Another one in progress (I had to bargain with the kids and offer them an additional hour of Disney Infinity in exchange to be nice to each other for once. It's hard to draw over death threats from the kids' room.)
Going to do this one in gouache too! ^___^
2017-04-12 08:42:30 +0000 UTC View Post
When I see the file title "rabbit_framed", somehow I think of Roger. ;)
This little beauty is now available in my Etsy shop! http://www.etsy.com/listing/510178158/roast-rabbit-original-painting
2017-04-10 14:09:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Okay, I hope this post can convey the absolute cataclysmity that is gouache. It's a where have you been all my life type of experience. It's literally the look that I've been trying to achieve with watercolour for years, and all the while, I had tubes of high-quality gouache lying in my art cupboard (aka Creative Black Hole) and never used them because I thought they worked like acrylic. They can. But they can also have the levity of watercolour, except you can always go back to lighter...
2017-04-10 05:32:13 +0000 UTC View Post
If I have understood this gouache thing correctly, this'll turn out fine.
If I haven't, I'll need to paint a mushroom house in the background...
2017-04-09 16:42:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Fluffy clouds yay!
I had an amazing epiphany this morning - with a lot of soft, pastelly paintings I'd saved to my "inspiration" folders in recent years, I'd always been at a loss at how to replicate the effect. In some cases, I asked the painters about their techniques. Several of them were Russian and Asian, and they usually said "Watercolour", which drove me to despair.
I'm beginning to think that many of these actually work in gouache, because in many languages, there is ...
2017-04-09 14:11:26 +0000 UTC View Post
This term's prompt comes from my mum: Sam roasting a rabbit! ;)
After gouache worked so well for me with Gil-galad, I have decided to give the medium another try, and do this one in gouache. Not sure if I'll manage to do a recording - too scared, possibly!
2017-04-09 11:18:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Hope you like! I have to say, I find this one pretty fascinating. You can really tell the difference now that I'm working from reference for the final stages too - so much more 3D effect!
2017-04-02 17:14:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Those frames are just so gorgeous. And they keep matching all my colour schemes!
Video is coming up soon, too!
Another one of those weeks where I got nothing done at all, mainly getting the kids from A to B and making sure they were studying for their tests... then today, I had a glorious day off because the kids were at their grandparents.
I spent it finishing Gil-galad and binge-watching Heroes. Sometimes at the same time. Don't think I did as much as hoover the living-room!
2017-04-01 18:09:43 +0000 UTC View Post
For the first time in my life, I went in with gouache to render a face. I think I should do that more often.
2017-03-28 15:58:25 +0000 UTC View Post
You can still check out the livestream for a week! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/131742549
2017-03-28 09:10:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Join me on Twitch! Let's get this one off the ground, shall we?
https://www.twitch.tv/jennydolfen
2017-03-28 07:35:05 +0000 UTC View Post
I'll be doing another livestream tomorrow morning, probably around 10 AM CET. (Sorry, that's about the dead of night for the US!) I've been having a very hard time scraping out times to paint lately, and tomorrow morning is looking good.
The easiest way to catch me is by going to http://www.twitch.tv/jennydolfen and follow me there - then you'll get a notification when I go online!
I'll be painting Gil-g...
2017-03-27 20:21:45 +0000 UTC View Post
That looks so fast! I was almost four hours before I edited it O_o
2017-03-27 16:17:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey guys! Here's the digital download for y'all. I hope there's something nice in the bag for everyone. Enjoy!
2017-03-27 06:19:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's the lineart. I'm in for lunch at the in-laws, so I won't be able to start colouring today... erf.
2017-03-26 07:47:04 +0000 UTC View Post
As far as I can tell, this will be the first fair-haired Gil-galad I'm aware of. At any rate, he won't look like a grumpy old man with a smashed-in face, no sir.
Tolkien intended to have him be descended from Finarfin (through Angrod and Oropher) rather than Fingon. Funnily, since I imagined Fingolfin and Fingon as blonde until I read the later HoMe volumes, my Gil-galad was always golden-haired as well, so after all those changes, he was the only one that was allowed to stay the same.&n...
