To keep up with Dylki, you can follow on Twitter or his Warframe Forums Fan Art thread!

Hello, thank you for taking part in Warframe’s Community Spotlight! To start things off, can you introduce yourself?

It’s a pleasure and an honour to be here with you today! Online, I go by the moniker of Dylki! Other than a Tenno and lover of adventure games, I’m a small-time animator and fan-artist of Warframe content! >w<

What drew you to Warframe? How long were you playing before you started your fan art journey as well?

I first encountered Warframe when I saw an old friend of mine playing it. I went up to him and asked ‘oh what’s this’ and he said ‘oh this is good stuff.’. He introduced me and my brother to Warframe, and we played together for quite a long time! Recently he dropped the game due to his busy lifestyle, but I really did enjoy the times we had together! He was a Hydroid main, and always made droll quips regarding tentacles.

I joined the Tenno back when Equinox was still new, and I only started making Warframe fanart two years later, in April 2017! I had seen a lot of Warframe fanart by that point, and I was inspired by some of the more unique art styles I had encountered!

Do you have a long history of art and animation or is it just something you’ve picked up as a hobby?

I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember! In bygone ages I used to draw a lot with my brother. We were fixated with drawing, and spent most of our free time making comics together! We both used simple shapes and lines to draw our characters, but nobody really liked that style. We were always told to ‘grow up’ and ‘start drawing for real.’

It was only in recent years that I revisited some childhood cartoons and noted how so many characters were drawn with simple shapes and lines. I realized that my preferred style of drawing was more aptly suited for animations rather than still-drawings! Me and my brother picked up the pieces of our past shenanigans and set out on a new journey. We watched a lot of cartoons by Carbot Animations at the time. I became obsessed with their simplistic art style that was so close to home! I taught myself how to animate from watching their videos. Other than searching up basic animation tutorials, I’d run their videos at minimum speed, then screenshot each individual frame before tracing over them and trying to get a concept of the motion! It wasn’t easy, but I hope I’ve improved over time!

Can you briefly explain your process for making an illustration to people? From our past conversations I know it is quite different than the usual artist’s workflow.

It would be my pleasure! I can’t explain every aspect of it, but I’ll endeavour to exhibit my workflow and thought process the best I can!

I use Adobe Flash CS:5.5 most of my drawings and animations, with a smoothing value of 42 while using my mouse, but that’s my preference!

Let’s draw everyone’s favourite cat, Valkyr! I’ve retrieved a picture of her, and I will start off by tracing her outline with a brush of a contrasting colour. Afterwards, outline her details, and you should be ready to start drawing!

Just kidding, scrap it. >w< That’s not how I roll!

The first thing I do when I want to draw something is ‘deconstruct’ it. Fundamentally, I look at an object and ask ‘how little do I need to illustrate this?’

I start off with a basic body shape. For example, a Nox would be an egg shape, a Norg would be a norg shape, and Valkyr is a humanoid, so I start off with a chibi body type.

Afterwards I pick out her most obvious features, mainly her faceplate and ridged forehead and sketch them on a different layer. Usually I go for head accessories and features because the head is the largest part of the drawing!

When drawing these details, I try to stick to basic shapes and lines as far as possible.

I’ve also drawn her collar, but I’ve depicted them as horns instead, based on what her silhouette portrays. After the main features I try to add some small details around her torso, before heading on to colours!

Following that, I redraw everything on another layer. I usually draw over my drafts 3-4 times, to make sure that everything is as smooth as possible!

Not much to say here regarding coloring, but I try to use more vibrant hues so my art looks brighter and cheerier!

Lastly I do touch-ups with some basic cel shading. This is still an area I’m rather inexperienced in, but I’m sure I’ll improve with practice! After this, the drawing should be complete!

If you absolutely had to pick a favourite Warframe, which would it be? Is your favourite Warframe to play also your favourite to draw?

Oh goodness gracious, the toughest question of them all…! Volt’s been my good oldie, Frost was always a reliable choice and Nova was my first love… but I think Valkyr takes the cake here!

She’s a tough nut to crack, and packs a huge punch! I’ve been through hell and high water with her, and she never fails to impress. Her melee-focused playstyle resonated with my love for close range combat, so she’s a blast to play!

Valky’s not my favourite frame to draw though, mainly because it’s tough for me to draw her from different angles. I suppose that’s another area I’ve got to work on!

Chroma’s my favourite to draw, because of his effigy’s face! After several attempts at simplifying his features I gave up and slapped a silly grin on the effigy and it seemed to work out! I felt that the effigy really embodied the spirit of simplicity and silliness that I was going for, so I’ve always enjoyed drawing him. Together, the menacing Chroma and his bizarre crackpot of an effigy make for an interesting duo!

You are very heavily involved in many aspects of the Warframe community, it is hard to enjoy this game long without seeing your work. What does it feel like to work with Warframe Partners like Xenogelion, or see your work as the forum avatars for many staff members?

The developer gifs started off as a simple doodle of a particular Sand Skate, then an Ember, and eventually, this little project slowly grew to include more developers, before it evolved into that appreciation thread! I’m humbled and honored to see my pieces as forum avatars of the devs, I didn’t expect them to like my stuff that much!

Bricky’s Atlas Fast Frame video, Dylki drew the thumbnail image!

Right now, I’m working with only two Warframe Partners: Bricky and Xenogelion. It was my first experience with commission work, and they were exceptionally accommodating of me and my endless shenanigans! Working with these two talented and patient people has been an eye-opening experience for me, and one of great happiness too. I’m actually a longtime fan of Bricky, and it really was a shock and a great honor to work with a big-time YouTuber like him! I’ve grown closer to Xenogelion too, being in the same alliance, and I must say his charisma and jollity go as far as his love for all things Oberon!

Xenogelion’s Mag Troll Build video, Dylki drew the thumbnail image here too!

My experience working with Warframe Partners like Xeno and Bricky has been utterly blissful so far, I do hope to collaborate with more Partners in the future!

I think we can now count two times you’ve drawn Steve’s demise at the hands of Lephantis/The Hemocyte... what do you have against Steve and his pink shorts?

I have nothing against Steve! He’s such a charming fellow! OnO

The joke started long ago when I saw him post a test video of how large A.I. would function in The Plains, and I made a silly gif detailing what would happen if the level 9999 Lephantis trod on him.

I don’t recall him saying anything, so I thought he didn’t mind the little joke..!

In the anniversary collage I made, I included a reference to that animation, my first post on Twitter, as a little tribute. I included Steve’s demise at the feet of Lephantis as an echo of the previous artwork, but both times I meant no harm, honestly! >n<

What is next for you, Dylki?

Well, I’ve had my hands full for the past few weeks, so nothing too soon….but when I get back on track, you can expect to see a few more comics, a short animation, and possibly some art featuring new content added with the Beasts of the Sanctuary update. I might also give streaming a shot too~!

I do plan to practice my shading and perspective drawing skills, so you’ll be seeing a bit more still-pictures instead of gifs from me this year!