Jenny Dolfen

Inktober 11 - wip

Now, which Elf would pull off brocade AND armour? <3 (Am I a good enough artist that the face shape gives him away?) 

Edit: Kirsten guessed him! It's Fingolfin. He felt slighted by being put in my sketchbook and left without any brocade, and was very clear that he needed to be drawn with brocade. And armour.&nbs...

Inktober 10: Finarfin

Wow, you guys really took care of every Inktober piece - I'm chuffed to see all of them go to nice new homes! <3 

Sorry for the lack of Elves in brocade yesterday - I spent all day marking. But the holidays start tomorrow, so I do hope, eyes permitting, that there will be many more pieces to come from now on.&nb...

Finrod, Melian, and Maglor are up on Etsy!

Feanor, the eyes and Elrond were snatched up last night. Good luck!! =D 

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/JennyDolfenArt 

Inktober days 7 and 8 - Melian and Elrond

I didn't quite finish Melian yesterday, but got both her and Elrond done during a conference today. 

There's has been a bit of confusion about claiming an Inktober piece! I will put all available pieces up on Etsy tomorrow around 9 am CET. You are the only people who know this, so you'll get first dibs. BUT if you ...

Inktober, day 6: Finrod Felagund

It's incredible how much I've suddenly fallen in love with inking! My self-perception, for the last fifteen+ years, has been, "I can't ink". I did have a feeling that I knew why that was, and that's proven true: I approached inking by doing a pencil sketch that was still pretty rough in places, and thinking, "I'll fix that wh...

Inktober Day 5 - Feanor in brocade

Feanor really, really wanted brocade. I'm cross-eyed now! 

I think this style is the way to go - keeping the characters purely in black and white and adding some colour with the background. 

I can't believe I'm actually inking. O= 

Inktober - Maglor finished

My eyes prevented me from doing any art yesterday, but at least I put some colour on Maglor today. My basic hope for this year's Inktober is to get more pieces done than last year - that means more than six, so I guess I'm still on track!

I always compare my available eyesight to weight watcher points. I have 100 points...

So, it seems I'm going full-on crazy now...

Elves in brocade, anyone? Maglor would have to be first. XD

I had the idea yesterday, watching Pirates of the Caribbean, of all things. The way Barbossa dresses after having gone all respectable reminded me that I had a full folder of brocade patters on my computer that has been waiting to be put on Elves. Inktober is t...

Inktober #2

Two years ago, I left him for last. This year, he gets a motivational spot at number two. But hey, I can still do a full one of him later. XD

I switched to Sennelier hot-pressed watercolour paper for this. That was great for the inks but sad news for the colours. Well... I have 29 days left to find the perfect paper com...

Inktober #1: Fingolfin

I almost gave up INktober before I could start. Today was a day that was just too full of all manner of stuff, and under normal circumstances, I'd have have spent the early evening reading newspapers online, but then I decided that this was precisely what Inktober is about - form new habits, make room for what matters. I'm no...

More Inktober warmup - Éowyn

Dear me! How I've missed this look (or rather, working up to this look, as I can't really say I ever really achieved it). 

I'm thinking of doing a Ladies of Tolkien series for Inktober... just for an excuse to do more gorgeous curls, haha! 

Inktober warmup #1

This style, funnily, is what I fully expected to be doing for all my life about twenty years ago. I stopped inking around 2002, when I felt my inks were horrible compared to my pencils. That, of course, is because inking will show every little mistake and insecurity which you can still hide with pencil. 

I've made ...

Calendar prototype... with some hilarious mistakes

The good thing: I can actually laugh about them as I only ordered one copy, and quickly moved to correct the mistake in the final file (made it a single, multi-plage pdf this time to be on the safe side). Basically, the printer said "Make sure to clearly number your calendar pages", which I did. Of course, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1...

More good news! - Question: paperback or hardcover?

The "prototype" of my artbook with the new printer came today, and YESSS! The printing quality is perfect, the colours are bright and full and crisp. Exactly as they would look if I had printed them myself. 

Remember how p...

*Drumroll* The postcard calendar! *Special Offer*

Welcome to new Patron, Nika Kara! 

Hey my lovelies! Here's the postcard calendar that will go out to all of you in the Celebration and Friend in Need tiers over the next couple of weeks! Since the calendar is quite small in size, I went for out-of-the-ordinary pieces or cropped larger ones.

...

