Kate Reamsnyder
Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned,
and keeps the rags of lordship one he owned,
his world-dominion by creative act:
not his to worship the great Artefact,
man, sub-creator, the refracted light
through whom is splintered from a single White
to many hues, and endlessly combined
in living shapes that move from mind to mind.
Though all the crannies of the world we filled
with elves and goblins, though we dared to build
gods and their houses out of dark and light,
and sow the seed of dragons, 'twas our right
(used or misused). The right has not decayed.
We make still by the law in which we're made.
- excerpt from "Mythopeia" J.R.R. Tolkien
A bit about me.
The small excerpt above reveals J.R.R. Tolkien's belief that inherent in each person lies the latent ability to create just as our Creator creates - in a word, sub-creation. This is the image of God in us. Thus, the creative acts of humans each display the power of God. In particular, the sub-creating act of world-building has ever fascinated me. To me, describing the worlds created by others in art-form is both a form of sub-creating as well as an appreciation of the sub-creations of others.
From a young age, I was surrounded by books and tales. My mother was a children’s librarian, so we read many a children’s book together, allowing me to soak up the art of children’s book illustration. I was constantly fascinated with how the illustrator brought the words and worlds of the author to life. This, along with the love of our own world – earth in all its fullness and detail – drove me to describe through line and color all the aspects of the worlds inside my books. Thus, I filled my time in elementary school putting the worlds of my favorite series onto paper, then acting them out with my friends.
Even now, my goal is to enwrap and immerse the viewers of my work into a fully realized world – believable and intriguing. Just as an author tells a story through words, I wish to tell a story, either my own or another's, through line, color, and form; I strive to make every facet add up to a complete experience which convinces the viewer that what they see is actually present in the world – magic included. This is my own little act of sub-creation.