🌿 I mainly go by Ni but you can also call me Val or Pine. I’m a freelance illustrator with a love for plants, anything fantasy, tea, storytelling, and the ocean among other things. My specialty is drawing characters from fantasy worlds living their day to day life.
🌱 I currently mostly draw personal commissions for people and pieces for zines but am trying to break into publishing as a book cover + interior artist. I also have a couple orginal worldbuilding and comic projects that I’m slowly working on in the backrgound, which you can read more about here.
🌵 My general commissions open with monthly slots. You can email me at valermogilev@gmail.com if you’re interested in something not on my site! I also have an inprint shop and a kofi for tips and where I post monthly sketchbook scans <3
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I love to design characters and make adoptables from time to time, you can find those on dA, toyhou.se, or my adopt twitter.
🐝 You can find all my other links on my carrd, including my twitch where I sometimes stream art.
part 2 of effort to compile my art outside of social media: 2023 sketch compilation is up on itch!
It’s $5 but I also have free community copies enabled if you can’t or don’t want to pay that for whatever reason but are still interested in getting a copy <3
Hello! My name is Camber (any pronouns), and I’m a mixed media illustrator located in the southwestern United States. I love drawing everything, but I have a special interest in depicting strange creatures and environments, often accompanied by abstract imagery and mark-making. Professionally, I’ve worked creating concept art and 2D assets for museum exhibits, but currently, I am engaged full-time as a software developer and make standalone illustrations in my free time. I’ve been posting art on Tumblr since I was a teenager, and the site has been very welcoming towards my work to this very day!
Check out Camber’s interview below!
Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?
I’ve had an interest in drawing since I was barely sentient, but at thirteen years old I decided to become “serious” about art. I was all about reading tutorials and doing a ton of studies. I would tote my heavy instructional art books to school every single day (my poor back!) Despite all this, I decided to forgo art school in favor of a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at my local college. Alongside my major, I received a minor in Art Studio with a specialization in fine art, which totally changed my views on creating artwork and drastically changed my style.
How has your style developed over the years?
As mentioned previously, my style did a 180 after I studied under some very skilled fine art professors! As a kid, my drawings were very realism-heavy and inspired by video game concept art. I mostly worked digitally, too. During college, I was thrown for a loop when we were instructed to do strange things like, for example, make a bunch of marks on paper using pastel, WITHOUT looking, and then turn said marks into a finished piece of art! I quickly and deeply fell in love with abstract work, and especially appreciated images that are not easily parsed by the viewer. Since then, I’ve made it my goal to combine abstract mark-making with more representational subject matter.
What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?
Hmmm, one habit I really enjoy as an artist is strictly tracking the amount of time I spend drawing! I currently work a full-time job wholly unrelated to art, so I have to be careful with my time if I want to spend enough hours drawing each week. I created a spreadsheet that allows you to enter the amount of minutes you’ve drawn each day and calculate how much drawing time you still need to reach your weekly goal (I aim for 20 hours a week.) Having such a clear, numbers-based objective keeps me motivated to work like nothing else!
Over the years as an artist, what were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?
I know this is a common inspiration, but Hayao Miyazaki’s work has been rewiring my neurons since I was a child. Seemingly all of my artistic interests can be summed up by the movie Princess Mononoke: it has strange/abstract creature designs, a strong focus on nature and environmental storytelling, and a mix of dark and hopeful themes. Additionally, I’ve been deeply inspired by video game series such as Zelda, Okami, Pikmin, and Dark Souls. But arguably, none of these have influenced me more than Pokemon! I’ve been drawing Pokemon since I could barely hold a pencil, and I haven’t stopped since! I believe my love of designing creatures originated with my endless deluge of Pokemon fanart during my childhood.
What is a medium that you have always been intrigued by but would never use yourself?
I’ve always been fascinated by 3D mediums and am so tempted to try them out! Whether that’s 3D models created digitally or sculptures made from clay, I profoundly admire artists who have this skill. Oftentimes, it feels like I don’t have time to delve into a totally different artistic paradigm. However, I feel very strongly that learning new skills can enrich your current work. I should take that advice and someday give 3D mediums a shot!
What is a recent creative project that you are proud of?
I am in the process of creating an art book (a dream of mine!) and have been executing smaller drawings of concepts I find interesting from both a visual and storytelling standpoint. A recent drawing for said book is that of a snail made of ink with an ink bottle as a shell, and it went absolutely viral! I’ve never had an experience like this as an artist before and it has been spectacular! I was able to open a shop using my newly acquired art printer and sell many prints of my snail. Creating something original, directly stemming from my interests, and having that resonate with so many people has been unreal. I couldn’t ask for more as an artist!
What advice would you give to younger you about making art that’s personal or truthful to your own experiences?
I would tell my younger self to chill out and experiment more! I was so caught up in the idea that I needed to have a realistic style to be considered “good.” I also believed that technical skill was the only measure of how worthy my art was. That’s not to say technical skill doesn’t matter, but I now firmly believe the creativity and voice of your ideas far outweigh the skill of execution in terms of importance. Technical skills should elevate ideas, not the other way around. Once I began to revel in strange ideas and stories for my work, depicted oftentimes in odd styles or mediums, I truly found my voice as an artist.
Thanks for stopping by, Camber! If you haven’t seen their Meet the Artist piece, check it out here. For more of Camber’s work, follow their Tumblr, @camberdraws!
Oof. It’s been a heavy artblock month. Every tiny inch of progress on any art I’ve been working on has been hard won. All I’ve really manged to get out are a few rough sketches which I continue to only post in my discord. The thought of posting to general social media only makes me tired. I might officially call this a hiatus. I’ll keep posting these monthly updates and notices whenever I have anything big to share but for the next few months at least it will continue to be pretty silent from me.
Convention Research
Now that I’m seriously thinking about doing conventions I’ve been looking into what that would mean logistically and what cons I can even table at here in the UK.
What that means is spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets. The one I’m most proud of is one I’ve put together of all the UK zine fairs, comic cons, & anime cons I can find.
I also have a one for comparing manufacturers and one for my planned list of stock. I originally gave myself a deadline of June to put together at least enough items to look good on an application but after lots of data gathering I’ve moved that to August, since most cons around here seem to open apps August and later. I may or may look into setting up an online shop for the physical items before then? It depends on how things go.
Plans for April:
The Sea Unseen
I’m once again taking part in this year’s edition of the Sea Unseen Zine, I’ll be working on my piece for that this month - I won’t be able to share anything from that, but I’ll be sure to put up a notice when the zine is out in June. I’ll be drawing a common murre this year!
Finish Your Project Jam
A friend of mine linked me the Finish Your Project Jam which I am taking full advantage of to finish my 2023 digital sketchbook compilation, my hourlies compilation (both of which are about 90% done I just need that final push) and a zine about impractical but cool fantasy swords (~50% done). If things go well I’ll also see about releasing a draft of Don’t Wake the Sleeping Dragon, likely without art.
The move is done! I’m settled in at home again and it feels great! I can quickly feel my ability to function coming back to me. It’s also nice to be going swimming again, my local pool finally has its upper floor showers fixed, so I don’t have to go up and down the stairs as often. On the other hand the construction that’s been blocking my girlfriend, and I’s shortcut for going grocery shopping is still blocked, and likely will be until summer. Other construction is finished, and new ones started, such as it is living in the city.
Moving was the focus this February, but I did get a couple of art things done.
Hourly Comics Day
Hourly comics day was a blast this year. I’d only participated a couple of times before, and I don’t think I ever manged to finish the whole day. That was back in university, so I thought I’d give it another shot. It ended up going pretty smoothly. I stumbled into a style that worked well when doing the 9am comic. It’s pretty quick to do, I like how the final result looks, and any rough edges feel intentional.
I did find it took a LOT of focus and about halfway through the day I stopped drawing comics every hour so that I could concentrate on the work I needed to do. I still took notes every hour of what I wanted to draw later.
I had to stay up late to finish drawing the catch-up comics but I was having fun so it’s all good.
I always enjoy seeing diary comics, it’s nice to have a glimpse into other people’s everyday lives and thoughts. With the medium of comics specifically - it’s fun to see how people depict themselves and their surroundings. What they put more effort into drawing, what they leave out completely, how they stylize things. Most of the time we see artists draw from a built-up image bank to make made-up objects or from refs found online, there’s something a little different that comes across when drawing something one uses day to day. At least it certainly feels different to draw it! My favorite panel to do was drawing the sink full of dishes.
You can find my full day of hourly comics here, I’m still working on putting together that pdf/zine of them
Erwin Zine
I put together this zine of photos of my parent’s cat, I already miss him <3
2023 Sketchbook Compilation
I finished the intro, I still have the cover and outro to do. Will be wrapping that up soon :)
March Goals
I haven’t thought much about what I want to get done in March yet… I’ll be leaving that for next week’s me as I get back to figuring out the perspective issues on this commission I’m working on.
That’s all for now - I hope you enjoy your last couple weeks of winter o reader of mine.
I’m going to start this by pretending I’m not posting this a week into February, and you’re going to go along with me, ok? Ok!
Well January sure went by quick! My update last time was pretty hesitant, but I think I am properly getting back into things. On top of that I finally got a reply on my visa and I’m flying back to Scotland at the end of the month 🎉 Very excited to be home! I’m looking forward to seeing my girlfriend and friends again and being back in a space I’ve designed to work for me. Now, onto what I’ve been up to:
2023 sketchbook
Part two of attempting to document my art: I put together scans of my physical sketchbook with a bunch of digital drawings from last year. The pdf is pretty much complete, I’ve just been putting off figuring out the cover and writing a quick intro & outro.
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I guess I’m also kind of hesitant to put a price on it since 60% of it is stuff I’ve posted publically, but I keep telling myself it’s worth it anyway. And it’s nice to see all that art in one place rather than lost to void of social media.
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Stickers
I got myself some sticker paper and have been doing a bunch of test prints to get to know it (and my printer). I’m really happy with how they’re turning out! It’s extremely satisfying to print out my art and hold it in my hands.
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I plan to set up an online shop sometime after I get back to Scotland, I’ll probably open it in March. Sticker packs will be up for sale there alongside zines & prints 🌟
Commissions
Perhaps this is more of a February update but by the time the month is over it’ll be too late to let you know! I opened regular commission slots and alongside them I made a fun valentines YCH, only slightly vampire themed. Very self-indulgent but I hope you’ll like them it too.
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I’ll probably only take one more slot before closing both the forms :)
February Plans
- Hourly comics day was the 1st of February. I’m pretending this is just a January update, so I won’t go too far into it right now. I did finish it, and I’m formatting the comics to make into a zine!
- Sketchbooking - I’m finally returning to drawing in my physical sketchbook again, I’ll start posting scans again as soon as I have ~10 pages done
- Impractical but Extremely Cool Fantasy Swords zine, I have (almost) all the swords finished I just need to put it all together
- and gotta focus on finishing those commissions ofc <3
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