2017-03-24 15:37:43 +0000 UTC View Post
"Thrice was Fingolfin with great blows
to his knees beaten, thrice he rose
still leaping up beneath the cloud
aloft to hold star-shining, proud,
his stricken shield, his sundered helm,
that dark nor might could overwhelm ."
Whew! Dark stuff in watercolour is still not my favourite thing to paint!
Forgot to say: Print available! http://www.etsy.com/listing/5060262...
2017-03-21 13:08:51 +0000 UTC View Post
A bad weekend for art, but I managed to get this far (after having to start the colouring again for totally botching up Morgoth).
Trying out the HUGE! pack of Schmincke colours that I got for my testing report! I love this grey. It's mixed with green umber and ultramarine blue. I'm very much in love with the combination of pale, cold yellow and even colder grey of late.
On another note, I'm scouring Posespace.com and keep finding poses that scream out Tolkien characters to me. I actually think Gil-galad will be next. I assume a little Tolkien spree will meet with a bit of approval hereabouts, yes? ;)
2017-03-15 20:08:07 +0000 UTC View Post
"Thrice he rose
still leaping up beneath the cloud
aloft to hold star-shining, proud
his stricken shield, his sundered helm,
thatdark nor might could overwhelm."
Edit: Sorry Anja - client wanted the helmet. And I can now quote the Lays, so that's okay. ;)
2017-03-14 11:10:48 +0000 UTC View Post
In progress. Scandalising my kids too, haha. XD
2017-03-14 10:10:13 +0000 UTC View Post
"Only one pet?" and the kindly walnut witch are both available!
tinyurl.com/strangebrew-changeling
2017-03-13 17:57:56 +0000 UTC View Post
First sketch for a commission for Tim, of Fingolfin's Last Stand!
Also, first time working with a reference photo site I discovered yesterday and never knew I was missing in my life. It's got literally tens of thousands of high-quality photos shot in great lighting with models of every gender, race, and body type, in all sorts of poses - and here's the incredible thing: Every pose costs $5, and then you get 20+ photos of the pose from every. Possible. Angle.
It's absolutely c...
2017-03-12 16:28:00 +0000 UTC View Post
A little piece I did today for this month's Changeling auction "Strange Brew".
The topic is "witches and wizards" and I was thinking of what to do - not Harry Potter, unfortunately - and suddenly thought of this idea. My mother once told me that, when she was a young woman, she decided that she would be "a kind walnut" when she was old. I thought that was brilliant. We're so preoccupied with staying youthful, but it makes life much easier if your goal is to age in this way.
2017-03-09 13:29:12 +0000 UTC View Post
No daylight today after all. A combination of muddy grey outside and the lamp overhead will have to do!
But there prints here here, in their very own brand-new section.
I'm pretty sure I don't have enough of the Maedhros ones, but I've already ordered new mats...
2017-03-07 10:34:28 +0000 UTC View Post
I'll upload them on Etsy tomorrow! Also, the foxes, thistle dragon, Blodeuwedd, and Freya. I just need to wait for tomorrow to have better light for photos!
*looks up weather forecast* Half an hour of sunshine tomorrow? Well. Gonna have to be fast then.
2017-03-06 18:25:24 +0000 UTC View PostA couple of people asked me about the Etsy codes - they haven't changed; it's still FRODO21 for 10% off! :)
There's going to be a bunch of pretty new stuff in my shop next week - matted prints of the thistle dragon, the foxes, Blodeuwedd, Freya, and of course Maedhros. ^^
2017-03-04 18:29:48 +0000 UTC View PostHey hey! Raffle time again! :)
Congrats to this month's winners:
Deidre Bongaerts has won this month's commission! =D Please note me which character you'd like a pencil portrait of!
Sabine Kauer has won the prompt! Hey Mum, I know you never check your messages. XD You get special service, and I'm callin' you up tonight to ask what you'd like drawn. Bet this hasn't happened in about thirty years!
Isabella has won a...
2017-03-03 16:55:47 +0000 UTC View Post