Keely Mikkelsen
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keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Keely Mikkelsen
@keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
600 followers 180 following 210 posts
Comics, Color Design, BG Paint, Visdev | Current: Illustrator @ PlayQ | Prev: The Sunflower Club, Digital, Nike SNKRS | CSUF ‘21

✨Open for work!✨

Portfolio | Socials | Shop: https://linktr.ee/KeelyMikkelsen
Contact: keelymik@gmail.com

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keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Jan 13
#meettheartist
Header: Keely (name), 26 (age), 5’2” (height), INFP, favorite colors pink and green. Left side: Full body cartoon self portrait. I have medium scruffy blonde hair. I’m wearing a short sleeve green collared shirt, black long pants, black ankle boots, silver octagon glasses. Middle: A green purse & contents (altoids, sketchbook, medication, sunglasses, earplugs, bootleg sonic keychain, Dib keychain. Likes list: Comics!!! (Reading them and naming them), Music (current favs: Will Wood, Ghost, Gorillaz), D&D, having an emotional support beverage at all times (usually coffee, sometimes tea), celebrating Halloween year-round, Shadow the Hedgehog, Snakes, Planes, Nature, Robots, Pirates, Rollerskates. Dislikes list: overstimulation, overthinking, overwhelm, understimulation, spiders, tomatoes.
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Sad aristocrat doing sad aristocrat things 🥀
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#ocart #originalcharacter #webcomic #art #illustration #digitalart
Illustration. A man with long ginger hair, baby blue vest, and ruffled white shirt lays beneath a tree in dappled light, fiddling with a small yellow flower, wistfully gazing at its wilted petals. Fresh, new flowers lay around him but go unnoticed.
January 23, 2026 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
trungles.com
Cartoonists, I’d love to hear your stories! For local resources, please check out @defend612.bsky.social
defend612.com
ICE OUT Cartoonists against ICE Calling on cartoonists and artists to tell your stories about the ICE occupation of your towns and cities! *4-panel comics* *3:4 Instagram format* Use this Blue: *There is a color drop block of blue to copy * Use these hashtags: #iceout[your city] #iceoutmpls #iceoutcomics
January 16, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
maryrobinettekowal.com
If you're a writer, wondering why you should bother writing with the world on fire. It feels like it's not important, I need you to understand that it is.

Even if it is just because it keeps you moving forward? Even if it only brings YOU joy, that gives you energy to fight & survive.
January 16, 2026 at 3:48 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
A secret santa gift I made for my wonderful friend Dash Najarian (who still needs a bsky account). This is his character Fishboy, a delightful druid/cleric on a quest to find his mom in my pirate-themed DnD campaign 🐟🌊⛵️

#dndcharacterart #gameart #illustration #art
Illustration of a humanoid orange carp with a determined grin, weilding a sword, riding a dolphin amongst a pod of dolphins.
January 5, 2026 at 9:22 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Had to ring in the new year with my guy Dante 🦇 I started noodling on this drawing back when I was listening to Your Idol on repeat #vampire #ocart #webcomics #art
Digital illustration. Dante, a vampire in fancy aristocratic clothing and dark round sunglasses, looks up, frustrated, to his mysterious, smirking, Sire - body of swirling black smoke, donning an old Roman helm covering his eyes. The smoke trails into a circle that loops around Dante’s neck.
January 3, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
If you see this, post a magic user

Virgil’s my favorite dnd character but I can’t let him know that lest his ego grow even more powerful ⚡️

#warforged #cleric #dungeonsanddragons
Virgil, A Warforged cleric with a slight build, stands in purple and black robes and a wide-brimmed black hat, with an arrogant smile. He readies a ball of lightning in his left hand, and rests a pointed metal staff over a shoulder in his right hand. He wears pointed black boots with a wing coming of of the back.
December 12, 2024 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Hi new folks!! I’m Keely, I do illustration, comic color, color design & bg paint 🎨

My current main project is my webcomic/graphic novel, The Cost of Living! It’s a WIP but you’ll definitely be seeing a lot of Dante (🧛‍♂️) & Simon (🗡️🛡️) here. Enjoy a little sampler, if ya like!👇
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social Keely Mikkelsen @keelymikkelsen.bsky.social · Aug 25
Stand-alone 2-pager for The Cost of Living!
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If you like to laugh and cry about 🪦 and if you want to watch a vampire try to afford a down payment on a house, you should check out my webcomic when it comes out 👀
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#webcomics #comic #originalcharacter
December 12, 2024 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Got permission to share some of my work on Treasure Party! ❄️ These were the first pieces I painted when I started in October.

Treasure Party is a Match 3 mobile game, and I help illustrate the collectible cards in game.

