artist, and understood the reality of it. Never before has so much been demanded of artists or writers, in the quantity of quality work! Paintings used to be allowed months to be finished, but now the internet demands finished work multiple times a week and on a regular schedule at ideal times and in video format(!!) in order to please algorithms and be seen by other people, and then you might grow. I am not a machine. I am a person, and that’s okay. I feel a connection to my work, and one day I realized I value that connection more than I value an app’s approval. It’s as simple as that.

 

What is the most rewarding thing for you in being a fan artist?

Definitely the people it has allowed me to connect with!

 

If you could spend a day with any Tolkien character(s) or Tolkien fandom OC(s), who would you choose to be with? Where or when would it be? And what would you do?

I jump to say I’d spend it with Mairon, although I’m not sure I’d survive that! I don’t even know what I’d like to do, but he fascinates me … I’d just like to see what he is like. How charismatic he had to be, in order to achieve all he managed to. I don’t think I’d even like to be noticed, I’d like to be a fly on the wall, unnoticed and out of harm’s way, thank you very much.

 

 

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This is just a small selection of Ismene's gorgeous Tolkien fanart, more of which may be found on both Tumblr and Instagram, including her original characters and fanart for other fandoms.