The Phantom Inker

Caela was always unsure where she fit in the world. Geeky with mousey-brown hair, she'd read fantasy stories and wander the forests, wondering if today was the day she'd finally know what to do with her life.

One day in the forest, she discovered a dark cave ringed with green vines and flowers. Daring to go inside, she disappeared into the darkness, the stone under her old shoes gray and cold. But when she emerged on the other side — and peered into the bright sunlight — she saw a new world she'd never imagined, filled with magic creatures, and brighter colors than she'd ever known — and a cute boy with soft messy hair who'd smile down at her as they ran through the fields together.

And one day, a few years from now, after so very many visits, she'll know at last where she belongs, and she'll go through the flower portal again with a backpack holding just a few things to remember, and she'll leave Earth for the very last time.

I first started drawing this in November 2022. If you've been on my Patreon, you've seen it at various levels of work-in-progress. But it's taken ages, quite ages, to get to this stage. Every month or two, I'd pull it back out and fiddle with it. I got to the stage where Caela herself was drawn and shaded earlier this year, but that background was daunting. I tried to make an AI draw the background I wanted... but eventually I gave up and just drew it myself. There's a specific look I wanted for the scene — it tells a story in its own right, after all — and AI is many things, but it is not a storyteller.

I drew the background myself, start to finish, and it was a mountain of work. The flower portal alone is nearly 2,000 distinct vector shapes (6,111 points). And there's the pine trees, and the grass, and the flowers, and the grass, and the clouds, and the other characters, and more and more and more (and yes those are mermaids in the background!). I honestly don't know what the total number of shapes is in this, but it's a lot. I may have put something like a hundred hours into this overall. I'd like to think it shows. This is possibly my best work ever, and it's bright and cheerful and optimistic and wistful and hopeful, the sort of thing we all need in a world that's anything but those.

As always, drawn 100% with a mouse, in CorelDRAW 2024 — it's 100% vector art from start to finish.

A high-resolution copy can be found on my Patreon, along with various work-in-progress versions if you'd like to see how she first started out!