Tessera

“Tol Eressëa” (watercolour, 2026) One of six new artworks I’m currently working on for a book about the history of the Elves to be published by Legendaria Ediciones.

Portrait orientation watercolour with a painted frame showing a hilly, wooded island with a harbour surrounded by a dark sea. Behind it are dark hills with a gap through which yellow and light-blue light is spilling. In the far background is a tall, snow-capped mountain with clouds clinging to it under a starry sky.

Sneak peeks at what I’m working on for @painlandweek on Tumblr. Feels good to be drawing Payneland again after spending the past weeks mostly working on Tolkien commissions for an upcoming book (which are fun, too, of course).

Photo of a sketchbook page with the list of Painlandweek prompts with dates, and two rough pencil sketches of the first two prompts (dancing together & sharing clothes) in the form of Polaroid-like photos.

Close-up photo of an ink drawing of Charles resting his head on Edwin’s shoulder. Both have their eyes clothes.

DBDA Uplifts @dbdauplifts.bsky.social · 2w ago

Longer bike ride yesterday (79km, 1050m of altitude gain): rode up to and along the range of hills between Hesse & Northrhine-Westphalia along Rothaarsteig, a long-distance hiking trail. Last time I was here, the hills were covered with firs. Drought caused by climate change and beetles killed them.

Photo of a stony trail though patchy first with some dead firs.

Photo of wooded hills with various kinds of forest under a cloudy sky.

Photo of a rough track cutting though a large clearing with some windswept firs and blue hills in the distance.

Photo of a mountain-bike leaning against a large wooden signpost showing various locations. The lowest sign says “Am Jagdberg, 672m üNN”.

Today we're putting a spotlight on the physical zine and Pins & Patches poster! The 260-page zine is filled with fan-works from 49 different contributors; the poster pays homage to the ones adorning the walls of his childhood bedroom. #CharlesRowlandZine #DeadBoyDetectives

DBDA Uplifts @dbdauplifts.bsky.social · 3w ago

Happy Birthday, Benedict 🎉 Here’s to another fifty years. The drawings are from the Screen, Stage and Social Change event for @compasscollect.bsky.social at the Barbican in late June 2026.

Test items? Arrived & approved! ✅ It's merch preview time! 👀🔎 Today we're highlighting our "Bag of Tricks" tote bag by Anke @khorazir.bsky.social & our trading card collection by various zine contributors credited on our shop and below! ⬇️ #CharlesRowlandZine #DeadBoyDetectives

DBDA Uplifts @dbdauplifts.bsky.social · last mo.

Our Zine Shop is officially OPEN. 🏏 dbdaupliftsshop.bigcartel.com We've included a shipping breakdown below, which you can also find on our site under "Shipping and delivery." Thank you to everyone who has supported this project. ❤️ #CharlesRowlandZine #DeadBoyDetectives

The team behind the project will be opening orders for the #DeadBoyDetectives Oracle Deck soon! We’re excited to be able to share all the hard work of the 43 talented artists and writers on this project.

Photo collage showing some sample cards of the oracle deck, the back of a card with a pattern of various drawings of skulls in greyscale, and two small canvas bags embroidered to look like ghost Edwin and ghost Charles.

I just submitted “Remote” to the #2DayFilmChallenge via FilmFreeway.com. This has been quite a ride (or dive, rather) ... Have some bonus Angie. #DeadBoyDetectives

DBDA Uplifts @dbdauplifts.bsky.social · last mo.

In a bout of insanity, I signed up for the #2DayFilmChallenge. Here’s a peek at what I’m working on. Had to sneak in a #DeadBoyDetectives reference, of course, with Angie the Anglerfish. Lots of animating, fine-tuning, editing and sound editing still to do. The 3-5 min film must finished tomorrow.

The rest of our Zine Merch Catalogue ❤️👀 #DeadBoyDetectives #CharlesRowlandZine

DBDA Uplifts @dbdauplifts.bsky.social · last mo.

