Painting swirly light effects. First I did a wash with yellow ochre for the waters and the light effects, then painted blue swirls into them before they were dry. This should be fun!
Edited: When those swirls had dried, the blue had bled all the way into the yellow, destroying most of the light affect and leaving a lot of ghastly green in its place, so I decided to start over:
Woo-hoo! Finished the lineart tonight. I am so going to hate ever stone and leaf and blade of grass before long. But hey, it's the holidays.
(I changed the pencil to blue here and upped the contrast, so it's easier to see.)
I have found that I can "recharge" my eyes when they feel tired, by listening to audiobooks with my eyes closed for an hour.
At least I think it was an hour. But somehow, on Bill Bryson's "Short History of Nearly Everything", a guy called Wose...
2018-12-27 18:57:32 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm really, really happy with this so far, and I'm taking it pretty slowly, so I doubt this will be done before the new year - but then, it's the holidays, so I may get in some work after Christmas yet.
My parents are coming to stay with us until next week, so I'd like to take the chance to say thank you again, to each and every one of you. It's been a hell of a year that seemed at times as if it was out to get me, and one of the things that's made it far easier was your support, ...
2018-12-21 13:39:14 +0000 UTC View Post
After miserably failing to capture a dainty grip on the bowl, my hubby was kind enough to take a reference shot of me daintily holding the lid of a frying pan. (The only thing I could find in the kitchen that was vaguely the right shape).
A new one I hope to work on as school slows down a little at the end of term. Galadriel gathering the light of Eärendil from the fountain.
Eye rambling coming up - feel free to ignore.
There's been no art since the last piece, because my eyesight has become worse again over the last few weeks (and I begin to feel that cold makes it worse). I even went to the doctor again as it's seriously interfering with pretty much my entire life - I can't work without a magnifying glass a...
2018-12-15 14:43:46 +0000 UTC View Post
... you find the perfect inkjet paper.
I can get it from amazon within two days (the last always took about a week which often put me in a tight spot); it's got a cold-pressed watercolour surface; no, TWO cold-pressed watercolour surfaces as it's printable on both sides; I can print straight from my scanned file without having to tweak any colours, contrasts or lightness.
The only downside is that it's slightly too large to be sent in envelopes, but the local print shop wi...
Yeah, that's right, I decided to make it two, not one. :)
Congrats to Steven and Becca for winning a print! Can you send me your address in a PM again, please? ^__^
For those who wish to buy a print, follow this link to automatically get a 10% Patreon discount!
(And a warm welcome to new patron Gerardo!)
2018-12-02 08:21:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Finally done, hooray! I'm so, so happy with how it turned out. The colour gradient here works so well, I want to do a lot more with it!
Giveaway time! Comment on this post until Saturday evening to win an A4 print of this piece! ^_____^ Regular prints coming soon; matted, too.
... Oh, and just in case you thought Éowyn was small. ;)
Finally had some more time for this. And went to see Fantastic Beasts 2 yesterday. Still figuring out if I liked it, but it was a major eye-opener to realise that Eddie Redmayne plays Newt as autistic.
I had an interesting cent-related experience last week: At the counter of the drinks shop, I dug through my purse to unearth eight cents (five, two, and one, or so I thought), handed them to the man at the counter, and he squinted at what I'd thought was a two and said, "Sorry, that's an A...
2018-11-26 16:54:43 +0000 UTC View Post
... so I'm offering free shipping until Sunday, worldwide! =O
Go ahead, ruin me! XD
2018-11-22 17:48:27 +0000 UTC View PostFor a week, Patreon has been sending me mails counting down to ThankYouPatrons Day today, with ideas how to celebrate it. I'd been thinking about doing a video, that studio tour that I promised you, or something really clever, and now of course, all those clever ideas didn't come to anything. (The studio is such a mess right now that I'll postpone that video, hee hee.)
Instead of any clever ideas, let me say THANK YOU again! Taking that step towards a "pay what you want" was the best ide...
2018-11-19 16:10:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Did far more today than I should have, and should probably listen to audiobooks for the rest o the day, with some tea. Doesn't sound bad either.
A warm welcome to new Patron, Flynn!
2018-11-19 14:31:13 +0000 UTC View Post
That sounds like an Art assignment: Paint two horses with only blue, yellow, and green. And don't make them look too Franz-Marcian. ;) I'm just loving this colour gradient here. I started experimenting with this this spring but never dared to do an entire piece like this; cool to see it works!
2018-11-19 10:06:06 +0000 UTC View Post
I just love blue roans. I was going to give him a bay horse, but after I had all the background colours in place, I decided to avoid brown in this one, and stick to the yellow-green-blue. And of course, blue roans!
2018-11-18 14:19:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Experimenting with colour fields that accentuate whole areas instead of separate parts of figures and the like. Let's see how that goes.
