shel kahn
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portablecity.bsky.social
shel kahn
@portablecity.bsky.social
790 followers 590 following 660 posts
they/them • art director • visdev • illustration • comics • ttrpg
🏞️ • 🐦 • 🎨 • 🎸 • 🎶 • 🏳️‍🌈 • 💪
http://portfolio.portablecity.net • www.portablecity.net • stories.portablecity.net • sorcererscatalogue.itch.io
shel@portablecity.net
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portablecity.bsky.social
Crystal islands have been a running theme in my work for ten years now, and they are some of my favourite paintings. If you need something magical for your home this holiday season, you should check out the collection on INPRNT: https://www.inprnt.com/collections/portablecity/crystal-islands/
A gouache painting of a granite island with glowing cracks floating atop glassy iridescent crystals in deep dark water against a dusk sky.
November 6, 2025 at 2:48 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Another style exploration, this time based on a photo taken back in highschool of a shady downtown courtyard. I wrote more about the whole process https://www.portablecity.net/style-test-fantastic-skyscraper-reinterpretation/
A loose and soft digital painting of a blue shadowed courtyard formed by overgrown classical buildings and fountains; two people, one in renaissance garb and the other in a toga, look around warily. Golden light creeps in from between the buildings.
November 4, 2025 at 3:57 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
I love a moody supermarket shot and I should go out someday and shoot some for my own ref!
a gouache painting in a sketchbook of a person with a shopping cart backlit by a fridge section of a grocery store, with darker aisles and shelves framing them against the bright gold light.
November 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Gouache painting of a boat, based on my own photos from Newfoundland.
A photograph of a small gouache painting of a boat in dock at a small pier, white against a dark green slope that hides the sky. Tiny figures including one in a yellow sou'wester are walking on the quay behind it.
November 1, 2025 at 2:44 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
I think November, so imminent, may be the most occult month in my mind, at least in the northern hemisphere. Sorcery, magic, unearthly powers and more, springing forth from the dying ground as winter arrives.
October 31, 2025 at 3:31 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
We studied the Hawthorne method at school when I was really properly learning to paint, and as a collection of art truisms it was hit or miss, but one thing he repeated over and over stuck with me and still holds up whenever I'm feeling stumped:
Book cover titled "Hawthorne on Painting", Collected by Mrs.Charles W. Hawthorne; the cover is green with white text and a large abstract watercolour landscape in the middle showing an orange tree.
October 30, 2025 at 2:06 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Continuing to test drive different digital painting approaches in an effort to find something that is firing on all levels! This was based on my own ref photo from the northwest territories, which feels like cheating because everything up there felt magnificent.
October 30, 2025 at 2:03 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
This wizard tower was one of the most fun projects I've done to date, created to be enticing, magical, whimsical, and, in playmat format, a great place to tell stories.
A lisa frank level colourful cutaway view of a seven story wizard tower, each level with a different theme and wizard, nestled into a bucolic sunset landscape complete with giant tree, waterfall, and crescent moon with a sleeping face on it. A close-up of a wizard in green and orange and blue sitting on the stair railing reaching for a book. A close-up showing the whole top level of the tower, which is filled with astronomical instruments and huge windows, and a wizard wearing a hanfu-like outfit ink pink and dark green measures a map etched on the floor. A close-up of a wizard sitting on a rock, wearing blue, mulberry and dark green with gold trim, and glowing beads in their hair.
