Artist Interview #1: Annalise Jensen

Howdy, everyone,

It is my birthday today and so I wanted to give you all a present—

Welcome to the first of a brand new series I’ve started for the newsletter! I’ve long recognized and appreciated how my books spread through the community thanks to the generous and infectious joy of visual artists who make fan art for my work. As a reader of queer fiction, I know it first hand—how many books have I picked up because of a scandalous bit of fan art? The limit does not exist.

The first artist I interviewed is Annalise Jensen! She’s an illustrator based in Australia and is known for a wide variety of sapphic art for fantasy and sci-fi novels and themed art books like My Liege, which is a kickstarter that just funded and Annalise is the cover artist! I’ve also been lucky enough to have some art of my own characters done in her hand. She’s also been working on a comic, Fairy Doll, which, along with its signature green-and-purple palette, features a hot/hilarious back and forth between two fairies Earwig and Juniper.

Whetstone and Forge members, read to the bottom for a bonus. 😘

Hope you enjoy and give it a share.

I’ll let you see the rest in her own words—and art. (Plain-text Q&A after the sign-off.)

And what’s the best way readers can support you and see more of your work?

So grateful for Annalise for being the VERY FIRST! INAUGURAL! artist of this series. If you loved the art you’ve seen, go check out Fairy Doll or buy some prints (I’ve got my eye on a Dyke Knights print, obviously).

Keep an eye out for the next interview, and until then…

Stay sharp,

C. L.

P.S. The plain-text interview is below.

1. Do you have a particular project or service you’d like to highlight for lovers of the queer arts? (Kickstarter, Patreon, Store, Game, etc.) 

Yes! I was recently a part of a queer knights art book and even got the opportunity to draw the cover for it. It recently was fully backed, but is still accepting late pledges until late August 2026. You can find the kickstarter here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/novaandmali/my-liege.

–

I have an ongoing webcomic about an aspiring knight and a horrible fairy princess. Its sapphic and silly and weird and horny, all the good things. You can check it out here https://fairydoll.the-comic.org/

I also have a patreon where I post wips and sneak peaks of my art and my comic Fairydoll. You can find it here www.patreon.com/c/annalisejensen.

2. What hobby do you maintain outside of your art?

I love to design and sew outfits. Cosplay or costumes; any excuse to create a new outfit. I especially love making couple outfits. My darling girlfriend is my very handsome guinea pig (as you can see in the photos she is very cute and dashing).

I think part of my love language is making things—and clothing—for those I care about. Learning how clothes are made also teaches you how to draw them better, and about what would be comfortable or practical for character design.

3. What’s one piece of advice you had to UNLEARN?

“Tracing and copying is bad”

WITHIN reason, it isn’t, and it is actually super useful! Of course, don’t go copying other artists' work and claiming it as your own. But tracing photos, copying poses, is useful and actually great at teaching you how to draw things! You want to learn how to draw a horse? Trace some photos of horses! You need to figure out what a hand looks like holding a stick? Take a photo of the pose you’re trying to recreate and draw that! I am not kidding when I say I have so many photos on my phone of myself making the weirdest faces or poses.

4. What artists are you “descended” from? As Austin Kleon says it, who is in your artistic “family tree”?

I get inspired so often, and by so many things. But looking back on my creative journey, here are a few that stick out and how they influenced me to enjoy other pieces of media and artists.

I love fairies and fae, even as a kid. I was the fairy party girl. And the horse girl.

-Winx Club 

• W.I.T.C.H. comics
  • The Dark Crystal, Brian Froud
    • Holly Black
    • Guillerm Del Toro
      • Silksong and Hollowknight

- Shirley Barber  

-The Last Unicorn

- Diana Wynne Jones

- Hayao Miyazaki (Ghibli)

Art Nouveau

• Alphonse Mucha
  • Sheilah Beckett
    • Moebius
  • Yoshitaka Amano
• Gustav Klimt
  • Arcane (Tv series)

Fantasy and Medieval and TTRPG

• Dragon Age Games
  • Dungeons and Dragons (learning to play)
    • Critical Role
    • Baldurs Gate 3
      • Ryoko Kui - Dungeon Meshi

Horror And Scifi. I inherited my love of movies from my mum. I definitely acted Alien at a young age. Could have attributed to my gay awakening….

