Candice Broersma
LightNews LightNews
banner
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Candice Broersma
@candice-mantis.bsky.social
28 followers 65 following 53 posts
Book cover artist and currently developing the Shrumans card game.

https://www.candicebroersma.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Human or mushroom? The world may never know...

Pics from the Holiday Market in Iowa City. Fingers crossed that I will have a second show December 6! Freelance illustration is my main gig, but I would love to travel around to mushroom and art conventions one day.

#mushroom #mushroomart #iowacity
Woman with a mushroom hat next to a booth displaying mushroom character greeting cards and stickers. A booth displaying fantasy illustration greeting cards, stickers, and prints
November 15, 2025 at 11:33 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
See me and my mushroom artwork THIS Saturday at the Holiday Market in #IowaCity! Support human artists, small businesses, and find unique gifts!

Saturdays, November 15 & December 6
8 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Robert A. Lee Recreation Center

Image by freepik

#iowacityparksandrec #holidaymarket #holiday
Illustrated graphic with a red bird, Santa hat, and a candy cane with the event text including "November 15, Holiday Market, 8am-1pm at Robert A. Lee Recreation Center in Iowa City"
November 12, 2025 at 1:08 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Skeletons are seriously amazing! I sketched these in Clip Studio in my quest to explore Photoshop alternatives.

Clip Studio wins at:
- Liquify ability in symmetry mode
- Using liquify directly on canvas
- Organic Vector line drawing and editing
- Perspective drawing guide
- Timelapse

#clipstudio
November 5, 2025 at 1:44 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Made my first card game box prototype! Stop by Game Store Day at Diversions Tabletop Game Lounge in Iowa City on November 1 (tomorrow) for free play testing of local-made games, including my Shrumans!

#gamestoreday #mushrooms #mushroomart #gameart #illustration #mushroomart
Photo of a mushroom-theme card game box titled "Shrumans" against a background of grass and fall leaves. Photo of a mushroom-theme card game box titled "Shrumans" against a background of grass and fall leaves.
November 1, 2025 at 12:37 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Since my first public game testing of Shrumans at Diversions Tabletop Game Lounge, I have been honing my mushroom card game! The next one is happening Nov 1 on the inaugural Game Store Day. Prairie States Mushroom Club will be joining the fun!

www.diversionsic.com/events

#gamestoreday #mushrooms
Game store logo reading "Game Store Day November 1, 2025" Ad featuring artwork from the mushroom card game "Shrumans" with an anthropomorphic Ramaria rasilispora running and a Chorioactis geaster with a surprised expression. Ad featuring artwork from the mushroom card game "Shrumans" with anthropomorphic mushrooms on "action cards" including "steal" and "beetle bust". Ad graphic for Game Store Day featuring a hand clenching a wrench encircled by the words "improved game mechanics"
October 26, 2025 at 1:00 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Are you in town for the Iowa City book festival? Stop by the vendor hall for a sci fi/fantasy convention at the Masonic Lodge called ICON. Open to the public from 11am-5pm.

#iowacity #iowaconvention #iowacitybookfestival #icbookfestival #icon49.5 #icon50 #iowacityevents #iowacityart #fantasyart
October 11, 2025 at 1:28 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Happy #kidlitart postcard day! I am a fantasy illustrator doing creative illustration in publishing, advertising, and gaming.

Stay weird and wonderful like a somewhat feline humanoid fairy queen with a thistle sword!

#illustration #fantasyart #kidlit #bookart #fairyart

www.candicebroersma.com
Character illustration of fairy Queen Titania flying with a thistle sword, flowing gown, and long sleeves resembling insect wings.
October 3, 2025 at 12:58 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
My first tabling event for this fall! Come to a quaint sci-fi and fantasy con in Iowa City on October 10-11. Iowa City Book Festival is happening at the same time, so it's a 2-in-1 event weekend! Check out Iowa-icon.com for more information.

#iowa #conartist #iowacity #scifi #fantasy #fantasyart
Image of the outside of the masonic building in Iowa City with text above stating "October 10-1, Icon 49.5, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Half-Season Convention IOWA-ICON.COM"
September 28, 2025 at 2:52 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Did you know that you can paint with coffee? It works similarly to watercolor, but is more permanent once it's dried. Mix up cheap instant coffee with a little hot water and you're good to go!

#coffeeart #illustration #coffeepainting #animalart
Painting studies made with coffee featuring a demon-like sculpture, a pig head, and a lion. Painting studies and illustrations made with coffee featuring a cat wearing a victorian collar, a Weiner dog holding a tulip, and a bird wing.
September 24, 2025 at 6:05 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Here's a fancy witch for the fall season! I illustrated this for an article, trying out a simplified style (or, simple for me). Enjoy!

#witch #fallvibes #digitalart #illustration
Digital illustration of a witch on the right with a big fancy hat and Edwardian dress drawing with a feather pen and holding a magic wand in the other hand. She is enchanting coins to float through the air into a small bag being held by a magpie that is perched on a succulent terrarium.
September 22, 2025 at 2:02 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
I started at Iowa City's Natural History Museum with a mountain lion and a bushy-tailed mouse. I finished at home with a cat and mouse theme. It made me wonder if people can tell right away if a drawing is from life or from a photograph/2d image. Can you tell the difference?

#procreate #digitalart
September 20, 2025 at 6:30 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
I use 3D models to help with lighting the scene and some of the tricky aspects of perspective. Here is a look at some of my 3D reference so you can get a sense for my process! Also, I NEED you to see my flapper-inspired caterpillar.

