djamilaknopf

New work in progress!

Hello friends,

This is the first illustration I’m creating for my upcoming art book. I’m posting this on Patreon only, so please don’t share it anywhere. It’s the artwork that opens the chapter that includes some drawings from my early childhood, as well as talk about early influences.

I included some things that are very personal to me. I had that same Sailor Moon castle when I was young, as well as a little pet bunny.

The palette is inspired by t...

Super secret sneak peak

As you know, I’m completely wrapped up in making my art book and this is a first look at an image that’s going to play a major role in it. That’s all I can say for now.

I won’t be able to share the full illustration for over half a year, but I’m so looking forward to it.

Autumn vibes & taking a little break 🍂🍁

Hello friends!

I hope you’re well. I myself had a few lovely days in Munich with the folks from Adobe. I coloured this illustration live on air at Adobe.com (narrated in German though).

But now it’s about time I take a few days off. It might now seem like I’m doing much at the moment, but I’m working hard on my upcoming artbook, creating exclusive illustrations for it. The last timeI had more than two days off ina row was in May and I seriously feel the burnout creep up o...

September Reward

Hello friends! 

I just sent out the rewards for September via private message. This time, I they include my recent illustrations "Little Friend" and "Serenity". As always, there is the layered PSD, some step-by-step images, brushes, gradients and a folder with reference in there. 

Everyone who has signed up before the end of September should have received either the reward or a message asking them to update their credit card details because their payment...

Botanical Witches Calendars!

Hello friends,

I hope you’re well. I‘m currently painting the cover for my upcoming art book. I wish I could share it with you, but I have to keep it secret to not ruin the big reveal and surprise.

Aaanyway, I wanted to let you know that the Botanical Witches calendars are available for preorder now in my store! The sale ends on 11 Oct, 10 AM EST. Only the amount of preordered calendars will be made, n...

Serenity - Final Artwork

Do you know the feeling when you’re working on something and you keep staring at it until you don’t know what to think of it anymore? I honestly have no idea if this turned out well or not. I‘ll just let you decide.

But I definitely did my best!

This will be part of the Earth Draw II campaign that launches next month. Let’s help save the rainforest! ✊

Making more progress

Getting lost in all the little details. <3

I actually like this crop, too.

Earth II - Work in Progress

It’s coming along. I decided to ditch the tree in the front because it was distracting me.

The overall colour scheme is pretty much there, but I will put a looot more hours into rendering to make it look nice and detailed. I hope you like it so far! 🌱

Earth II - Sketch

Hello friends!

I was asked to join the Earth II project/campaign by 3D Total to help save the rainforest.

I took the chance to start a painting of an epic Mononoke-style forest. I hope it turns out the way I imagine it. I wanted the trees to be massive. If you look closely, you can find tiny tiny deer. Can you spot them?

Thoughts on Lightbox Expo aka geeking out over all the amazing artists that I met

Hello friends!

This last weekend has been a wild ride. First of all, a 3-day trip to the US is a bit too short, I should have known. That jet lag made me an early bird and stole my appetite - two things that are very atypical for me. But it did not dampen my enthusiasm for the convention!

I felt like a kid in a candy store. The event was densely packed with artists whom I’ve admired for years and only seen online up until then. But this last weekend, my Instagram feed had come a...

Heading back home!

Sorry for not being able to reply to a lot of messages. This event kept me so busy! I will get back into things after I get back to Germany.

🧡

Red Panda - Final artwork

It’s done! Do you have a suggestion for the title? I have no idea right now. 😅

August Reward: Sea Breeze & Flooded City

Hello friends! 

I just sent out the rewards for August via private message. This time, I included two illustrations and I hope you like them! As always, there is the layered PSD, some step-by-step images, brushes, gradients and a folder with reference in there. 

Everyone who has signed up before the end of August should have received either the reward or a message asking them to update their credit card details because their payment has been declined.&nb...

Sea Breeze

Hello friends!

I‘m going to send out the rewards tomorrow and this new illustration will be part of them, as well as Flooded City.

I‘m getting ready for my trip to the US. It’ll be my first time and I’m pretty excited! But I will basically only be there for the convention, so there’s no time for touristy stuff. I just hope everything goes well with my flight since I’m supposed to be arriving the evening before the convention. Either way, I’ll need lots of caffeine t...

The Schoolism class is out!

First things first: You can sign up here to Story-Driven Illustrations (or just check it out if you’re curious, no pressure!). The self-taught class is open-ended but for the critiqued, personalised option there are only 6 spots left.

Now, you’ve heard me talk about the class for months since it’s the thing that has kept me busy all summer. But the launch date it finally he...

Yet another work in progress!

For my talk at LightBox Expo, I decided to record the process for a quick painting so that I can play it in the background during a q&a session. The talk is supposed to be 1 1/2 hours, so I figured this was a nice way to get a demo-ish part in there!

