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The Cicada Queen artwork by Stephanie Smith

The Cicada Queen

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Personal artwork, as if for a fantasy book cover. Inspired by the local outbreak of periodic cicadas.

Digital art, created in Procreate, copyright 2023 Stephanie Smith

The 10 of Coins Tarot Card, depicted with a happy family of elves

10 of Coins

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The 10 of Coins, or 10 of Pentacles is a tarot card signifying long-term successes, like a well-lived life, and also the joy of sharing that legacy with others. This artwork was created for 78 Tarot Magical.

Digitally painted in Procreate

Client: 78 Tarot

Art direction: Delphine Lévesque Demers and Chris Malidore

The Unicorn of Water

Cohort of the Elements

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These pieces illustrate the covers of a hypothetical book series. It would be a fantasy epic set in a world where the magic system is based around the traditional four elements but hinges on the mysterious fifth element “aether” that connects them all… or destroys them all.

This artwork is also available for sale on a variety of housewares in my Redbubble store.

Sketchbook: Cicada Comics

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In 2021 the Brood X Periodic Cicadas emerged in large numbers all over the mid-Atlantic. I was hearing a lot of misconceptions from friends and acquaintances, so based on new research and my experiences from 17 years ago – the last time they emerged in these numbers – I went back to my science communication days to sketch out these informational cartoons for my social media feeds.

The panels were optimized for Instagram.

Artwork of children exhibiting at a flower show, where the middle child has brought a monstrous glowing plant and the other children with their normal bouquets are shocked.

Show and Tell

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Artwork originally created for a SCBWI event banner contest, with the given theme of “Show and Tell”

Digital artwork.

Trillia’s Quest: Cover Art

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Trillia is a mermaid character I’m developing for younger readers. She goes on a quest for ancient artifacts in order to save her village and her family. This concept art explores a potential book cover design.

Artwork of a sequence of three images showing a mermaid being surprised by a monstrous crustracean, fleeing from it into a cave, and discovering a hidden treasure inside

Trillia’s Quest – A Mermaid Adventure in Three Scenes

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Trillia is a mermaid character I’ve been developing for younger readers. She is questing for ancient artifacts in order to save her village and her family. These three images were part of an art challenge to tell a simple, self contained story about discovering the “silver lining” to one’s troubles in just three scenes.

Sketchbook: Trillia’s Quest storyboards

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Over the course of 77 separate panels, Trillia the mermaid goes on a quest to save her village from a dangerous blight.

This story was created during the Journey Through June Instagram challenge, to create an entire new story out of thumbnail images in one month using prompts based on the classic “Hero’s Journey” structure. The sketches were deliberately kept rough to meet the hectic pace of daily posting, and were accompanied by only brief captions.

Sketchbook: Mermaids of #Mermay

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An assortment of non-traditional mermaid characters that were created for an Instagram challenge, each based on multiple random prompts drawn from an idea generator. Particularly difficult to include were concepts like “hoop skirt” and “rifle” but I found a way!