October 27, 2025 at 3:27 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Almost 25% of renting households across the whole province are considered to be in "core housing need" - defined by stats canada here:
a popup that reads: Footnote 63 Core housing need refers to whether a private household's housing falls below at least one of the indicator thresholds for housing adequacy, affordability or suitability, and would have to spend 30% or more of its total before-tax income to pay the median rent of alternative local housing that is acceptable (attains all three housing indicator thresholds). Housing indicator thresholds are defined as follows: Adequate housing is reported by their residents as not requiring any major repairs. Affordable housing has shelter costs equal to less than 30% of total before-tax household income. Suitable housing has enough bedrooms for the size and composition of resident households according to the National Occupancy Standard (NOS), conceived by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and provincial and territorial representatives. Only private, non-farm, non-reserve and owner- or renter-households with incomes greater than zero and shelter-cost-to-income ratios less than 100% are assessed for 'core housing need.' Non-family households with at least one maintainer aged 15 to 29 attending school are considered not to be in 'core housing need' regardless of their housing circumstances. Attending school is considered a transitional phase, and low incomes earned by student households are viewed as being a temporary condition.
October 24, 2025 at 11:18 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Two more style tests studying photos this time; i think I'm finding something reproducible with my current process that I'm excited about!
a soft digital painting of multiple girls in uniforms and bare feet climbing trees and standing in a creek, in browns, purples, greens and yellows. a digital painting with an inked line over it of a bunch of young adults talking to each other around coffee tables covered in beer and wine bottles; the colours are mostly red and grey; at the center a single girl is spotlit and she looks pretty disaffected despite how animated everyone is around her.
October 24, 2025 at 4:24 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
One of the creatures I drew for The Ghost Houses of Phylinecra - learn more and see the rest in the system-agnostic adventure here: https://sorcererscatalogue.itch.io/the-ghost-houses-of-phylinecra
a graphite drawing on toned beige paper of a horrible knotted up deep sea worm creature with fractured glass teeth in its circular jaw.
October 22, 2025 at 1:44 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
If we can't have dragons as pets, what about impossibly large bearded vultures?
A black and white graphite drawing of a person riding on the back of an enormous, t-rex-sized lammergeier in harness; the bird has its wings raised and beak tucked; the person wears spartan armor and is standing between the wings holding reins coming from the beak harness; in the background are looming stone spires, wispy clouds and two suns, one large and one small.
October 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
burst mode lake times
October 21, 2025 at 4:11 AM
portablecity.bsky.social
Style test screencap studies, nothing taken to full finish yet but it feels a fair bit like stretching old muscles to push myself out of my rendering comfort zone like this.
A loose digital sketch of a group of folks in futuristic sci-fi outfits mixed with contemporary stuff like ski masks, holding nonspecific guns, in the middle of a pause in an engagement; the backgrounds is vague and dark. the central figure is wearing an orange jumpsuit and has light skin and dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. a digital sketch, a bit tighter than the previous one, if a castle room with huge oversized pillars, small candelabras, tattered red banners, and it's lit by cold daylight I'm two big windows, one on either side. in the middle a small armored figure carrying a sword walks towards the camera.
October 20, 2025 at 1:45 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Finally wrapped up a big post on all this fantasy criminal underworld card art I did about a decade ago: www.portablecity.net/project-dark...
A Jack of Diamonds playing card but the jack is instead a digital painting of a scruffy medieval man picking a lock on an ornate chest designed to look like a church. Jack of Hearts card but the jack is instead a digital painting of a muscled indian woman with a partially shaved head and jewelry connecting an earring to a nose piercing; her arms are folded and she is looking sternly at the viewer. The Queen of Spades card, but the queen is instead a digital painting of an androgynous redhead wearing a navy blue skullcap and renaissance doublet with copper findings, holding copper stiletto daggers in both hands and one between their teeth, staring off to the side as if around a corner.
October 17, 2025 at 4:03 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
A sketchbook study practicing painterly portraits in gouache.
A rough painting in a sketchbook of a person with long dark blonde hair singing loudly into a handheld microphone against a blue background.
October 16, 2025 at 2:33 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Me these days
sickos yes meme but its a wizard and outside the window is an orb
October 15, 2025 at 8:55 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Then I took the two main materials from that study - the blue glass and the orange grapes - and did material studies of each, where you extrapolate a new simple form from the material information in the reference.
a slightly more polished digital painting of two rounded blocks on a grey background; the top is the same material as the golden grapes, the bottom one matches the blue glass.
