Jenny Dolfen

Peaceful solutions guy

Orym again being completely oblivious to how small he is. <3 And that's only a dwarf he's glowering at, or the perspective would have had to have been even more extreme (whew). 

(Most of that blood is his.) 

If any of you have been around with me for a veeeeery long time, you may have noticed (as I did yesterday) that Orym is slowly getting closer to a very dear old ori...

Dancing on the air

I'm terrible. Give me a snippet of a character's childhood and I'm all over it. =D

Orym, probably around ten or so, "training" with his semi-adopted sister Lita to "dance on the air".

Something really weird is going on right now. For a couple of days, I've been able to instantly pin down a pose, a face, anything without half trying and without much correction. For a pose li...

Footsteps (slight CR spoilers)

"Orym, out of old habit, falls in where Derrig would, to the right and behind Keyleth."

So many good vibes with the last episode! And Liam wrenching at my haertstrings without even doing anything monumental. 

I really need to do a piece with Ashton and Percy facing off. So much goodness when your new characters meet your old ones! 

I actually sketched that at the Ess...

Back from MagicCon!

I had a blast of a weekend at MagicCon, where, funnily, Tolkien prints did worse than Cosplay Dormice and Critical Role - and Agnes!

I did a lot of sketches, some for visitors, some more elaborate ones just in between (I find that people are more likely to believe that you're an artist if they see you sketching at your booth). I'll put some of them up for sale later; drop me a line (messa...

The days are just packed

It was so hard to come up with a title for this one (couldn't call it "Orym and Hobbes") and then it was so obvious! =D So, Will and Orym from Critical Role as kids, probably ten-ish. (Does Orym ever actually say he and Will grew up together, or is that fanon?)

I love the colours here. Going digital was an obvious choice. The Swan Knight had wrestled with me a lot worse than I thought he ...

Kids' play: Orym and Hobbes, old art, the Amazon series, and new book copies!

The days are just packed! 

I bundled up most of the previous book orders aaaaand new ones are in my shop! If you missed the last batch, grab one of the new. I'm sort of hoping I can stay abreast of orders this time and won't let them sell out, but we'll see! They'll never be gone for long. 

I'm also getting very good at drawing firecrests, much better than I was at any poi...

Swan Knight, finished and properly scanned

Mythtember the Last, only three days late! Yaaay!

It may not have turned out the way I envisioned it, but it certainly turned out nicely! Still feel digital worked better recently. I'm glad I did a monthly challenge in September and have no self-imposed obligations this month, actually. 

I hope to do the remaining Haunted Forest sketch copies today and put up new ones! After Ma...

Lohengrin finished (?) and more tiny Orym

So the Swan Knight took a turn in a slightly unforeseen direction, mostly due to the fact that it’s still hit and miss with the right level of intricate detail that I can still do with brushes. I’ll leave him lying overnight and see if he needs some highlights yet.

Some bad news regarding the Haunted Forest translation: I somehow managed to lose the part that I had. I'd saved it ...

Sketchfest! and N(q)SFW Orym/Will

Okay, I soooooort of didn't expect eighteen sketches when I put up twenty copies of "Haunted Forest" - serves me right! Thank you wonderful people. =D

I thought it might be something like eight sketches in twenty copies and I could package them all on Saturday to make way to the next batch. So Saturday got a little full as I did something like thirteen sketches and packed up orders with ...

Swan Knight lineart and fun with halfling proportions

The last of Mythtember is almost upon us, and here’s the lineart of the swan knight, who can double as Tuor, funnily. ;)

I also set out to make myself a little cheat sheet for halfling proportions, and realised they are actually a lot weirder than I thought. For my halfling characters, I usually use the toddler weight and height grid, but that doesn’t work at all if you assume a halfl...

It's here! =D

... and it's looking gorgeous! Right on cue, hubby had dug up the autumn-y decorations from the basement and I used them to snap a few shots. 

The cover was tough to get right - the first test copy was way too dark, the second way too vivid. I opted against a third test copy, tried to hit the middle, and ordered three hundred copies. O_o I'm so gald it worked out perfectly! It's just...

"We're so sorry, Imogen"

Yeah, no. Orym in green(ish) and Imogen in purple AND yellow is just something that defeats me, haha. I started doing this in coloured pencils, was almost done too, and realised it was all too tiny for me to work with, so I started colouring it digitally twice and  I'm still not sure I like the colouring style. One of these days I will have to come up with a digital colouring style I like ...

Mythtember: The Buttercat

In Scandinavian/Saami legend, the buttercat guards the home and larder from evil spirits, and mine here doesn’t seem averse to eating a kobold or two if he can get them. :D 

Painted in Procreate. The latest CR piece with Orym and Imogen is still on the workbench, and I really want to explore more of Orym and his husband Will next… just some fluff. 💚 With weird height differenc...

"We're all so sorry, Imogen"

Orym trying to comfort Imogen. 💔 I just love this little guy so much.

