Jenny Dolfen

Maitimo's fox (lineart)

Many thanks to my models: my daughter Jana, and the very distinguished cuddly wolf Spike doubling as a fox cub. 

Full week ahead

Lockdown teaching is very much going into full-on wacko mode, with remote and in-person happening at the same time. Unfortunately, it seems we haven't been cloned yet. Ah well. 

On the bright side, my daughter just appeared with an armful of stuffed toys and posed with cats, wolves (which can double as a fox), and falcons, as well as an imaginary fawn, so I do hope to scratch out some sketching time! 

Legolas' squirrel (finished)

Traditional goes so fast! I'm almost glad there is no original to sell for digital work - I'd have to charge three times as much as for watercolour because it takes so long! 

Procreate has reminded me, too, that I need to do more splashes. 

Watercolour and gouache on Fabriano paper, 30x25 cm. 

"Don't you miss watercolour at all?"

Yeeeessss.... a little bit. XD 

By the way, I am beyond grateful that nobody here has asked me that question. It's come so often on other social media - as if people assumed I'd just thrown all my watercolour stuff in the bin as soon as I had my iPad (throwing good money after good?). You apparently had faith I'd dig them out sooner or later. And yes, I did. 

Fun observation, though I had totally expected that: A foray into digital always means that I return to tradition...

Legolas' Squirrel

Modelled 100% by my daughter ("He even looks a bit like me this time!"), hair, bow, pose, and costume. I did correct her bow-shooting posture just a bit. XD Little Legolas probably still has a lot to learn. 

Not sure I like her that much anymore...

She's cute, but she's not Lúthien. I'll mull her over a bit more, maybe get my daughter to pose, and skip to Legolas for the time being (I have the perfect post for that - several poses!)

Lúthien’s Nightingales

I had to make this work mostly without ref - a bit of ballet dancers, a bit of little girls, and some repurposed robins (because nightingales in flight are really hard to find).

Finrod's dormouse - process video

I dug up, dusted off, and resuscitated my old Vimeo account so I can share exclusive videos here directly! <3

More elfings with critters? and other thoughts

Some thoughts on what's next - I've decided to put SquirrelPunk on the backburner for now. With shipping to the US closed for the time being, I'm deprived of my biggest source of income (it's incredible how much the American market does for me!) So I'm forced (though I'm forced quite willingly) to do stuff that will put food on the table, and Tolkien is best for that. It also gives the squirrels some time to ripen. 

(Thanks for all the donations on Ko-fi, by the way! Jeez, you guys...

Finrod's dormouse - finished (and some wintry walk photos)

Finished this last night! I love, love, love that I can do all the detail I want again painlessley. A watercolour friend asked me last week if I didn't miss the feeling of pigment on paper. (That, of course, assumes that I've thrown all my watercolours in the bin, which I patently did not do.) 

But yesterday, I thought about her question again and realised - what I missed far, far more was to be able to put in little intricate details into my paintings, to bring out more of a rende...

Finrod's dormouse, next wip

You can probably tell I'm right in my element with this colouring style! During my last foray into digital art, I was deeply unhappy with what I produced, but I learned so much about rendering and colour in the safety of the undo button that my watercolours levelled up several notches once I returned to them. This time, I may learn new stuff and be happy with what I produce! Looks like the second thing is already happening. 

Finrod's dormouse - new version

I wasn't happy with Finrod's pose, so I enlisted my wonderful daughter, who "gets" poses I want immediately, with all the emotion and mood involved. I always find that poses that rely on "resting weight" (for lack of a better term) are really hard to wing without ref. Much happier now. And that background is such fun!

Adorable, I said

Thanks for your many suggestions! I combined several things mentioned - Finrod, but as an elfling, with a dormouse and a few birds. Finrod would totally be a Disney Prince who's always surrounded by critters. 

I can tell you that is was WEIRD to paint this while my son was playing "Li'l Nightmares" next to me, with wooden teachers eating children and creepy clay dolls whacking each other. Looking down at my tablet was instantly soothing. Hope the toothache is manageable. ;)

I...

FORTH EORLINGAS!

Excuse the all-caps. This warrants all-caps. 

I can't wait to do more with these brushes! I'm only glad it doesn't show I switched to a totally different brush set at horse II, and got the hang of it at horse IV. =D

Prints are up on Etsy and on 2021-02-10 14:26:39 +0000 UTC View Post

I'm at Stage Twelve.

Or. about halfway done, I think. ;) And I'm starting to be really happy with it. I downloaded yet another pack of watercolour brushes for Procreate, and this time, they're finally exactly what I want to paint with. These are from Tsvetka, and they don't multiply when you put one brush stroke atop another. Thank goodness. ;)

When this is done, would anyone be interested in seeing the layers? I know many digital artists offer layered psd files, and I could do that for the digital goodie t...