So I started this drawing today. Feels kind of nice to JUST draw a character and some water. It allowed me to focus a little more on the face and I’m happy with how it turned out. I also want to get some waterbender vibes in there, so...

Flooded City - Final artwork

Wohoo, if everything goes according to plan, I’ll be finishing the Schoolism course tomorrow. Fingers crossed! The painting process for this illustration is the final demo I’m adding.

Here’s a close up:

After this, I’ll be finishing that red panda artwork I started a while ago.

And here’s something fun! My friend Luisa Preissler used me as a model ...

Flooded City - Work in Progress

Heeey, I hope you‘re doing well!

Remember when I said that the Schoolism course was almost done. Well, turns out I needed to put in more work and now I‘m even finishing a whole new illustration for an extra demo. But that’s ok. I want it to be as good as it can be, so it‘ll be worth it.

It will come out in September though.

More updates and art soon, I promise! 😊

Red panda sketch!

I just finished this sketch and you’re the first ones to see it. And why is there no red panda emoji?

🧡

Schoolism course coming soon

I don’t have a precise release date yet, but it should be some time this month! Exciting. 😊😊😊

July Reward: "Reading After Hours" - Patreon-Only Artwork

Hellooo! 

I thought I'd try something different this time around and release this illustration only to Patreon. So I hope you like it! The layered .PSD, step-by-step images and inspirations/reference are included in the rewards I just sent out.

Everyone who has signed up before the end of July should have received either the reward or a message asking them to update their credit card details because their payment has been declined.  2019-08-03 10:03:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Working on the rewards

Heeey!

Today is the deadline for my Schoolism course. I handed in all the files and it seems like there are some more things that I need to tweak. But the majority is done (226 hours of work btw) and I can slowly start painting again!

This is a work in progress of the image that will be included in the rewards for July. I’m hoping to finish it by Monday, fingers crossed! I hope you don’t mind the delay, these are special circumstances. 😅

Thank you for sticking around...

Panel & Talk at LightBox Expo

First things first: I will be doing a panel at LighBpx Expo with the incredible Loish, Heikala, Artgerm and Pernille Orum. We‘ll be talking about social media on 6 Sept, 12:45-1:45 PM.

And I will also be doing a talk about telling stories through illustrations on 8 Sept.

I know I‘ve been super quiet lately. But I‘m just busy 🐝 working on my Schoolism course. We‘re approaching the deadline at the end of July and there are so many things...

June Reward: "On the Lookout"

Wohooo, I just finished my latest painting: "On the Lookout". I hope you like it!

I just sent out a private message with the layered PSD file and all the good stuff. 😊 

Prints of the illustration are available in the store for a limited time only, until 11 July, 10 AM EST. 

Everyone who has signed up before the end of June shoul...

Work in progress & secret news (maybe?)

Heeey you wonderful people!

Have you melted away yet? Because I’m about to. But I’m getting my work done anyways, because that Schoolism deadline is approaching. 💪 The Illustration above will be finished soon and is going to be the reward at the beginning of July. Btw, I can’t believe that we are almost at 700 patrons! That is insane. Thank you all so, so much!! 🧡🧡

Another thing: I’m still hesitant to throw this out there, because nothing is for sure yet, buuut ...

Girl in coffee shop - thumbnails & detailed sketch

I shared that sketch of a girl in a tree with you and now I‘m already working on the next image. I just have a bunch of ideas that I‘d like to go through for my course.

Here are the three roughs I came up with in the beginning. I wanted to tell three versions of the simple prompt “girl in coffee shop”, working in different moods and stories.

2019-06-19 15:16:50 +0000 UTC View Post

New prints: Crossing & Gameboy

I‘ve been asked about these two by quite a lot of of people. Now I finally got around to releasing them.

These fine art prints are available until 27 June, 10 AM EST and won’t be reprinted after that. You can find them in my store. Don‘t forget that you can use your 10% discount code I sent you with the rewards.

On another note, is anyone else watching Good Omens right now? I really enjoy it. 😊 2019-06-18 09:15:11 +0000 UTC View Post

Girl in tree 🍃 Sketch

Heeey!

I’ve had an amazing time at Dokomi and I thought I’d be tired of travelling, but I actually can’t wait for Comic Con (the one in Stuttgart) at the end of the month.

Buuut until then I need to seriously get into planning and producing my class for Schoolism. This is one of the illustrations I’m creating as a demo. There’s actually a lot of pressure because I want things to be extra correct since it’s for teaching. So flaws in the anatomy or perspective might be...

New interview is out!

If you like hearing me ramble about all sorts of things, check out the follow-up interview I did with Iva from Art Side of Life. The first one we did in 2017 is on the channel as well.

🧡

May Reward!

I just sent out a private message with last month‘s reward. This time, it’s only one illustration, but I hope you like it. 😊

Everyone who has signed up before the end of May should have received either the reward or a message asking them to update their credit card details because their payment has been declined.

If you have not received a message at all, please let me know! But if you‘ve signed up in June, you will receive the first round of rewards at...