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Keely Mikkelsen

@keelymikkelsen.bsky.social

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jan 13

#meettheartist

Header: Keely (name), 26 (age), 5’2” (height), INFP, favorite colors pink and green. Left side: Full body cartoon self portrait. I have medium scruffy blonde hair. I’m wearing a short sleeve green collared shirt, black long pants, black ankle boots, silver octagon glasses. Middle: A green purse & contents (altoids, sketchbook, medication, sunglasses, earplugs, bootleg sonic keychain, Dib keychain. Likes list: Comics!!! (Reading them and naming them), Music (current favs: Will Wood, Ghost, Gorillaz), D&D, having an emotional support beverage at all times (usually coffee, sometimes tea), celebrating Halloween year-round, Shadow the Hedgehog, Snakes, Planes, Nature, Robots, Pirates, Rollerskates. Dislikes list: overstimulation, overthinking, overwhelm, understimulation, spiders, tomatoes.

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Aug 11

Ideal day ✨

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Aug 9

If you see this, post a redhead

FINALLY!! Dante’s time to shine ✨

#art #vampire #comics

Digital drawing of Dante (left), a tall vampire man with long ginger hair, slouching, hands in pockets, and Simon (right), a shorter, stouter man with salt and pepper hair and a curled mustache. Dante wears black drawstring shorts, black socks, black earphones around his neck, a black T-Shirt with a drawing of a vampire saying the Will Wood lyric “if anybody needs me I’ll be in my coffin.” Simon wears a green shirt with a Legend of Zelda symbol on it, khaki cargo shorts, brown Birkenstocks, an eyebrow piercing, and small hoop earring.

A young vampire man with large bat wings on his back, long ginger hair, a red cape, and a shiny gold chestplate flies through the air of a burning old European city. He looks determined, eyeing something offscreen.

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Aug 9

Breaking news: Dante experiences a moment of happiness

Color comp for an upcoming moment in my script 💛 Sometimes I need to jot down sketches like this as memos alongside my script so I don’t forget the tone & motifs I wanna use in the visuals of a scene. #webcomic #vampire #thecostoflivingcomic

Digital painting - closeup shot of a vampire looking off to the side, with a small genuine smile. His face is mostly in a cool blue shadow, but the back of his neck is lit from the warmth of the lanterns at an outdoor festival.

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Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Aug 6

Friend of mine requested the boys in modern casual clothes so of course I needed to oblige ⚰️⚔️🩸 #vampire #zeldashirt #originalcharacter #webcomics #art #thecostoflivingcomic

Digital drawing of a Dante (left), a tall vampire man with long ginger hair, slouching, hands in pockets and Simon (right), a shorter, stouter man with salt and pepper hair and a curled mustache. Dante wears black drawstring shorts, black socks, black earphones around his neck, a black T-Shirt with a drawing of a vampire saying the Will Wood lyric “if anybody needs me I’ll be in my coffin.” Simon wears a green shirt with a Legend of Zelda symbol on it, khaki cargo shorts, brown Birkenstocks, an eyebrow piercing, and small hoop earring.

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Aug 6

Friend of mine requested the boys in modern casual clothes so of course I needed to oblige ⚰️⚔️🩸 #vampire #zeldashirt #originalcharacter #webcomics #art #thecostoflivingcomic

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jul 17

Comic practice & hypotheticals :) I love giving Dante big ol’ bat wings, but I still have to see how it would come up in the canon. #vampire #webcomic #originalcharacter

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jul 15

WAITTT this sounds so much nicer than trying to keep all those aspects in my head at once, I’m gonna have to try this 👀 I do practice dialogue like this but it never occurred to me to just straight up use this for my first draft

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jul 12

Words of wisdom from my BJJ coach that I will now be applying to all aspects of my life 🥋 #brazilianjiujitsu #jiujitsu #autobiocomic #art #doodle #sketch

Cartoon of me laying in the BJJ mat saying “Why is this the hardest thing I’ve ever done???” while my coach stands over me and says “Because you keep telling yourself it’s scary!”

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jul 10

Also this is great logline practice tbh. A great way to get some clarity on what your story is really about.

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jul 10

As someone who works in marketing, I still wonder how to do it for my own art sometimes, but this thread broke it down in a really simple & effective way 👀 you HAVE a cool thing, you just have to let people know why it’s cool!!

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jul 10

Dante is a bounty-hunting vampire trying to afford rent, doing all he can to run away from his old life.

But between a budding friendship with a goody-two-shoes knight, the rising threat of monster hunters, and the incessant whispers of Dante’s Sire in his ear, it’s getting harder to stay hidden.

A colored digital sketch page featuring a few busts of a scowling vampire in sunglasses, and a side view of the vampire and a knight staring daggers at each other, arms crossed.

A comic cover with a vampire carrying a coffin backpack. A red moon is behind him. Title text at the top reads “The Cost of Living.” Author’s name at the bottom reads “Keely Mikkelsen.”

Colored digital sketch. Scene on a fiery red backdrop. A large vampire with a body of black smoke and an ancient Roman helm obscuring his face smiles at offscreen destruction. A more human-like vampire, Dante, scowls with a feral expression at something off screen. His white shirt is messy and half-untucked, with blood splattered across the sleeves and frilled collar.