Digital vs traditional colouring

Traditional colouring:

1. Start working.
2. At some point, be finished. 

Digital colouring:

1. Start working.
2. Be totally elated by the first stages.
3. Hate the third stage with a passion.
4-6. Try to fix what you hated about stage 3.
7. Hate your fixing attempts with such passion that you cry into your pillow.
8. Scrap all but the first and second stage.
9. Work totally differently.
10. Cautiously start to like what you're doing. Then go to ...

More getting the hang of this

It seems I have to get the hang of Procreate anew each time I start a new piece! But I'm slowly starting to work out what works where, what things don't work, and why they don't work. Here I'm inching towards an insanely detailed style that takes ages but looks freah, haha. If all goes well, I'll be proficient in this style in a few months... 

I love being able to play around with colours once they're down, make them lighter, go in with detail, and just slosh some blue across every...

Home-made watercolours, here I come!

My hubby gave me a Make-your-own-watercolours set for my birthday! =D My only problem is that the instructions say "You need a clean and tidy workspace", but I'm sure I'll make do. 

(Problem is that most workspaces in this house usually feature in video conferences right now.) 

Also thought I'd show off my Procrastination Scarf (TM). Knitting is even harder on my eyes than painting, so it's a pretty dumb procrastination method, but I love this scarf. 

2021-02-05 12:09:06 +0000 UTC View Post

Forth Procreate!

Have I mentioned how much I love Procreate? I think it's been at least a week, right? 

Tackling my first full illustration on the iPad. It's funny how I tiptoed around this piece yesterday, as if it were on paper - afraid to ruin it. I knitted a scarf instead.  

Today, I told myself I couldn't ruin it, and started putting on the first washes. It's cool to work exactly as you would in watercolour - but with infitine chances to correct, AND to paint at a size that will mak...

Slight Patreon changes

Hi you lovely people, 

I'm going to adjust the tier descriptions and perks a little. I need to reduce the pressure a bit, as you can probably imagine - school is twice as much work right now as with normal lessons; there's the USPS fail that commands a lot of my attention; I don't have enough time to do regular Discord chats/live sketching sessions AND I've been under the impression that especially the sketching sessions have lost a lot of audience after the first two or so. I will...

Forth Eorlingas! Lineart

This is a piece on whose title I can't decide. They're all goosebump-inducing. "Ride to Gondor", "The Ride of the Rohirrim", "Arise, riders of Théoden", how am I supposed to choose? 

Thanks, Marieke, for the horns reminder! Here they are. :) 

I also got rid of Théoden's scabbard. It ended up being the sole topic on social media. 

I started this out large enough that I will be able to do large prints through Inprnt! =D 

More progress

So many horses and so many helmets...! 

Question from all of you from the US who have ordered stuff from me between October and January (if I haven't spoken to you yet) - any news from your orders? Please tell me that some of them have arrived, so that I can keep up hope that a few dozen others will, too. USPS has easily overtaken Spain as "worst postal system in the world". 

Those of you who are waiting for orders but tracking won't show you any progress, here's a littl...

Forth Eorlingas! - lineart underway

This will be a loooong ride. ;)

It's weird, by the way - when I started drawing, my first thought was, "I want to do Théoden first, but I'm left-handed so I have start on the right or I'll smear everyth--- I can start wherever I want!!!" 

Sutton Hoo patterns for the win! 

Forth Eorlingas!

Rohirrim was probably the most frequent suggestion, and I've wanted to do a scene like this for a long time, so here we go! Not sure yet who is who, but on the far right, you can see a little figure sitting behind the rider. ;) Éomer and Théoden will probably feature. I see Théoden on the left, Éomer beside him. 

Quick suggestion box!

A.k.a. I want to draw a couple of people on horseback and can't decide who. XD

I have nicely dynamic ref photos (see attachment) and want to convert them to Tolkien heroes. 

Give me ideas! =D Note: A *couple* of people would be what I'm looking for. :) 

Lúthien's Instagram

One of those weird drawing sessions where you start with a rough sketch based on actress Jodhi May; then she turns into a Chinese student of yours, and ends up looking rather Instagram-ready. 

I still do too much STUFF when I colour digitally. The possibility to go back and forth and soften and go back and forth again and soften again is just too much for me, haha. 

Jeff - timelapse

Thanks to my son, I now have a video editing app that even I can use easily! =D Look, I can do music now! And end cards! And stuff! 

Jeff the crazy pheasant commando

... in which I suddenly mastered Procreate. I think I know I'm doing now! 🥳 Found the right combination of brushes and the perfect setting of the paper layer. It looks like traditional media and like my style, right?

Rick - timelapse

It seems Movie Maker is no longer a thing under Windows 10? Just when I’d got the hang of that...

SquirrelPunk: Rick (more Procreate)

I've decided to focus on the other painterly Procreate brushes for now - I notice time and time again that digital brushes designed to emulate watercolours tend to frustrate me because they come so close to the real thing - and yet refuse to do what I want them to. Better to work with opaque brushes, as I have no non-digital experience with those and can experiment freely. :) 

Here's Rick, the brave postapocalyptic squirrel, in a wild mix of one brush from every Procreate brush set...