Fandom Spotlight: Icytwaine

Meet Emily! Also know as ‘Icytwaine’ across social media, she is a multi-fandom artist with gorgeous works in The Witcher (our current fave) and Good Omens fandoms. Keep reading to learn more about her process, favorite characters, and scenes!

Describe yourself in three words.

Curious? Patient. Fascinated.

How long have you been creating art? What is your favorite medium?

I’ve been creating for a long while, well into my childhood. I always took a sketchbook and mechanical pencils everywhere I went. Nowadays, for illustrations, I usually prefer to paint digitally, I like the ability to easily fix mistakes and it gives me a lot of freedom to try new color palettes and techniques. But when I need a bit of a break from the tablet, I like to sketch in my sketchbook, work in pastels, or sew something.

Crowley from Good Omens takes a bath, by Icytwaine

What fandoms have you been in and made art for? What was the first fanart you ever drew?

I’ve been in quite a few fandoms; the top ones that come to mind are Good Omens, Detroit Become Human (where I did more animatics than illustration), and the Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) fandom, a very small fandom, but it’s where I practiced drawing and posting fanart in my earlier days online.

I credit my first fanart to be from the Pokemon Rangers Guidebook. I would draw the characters from the guidebook in my sketchbook, and then try to use their poses on different characters. It was my way of first trying to understand how to draw the human figure and draw Pokemon characters at the same time, so I thought it was a win-win.

Tell us about your process. How much planning is involved with each piece, and how long does it usually take you to do a typical drawing?

I usually get a spark of an idea from my daily life and I quickly draw it out in a thumbnail sketch before I forget. After that, I try to collect as many different reference images as possible and start fleshing out the drawing. When I first get into a fandom and decide I want to draw some fanart, especially for live-action shows, I’ll take some reference photos of the characters and sketch out their faces from various angles. It helps me understand how I want to portray the character and get more comfortable drawing them, and I usually reference my sketches when I’m working on a piece of fanart.

The time a drawing can take varies quite a bit for me, since I bounce from a more simplified cartoony style to classical oil-painting inspired works. My latest painting took a couple weeks working on it off and on. I liked to work on it a bit each day and then let it sit a day, so I can look at it with fresh eyes to see what’s working or not. But less detailed drawings usually just take a day or two. For those, I like to see how quickly I can finish them because motivation can definitely be a fickle thing.

What do you find the most challenging to draw?

Faces are definitely the most challenging! I always want to capture how I personally see the character in my [art], try to show their spark, what inspired me to draw them in the first place. I can add a nose, a mouth, and eyes to a face, but making it feel like the character is the challenge for me. Once I see the that spark of the character in the art I draw, I get a dumb smile on my face!

Geralt and Jaskier from The Witcher, by Icytwaine

Are there any artists that inspire you?

Yes, absolutely! My Good Omens fanart was totally my chance to see if I could emulate the Impressionist’s interpretation of ripples on water. And for my latest fanwork for The Witcher, I was first inspired by Johannes Vermeer’s paintings and how he handled light and shadow (I’m a complete art history nerd). I also look at how gaffers for TV shows light an actor’s face, taking the real-world examples to help with understanding how light works, and I looked at other artist’s solutions to how they lit a face or what color palettes they used online.

For example, I looked at how my friend on Instagram @m00ki_ lights faces for her portraiture, and creators like @ladycibia when I needed some really cute The Witcher chibi art to keep me going. And for mastery of lighting and color, I kept looking at @noahbradley’s Twitter for beautiful landscapes.

Who is your favorite character to draw and why?

From The Witcher fandom, my favorite character switches between Geralt of Rivia and Jaskier based on my moods. I draw Jaskier usually to brighten up my day, and I draw Geralt whenever I just want to feel calm and present in the moment.

What do you love about The Witcher, and what inspired you to start drawing fanart for it?

I loved the mise en scène of the Netflix adaptation of The Witcher, the use of color and the costumes and the sets were so gorgeously arranged, I could see all the hard work and artistry that went into the adaptation. I love shows and films that take a really creative approach to their visuals or story, and that’s I think what made me a fan. That and Jaskier, of course. My first couple bits of fanart were him and the extravagant outfits he wears. As someone who loves to sew, the clothes super impressed me and I felt like I had to show my appreciation in some way. But mostly, I watch shows like The Witcher for the escapism. I like zero-ing in on a different world and existing there for a while. That’s probably why I spent more time on the backgrounds in most of my fanart than anything else!

But what definitely kept me inspired to draw for The Witcher was the fandom. Every time I needed a break from drawing I would look at other artist’s fanart or pull up [Archive of Our Own] and read some amazing fanfics. This fanbase has many magnificent writers and they totally inspire me to fall in love with these characters all over again.

Geralt and his horse Roach from The Witcher, by Icytwaine

What’s your favorite scene from The Witcher?

As a fan of Jaskier, I really love the episode “Bottled Appetites,” the balance of drama to comedy in that episode made it one of the most enjoyable episodes to watch for me! There were many great scenes in that episode; how could I choose? You’re right, I should go watch the whole episode again.

But if I had to pick one specific scene that really impresses me, it would be the fight between Geralt and Renfri and her gang in the first episode. As an animator, watching that scene was intense, but then listening to Henry Cavill [who plays Geralt] break down how much mastery and timing that went into perfecting that scene all in one take made me appreciate it all the more!

What has been your favorite work of fanart you have created? What do you love about it?

My favorite piece of fanart right now has to be the one of Geralt sitting by himself enjoying a peaceful morning. I originally drew that as a sketch, wanting to be in the moment of a kind of calm serenity that can come with spending time with oneself. Then I continued to add details, trying to make a space I could exist in for a while. Somewhere to slow down and just be, you know? I found it interesting that some people saw Geralt as sad, and I think as the piece went on, some lonely melancholy was definitely added into it. Over the course of me working on the piece, social distancing for the coronavirus was put into effect, so I can totally get why the piece took on a feeling of Geralt missing his friends! Nevertheless, for me, it’s a piece I come back to when I just want a moment of calm.

Aside from subject matter though, I was really happy with how the technical aspects of the piece came out! Painting all the different textures from stone to wood to metal to skin was difficult; I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pull it off. This piece makes me very proud of how far I’ve come in my time practicing art, and it makes me very grateful to my art teachers throughout the years that have given me so much information and technique to help me continue to learn these new things.

Geralt from The Witcher, by Icytwaine

Geralt from The Witcher, by Icytwaine

What has been the best part of your fandom experience so far?

Due to The Witcher’s origin as a series of novels, and its evolution to video games and film, there were many different ways to experience the stories and the characters. I’ve never been in a fandom with as much multimedia sources of canon content, it was almost overwhelming at first. I feared that since I came into the fandom from the Netflix adaptation that I would be way behind on knowing fan lore or some aspects of the characters that would make it obvious I didn’t know them well enough. But that wasn’t the case! I saw many people experiencing The Witcher the first time through the adaptation and I felt very comfortable in not knowing everything about the book series or games before making fan content. And once I began playing The Witcher 3 and listening to some of the audiobooks, it only enhanced how I perceived the characters! The Witcher fandom is definitely a place for fans new and old, and it’s really interesting to play with the different iterations of the characters. In my own fanwork, I’ve definitely played with putting Show!Jaskier in Game!Dandelion’s outfit.