djamilaknopf

Wintery artwork in progress

Hello my friends!

I hope you’re having a good day. Today, I started on a new illustration involving two kids, snow, a deer and a rather complex background. Every year around Christmas I just feel like drawing something seasonal. Though for the last few years winters haven’t been the same here. All we get is rainy snow and frozen mud. But hey, that’s one magical thing that art can do: bring you back to those things that you’ve lost so that you can experience them again (at least sort o...

Companions

I just finished my latest illustration! I’ve already written quite a bit in my previous posts (works in progress), so there’s not much to add. But I can definitely say that I’m proud of the result. I’ve always been avoiding multiple characters, so this is a big step forward.

The more I draw these characters (Seth and Leigh), the more I want to draw them. So I guess I’m just going to keep doing that! But I also have a ton of other image ideas that I want to get out. It’s a good pro...

Work in Progress

I feel like a human being again after lying on the couch for 5 days. Doing nothing always drives me crazy, so here I am, back at work!

I painted the base colours for this illustration today. Everything that comes after this is probably my favourite part of any artwork. The heavy lifting is done and the final is slowly coming into focus. I also love experimenting with different colour combinations, gradient maps, photo filters and all the crazy stuff Photoshop has to offer.

The image ne...

I’m back!

I’m just getting back into things and I’ll get to messages as soon as I can!

I returned from Dublin a couple of days ago, but took the rest of the week off to relax a bit more. Turns out this was a good decision since I came back with a big fat cold. This happens every time I go over there. The climate just doesn’t agree with me. But this time, my friend was also sick and within a couple of days, so were all the other people in the house (5!). The flight home was pretty bad. Going on an...

November Rewards

I just sent out the rewards for November! It includes the layered PSD and step-by-step images etc. for my latest artwork "Magic Hour". It features a crazy detailed street inspired by the colours in the background paintings in Sailor Moon.

Everyone that signed up before the end of November should have a received a private message with their reward OR a message asking them to check their payment option because they've been declined. If you haven't received either of those, please let me know. <...

WIP - Seth & Leigh

Hello my friends!

You asked for more works in progress, so here we go. 😊

It feels really good to get back to work on my project Phantasma. This might also be my favourite sketch I‘ve ever done! The characters are Seth and Leigh. The owl still needs a name though. Do you know any good owl names?

I thought I‘d also take the chance and talk a little bit more about the way I came up with the project. It actually started out pretty slowly, with little pieces of...

I Need Your Feedback to Make My Patreon Better

I've been thinking about how I can make things better for you here and how I can be more engaged. I want this to feel like an exclusive little club and a safe space. And I need your ideas to make it the best it can be. So if you have any ideas and suggestions, please comment! I'm open to anything - except getting rid of the Pay What You Want reward system. I really love that one, hehe! But I could imagine doing a little monthly giveaway - just something that shows you that your ...

About Phantasma

Hello hello, 

How are you doing? I'm preparing for a short vacation to Dublin. I lived there for a year and I'm looking forward to getting back to my second home. I can't wait to rest and recharche a bit and come back with a lot of new inspiration and energy. 

But before that, I wanted to chat a little bit about this ominous project I've been working on for a few years. You might have seen some artwork for it or heard me mention it here and there. This is the basic idea/pitch:<...

Magic Hour

I'm still looking for a title for this. Any ideas? (EDIT: I settled on a title, thank you all for your suggestions!)

The artwork is inspired by the beautiful colour palettes in the Sailor Moon anime. I put so much energy and care into this, so I really hope you like it. 

I will send out the layered .PSD and the usual things with the rewards at the beginning of December. Btw, I can't believe this year is almost over. Thank you so much for sticking with me throughout all this time! :]...

All Inktober Drawings

Witch one is your favourite? (Sorry, I had to :D)

Lavender Witch

Rosemary Witch

Acorn Witch

Henna Witch<...

October Reward

I just sent out the rewards for October! Since I didn't get a chance to create a digital illustration this month, I'm providing the layered PSD and step-by-step images etc. for "The Wanderer". It's the very first image I created in this style back in 2016 and I hadn't shared the detailed process anywhere else. But you can definitely expect new digital artwork from me this month. :]

Everyone that signed up before the end of October should have a received a private message with their reward OR a...

September Reward

I just sent out the rewards for September! They include the layered PSD and step-by-step images, brushes and all that for my Knight of Wands illustration.

Everyone that signed up before the end of September should have a received a private message with their reward OR a message asking them to check their payment option because they've been declined. If you haven't received either of those, please let me know. 

I'll be travelling from 4-8 October, so I won't be able to reply during t...

Inktober Sketches

[EDIT: I put all the sketches in this single post to make it more convenient for you.] 