• Annihilation
• Terminator 2
  • Love Lies Bleeding
  • There is a buff woman through-line here…
• Alien
  • Angela Carter
  • Tamsyn Muir
    • Caitlin Starling

Music

• Stevie Nicks
  • Kate Bush
  • Siouxsie and the Banshees
    • Evanescence
    • Placebo

5. What role does music play in your life? Your artistic process? What are you listening to these days?

Ohh, I love listening to music when I work, or making playlists for the projects I work on. Kate Bush and Placebo have always been big inspirations for me, they feel almost at opposite ends of the spectrum, but they each have such ways of portraying drama and emotion, and also an almost ephemeral quality. I can imagine either artist being played under a hill or at a faerie rave.

Though I find, when I really want to lock-in on an artwork, listening to new wave or goth music really helps. I have listened to many a playlist of eerie house music while drawing detailed comic panels. 

My problem is wanting to make animatics to any new song I become obsessed with. I have deadlines and comics to draw! I can’t spend all day on a 5 second animatic…unless? Okay I exaggerate a bit, but I have respect for all the artists who can do it.

6. Why is making queer/sapphic art important to you? And why is depicting queer/sapphic eroticism important to you?

In a world of computers slowly taking over creative industries, now more than ever, we need horny sapphic art. Computers can’t be horny; AI can’t yearn and crave; they can’t be deliciously messy and morally unhinged. But artists can. And should!

But that’s not the only thing. I want to celebrate queerness and sapphics and lesbians! I grew up with media that shamed that attraction or labeled it as evil or disgusting. So, I yearn to reclaim it; to create the art that might make other young queers go “whoa… thats me!” And go: “Are we allowed to do that? Are we allowed to be loud about our desires now?” Because, fuck yes!

Let’s be loud, and let’s have fun with it. Give me the messy lesbians. Give me the butch dykes who get bloody. Give me monsters and robots and swords and straps. 

At the end of the day, I really just want to bring joy and entertainment to other queer people. Art is joy, art is emotional release, art is being human.

7. Do you have an exercise routine/physical practice? How does that enrich the different areas of your life?

I have recently (the last two years) gotten into working out and going to the gym, and oh my god. Did you know, if you work out and do weights and gain muscles, you can use yourself as a drawing reference?? Yeah, it’s wild. If you try hard enough, you can actually be the hot baddie that art is inspired by? So weird. Weird and fun. My goal is to one day be as buff and cool as Julie Bell.

In all seriousness. I spend hours at a time at art, and it is so nice to actually leave the house and DO something with my human body. Turning off from the internet and social media, going for a walk or going to the gym and pretending phones and computers don’t exist. It's very freeing. I also love drawing muscular women so doing physical exercise or going to the gym is also great for research reasons….

Be Gay. Get buff. Make art. Easy.

8. What are you reading/watching/playing?

I have a very big stack of books on my bedside table right now, in various states of reading:

• The Works of Vermin
• Full Metal Alchemist (the manga series)
• Between Two Fires

I recently started playing ‘Elden Ring’, and oh boy it is such a beautiful game. I also recently finished “Sorry We’re Closed”, which is an indie queer horror game. It’s weird and queer and has a hot demon called the “Duchess;” they’re worth playing it alone.

9. Favorite book sapphics?

I love Gideon and Harrow and all the horrible queers in the Locked Tomb series. Those books really rewired my brain. Ianthe is the worst, but boy is she so entertaining. I also love Ead and Sabran from The Priory of the Orange Tree, a queen and her bodyguard? It’s a good trope for a reason. 

And of the books I have read recently, I adore Tilde from A Snake Among Swans, as well as Sayre from Fortunes Wake (yes, I’m mentioning one of your books). Give me conniving toxic girlies or gruff beefy ladies any day.

10. How does collaboration show up in your process?

Some of my favourite projects have been working with other artists and writers. I have organised two art books in the past, collaborating and directing artists to make queer fantasy art anthologies. It was such a dream! Who doesn’t want to create the books they wished they had as a kid?

I also love getting to work with writers and authors, and bring their characters to life. It’s so magical, being able to read such beautiful writing and try to create artworks that make them feel all the more real. I am also just a super nerd at heart, I love making art for books I love.

I feel like a dream project would be to make some sort of queer horror video game or animated movie, or comic with other creative people. I love making things! I want to make more things. More weird horny lesbians.