Once of the upsides of the failed attempt to paint this on aquaboard is that I knew of one major pitfall in this piece - it wasn't very smart of me to have Uldor's sword and Maglor's spear convene in a space that was cluttered with horse and saddle and leg. If I hadn't abandoned the last attempt, I already knew I'd have run into huge readability problems there. Redoing the piece allowed me to work with that. (Of course, it might have been smart to just de-clutter the middle, and yeah, tha...
2019-03-05 17:19:43 +0000 UTC
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Aside from pin-making, I've started the proper, paper version of this piece. Much, much better.
The Monstrous Battle Bunnies of Anfauglith on the washi tape are perhaps a slightly weird touch...
New Patrons welcome time! A whole crowd joined us since last time - heya, Sen Hime, Shoshana, Rowanartist, Allie, Jeff, Rubén, and Margarit! 💗 ...
2019-03-05 12:44:38 +0000 UTC
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Just heard back from the manufacturers, did my calculations, and the pins are a go! I'm quite excited 🎆
I've put all the info together in one FAQ. If anything's unclear, please let me know, and I'll complete it!
How do I get one?
The pins are a reward for Patreon supporters to celebrate 4 years on Patreon this April, and will be available to Patrons (old and new) who pledge 5$ a month in my new
2019-03-04 12:14:45 +0000 UTC
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It was my goal to get the lineart done today, and when I'd just started drawing the front Easterling, my daughter came in: "Mum, since daddy and Timo are away and we're technically having a girls' day... is How To Tame Your Dragon still running...?"
So instead of drawing, I sat in an almost empty cinema with the greatest Toothless fan alive, bawling our eyes out again towards the ending. But I did file away some clothing and armour items shown on screen to put on my Easterlings, h...
2019-03-03 22:58:18 +0000 UTC
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I rarely make videos of myself drawing, but here's a little timelapse of the Uldor piece! Set to x32 speed, so actual drawing of this bit took about 15 minutes.
It's still the ill-fated Aquabord version, hee.
Two new Patrons! Welcome, Maddie and Ceri!
2019-03-03 19:24:00 +0000 UTC
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I felt bad for Maglor when I decided to scrap my Aquabord attempt - there was his moment of glory, forever abandoned. This is something I have rarely done before: do a lineart over. Starting over on a painting, yes, all the time, but lineart is something I really dislike doing more than once. But I think I owe him that.
Welcome to new Patron Yurie!
2019-03-03 13:11:10 +0000 UTC
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So, I've sent off quote requests to four different pin makers - God, I hate German websites that make things. It's as if they don't want you to buy from them. They make everything incredibly hard to find - especially so if you can't see well!
If all goes well, I'll know the cost in a week or so. I'm excited about this! Keep your fingers crossed that the design is pin-compatible!
Last night, I looked through my Patreon database to decide how I'll handle the question of who ge...
2019-03-03 08:52:23 +0000 UTC
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... and since I'm a good Hobbit, you get the presents!
I'm planning to have pins made - one run only, available only to Patrons. Still need to find a company that does them, but the design stands ^______^ (if they can do it, that is)
A lot of you will be getting them automatically. Everyone pledging above a certain amount and/or long-time supporters. This is a bit of a thank you to all of those who have stuck with me even through the darkest days. <3
The other...
2019-03-02 18:41:46 +0000 UTC
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Okay, the combination of "can't draw on it" plus "can't paint on it" is pretty much a death blow. I can't do thin brushstrokes on this paper, so ended up doing detail work and lineart in fineliner, and leaving the Easterlings blank - the paint clogs up and loses all translucency, which would have turned the whole piece into a muddy mess if I'd coloured them too.
Ah well. Lesson learned.
2019-03-02 16:15:49 +0000 UTC
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... but at least I can refrain from ruining the piece. ;)
I do wonder, though, if it might be an idea to just mount a finished painting on this sort of board, after the fact.
Welcome to another new Patron who joined yesterday: Natalie! Four new people this month already! <3
2019-03-02 13:46:37 +0000 UTC
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I can't believe I did this mad, mad drawing on woodchip. O_o
Hope I'll find the courage to start painting tomorrow. I have *zero* idea what this board will feel like when painted on.
And wow - two new Patrons again today! Welcome, Magdalena and Camila! =D
2019-03-01 17:51:16 +0000 UTC
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No strings attached on this one! =O
This is my first no-holds-barred piece since... 2004, at least where complex scenes are concerned. Everything else was always drawn on different paper than the final painting.
To make sure I'd keep the proportions and composition of the sketch (which grew a bit to be more than just the two of them), I used transfer paper to transfer my sketch onto the board.
2019-03-01 16:07:25 +0000 UTC
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Here we are - you guessed it! And a much more noble steed than a tube of cream now.
I plan to do something brave with this - last year, I bought a couple of Aqua-boards. They're boards, some an inch thick, coated with a watercolour finish. Since I'm really picky with my paper, I haven't found the courage to try them yet, but I'm going to for this one. That means just one shot, no printed lineart. Gulp. ;) Look forward to my cursing the finish.
And welcome to another ne...
2019-02-28 17:52:41 +0000 UTC
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... I do have a horse in a rearing pose, but it's not large enough for my Body-kun, so he's sitting on a tube of hand cream.
You probably know which scene this will be? :D
Welcome to new Patron, Marya! So great to see you here! <3
2019-02-28 16:49:20 +0000 UTC
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It's funny how much this piece turned from illustrating a feeling while listening to an audiobook to illustrating everything *I* feel whenever I'm in Cornwall. It's done this painting a world of good, too.
"And his heart was filled with longing", watercolours on Bockingford Torchon paper, 21x31 cm.