I haven't shared these sketches anywhere else yet, so this is a super exclusive preview. :D
I hope you like them!

2018-09-20 14:57:36 +0000 UTC View Post

Knight of Wands

The background on this was so relaxing to paint! I love nature scenes. 

The card stands for being daring, adventurous and passionate. I've been stuck on it for a while because I did NOT want to draw armour. I just don't enjoy it. But once I decided to move away from that literal knight concept, it all fell into place. Backgrounds are my thing at the moment, so why fight it. 

Aaaand with card number 12 in the Lumen Tarot deck I have enough illustrations to make a calendar. I'll ...

August Rewards

I completely forgot that I made the "Cool Breeze" illustration last month. But hey, now we have two! 

Everyone that signed up before the end of August should have a received a private message with their reward OR a message asking them to check  their payment option because they've been declined. If you haven't  received either of those, please let me know. 

Thank you all so much for your support. You allow me to dedicate my time to my art and that means everything to ...

Patreon Exclusive Livestream

It's time for our monthly Patreon-only livestream. Kim, Lorena, Chantal and I will be talking about what it's like to be an independent or partly independent creator. 

Here's the link.  Please, don't share it publicly.   

Thursday, 23 August: 7 PM Berlin (follow the link to see it adjusted for your time zone)

As always, if you have any question...

After Dark

Hello hello!

I hope you've had a great week so far. I just finished this illustration today and I'm excited to share it with you!

This one fits loosely into my personal project Phantasma. You might recognise the character as Hope - I posted the concept earlier. I just wanted to paint someone riding an elephant and this is what came out of it. 

As I said, July hasn't been so productive. But now I feel like I'm back on track. The lower temperatures helped me restore my energy an...

How to get previous rewards

I've been asked a couple of times how to get previous rewards.
So I set up a Gumroad. 

I hope you're having a great day. <3

Cool Breeze

Just what I need right now. 

I'll be done complaining about the heat very soon, I promise!

This will be included in next month's rewards. 

July Rewards

A bit late this month because of the payment issues that occured. But I'm happy to report that all the pending charges finally went through. Yay! 

Everyone that signed up before the end of July should have a received a private meesage with their reward OR a message asking them to check their payment option because they've been declined. If you haven't received either of those, please let me know.

Thank you all so much for your support. You are an incredible bunch of people and you'...

A heads-up about rewards

Something weird is going on with the charges this month. A lot of you are marked as "pending", which I'm seeing for the first time. Normally by today, all the charges should have gone through. 

I'm going to send out the rewards to the "completed" accounts tomorrow and message those that are "declined" or "pending". I contacted the Patreon support as well. 

Sorry about that. And if anybody knows what's up, please let me know!

Lazy Days

Hey guys, I hope you are well!

Man, this heat is CRAZY. It drains all my energy and makes it really hard to get any work done. I ordered a mini air conditioning unit to at least keep my desk cool, but it'll be another week until it arrives. 

July has been challenging so far. Though I took a week off to travel to Amsterdam, I didn't come back as relaxed as I had hoped. My drawings after that didn't turn out great and I started and scrapped a bunch of things. So I decided to come back...

Rewards - June

Hey guys! 

I just sent out a private message that included last month's rewards. Also, I sent out a message to those whose credit cards have been declined. If you haven't received either of those, please let me know. 

Now onto another fun month of art making! :D

Patreon Livestream

Hello hello! 

It's time for our next Patreon-exclusive livestream. It will be happening on Thursday, 5 July at 7 PM Berlin time (12 PM EST). This time we will be four since Chantal is joining us. So exciting!! We'll be talking about light and atmosphere in art, so it'll be a bit more technical.

Here's the link:  https://...

New Giveaway Winner!

It's been a month since I randomly picked the winner for my giveaway. Unfortunately, he didn't respond to any of my Patreon messages or emails. So I picked a new one. 

The random number generator spit out the number 249 on my list of May patrons. And that's Allen Panakal who is a fantastic artist with his own Patreon. Congratulations, Allen! 

I'll be doing more giveaways in the future. 

Character Design: Hope

I'm so happy that I can provide a bunch of images for the next round of rewards!  It's been a productive month so far and I'm planning to do more! 

This is Hope, a character from my personal project Phantasma. You can read more about it here. The closer I'm getting to my goal here on Patreon, the more freedom I have in working on my passion projects - regardless whether I can sell prints and merchandise. I...

Courage

Hello hello,
I hope you're doing well! 

I've had so much fun with this artwork. It's something quick and easy - right in my comfort zone. After all these huge (for me anyways), detailed illustrations it was fun to just create a simple portrait. 

Primarily, I focused on her features and expression. But redesigning the armour a little bit and coming up with the colour palette was also a ton of fun! 

I hope you guys like it. PSD file, brushes and all that will be av...