Author | Lightnews

Rachael Mayo

@rachaelmayo.bsky.social

74 followers 56 following 48 posts

I work as a mainframe computer tech to keep my cupboard full, but when I'm not wrestling z/OS I am a colored pencil fiend. My favorite subjects are dragons, space monsters, giant insects, and birdy-things.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Sep 25

OMG, your expression cracks me up!

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Sep 22

Thank you!

Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Sep 20

Three versions of Path Between Stars 5. All are still works in progress.

Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Sep 11

I was at work, in the ops center at the time. We had network monitors that suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree - lots of blinking red. Next thing I know, someone wheels in a TV and we watched the second tower hit. Live.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Aug 9

This is "Champion Floribunda". It is 5x7 inches.

Here's the final version of the fourth project in the Champions series.

The dragon is made with Prismacolor pencils and gel pens over a watercolor underpainting. There are many semiprecious stones and other 3D embellishments.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Aug 9

Here is a set of details from Yantra of Dubious Provenance 2 so that you can see all the lovely eyes.

Prismacolor pencil over an ink drawing.

Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Aug 7

This is "Yantra of Dubious Provenance 2". It is not a meditation aid, as the geometry is deliberately skewed. And it's made of bones, eyes, teeth, and wings.

I used Prismacolor pencils over ink to make this monstrosity. There are black agates, lapis lazuli, and manmade turquoise stones.

Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · May 24

This is "AvP: Dragonslayer". Finally finished after about 75 hours effort (drawing, inking, coloring). Prismacolor pencils over watercolor wash over ink drawing. Love me some monstrous details!

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · May 3

Years ago, a friend wrote an Aliens-themed "Three Little Pigs" fable in which neither piggies nor Big Bad Wolf came off well at the end...

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · May 3

Spot illustrations for Tremorworks Demongate bestiary. Today: Bakeneko, Baku (art director's notes, not historically sourced...), Cerberus, and Chalkydri. Made with Zig and Micron pens on paper.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Apr 16

Lineart done in 2013 for a DeviantArt contest. Mashup of TRON and the Firebird ballet's pas de deux. I colored it later with Prismacolors, then added circuit boards on a lower layer. The glow is a simple Photoshop effect.

Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Apr 16

Spot illustrations for Tremorworks: Demongate High bestiary, which included angels, demons, and other entities. These are four of the demons. I used Microns to ink them.

#ink #drawing #art #traditional #demon #angel

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Apr 7

There is so much color, shape, and style to nudibranchs! Fantastic creatures.

Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Apr 7

Thank you!

Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Apr 7

Thank youuuuuu!

Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Apr 7

I hadn't been consciously thinking about lionfish, but I see the influence now!

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Apr 6

This is the dragon design for the fourth in my Champions series. I haven't settled on a title just yet.

Prismacolor pencils and gel pen over watercolor.

Inspired by Mom's orchids and also nudibranchs.

#dragons #traditionalart #drawing

A very colorful, highly detailed, and rather psychedelic dragon floats through a misty, vague background. The picture is still a work in progress, in that the dragon will be cut out of the background and placed into a new environment where there will be 3D elements and a layering effect to make the dragon pop out.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Mar 24

That dragon is beyond cool... I love those crystal wings!

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Mar 13

This is "Dragons of Every Dawn: Rat". Yes, I've been busy this week!

#traditionalart #dragon #rat #mixedmedia #coloredpencil

A busy composition has a central figure of a red dragon that has ratlike features. Surrounding it are a variety of 3D embellishments that consist of semiprecious stones, metal beads, and acrylic tiles and rhinestones.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Mar 13

Finished version of "Champion Terrani et Vermiculi". Not my usual color palette, and therefore a good challenge.

#traditionalart #traditionalmedia #mixedmedia #dragon #coloredpencil #stones

This is a small-format project at 5x7 inches. A brown dragon is packed into the composition. It has finny wings in shades of gold, brown and orange toward the top of the picture. Its body is covered in plate scales like a desert lizard. Along the borders of the piece are a variety of color-coordinated stones such as aragonite, tiger eye, and jasper. Near the dragon's head is spiral ammonite fossil.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Mar 11

This is "Dragons of Every Dawn: Serpent". It will be one of twelve, all of them dragons based on the Chinese Zodiac.

Colored pencils on paper, plus gel pen and semiprecious stones.

#traditionalart #mixedmedia #coloredpencils #dragon #stones

This is an image of a yellow-green, scaly dragon with serpent overtones. It has frills on its dorsal ridge, hips, ankles, arms, and tail that resemble leaves. It sits in a composition that contains patterned scrapbook papers and numerous semiprecious stones. The stones are green, black, and yellow, and come in several shapes and sizes.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Mar 3

This is the third in my "Champions" series, and is still a work in progress. I'll be assembling a background with 3D embellishments soon.

Colored pencils on paper - among other things.

#art #traditionalart #coloredpencils #mixedmedia #dragon #earthtones

A dragon is packed into a 5x7 inch format. The dragon has scale/plates that resemble those of certain desert-dwelling lizards. But it also has a lot of fin-like design elements. The wings are rather finny. The tail is definitely finny. The artist was probably thinking of two things at the same time, so it came out as a mashup of desert and ocean. The dragon was colored with Prismacolor pencils over watercolor, and it has detailing in gel pens.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Feb 24

This is "Tapestry of the Vigilant", an image that comes from my "Dragon Adventure 4" coloring book. I've enlarged it to 14x17 so I could really play with the detail.

#coloredpencil #art #traditionalart #traditionalmedia #fantasy #dragon #featheredserpent #quetzalcoatl #colorful

A colorful winged and feathered serpent-dragon is the central image. Its tongue is sticking out, because the artist likes drawing tongues. Its feathers contain all the colors of the rainbow, but don't follow anything like standard avian morphology. Its tail has feathers of different sizes, and the longest of them curl across the bottom third of the picture. In the background are highly stylized leaf and flower shapes. The dragon was colored with Prismacolor pencils, and there are glittery gel pen accents and details. The background is a watercolor wash with salt mottling, and Prismacolor pencil to bring out the detail of the leaves and flowers.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Feb 21

These are "Path Between Stars 3" and "Path Between Stars 4". Stipple shading takes some effort, but I love the end result.

#ink #dragons #space #stars #flght #art #traditionalart #penandink #indiaink #stipple #drawing

A stipple-shaded dragon floats through space with its wings spread wide. Behind it is a top-view of a spiral galaxy painted with pearly white acrylic.

A stipple-shaded dragon flies through an abstract space. It is surrounded by a black border, which anchors the body parts, which are cut out. Behind the dragon and border layer is an abstracted star field that consists of silver acrylic painted onto black glitter paper. The dragon holds a small opal.

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Rachael Mayo @rachaelmayo.bsky.social · Feb 17

This is "Expressions of Light 19", which lineart was completed in 2022. I've added watercolor since then, but haven't gotten around to full color yet. I used Micron pens, then cleanup in Photoshop. ~15x15 inches.

#lineart #angel #wings #ink #fantasyart #art #costume

A humanoid figure dressed in semi-abstract folds of cloth moves through an abstract mosaic space. The figure is an interpretation of an angel. The figure has three pairs of complicated wings, or winglike forms, and very long, curly hair. The figure holds a sphere that appears translucent. Behind the figure and above it is a conglomeration of wings, petals, leaves, teeth, eyes, and spines - an abstract angel.