2018-11-14 17:24:10 +0000 UTC View Post
This took me ages, but was so worth it! This is turning out to be one of my best. I ended up rotating through several reference pictures for each of the horses, so now the end results are pretty far away from any of my reference pics.
I'm going to continue fiddling with the lines a bit more, and hope to start colouring sometime over the next week. School, unfortunately, is back to complete and utter madness, but I'll try to find some peace and quiet in between.
Once this one ...
2018-11-11 08:48:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Slow going on speedy horses. Thanks for being patient :)
Going to see "Bohemian Rhapsody" tonight! I hope it's a movie without fast cuts, and I hope it's one that allows me to close my eyes every now and then and just enjoy the sound. Not quite sure how I'll survive Fantastic Beasts next week...!
Welcome to new Patron Juliane!
2018-11-10 15:13:21 +0000 UTC View Post
I'll probably end up doing some of the lineart in the face digitally; it's almost impossible for me to do the small details. But I'm overall happy with his expression. ♥
Welcome to new Patron Summers End!
2018-11-05 09:40:32 +0000 UTC View Post
I just got a huge bunch of goodies (postcards, stickers, thank you cards) from Moo. Isis is delighted as well; the box seems to be extra classy.
Until Sunday, everything is 15% off - and that includes originals! Just follow the link to my shop; the discount is applied automatically.
--> Etsy Shop <--
For most of the w...
2018-11-01 14:51:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Thanks for the title, Steve!
I'm still twiddling with the settings... can't get it to look like the original, meh. (That always happens with colour schemes I don't often paint in.)
2018-10-21 11:35:46 +0000 UTC View Post
The last things that remain is the greenery on the towers and bottom right. I'll probably try to find a green that echoes Tuor's cloak without looking like algae.
Bert approves.
2018-10-20 18:18:09 +0000 UTC View Post
I forgot how much fun golden hair is to paint! I'll have more excuse to do that for the Éowyn piece.
I've got a new favourite paper... no, don't laugh! Yes, it's another favourite paper. XD
It's called "Stonehenge". I confess I bought it for the name, but sometimes, things I buy for their names are actually good!
(My old favourite Canson Fontenay is being discontinued, so I was on the lookout again.)
2018-10-19 14:20:41 +0000 UTC View Post
How I love painting organic architecture. Just doing swirly stuff with some shading and never worry about construction. XD
2018-10-19 11:43:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Noooo, haven't forgotten this one!
2018-10-18 11:55:40 +0000 UTC View Post
A few of you asked for a writing snippet, mostly, the prologue to the story (which I really, really like, so I'm glad to give it)! I'm still unsure if I want the prologue to spoil the overall outcome in this way, but there are two good reasons to - one, there's a sadness connected to Wales that I wanted to set up from the get-go; two, I read historical novels too, though I know how they end, so that can't be that much of a put-off!
Enjoy! =D
Aaaaand before you go ahea...
Rhys' function in the story is buddy, sparring partner, and comic relief (mostly at his expense), and I love him dearly. Visually, he's based a bit on Alan Tudyk, which is doubly fitting as we're currently rewatching Firefly. With the kids. (Jana has to look away everytime the Reavers are shown. Me too.) What a wonderful, wonderful series, and what an utter shame there was only ever one season!
2018-10-16 11:04:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Not 100% happy with him, but here's more from ysterday's story - if he even ends up in the story, that is.
Aedan started life as an RPG character of mine, Aidan Cameron, and acquired a bunch of backstory early on, which became the first draft of the novel working-titled "The Rhyddion Chronicles"; back then, "The Hour of the Wolf". It had always been a story loosely modelled on the Welsh Wars that ended with the death of Llywelyn the Last in 1282. The first draft was full of werewolves, g...
2018-10-15 14:19:13 +0000 UTC View Post
This is what I can do at 8 AM. I've never drawn at 8 AM in my life, but it looks as if transmogrifying into an early bird might be worth a shot!
Those of you who have followed me for longer than ten years will remember this guy - he's Llelo, or Llywelyn, a major character in a story I was writing/devising between 2001 and 2009, at which point I decided it was just too unremarkable to go forward with. Since then, I have at times thought along mythological lines to spice it up, and at some...
2018-10-14 11:38:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Well, I've figured it out now! It was never Inktober. It’s me proving to myself that after all the crap this year has throw my way, most of which will heal but never truly mend, I can still be myself. It’s not about any technique, or theme, or even about doing this every day. It’s about doing it at all.
It’s Dontgiveuptober.
Fittingly, this piece has to do with my brother.
Jan loved owls. My mother told me that, when he'd been four years old, he could already read and...
2018-10-13 15:31:30 +0000 UTC View Post