October 15, 2025 at 1:19 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
I've been feeling rusty in my digital painting skills, so I loaded up all those fun new procreate brushes and did a quick photo study:
a rough digital painting of a couple blue glass bottles and some golden grapes in direct sunlight on a wooden tray
October 15, 2025 at 1:16 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
This past weekend I put together a post of things I've learned about soft pastels since getting back into them: www.portablecity.net/soft-pastel-...
A photograph of four wooden drawers, all open so you can see a little of each, holding colour-sorted soft pastel sticks.
October 14, 2025 at 6:22 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Happy #portfolioday ! I'm Shel, I'm an artist, art director, comicker, and more.

I do concept art, pitch package art, style guide development, and more, and I'd love to hear about your next project!

Learn more at www.portablecity.net/shel-kahns-p...
Created for Peculiar Path Inc.; A painting of a cluster of boats and ships in front of an oil rig; the centermost ship is an aircraft carrier; all have been converted into solarpunk living spaces with visible gardening and retrofitted elements. The sea is calm, the sky is blue with big fluffy clouds, it feels peaceful and hopeful and vibrant. Created for Numizmatic Games. A sheet of black and white line and tone drawings of pieces of landforms, ready to beincorporated into a procedural environent kit; all variations on layered desert rock structures; several are fully cleaned up, the rest are a little sketchier. Created for Chaosium. A black and white inked and toned lineup of five Gloranthan adventurers, wearing bronze age outfits and armor inspired by etruscan, scythian and sumerian clothing and technology. There are three men, alla bout the same height, with beards and long hair, and two women, one shorter in scaled maille with a braid, and one taller, in religious dress, with full etruscan hairstyle including crimped curls and a headband. All have tattoos showing gloranthan runes. Created for Hit Point Press. A digital painting of a strange goat-like creature with needles for feet and a visibly bad attitude, leaping towards the viewer, in a landscape of strange precarious stacks of stone. Behind it, a dusk sky with a bright moon, giving it a dramatic rim light.
October 14, 2025 at 2:46 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
Learning more every day about soft pastel! This knight and dragon each grew as I painted, when I realized how few small details I could wrangle with this medium. The glow, though? That was immensely fun to do in soft pastel.
A soft and painterly drawing of a green dragon curled around a stone ruin on a small rocky island with glowing crystals underneath; a knight in a red hauberk fends off the dragon's tail perched on a small rock; the ruins are glowing, the sky is misty blue, the water is dark purple.
October 13, 2025 at 2:46 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
One for the #sciart folks! A study from my own photograph of a great golden digger wasp on some goldenrod, in soft pastel on paper painted with watercolour ground (my new favourite way to add grip to my substrate):
a painterly drawing of a large wasp with pearlescent dark blue wings folded, huge dark reflective eyes, golden brown legs, and long dark antenna sweeping like a fancy moustache, standing and snacking on goldenrod blossoms against a soft, out of focus background.
October 11, 2025 at 3:07 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
I love taking a few supplies to a cafe and doing a thorough art session with friends - here's a spread from earlier this year, drawn by putting down flats first with crayola markers, and then layering neocolor ii crayons overtop.
A photo of a tabletop covered in markers, art crayons, and a sketchbook spread showing a drawing of a twisted tree, and another drawing of a large impossible castle in a pastoral landscape against the sea and a pink cloud-filled sky.
October 10, 2025 at 3:53 PM
portablecity.bsky.social
I painted this as one of three alien environments developed for Pillar of Fire; we focused heavily on using transformed scale to create an alien feel, while also being playful with colour and shape to keep things whimsical and enticing despite the strangeness.
A fantastical landscape snippet on a grey background, showing a magenta desert ecosystem with oversized fungal growths and impossibly steep hills; the ground splits and fractures like slate or ice sheets. The text label reads " ARID - scaled fungi - bacterial mounds - spiny land jellyfish"
October 9, 2025 at 2:05 PM