Pins & Patches release day is fast approaching, so we thought we'd give a preview of everything our talented zine contributors and merch team have put together. Our Store: dbdaupliftsshop.bigcartel.com More below. See you on July 6th! 🏏❤️ #DeadBoyDetectives #CharlesRowlandZine

Ink, inkwash and pencil drawing inspired by the wonderful fic Please Put Down Your Hands (’Cuz I See You) by notthatperseus archiveofourown.org/works/87080026 #DeadBoyDetectives #SaveDeadBoyDetectives

Ink, inkwash and pencil drawing showing Charles kneeling between the legs of a seated Edwin. Charles is looking up at him while Edwin is looking down, touching Charles’s face with his right hand. Charles is resting both his hands on Edwin’s hips. Edwin is shirtless with a large wound across his chest.

Doing my duty at V&A East … #DeadBoyDetectives #SaveDeadBoyDetectives

Photo of a piece of paper and a stamp saying SAVE.

Photo of trays with sheets of paper. Some have drawings on them. The topmost sheet in the bottom right tray says SAVE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES above a drawing of ghost Charles abd ghost Edwin in coloured pencil.

Ink and watercolour illustration for chapter 2 of the wonderful Payneland and Palasaki fic How to Break a Dragon’s Heart by @starsandatoms, who wrote it for the DBDA Reverse Bang 2026. There will be another illustration for the final chapter. archiveofourown.org/works/873287... #DeadBoyDetectives

Anke Eissmann@khorazir.bsky.social · last mo.

Finished the ink lineart. Now on to the inkwash shading … #DeadBoyDetectives #SaveDeadBoyDetectives

Ink lineart showing Charles kneeling between the legs of a seated and shirtless Edwin. Charles is holding on to his hips with both hands. They are looking at each other. Edwin has a wound across his chest.

Pencil Payneland sketch inspired by the wonderful fic Please Put Down Your Hands (’Cuz I See You) by notthatperseus. Ink version coming soon. archiveofourown.org/works/87080026 #DeadBoyDetectives #SaveDeadBoyDetectives

Pencil sketch showing Charles kneeling between the legs of shirtless Edwin. Charles is touching his waist, while Edwin is stroking Charles’s face with one hand. They are gazing at each other.

DBDA Uplifts@dbdauplifts.bsky.social · last mo.

Must get a move on and begin drawing my piece ... #DeadBoyDetectives

We've been working with 15 incredible artists to bring you all another year of cases. 🔎 The next Dead Boy Detectives fanart calendar will be released this fall, 2026. Keep an eye on our socials for more information! 👀💙 #DeadBoyDetectives #TheGoodYouDo

Happy Birthday Kassius Nelson. Thank you for being our feisty, clever and resourceful Crystal Palace Surname-Von Hoverkraft. #DeadBoyDetectives #SaveDeadBoyDetectives

Ink and inkwash close-up portrait of Kassius Nelson as Crystal (looking to the left).

Anke Eissmann@khorazir.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“Ancalagon” (ink, 2026) Companion piece to my watercolour “Ancalagon the Black”. Both artworks were created for the 2027 Beyond Bree Tolkien Calendar.

Ink drawing of the dragon Ancalagon with folded wings

“Ancalagon the Black” (watercolour, 2026) The finished watercolour painting of Ancalagon the dragon battling a flock of seabirds and Eärendil aboard Vingilot in the sky for the 2027 Beyond Bree Tolkien Calendar. It will be accompanied by an ink drawing I’m going to post tomorrow.

Ink and inkwash drawing inspired by the lovely Payneland fic Switching Places by zilia. Have some cuddly ghost boys. archiveofourown.org/works/86107656 #DeadBoyDetectives #SaveDeadBoyDetectives

Ink and inkwash art showing Charles and Edwin spooning with Charles being the smaller spoon. Edwin is holding him and kissing his cheek, and Charles has half turned towards him.

Found this chap on the road during a brief bicycle ride today. When I was trying to persuade it to climb a bit of bark so that I could pick it up to prevent it from getting run over, it attacked first the bark and then my hand. But I managed to carry it off the road and to safety in the end.

Photo of a stag beetle in attack mode on a stretch of tarmac with a mountain-bike lying on the ground in the background and slightly out of focus.

Close-up of the stag beetle seen from above at an angle

Snatching some time amid all the end-of-term madness to finally draw Payneland again. This is a pencil sketch for a drawing inspired by the lovely Switching Places by zilia #DeadBoyDetectives #SaveDeadBoyDetectives archiveofourown.org/works/86107656

Pencil sketch of Charles and Edwin cuddling with Charles as the small spoon and Edwin behind him kissing his cheek.