A new painting toy and sketchbook

Whoa you guys, I finally tried out my Etchr sketchbook! I'd got it earlier this summer, but being a good girl, I filled my old sketchbook before breaking in the new one. (And was that ever hard!) 

It's called "The Perfect Sketchbook" and it really is a marvel. Normally, sketchbook makers really skimp on paper - thi...

Sweet times ahead

... in your postbox. XD This is the little extra thing I mentioned in my last post - I've ordered little jelly bear bags with my art (foxes) on them to throw in with Etsy orders for Patrons. The chocolate proved an idea that won't work after April. ;) 

The new orders going out today already have them! <3 Now I h...

Veeery rough sketch (first in a month)

I'm sorry for the serious lack of art around here lately - the artbook and t-shirt stuff has sucked up all my energy (plus, a lot of work at school). I've finally heard from the &?!§§ printer - they absolutely refuse to refund me anything. Which I expected, and the news was more infuriating than shocking, but still. I'v...

Wow, you guys!!

Welcome to four new Patrons! Hi there, IlexBerry, Luciana, Shawn, and Deniz! 

I know I shouldn't be amazed at your response - but it would have been mad to expect the kind of support you've been given me this past week! Thanks to your incredible he...

Rotten luck with artbooks. :( Some help needed, if you can!

I had barely finished writing my t-shirt post yesterday when the postman rang (once), to say he had eight packages for me. Oh my!!! He carried them all inside (they are beastly heavy - we're talking 500 pounds altogether), and I opened the first to look at my new artbook. 

And went about as pale as the book I was h...

The T-shirts are here!!!

Aren't they gorgeous? My daughter is already proudly wearing one. =) I'm really happy with the print quality! I used the same printer and printing method that the Tolkien Society used for the event shirts, because the quality is much better than the company I've been using so far. The tote bags are lovely too - they're all in...

Finished mica dragon

Not even The Sparkle can dissipate its meanness! =D 

My first ever mean-looking dragon!

Who would have thought it was some major eye-circles that made them mean? 

I suppose it took some major frustration with the printer of my artbook to bring out mean dragons. The entire upload-troubleshooting-reupload-troubleshooting-fix-reupload process would be comical if it wasn't so tiring. The printer only has ...

Busy busy...!

Somehow, everything is getting ready at the same time. aaaaah! XD 

Next week, the t-shirts will arrive! They're printed on a muted blue instead of the graphite tone they had at the Tolkien2019 event, and I will indeed have men's and women's cuts. I also ordered a bunch of tote bags of the design, in dark navy. <...

Conference sketch and t-shirt question

Welcome to new Patron, Szilvia! Great to see you again. Aaaand just in - Carin! W00t! :) 

This piece, the last of the England sketches, has a nice little story to it. 

I'd spent the first two days of the event not sketching at all. Usually, at any con, I will sit with my...

England sketchbook days 3 to 12, Tolkien2019 in Birmingham, and Alan Lee

Welcome to new Patron, James! Welcome! :)

Sorry for not updating - life was busy and at times hectic. On 2 August, I was this close to cancelling everything. Due to my blasted eye disease, which makes it almost impossible for me to tell a 2 from a 3 on my smartphone screen, I had misread the dates for ...

Holiday sketch diary 2: Canterbury to Botany Bay

Spent a day in Canterbury and one at Botany Bay. No fossils to write home about, but an actual beach day (complete with sunburns) and wonderful scenery.
We heard the Evensong at the Cathedral - always an experience of otherworldly beauty.

Welcome to new Patron, Morgan! 😊
2019-08-02 19:22:25 +0000 UTC View Post

Holiday sketch diary: Dunkerque to Deal

We're in Kent! I took some time to sketch on the ferry and after a short walk along the shore. Canterbury today, and maybe fossils tomorrow! 

And look! Patreon can do picture galleries now! 😀

Welcome to new Patron NaryaVermouth! 

Sneak peak: Journeys [Art book]

Woo-hoo! Look at this beauty! My friend Jonathan did such a terrific job with this. I just love the look! 

I will probably send this to print when I'm back from Birmingham (mid-August), so hopefully, the preorder can start then - with the books going out this September! *excited* I might even have the postcard cale...

Aredhel silhouette painting finished!

New Patron alert! =D Welcome, Hana! 

To think I wanted to do a series of "quick little paintings" - little, yes. Quick? Ouch! I think I need to do some with a water brush. That way, I can't do that much detail. XD (But that'll frustrate me like no man's business, so there is that.) 

Stil...