Layout & Art Direction: Mike Morris

#illustration #digitalpainting
Snowball fight! Treasure Hunter girl in winter clothes, and her Shiba Inu, smile and run away from a barrage of snowballs from Ali and Lucky Louie. Treasure Hunter catches Ali and Lucky Louie in their snow wall hideout, aiming snowballs at them. Treasure Hunter in a fuzzy pink jacket hugs a friendly polar bear. Snowballs fly over a snow wall. The wall has two flags at the top, a four leaf clover for Lucky Louie and a magic lamp for Ali.
April 23, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Dante is a bounty-hunting vampire trying to afford rent, doing all he can to run away from his old life.

But between a budding friendship with a goody-two-shoes knight, the rising threat of monster hunters, and the incessant whispers of Dante’s Sire in his ear, it’s getting harder to stay hidden.
A colored digital sketch page featuring a few busts of a scowling vampire in sunglasses, and a side view of the vampire and a knight staring daggers at each other, arms crossed. A comic cover with a vampire carrying a coffin backpack. A red moon is behind him. Title text at the top reads “The Cost of Living.” Author’s name at the bottom reads “Keely Mikkelsen.” Colored digital sketch. Scene on a fiery red backdrop. A large vampire with a body of black smoke and an ancient Roman helm obscuring his face smiles at offscreen destruction. A more human-like vampire, Dante, scowls with a feral expression at something off screen. His white shirt is messy and half-untucked, with blood splattered across the sleeves and frilled collar.
July 10, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
dinolich.bsky.social
HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEENN!!!!!
My piece for @chosennamepress.bsky.social's fall issue (which rules btw)
#hellaween
October 31, 2025 at 6:11 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
See you at Lightbox! I’ll be there Saturday. Honestly I’m feeling very employed (and tired, on account of being employed) so I’m mostly going to see friends and enjoy art this year.

#lightbox #lightboxexpo
Cartoony self-portrait, with a lightbox logo in the upper left. I’m wearing a graphic tea of Will Wood’s song “Vampire Reference in a Minor Key” - a vampire sits and says “if anybody needs me I’ll be in my coffin.” I’m wearing a black and white squiggle abstract floral unbuttoned collared shirt over it. I have some pink round hippie glasses, a pink mini sketchbook, a pen in my hand, and pencils in my shirt pocket.
October 25, 2025 at 5:20 AM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
If you see this, post a redhead

FINALLY!! Dante’s time to shine ✨

#art #vampire #comics
Digital drawing of Dante (left), a tall vampire man with long ginger hair, slouching, hands in pockets, and Simon (right), a shorter, stouter man with salt and pepper hair and a curled mustache. Dante wears black drawstring shorts, black socks, black earphones around his neck, a black T-Shirt with a drawing of a vampire saying the Will Wood lyric “if anybody needs me I’ll be in my coffin.” Simon wears a green shirt with a Legend of Zelda symbol on it, khaki cargo shorts, brown Birkenstocks, an eyebrow piercing, and small hoop earring. A young vampire man with large bat wings on his back, long ginger hair, a red cape, and a shiny gold chestplate flies through the air of a burning old European city. He looks determined, eyeing something offscreen.
August 9, 2025 at 6:26 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Breaking news: Dante experiences a moment of happiness

Color comp for an upcoming moment in my script 💛 Sometimes I need to jot down sketches like this as memos alongside my script so I don’t forget the tone & motifs I wanna use in the visuals of a scene. #webcomic #vampire #thecostoflivingcomic
Digital painting - closeup shot of a vampire looking off to the side, with a small genuine smile. His face is mostly in a cool blue shadow, but the back of his neck is lit from the warmth of the lanterns at an outdoor festival.
August 9, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Friend of mine requested the boys in modern casual clothes so of course I needed to oblige ⚰️⚔️🩸 #vampire #zeldashirt #originalcharacter #webcomics #art #thecostoflivingcomic
Digital drawing of a Dante (left), a tall vampire man with long ginger hair, slouching, hands in pockets and Simon (right), a shorter, stouter man with salt and pepper hair and a curled mustache. Dante wears black drawstring shorts, black socks, black earphones around his neck, a black T-Shirt with a drawing of a vampire saying the Will Wood lyric “if anybody needs me I’ll be in my coffin.” Simon wears a green shirt with a Legend of Zelda symbol on it, khaki cargo shorts, brown Birkenstocks, an eyebrow piercing, and small hoop earring.
August 6, 2025 at 5:14 AM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Friend of mine requested the boys in modern casual clothes so of course I needed to oblige ⚰️⚔️🩸 #vampire #zeldashirt #originalcharacter #webcomics #art #thecostoflivingcomic
Digital drawing of a Dante (left), a tall vampire man with long ginger hair, slouching, hands in pockets and Simon (right), a shorter, stouter man with salt and pepper hair and a curled mustache. Dante wears black drawstring shorts, black socks, black earphones around his neck, a black T-Shirt with a drawing of a vampire saying the Will Wood lyric “if anybody needs me I’ll be in my coffin.” Simon wears a green shirt with a Legend of Zelda symbol on it, khaki cargo shorts, brown Birkenstocks, an eyebrow piercing, and small hoop earring.
August 6, 2025 at 5:14 AM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Comic practice & hypotheticals :) I love giving Dante big ol’ bat wings, but I still have to see how it would come up in the canon. #vampire #webcomic #originalcharacter
A young vampire man with large bat wings on his back, long ginger hair, a red cape, and a shiny gold chestplate flies through the air of a burning old European city. He looks determined, eyeing something offscreen.
July 17, 2025 at 7:10 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Words of wisdom from my BJJ coach that I will now be applying to all aspects of my life 🥋 #brazilianjiujitsu #jiujitsu #autobiocomic #art #doodle #sketch
Cartoon of me laying in the BJJ mat saying “Why is this the hardest thing I’ve ever done???” while my coach stands over me and says “Because you keep telling yourself it’s scary!”
July 12, 2025 at 2:48 AM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Dante is a bounty-hunting vampire trying to afford rent, doing all he can to run away from his old life.