The paper let me down at the very last instant, ripping when I peeled off the masking tape! It's clearly not meant for either masking fluid or tape. I managed to salvage the...
2019-02-27 19:28:47 +0000 UTC
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That's a sort of sea-longing I can absolutely get behind!
2019-02-27 16:20:23 +0000 UTC
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It took another round of starting over, but all in all, it was a good choice. The sky had become rather heavy and overworked; this time, I knew how the paper would handle so I got it done much more quickly. This paper here buckles and warps so much that even my stretcher has trouble pulling it tight again, so I watered it a lot more this time than I usually would.
The gulls had got a few layers of paint as well, the last time round, so I masked them off with masking fluid on this ...
2019-02-27 11:24:44 +0000 UTC
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You're in for some more paper nerdery, I'm afraid - it's Bockingford again, but the torchon /rough variety, and OMG is this cool. You can literally build up endless layers, dab them off, build them back on - this is the best clouds paper I've ever had! Usually, my method for skies involved a lot of praying and random settling of colours in ways you did or didn't want, accepting the outcome and trying to work with it. This paper really let me build everything right where it needed to be, while...
2019-02-25 20:13:46 +0000 UTC
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I've always scoffed at colour studies. I used to do them digitally, which of course was okay for contrast-planning, but you can't plan watercolour digitally. For years now, I never planned them at all. I've got a good grasp of my paints, and usually know what I want (more or less), but as you know, my last few pieces all took a few failures before they worked out. So I actually started doing some colour studies in my sketchbook, to see how I could do the sky and clouds.
Spectacula...
2019-02-24 13:35:52 +0000 UTC
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I feel I've been neglecting those two - mainly Maglor! You came up with such awesome ideas the last time; any thoughts in scenes with Fingon or Maglor that are both iconic and "less travelled"?
Or any other Finweans I may have neglected, in actual scenes in which they get to be awesome?
2019-02-23 19:16:28 +0000 UTC
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Did I mention how much I love my little Body-kun mannikin? There is no way I could have come up with that pose, perspective and angle by myself. Painting this should be fun!
Got a new audiobook to listen to: "No Man's Land" by Simon Tolkien (yes, the grandson), about a boy growing up in the early 20th century, including World War One. The first few chapters with the introduction of characters are slightly Potteresque, including Dudleys and Malfoys, hee hee.
Welcome (ba...
2019-02-23 18:02:37 +0000 UTC
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How I love having Photoshop for the early stages of conception! It's so easy to just play around with bits of the image, and to switch back and forth between different versions to compare them.
A lot of the things that work so much better in the second image here are, weirdly, things I consciously avoided in the first. I thought that having him hold up his hands would either make it look too pretentious or, at worst, like the Jesus statue in Rio. Turns out uplifted hands add so mu...
2019-02-22 16:06:22 +0000 UTC
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I'm currently re-reading/listening to "Tolkien and the Great War" by John Garth, an absolutely thrilling account of Tolkien's literary development though the First World War and his brotherhood of friends, the TCBS (and I'm looking forward very much to the film coming out in May!)
Garth recounts how "The Fall of Gondolin" took shape while Tolkien was on sick-leave late in 1916, and quotes:
"He wandered till he came to the black cliffs by the sea and saw the ocean and its wav...
2019-02-21 16:14:52 +0000 UTC
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Quite obviously, I left him for last so I knew how to do eyebrows. XD
Here's all three of them, my favourite Noldor.
Would that make any sense as a print?
2019-02-20 14:53:58 +0000 UTC
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Enjoy! It's a good illustration, by the way, of the processes I talked about in this post, with the running of colours and the lightening while drying.
Welcome to Kazaore and Becky, two very generous new Patrons! <3 Thanks so much for being here!
2019-02-20 11:48:35 +0000 UTC
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I always imagined Maglor as having slightly darker eyes than most of the Eldar. The green was a logical choice. :)
I managed to do another video on this! Unfortunately, it showed me again that recording is hard for me, as the camera needs to be where my head should go in order for me to see, haha. Well. Maybe I'll find a solution yet.
2019-02-20 11:43:34 +0000 UTC
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That escalated quickly. =O
Last night, I hunted for images - closeups of eyes, normal-sized photographs of people whose eyes would make a good Fingon (this is 55% model Jakob Hybhold, by the way. Yes, I peruse model sites. XD), watercolour eye tutorials (all female).
Then the drawing process went something like this:
7.25 PM, googling: Wow, those are some amateurish watercolours of eyes
7.55 PM, after drawing the eye and painting the first washes: Okay, maybe...
2019-02-17 10:17:08 +0000 UTC
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Playing with the KWARTSCreations paints some more. Those blues lend themselves to Fingolfinian colour schemes rather nicely, too!
I love the Vivanite - the granulating, grey-blue paint in the background. Haha, I just remembered I'd thought to try and do an eye painting in detail - Vivanite would make great Elf-eyes! Can't wait to try that.
2019-02-16 16:40:39 +0000 UTC
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Over all that happened last spring, I actually forgot that I had one reward to finish for the ones who had chosen the "Order of the Dragon" tier! Normally, I don't forget something like that, at least not without a nagging feeling of something on my to do list at the back of my head, but last year, apparently, that happened.
Sorry, Willi! Here's your Fingon! Let me know your address once again ^____^
Watercolour on Bockingford hot-pressed paper.
2019-02-16 14:20:11 +0000 UTC
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So here's the scene that had us talking earlier this week! In case you can't read my scrawl, the text says, "If Fëanor will not be swayed from this folly, then go with him you must, for you are the sons of Fëanor. But I pray that, before the end, some of you may remember that you are the sons of Nerdanel also."
I painted this with the Kwarts watercolours I told you about. the assortment she sent...
2019-02-15 15:12:59 +0000 UTC
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