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jul 5

(CW:🩸) Dante Style Experiments! I like using a lot of styles, so I’m seeing how I might be able to combine different things I like into one style. I’m excited to see how it affects the final look of the comic 👀
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#thecostoflivingcomic #digitalpainting #illustration #vampire #originalcharacter

Digital painterly style depicting a vampire looking back over his shoulder, baring his teeth. His eyes reflect like a cat, and long orange hair hangs messy over his face. He has two small scars on the side of his hand.

Digital painterly style with sketchy white outlines and sketchy red depictions of blood. A vampire looking back over his shoulder, baring his teeth. His eyes reflect like a cat, and long orange hair hangs messy over his face. He has two small scars on the side of his hand.

Black canvas, only using scratchy white outlines and sketchy red depictions of blood. A vampire looking back over his shoulder, baring his teeth. Long hair hangs messy over his face. He has two small scars on the side of his hand.

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jul 1

Learning combat for my comic is, uh… going well

(Jk I actually love BJJ most days, and I’ve improved a lot since I started 6 months ago! But takedown day leaves me so sore 😩)

Silly doodle of a blue belt in my BJJ class obliterating me with a double-leg takedown as a catch air in my last pain-free moments before slamming the ground.

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 28

Another work #ootd for a warmup! Got to revisit my old Gallery Assistant days to help sell at our shows this summer. Excited to get back to comic writing now though :)
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There’s suncatchers so we have nice office rainbows in the afternoon. 🌈
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#selfportrait #doodle #autobio

Self portrait digital sketch. Wearing a business casual gray blazer and pants, holding a laptop under one arm and coffee mug in the other. Wearing shiny silver oxfords, and rainbow lights shine on a blank wall behind me.

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 27

Thank you!!

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 26

Little self-portrait at my office :) I’ve been working part-time in marketing at an art school for about a year and a half and I really enjoy it. It’s been very chill, and I feel lucky to have this + freelance as the animation industry sorts itself out.
#selfportrait #ootd #autobio #doodle #sketch

Sketchy, colorful digital self portrait. I sit at my desk looking out the window to a Stellar’s Jay perched on a red Adirondack chair.

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Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 23

Something tells me this might not be their hay cart…

#thecostoflivingcomic #originalcharacter #myoc #ocart #sketch

Sketch of two friends hitching a ride on the back of a fast-moving hay cart. The stout knight on the left holds on for dear life, and the tall vampire on the right smiles and enjoys the thrill.

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 23

Something tells me this might not be their hay cart…

#thecostoflivingcomic #originalcharacter #myoc #ocart #sketch

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 20

What if Dante eventually wears his gloves less and his sunglasses less and keeps his hair down more to show he’s becoming more open and doesn’t care what others think of him… hmmmmm…. #ocart #myoc #fantasy #webcomic #vampire #thecostoflivingcomic #art

Colored digital sketch of vampire man with tattered black and red bat wings, long ginger hair, a gold armor chest plate, and all-black outfit strikes a defensive pose, looking up to some off-screen threat above him.

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 19

I don’t draw Branch too often since I’m working more on The Cost of Living these days but I still like the world building around this dude and wanna expand on his story someday #originalcharacter #ocart #myoc #art

Drawing of a slender gas mask creature in an all-black military-style uniform, cape blowing in the wind - he holds a cutlass in front of himself defensively. Background is hazy clouds of orange and yellow.

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 11

This has been one of my favorite things to grace my eyes and I always make anyone I know who has seen either of these shows read this too

Joe Chouinard @joechoui.bsky.social · Oct 18

My old 16-page comic where Frasier meets Columbo can be read on my website: joechouinard.com/columbo

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 8

Had a nice sendoff dinner in my grandparents’ backyard before the new buyer moves in. Spent nearly everyday after school here as a kid ❤️ (this basic uniball pen is so buttery to draw with actually) #pleinair #inksketch #sketchbook

Pen sketch of a gazebo in a lush backyard. The gazebo is reflected in wavy lines on the surface of a pool.

Pen sketch of an elegant light on a chain, hanging in front of a wall of jasmine.

Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jun 7

Single-layer cooldown painting to help me practice, since I’ve been getting more into traditional acrylics lately.

Feat. Dante because he consumes my brain.
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#thecostoflivingcomic #vampire #digitalpainting #ocart #procreate

Painterly digital art of a vampire character on an orange background, using only midtone to light values, holding a hand against a wall, streaking some blood behind him. He wears round sunglasses, a red cape, and fancy black and white clothes.

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Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · May 31

I forgot I did these Quincy sketches! Her design/vibe still feels like it’s missing some last puzzle piece but it’s getting there. #thecostoflivingcomic #monsterhunter #vampirehunter #myoc #art #webcomic #graphicnovel

Digital sketch page of a young, serious-looking monster hunter woman. She wears an all-black, clean, uniform-style coat and a wide-brimmed hat. She carries 2 silver daggers across her back, 1 wooden stake tied to her belt, and wears a cross necklace. There are 4 grayscale busts with serious expressions, 1 color bust with a snarky grin, and 1 grayscale full body sketch in the center of the page.

Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen

Alex Plante 🐀👑 @aplante.com · May 26

industry standard method of making comics

Andrew b. 🇨🇦 @andrewdoppelganger.bsky.social · May 26

*aggressively stabs paper with a ballpoint pen in a panic* oh god, oh god, I don't want to die!

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