#digitalart #illustration #fantasyart #bookcover
Alice from the book Alice in wonderland splashing in the pool of tears with the Red Queen looming in the background flanked by the painted rose trees and toadstools. The smoking caterpillar is sitting atop a toadstool to the bottom left of the Red Queen. Also trapped in the pool of tears are two crabs, a mouse, and a dapper dodo bird. A 3D model composite of Alice from the book Alice in wonderland in a splashing pose with the Red Queen looming in the background flanked by rose tree. In front of Alice are two crabs, a mouse, and a dodo bird with a bowler hat. Close-up of digital painting of a smoking anthropomorphic caterpillar made to look like a flapper from the roaring twenties sitting on a group of toadstools. Close-up of a digital painting of Alice from Alice in Wonderland with pink bob cut hair who is splashing in the pool of tears.
September 14, 2025 at 2:57 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
This is an oldie, but goodie! I did this digital painting as part of a reimagined "virtues series" and was fortunate enough to receive an award in the Infected by Art annual. I love reinventing classic mythological creatures like unicorns and dragons!

#digitalart #fantasyart #characterart #unicorns
Digital artwork of a blue elven youth with silver hair and a robe sitting in a meditation kneeled posture and being circled by two small unicorn-like deer. There is moonlight lighting the scene in a forest thick with vines and an ancient stone head in the background. Lotus flowers surround the elf and are falling from above.
September 13, 2025 at 6:30 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Iowa City has an amazing Natural History Museum that is free of admission and I don't go enough! Here are some crazy animal sketches I made in #Procreate. @pentacrest.museums

#sketchbook #procreate #timelapse #sketch #digitalart
September 11, 2025 at 2:04 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
I enjoy using Procreate the most for sketching this was my first try at drawing in Procreate. Somehow the execution is better than my more recent projects in Procreate which is confuzzling. Or maybe I just really like gargoyles!

#sketch #procreate #drawingstudy #gargoyles #gargoyleart
September 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
This is an interior illustration I made for "The Duchess and the Journey Under the Eternal Clouds" by Jeremiah Brennan. Airships for everyone!

#bookart #bookillustration #middlegrade #steampunk #digitalart #kidslit
Greyscale artwork of two young sisters in overalls holding hands at a low angle while looking up to see giant airships bursting through the clouds.
September 6, 2025 at 6:30 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Congrats to Thomas L. Martin's novel release today, "A Silver Cord". Here are the concept sketches! I worked with more stylization both at the beginning and final execution. I am learning the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach to maintain the energy in the sketches.

#bookcoverart #kidslit
Book cover concept art of a young girl with a staff facing the viewer with a shining string swirling in her hand that forms a window to another scene of a cloud inside. She has a dragon behind her and is flanked by a bear and a deer. There are otters and a woodchuck in front of her waist. Book cover concept art of a young girl facing the viewer with a shining string swirling in her hand. beside her is a cloaked figure and a whimsical boy holding a staff. There is a shining dome that takes up the background with the silhouette of a coachman driving several bears pulling a small carriage on top. Book cover concept art of a young girl facing the viewer with a shining string swirling in her pocket and holding a wood staff. At her feet are a bear, deer, otters, a woodchuck, quail chicks, and flowing grass. There is a swirling cloud behind her forming the face of a wolf looming over a distant city. Book cover of a young girl facing the viewer with a shining string swirling in her pocket and holding a wood staff. At her feet are a bear, deer, otters, a woodchuck, quail chicks, flowing grass, and wildflowers. There is a swirling cloud behind her forming the face of a wolf looming over a distant city.
September 3, 2025 at 12:44 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Part 1 of the mushrooms I found this summer and my desire to poke all of them.

#forage #mushrooms
August 31, 2025 at 7:23 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
I'm getting these Shrumans finished! Corals are done and I am getting through boletes. Here is a cute coral fungi!

 Follow me on my journey to make my Shrumans card game a reality. 🍄

Image credits:
© Alan Rockefeller

#mushroom #cardgame #shrumans #mushroomart #mushroomforage
August 25, 2025 at 2:33 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Here is a book cover I designed for Joyce Sherry. She trusted my departure of style from my typical portfolio and the result is an exciting new technique for my artistry arsenal. Congrats on a Booklife Editor's Pick!

#bookcoverart #bookartist #bookillustrator #fantasyart #bookdesign
Profile view of a glowing ghost woman in front of a crescent moon with the silhouette's of floating seagulls in the background. Below her are windswept trees overlooking an ocean horizon.
August 12, 2025 at 12:57 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Happy #kidlitartpostcard day! This illustration is for "A Silver Chord" by Thomas L. Martin that is part of an epic wraparound cover illustration. The novel comes out in September.

Middle grade fantasy is my jam!

#illustration #fantasyart #bookart #bookillustrator #bookcoverartist
August 8, 2025 at 1:25 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Happy Portfolio Day!

I am a fantasy illustrator for #bookcovers, #characterart, and #gameart. Open to projects needing a quirky assortment of characters and creatures. I create lush, artful environments from scratch.

Contact: candicebroersma.com

#portfolioday #fantasyart #illustration #animalart
July 9, 2025 at 5:59 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
My style of post is wait for a month and then toss in everything! You can see my sketch dump at candicebroersma.com/blog. I also have photos from my Istanbul trip. 🐈‍⬛ It has cats, so you’re welcome in advance.

#sketchbook #drawingstudy #watercolor #ballpointpen #drawing #urbansketch #travelsketch
June 29, 2025 at 7:06 PM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Hey friends. Enjoying Iowa City for the summer? Come see a wonderful collection of artists at Bitchin’ Market just across from the Farmers Market this Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Thanks to organizing from @bitchinevents!

#icevents #iowacity #downtownic #icevents #iowacityevents #greenhouse
June 13, 2025 at 3:53 AM
candice-mantis.bsky.social
Digital art of a cute mushroom character based on Ramaria botrytis, or Clustered Coral fungi.
May 20, 2025 at 8:26 AM