In Scandinavian and Russian folklore there's a story about the Deer Mother who carries the sun back to the northern lands after a long winter. I've always liked the imagery, and since I celebrated the Solstice this year I thought it would be fun to draw. Now the days start to get longer!

I got to go on a couple of amazing aspen hikes this fall and I've been wanting to paint something in that spirit, so here's a random lady on a reindeer enjoying the fall colors. Happy Saturday! #aspenmountains

Made it to 30 and 31! #graphicnovels #middlegradenovels

Here's one I drew for fun a little while back. Kayori rockin' out during a ceremony :) #middlegradenovels #graphicnovels

Pages 28-29. Finally made it to the part of the story where I get to draw all the plants! #middlegradelit #graphicnovels

Pages 26-27! #graphicnovels #middlegradelit

Pages 24-25 Hope you all had a happy 4th! #graphicnovels #middlegradelit

Condor Goddess A random sketch from the other day that I decided to color. #fantasyartworks

Pages 22-23! The up-to-date comic is available on my website: sarah-hickman.squarespace.com #middlegradelit #graphicnovels

Kayori pages 20 and 21. #middlegradenovels #graphicnovels

Pages 18 and 19! #middlegradenovels #graphicnovels

Sorry for the long hiatus, life's been crazy recently. Kayori puts his plan into action :) #middlegrade #graphicnovels

Kayori pages 14 and 15! #middlegrade #graphicnovels

Quick concept sketch of my characters walking across the Salar de Uyuni. If I ever end up visiting Bolivia, it's a place I definitely want to see. #middlegrade #graphicnovels

Pages 12-13. For some reason, when I moved everything from my laptop to my new computer, all the pages had a greenish hue to them. Hopefully my adjustments are working to counteract it. #graphicnovels #middlegrade

Next few pages :) #graphicnovels #middlegrade

The Acolyte A potential character for a future comic, and my first painting in the current Photoshop. I finally switched over to the cloud from my terribly out-of-date CS6 version. Not much of what I use has changed, don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing 🙃 #graphicnovels #underworld

Next couple of pages. Hope you all enjoyed the holidays! #graphicnovels #middlegrade

I always liked the styling for the dream sequence from the Prince of Egypt, so I thought I'd try something similar for the Elder explaining his plan. #graphicnovels #middlegrade

Doing a little bit of style experimentation just for fun. As a teenager I was obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Éowyn was one of my heroes. :) #rohan

Next set of Kayori pages, happy Monday! #graphicnovels #middlegrade

Some practice sketches for my Kayori characters from a while back. Happy Sunday! #graphicnovels #middlegrade

Finally posting my first graphic novel online! The story of Kayori follows a little boy's journey to save his village. I'll be posting every two weeks, but if you want to skip ahead you can always check it out on my website: sarah-hickman.squarespace.com #graphicnovels #middlegrade

Hi all, just moved over to Bluesky and I'm liking it so far! Here's an old Instagram post, but still one of my favorites :)