Community Spotlight – Anibunny’s ESO Toons!

Anibunny takes her favorite characters and NPCs from The Elder Scrolls Online and turns them into vibrant, lively cartoons. Check out our interview with her and some of the ESO-inspired toons she has created in our latest Community Spotlight article!

When did you first discover ESO and what draws you to it as an artist?

I started playing ESO a little over a year ago. I love how big the world is, its lore, and its variety of characters. As a fan of TES' Wood Elves, I was super happy to finally visit Valenwood! There is just so much to explore and so much freedom that it is easy for me to create different stories and characters of my own. It's those characters and stories that I enjoy drawing.

Your Wood Elf character Sylara is featured in a lot of your work. What is it about her that inspires you to draw and create?

Several things! Sylara is the character I first created when I started playing ESO, so she is the highest-level character I have and I've done the most exploring with her. Out of all my characters in ESO, she's the one with the most developed story in my head. You could say Sylara is who introduced me to the world, and so she will always have special meaning for me.

As an artist, Sylara's character really pushes me in a lot of ways as well. She's supposed to be very expressive, fun, and playful. When drawing her, I often try to push myself to draw better expressions, play with colors, and try different and unique poses. If I want to try or experiment with something new, I can usually fall back to drawing Sylara as I work to improve as an artist!

You have drawn many different in-game NPCs, including Queen Ayrenn and Eveli Sharp-Arrow, but do you have a favorite?

This is a tough question! So many NPCs, even some of the minor ones, have their own personalities and give you just enough of their own stories to let you wonder and imagine how they fit into the world.

One NPC I am fond of is Geron Drothan. He has such a small minor quest in helping him get his wine back, but he has so much personality and he amuses me so much in the short interaction you have with him. With that said, I love Wood Elves, so Cariel, Indaenir, and of course Eveli first come to mind! If I have to pick just one, I would say Indaenir. I really enjoy his quirks, personality, and overall story.

How long have you been drawing? How did you get your start?

For as long as I can remember! My dad is an artist, and we would often color together. Eventually, he began bringing home stacks of paper for me to draw and color on. In the beginning, I was drawing animals, dragons, and other fantasy creatures. I didn't start focusing more on cartoon characters until maybe 1999 or 2000.

Your work is very colorful and stylized. What appeals to you about this visual style?

I've been pushing myself more toward a "toonier" style because I can be more expressive with it and I really want people to be able to look at my art and get an idea about who a character is. It's also just a lot of fun, which brings me to my favorite part of the process: coloring. I love coloring! When I am sketching or inking, I do sometimes feel a little stress or pressure as I work, but when I get to the part where I am adding color it's party time!

What is your process for creating a typical piece? How long does it usually take?

I usually start with a digital "marker" to draw out a vague shape and pose for the character, and I will use a different color and different layer for each character I add. This vague shape acts as a base for me to sketch on top of as I figure out the proportions and details in the drawing. I might do anywhere from two to five sketches before I feel ready to move onto inking.

Now inking is my least favorite part, and so I just kind of take a deep breath and do it while reminding myself that once I am done with inking I get to color. Coloring is where I tend to spend the most time as I lay down flat colors, shading, soft gradients to make colors pop, highlights, and finally little details, effects, and corrections. On average, I spend around four to five hours on a drawing.

What is next? Do you have any new ESO-inspired work on the way?

I have so many ideas! I really want to do a drawing of the Silvenar and the Green Lady together someday. I would also like to do some drawings showing the friendship I imagine between Wilhelm and Geron. Currently I am planning to do a drawing of my other characters using one of their class abilities, like I did with Sylara and Funnel Health.

Do you have any advice for fans who want to start creating their own artwork based on ESO and the Elder Scrolls?

Start creating! I know it is easier said than done, but try not to worry about what other people will think of your creations. Remember that the TES community is huge and there are definitely people out there who like the same NPCs, quests, factions, and stories as you do. There are so many content creators out there and I have met some wonderful people in the community.

If you're shy then just share it with close friends or maybe guildmates. If you're new to drawing or don't feel like you're any good, just keep trying. There is a reason why many artists will first give out this advice: "practice!"

Finally, where can we find more of your work?

You can follow my art on Twitter and my art Tumblr. Something that's really great about Tumblr is their tagging system, so you can filter out things like my "works in progress" or find more art of Sylara herself! On occasion, I will also create a "speedpaint" video and post it to YouTube if you would like to see my coloring process.

A big thank you to Anibunny for sharing her art and story with us! If you'd like to see more of her work, please check out her channels and pages above.

If you've seen or crafted something amazing based on The Elder Scrolls Online, we want to see it! Send it to us on Twitter @TESOnline, Instagram, Tumblr, or Facebook and we'll be sure to share it with the rest of the ESO community.