They're scheduled to arrive tomorrow... I'm slightly scared, but they simply can't look horrible again. So, if all goes well, I know what I'll be doing this weekend!
2019-05-16 16:46:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Your thoughts on what the artbook should look like have been so helpful! For weeks, I stood before the task of choosing artwork for the book and thinking about how to bring it all together, and was completely stumped - now it's just falling onto place beautifully. I had no problems at all to find...
2019-05-15 18:10:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Two new Patrons - welcome, Erik and Marie!
I finally managed to do the sketch for Nichole's commission! >3 Really looking forward to painting this one.
I nudged the pin company who should have delivered the Maedhros pins by yesterday, and the...
2019-05-15 14:23:30 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been trying around with this since yesterday, and finally found a pose and meaning that worked... until I realised that this pose just screams "smartphone!", especially since I had a simpler, squarer-looking crown first, at a much steeper angle. I couldn't unsee that. So I made it pointier a...
2019-05-08 16:57:29 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome new Patrons, Laura and Drummerboy! ^__^
I've been less productive than I've wanted - I was going to start the Galadriel commission as well, but life and my eyes aren't being very cooperative at the moment. :( I want to get the next pin designs on th...
2019-05-08 11:05:04 +0000 UTC View Post
That's really, really cool! Just so you know what the calendar will look like, here's the 2016 one I had made four years ago. :)
2019-05-03 20:13:19 +0000 UTC
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In between packing up Etsy orders (all of yours will go out before the weekend!) I'm planning the next batch of pins, as well as thinking about what we'll do for a new Celebration tier reward in late summer!
I've cleaned up the Maglor, Fingon, and Professor designs, so those wil...
2019-05-01 20:03:42 +0000 UTC View Post
First things first! A couple of people have written to me asking whether I had sent out the Patreon pins yet. I obviously hid my updates too well. ;) So - the pins have been in production (again) for two weeks, and they should be here in mid-May! I'll post photos and updates as soon as I have the...
2019-04-29 10:16:16 +0000 UTC View Post
I figured I'd put them on Etsy before leaving for the con - In the unlikely event that I am cleared out, I can make sure you get yours before that happens. ;) I won't be able to do any shipping before the middle of next week though! (I've already enlisted the kids to help me packing.)
A new camera!
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OK, that too. =D But today, 1450 new pins arrived! The failure rate was a little higher than with the last batch, but still acceptable, and the A-grades (about 92 percent) are spectacular. I haven't shot proper photos yet, but will do that tomorrow!&n...
2019-04-24 20:39:46 +0000 UTC View Post
Colours aren't final, but I really like this one. It's designed to be huge - 50 mm at least (the last ones were 28). We'll see which manufacturer I'll go with - and if they can do cutouts!
Maybe, one day, I will draw a dragon that is not cuddly, or smug-cuddly. We're all still waiting. XD&n...
2019-04-20 20:41:35 +0000 UTC View Post
"She was chosen because she had not feared the heats of Laurelin, and was unhurt by them, being from the beginning a spirit of fire, whom Melkor had not deceived nor drawn to his service."
She's up in my shop now! I'm waiting desperately for new papers and envelopes to arrive; so plea...
2019-04-19 11:54:52 +0000 UTC View Post
Literally, too! It's such a gorgeous day today. I'll get in a bit of sunshine later for my biweekly trip to the post office, hee. XD
Welcome to new Patron, Pam!
2019-04-18 11:45:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Super facepalm moment while working on the rigging of the ship:
Trying to find out how medieval rigging would have worked close up, and anywhere, really anywhere I search, after two sentences someone will say "go to the Schifffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven and look at the medieval cog there...
2019-04-16 16:01:18 +0000 UTC View Post
First sketch of an Arien watercolour! My daughter and I jointly posed for this. The pose is (mostly) mine, the head is hers, as is her hair. =O
2019-04-15 20:33:17 +0000 UTC View Post
I spent the end of last week with my dad in Northern Germany, so there was a lot to do and I didn't have my desk or mind free for the Arien portrait for Paul. I am still constantly thinking about pins, especially now that I know that (a) it is possible to get perfect ones and that (b) they sell i...
2019-04-15 12:46:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Today was absolutely surreal - the supplier of the two recent pins said that, if we could get the next designs all approved by this evening, I could have them in time for MagicCon. Which is on 26 April. O_o
What followed was an absolute frenzy of emails, design templates, corrections,...
2019-04-10 15:52:23 +0000 UTC View Post
I was so scared when I got the package today, holding it, closed, in my hand and telling it "please don't suck!"
And what can I say. These are just AMAZING. I can't believe how perfect and beautiful they are. These are from the other manufacturer now, and gosh, I can't stop staring that the...
2019-04-09 13:05:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's the tutorial I promised to do. Have fun! And enjoy the Celesnark. XD
2019-04-06 11:49:35 +0000 UTC View Post
I just got shipping confirmation for these two beauties! I'm slightly scared, but these come from a different company (which is extremely fast!) and were done in gold, not in bronze, which caused the problems the last time around. Plus, the skin tone the company gave me for Maedhros is the go-to ...
2019-04-05 06:32:27 +0000 UTC View Post
It's nice to use my own art as reference. ;)
I'll probably do Finrod as well before I order the next batch... although I'm slightly scared to order so many new pins. On the other hand, I absolutely feel I'm in for a karma payback.
2019-04-03 18:32:26 +0000 UTC View Post
You'll remember this was originally planned as Finrod's pose, but since Maglor was also high on the list, I ended up having no idea how I'd do Maglor if Finrod got the harp, so he got it.
My idea was to do Finrod with a stylised ring of Barahir/maybe just the crown of golden flowers, ...
2019-04-03 15:04:22 +0000 UTC View Post
I thought about your feedback about the last Fëanor update, and did a third version - I think he combines the vision and determination from the two previous ones!
Also, wow - forty likes on the Beren and Lúthien designs? That's a huge first! <3 You remember that I had the kingfis...
2019-04-02 14:08:54 +0000 UTC View Post
When I first read the Silmarillion at age seventeen, I couldn't really connect with Beren. Here was this gorgeous Elven princess who could have had any handsome Elf she wanted - and she chose a scruffy human?
Four years later, I met a guy with whom I had the nerdiest first date in history ...
They say you should get straight back into a car after an accident. I'll extend the metaphor to designing your next pin straight after a train wreck of a production line. ;)
The good thing is that, with his horrible zombie smurf pin, I learned LOADS of useful things. One, my lines can...
2019-03-30 18:53:11 +0000 UTC View Post
"Again after a hundred years Glaurung, the first of the Urulóki, the fire-drakes of the North, issued from Angband's gates by night. He was yet young and scarce half-grown, for long and slow is the life of the dragons, but the Elves fled before him to Ered Wethrin and Dorthonion in dismay; and h...
2019-03-30 12:42:38 +0000 UTC View Post
So... I almost didn't sleep tonight, and when I got a notification at school that the pins were there, I raced home during a free period. I had my hubby do an unboxing video... but I can't share that, as the exact moment when my heart was shattered isn't really good video material. There were thr...
2019-03-29 15:05:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Gosh, I can't believe these three took me the better part of the afternoon!
Can it have been the compulsive refreshing of the shipping status page in between painting... naaaaah. ;)
2019-03-28 18:34:11 +0000 UTC View Post
I'll let the wonderful Foil Arms and Hog sum up what I'll be doing today and tomorrow.
2019-03-28 12:05:57 +0000 UTC View Post