Artist Feature: Chela
“Finished is better than perfect. Beating yourself up over perfection isn’t productive!”
Chela and her partner Mandy live in Portland with their cat Juju and hamster Poppy! Chela prefers warm weather, so moving to California is their ultimate goal.
How long have you done art? What mediums have you tried?
I’ve been drawing since I was a little kid. I’m mostly self-taught with the help of youtube tutorials here and there. I used to do a lot of cosplay in the past and stopped drawing for awhile but when I got my hands on an ipad, I started back up! It’s nice to not have to buy supplies to keep drawing. Copic markers get expensive!
How would you describe your style?
I typically use heavily saturated colors and lean toward warm tones. I’m really into sunsets and summer life and I think that comes across in a lot of my artwork, primarily with Hermes since I crush on him so hard. I also like to hide my signature within my artwork. Sometimes it’s hidden in plain sight, but other times I get really creative and sneaky with it. I don’t know what made me start doing it but it’s become my “thing” now and I have a lot of fun with it.
Tell us your Lore Olympus story.
My girlfriend started reading and pressured me to read it too. I eventually gave in and fell in love with Hades and Persephone and was drawing them almost exclusively at first. The obsession quickly evolved into Hermes and now I can’t stop drawing that sexy red boy. Thanks to this fandom, I have met some of my most favorite people in the world and my Discord has become such a wonderful little family.
How has fan art changed your style or helped you grow?
I’ve always been a fan artist. I started as a little kid drawing from my Sonic the Hedgehog comics, but when I got into Anime, that was the real fan art explosion. My style has been evolving my entire life but up until recently, it’s always been very anime-based. Drawing from Lore Olympus helped me open up to a more cartoony style. There is less pressure for perfection and anatomy when the style is more loose, and it helped me work more quickly. Even though I started off trying to replicate the canon Lore Olympus art style, I think I still wound up somewhere unique and my own.
Which Lore Olympus fan art are you most proud of and why?
There are a few I am very proud of that are NSFW and therefore aren’t suitable to share here, but I recently re-drew an old drawing from a year ago, and it’s a pretty cool comparison to see how far I’ve come in just one year. The original was my first time drawing several of those characters, whom by now, I’ve drawn a dozen times over!
If you could body snatch one LO character for a day, who would it be?
Persephone. Everyone wants to boink that girl and there are a few Gods on my list ;)
Do you have any goals or aspirations for your fan art?
I just want to live a humble life doing what I love. What I love tends to shift mediums frequently, but as long as I can make a living that supports my tiny family, I’ll be happy :)
Any advice for someone looking to build their art skills?
Finished is better than perfect. Beating yourself up over perfection isn’t productive!
Chela and her partner Mandy live in Portland with their cat Juju and hamster Poppy! Chela prefers warm weather so moving to California is their ultimate goal. She spends her days drawing and chatting in discord with some of her favorite people! Aside from Lore Olympus, Chela enjoys Beetlejuice, Britney Spears, Horror Movies, Anime, Broadway Musicals, Overwatch and various other video games. She has logged too many hours into her Animal Crossing island during this pandemic and is sort-of ashamed to admit it. Follow Chela on: