Eden Celeste
Greetings!
I am a storyteller at heart. My life is a tapestry woven with narratives: I pen (unpublished) short stories, conjure heroic tales while painting fantastical portraits, craft epic campaigns for my role-playing games, and imbue life into memories by painting favorite bottles of wine and people’s beloved pets. I delve into the stories of the users I design for, and I imagine the lives of those who walked before me in the ancient ruins and landscapes I explore. While these expressions may differ, each is a unique story I feel compelled to share.
Explore My Work
Blog Articles
A Book for Jadwiga
In late 2022, I took part in organizing a special project. Our aim was to create a book filled with art, words, advice, and inspiration to celebrate Jadwiga’s joint Laurel and Pelican elevation. Talented artists from the US and Canada, all of whom have been inspired by Jadwiga, contributed a…
A Selection of Charter Paintings
I love to paint charters (or, as I like to call them, “Medieval Coloring Books”). Here are a selection of charters over the last few years that I embellished and painted and liked well enough to photograph. A few of them I even designed.
Vicounty for Antione and Katherine
I was the Summits Royal Scribe for the Reign of Antione and Katherine. At the end of their reign I wanted to make them something special as their Vicounty “scrolls”. The idea was to create a triptych, such as some religious iconography uses, so that they could display it or…
Some Other Custom Artworks
Joint Project – Custom Scroll based on Judith Beheading Holofernes. I do a lot of custom SCA scrolls. If it involves painting, and I have reference material and don’t have to do the design, I can create it very fast. This is why my husband, Michael, and I are such an…
Augmentation of Arms for Duchess Signy
After the success of my first Augmentation of Arms, I was asked to create a second one for the outgoing King’s wife (who has reigned as Queen multiple times, but was taking a break during that run). I was provided the name, a bit about the recipient (late period, french),…
Augmentation of Arms – Tolkein Inspired
This year I was given the opportunity to create two Augmentation of Arms scrolls for worthy recipients. The first was a very custom piece for a recipient who had been in the SCA for decades and was known to be a huge Tolkien fan. After a series of discussions with…
A Grace of Blossoms
In the middle of January I was asked if I could make something special for my friend and mentor, Her Grace, Hlutwige. Those who know Hlutwige know that she’s been insanely active within the SCA for many years in just about every aspect of the society. As such, she has…
Oil Techniques of the Italian Masters
Process Techniques for Athenaeum 2021 Goal I have been a painter all my life, focused on portrait paintings. In the mid-2000s I studied Rembrandt and did several portraits in his style, but I always used modern materials. When I got into the SCA’s scribal arts I wanted to learn about…
The art of requirements gathering and stakeholder buy-in. OR… even creating art for my niece can be a job skill
My niece turned 13 this year and she had a special birthday request for me: would I do a piece of art for her of a Manga character she created? I have created hundreds of pieces of custom art for clients over the years so I immediately switched into Job…
Creating a Successful Art Collaboration
Tips and example for working collaboratively on art projects.
My Journey
As a child, when asked about my future aspirations, I’d confidently declare, ‘Rich!’ followed by ‘Book Illustrator,’ blissfully unaware of the potential disconnect between those two goals.
My journey into the working world has been anything but linear. Starting out in temp office work, I quickly moved into production graphics, vehicle photography, a pursuit of my book illustration dream, and ventures into product management and marketing.
Through these experiences, I’ve learned a few crucial things:
- I thrive in a computer-based environment.
- While deeply fulfilling, my passion for painting proved unsustainable as my sole income source, ultimately dampening my artistic enthusiasm.
- Engineers, brilliant in their own right, often approach interface design with a perspective that can be challenging for non-technical users.
These realizations led me to my current career path as a Staff Product/UX Designer, a role that perfectly blends creativity with analytical thinking. I’m fortunate to have a position that allows me to leverage my fascination with psychology and user empathy, combined with my understanding of business needs. I define product requirements and translate them into designs that are both user-friendly and developer-friendly. This allows me to maintain a healthy work-life balance, leaving ample room for pursuing my personal passions – studying historical art techniques and creating a diverse range of arts and crafts.
Design Tools
- Figma
- Miro
- Axure XP
- Adobe XD
- Balsamiq
- Procreate
Program Suites
- Atlassian
- Adobe
- Microsoft
Platforms
- Web Apps
- Mobile
- Windows
- Mac
Painting
- Oils
- Acrylic
- Watercolor
- Digital
- Gouche
What People Are Saying
“Eden displays superior organizational skills and razor-sharp understanding of the technical requirements of any project she works on.”
“(Eden) may arguably be the most important person to the applications we built. The velocity, precision. and details of her work was remarkable.”
“Eden’s knowledge, professionalism, dedication to providing the highest level of detail and meticulous care with her work, and thoughtful application of UX principles sets her apart from even the most skilled of (others I have worked with).”
“Eden took my rambling description of a character I wanted, boiled it down to an easy to conceptualized list, then sketched out rapid designs. Before I knew it, I had exactly the picture I dreamed of!”
“…(Eden) gifted us with two exquisite portraits of our goodest girl. She captured her sweet face perfectly!”