Fires shimmering in the night-they glisten and glow. Inviting me closer, yet promising ruin. So much lies in the dark, will I find you there? A warmth where you were, now cold in my hands. Yet her eyes, like piercing orbs of flame- they glint just past my reach. Her memory drifts, a flash, and then gone. I fear letting her go. I fear her forever embrace. At the precipice, tipping in- it’s her or me.

For me, commissioning artwork is very much a journey vs the destination sort of thing. Now obviously this is a fantastic destination, but hey, that probably means the journey was pretty damn good!

I had the privilege of working with Lili to get this piece from the crazy nebulous space that is the client's mind(uh, yeah, mine) to hers, to the "paper." She really puts it better than I ever could below.

Thank you Lili, for the journey.

Which part did you enjoy the most?

"I think I had the most fun coloring the skirt and the boots. Skirts and ruffles are very zen to paint and shiny materials are the same for me. You know you can probably BS both and they'll still look pretty good, so actually giving it your all does wonders! XD Honorable mention goes to the 2nd version of the fire moon, which was a pain but so pretty as it emerged from the brush that I just pushed through the difficulty of it determined to make sure it looked excellent."

Did you find yourself resonating with certain aspects of this piece?

"Her expresion was a struggle, but when I got the final rendition sketched and I looked into her face I was like "that's the one!" Expressions make or break a piece, especially mine. So working around the face I felt really confident I would have a good result in the end. If you can get the face to hit, you're either going to want to make the rest great to match, or you're at least certain you won't be dragging the rest of the work down. TL;DR nailed the face, was really happy with that."

How long did this piece take?

"Eheheh. I didn't keep track, but I would estimate about 40 hours of total work, 3-4 hours a day. But that includes the three sketches I didn't end up keeping and the wings, hair, and fire that all got done and then re-done. I didn't have any major struggles or hiccups! But it's a complex piece, so there were times I literally had to break big parts into smaller ones just to keep track of what was thoroughly gone over and what still needed lots of detailing."

How did you feel after completing this commission?

"Just really excited to finally deliver it knowing it was my best. I always feel bad taking a little longer than intended but I don't goof off, so I gotta just calm down and work as I can. Several times during the process I wanted to share a WIP but I was worried it wouldn't give a good impression of the final. I gotta work on that! But it made me hustle a bit more when it was getting further along. I don't think it would have gone so smoothly if I hadn't had an amazing piece of existing art by your partner to base the vibes off of, so I appreciated getting to sort of collab off another great artist."

How did you learn to draw?

"Drawing was an early childhood interest because crayons and copy paper are very cheap. My Dad repaired copying machines for a living so I had access to all the blank white paper I could ever need. I remember giving drawing lessons to my friends the mornings after birthday sleepovers, at the dinner table after breakfast. In elementary school I carried around stapled clumps of copy paper turned into comics about a best friend cat-and-dog duo named Spunky and Sparky who had adventures like "trying to get to the waterpark but we don't have any money" and "trying to make a movie but we don't have any money" (there was a theme emerging), and others. In high school I developed a Disney-esque style for drawing men and women but also constantly was drawing from life (classmates who fell asleep and wouldn't be moving too much, mainly) and fashion ads from magazines. No one taught me, I just was curious and kept practicing out of a compulsion, and getting better just happened. I always say what people call "talent" is often just "passion and effort, plus time". I'll never be the best, but that's totally ok! Someone has to be the tippy top and I am definitely not that girl who puts in effort to BE the tippy top, so I am sitting pretty, doing my best and enjoying the work I am lucky enough to get to do."

How has your "voice/style" changed since you started?

"It's constantly warping even today! I feel like I was more amateur but more consistent in my 20s, but now I'm trying so many different styles I couldn't tell you which one is "mine". I think what comes most naturally to me is semi-rough sketches, basic color blocking and shading, so whenever I do those things consistently my "self" jumps out. But I'm always trying new things that I think obfuscate that. I really want to have a "style" or "voice" and always have. I think I'm still figuring out what it is. I definitely want to have a "voice/style" that is better with things like shadows and stark lighting, but LOL -- skill issue."

Any closing remarks?

"This is one of my favorite pieces to date, lifetime, and that's crazy because I had multiple years before 2025 where I just couldn't bring myself to draw anymore at all -- so I had no idea I'd not only be back to it but better than I had been before. It seems like one really is picking up and learning things from taking in one's environment, even if you aren't actively practicing! So that's been an intruiguing part of coming back to commissions this year, but especially for this piece. It has multiple newbie challenges, including fire, which I'd still basically never painted in earnest before, and the stark contrasted lighting that comes with it.

I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to do this piece. When I was asked I was bowled over and humbled because I still didn't know I'd feel confident enough to sign off on someone getting my work committed to their actual body, but it gave my perfectionism a perfect excuse to run amok. I feel super lucky."