But between a budding friendship with a goody-two-shoes knight, the rising threat of monster hunters, and the incessant whispers of Dante’s Sire in his ear, it’s getting harder to stay hidden.
A colored digital sketch page featuring a few busts of a scowling vampire in sunglasses, and a side view of the vampire and a knight staring daggers at each other, arms crossed. A comic cover with a vampire carrying a coffin backpack. A red moon is behind him. Title text at the top reads “The Cost of Living.” Author’s name at the bottom reads “Keely Mikkelsen.” Colored digital sketch. Scene on a fiery red backdrop. A large vampire with a body of black smoke and an ancient Roman helm obscuring his face smiles at offscreen destruction. A more human-like vampire, Dante, scowls with a feral expression at something off screen. His white shirt is messy and half-untucked, with blood splattered across the sleeves and frilled collar.
July 10, 2025 at 5:32 AM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
(CW:🩸) Dante Style Experiments! I like using a lot of styles, so I’m seeing how I might be able to combine different things I like into one style. I’m excited to see how it affects the final look of the comic 👀
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#thecostoflivingcomic #digitalpainting #illustration #vampire #originalcharacter
Digital painterly style depicting a vampire looking back over his shoulder, baring his teeth. His eyes reflect like a cat, and long orange hair hangs messy over his face. He has two small scars on the side of his hand. Digital painterly style with sketchy white outlines and sketchy red depictions of blood. A vampire looking back over his shoulder, baring his teeth. His eyes reflect like a cat, and long orange hair hangs messy over his face. He has two small scars on the side of his hand. Black canvas, only using scratchy white outlines and sketchy red depictions of blood. A vampire looking back over his shoulder, baring his teeth. Long hair hangs messy over his face. He has two small scars on the side of his hand.
July 5, 2025 at 4:50 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Learning combat for my comic is, uh… going well

(Jk I actually love BJJ most days, and I’ve improved a lot since I started 6 months ago! But takedown day leaves me so sore 😩)
Silly doodle of a blue belt in my BJJ class obliterating me with a double-leg takedown as a catch air in my last pain-free moments before slamming the ground.
July 1, 2025 at 5:38 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Another work #ootd for a warmup! Got to revisit my old Gallery Assistant days to help sell at our shows this summer. Excited to get back to comic writing now though :)
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There’s suncatchers so we have nice office rainbows in the afternoon. 🌈
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#selfportrait #doodle #autobio
Self portrait digital sketch. Wearing a business casual gray blazer and pants, holding a laptop under one arm and coffee mug in the other. Wearing shiny silver oxfords, and rainbow lights shine on a blank wall behind me.
June 28, 2025 at 8:08 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Little self-portrait at my office :) I’ve been working part-time in marketing at an art school for about a year and a half and I really enjoy it. It’s been very chill, and I feel lucky to have this + freelance as the animation industry sorts itself out.
#selfportrait #ootd #autobio #doodle #sketch
Sketchy, colorful digital self portrait. I sit at my desk looking out the window to a Stellar’s Jay perched on a red Adirondack chair.
June 26, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Keely Mikkelsen
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Something tells me this might not be their hay cart…

#thecostoflivingcomic #originalcharacter #myoc #ocart #sketch
Sketch of two friends hitching a ride on the back of a fast-moving hay cart. The stout knight on the left holds on for dear life, and the tall vampire on the right smiles and enjoys the thrill.
June 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
Something tells me this might not be their hay cart…

#thecostoflivingcomic #originalcharacter #myoc #ocart #sketch
Sketch of two friends hitching a ride on the back of a fast-moving hay cart. The stout knight on the left holds on for dear life, and the tall vampire on the right smiles and enjoys the thrill.
June 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
keelymikkelsen.bsky.social
What if Dante eventually wears his gloves less and his sunglasses less and keeps his hair down more to show he’s becoming more open and doesn’t care what others think of him… hmmmmm…. #ocart #myoc #fantasy #webcomic #vampire #thecostoflivingcomic #art
Colored digital sketch of vampire man with tattered black and red bat wings, long ginger hair, a gold armor chest plate, and all-black outfit strikes a defensive pose, looking up to some off-screen threat above him.
June 20, 2025 at 8:15 PM