I'm so in love with the lineart here again, and I'm scared to mess it up with colours. I can't seem to find the perfect combination, especially digitally. Might take the plunge and try it in coloured pencils, though I made the figures so small again… >_< 

Mythtember day 21: Sylph

Just a quick and swooshy piece for today! Sylph dancing up in the evening sky. Trying around with loose colouring and letting clean lineart get in the way, as always,  haha. 😄

"Flip the coin."

/heartbreak

This piece dealt me about as much psychic damage as the scene itself did. Do you see all these colours? People with purple geode hair and green skin, a faun with green hair and a green dress, one halfling all in green and one sorcerer with purple hair and a yellow kerchief? Plus a bright yellow automaton, all in a red environment?! I cursed myself so often all day. I think I h...

"Choices" (CR spoiler)

The downside: I'm sick in bed. (There's headcolds going round here like nobody's business.) 

The upside: While you can't juggle sketchpad and pencil and eraser and sharpener and colours in bed, you can absolutely juggle an iPad in bed. And OH BOY, look what I found for a wonderful "inking" setting! I've tried them all: Slick, smooth ink tools, scraggly ink tools, airbrush... and this...

*Critical Role spoiler*

(I know it's a lot of Critical Role right now, but this is an emergency. That last two episodes were crazy. Mythtember will resume soon. =D) 

This was the most harrowing scene I've ever seen in an RPG, whether watched or played. 

Clockwise from left:
Fearne the faun druid, freshly Revivified after dying just seconds before, sits with the dead halfling fighter ...

"There’ll be a time"

As much as I love traditional media, there’s nothing like digital to explore colour schemes that are unusual for me. I saw this in blues and it started out like that, and got more and more green-rose-gold the further I got, and I love it. Probably wouldn’t have worked out in coloured pencils.

Will and Orym. 💚💚💚

(Spoiler) "There'll be a time"

Spoiler for Critical Role C3E34! (Yes, I'm freshly subscribed. No, I did not get up at 4 AM to catch it live but cuddled up with my daughter on the sofa when we got home from school to watch it.) 

"You're not done," Will, Orym's deceased husband, says, as Orym's soul hovers between life and death. 

"I really wish I could stay," Orym whispers as he hears Fearne's voice call...

Koit and Hämarik (Dawn and Dusk)

In grandfather's house, there dwells Dusk, who takes the fiery ball of the sun inside each night so she can take care of it, and Dawn, who readies it in the morning, and he sends it on its new journey for the day. Midsummer is the only time when Dusk lays the sun directly into Dawn's hands, and when their hands briefly met, they fell in love with each other. Now grandfather, who misses nothing,...

Orym, Koit and Hämarik, and a very unhelpful cat

Okay, I really needed to get that Orym piece out of my system… ;_; Let’s hope this was all part of a major plot twist.
All done in Procreate.

I also got Koit and Hämarik lineartsied today, and, while cleaning it up and doing some tweaking, a very unhelpful Loki jostled my elbow. I w...

(Massive Critical Role 3/33 spoiler)

Sorry, but I had to interrupt Mythtember for a much-needed bit of art in between... Critical Role Campaign 3, episode 33: Blood and Dust. 

The episode was over before the ramifications were totally clear, and it's still possible that Orym and Fearne will be saved from the near-total party kill that was last Thursday's nightmare, but as of today, my beloved little three-foot fighting ...

Sketch: Koit and Hämarik

I've had a successful sketching day in Phantasialand today, got in four rollercoaster rides and a Nutella crêpe as well as a very refined sketch, and drove home three happy and exhausted teenagers. A good day all around.

Koit (the dawn) and Hämarik (dusk) in Estonian-inspired garb. These costumes are so gorgeous! I want to go overboard with traditional Slavic (edit: and Baltic) cost...

Mythtember 11th: The Dahu

Third image for Mythtember! A dahu, the French-Alps pendant of the Scottish haggis. Both are hunted by making them turn on the mountain and roll down, and both have resulted in many a gullible hunter sitting with his net all night, waiting for their quarry to come rolling down while their prankster co-hunters were drinking ale down the pub instead of startling dahu. 😂

"Frau Trude! It's raining, it's raining!"

I swear this is how I'll look when it finally rains here again. Underwear and all. If it happens on the staff trip on Thursday, all the more fun. 

Die Regentrude is a fairytale that's been with me my whole life. It was written by Theodor Storm, a 19th century (Northern) German author, and I had a record with the tale on it as a child. The tale seems extremely modern in its i...

Mythtember #1: Faerie Queen

Managed to finish this today and I'm totally cross-eyed now! I just typed this as "Mathtember: Fearie Queen". Which makes a weird lot of sense. 

Mixed media on watercolour paper. This time, I somehow didn't get them to do what I wanted, but I suppose that Mythtember's going to be a good practice opportunity! 

.... and I realise only now that August has 31 days and Septembe...

"Oathkeeper" finished, and some more Mythtember groundwork

Got Maedhros finished one day before Mythtember! Now I need to finish the Faerie Queen tomorrow.... =O 

Only a photograph at this point, not a scan - the paper warped so much that it doesn't scan well, so it's spending the rest of the day under heavy books. The colours came out MUCH brighter than I envisioned it, but that's an occupational hazard with watercolour pencils. I avoided i...

Faerie Queen and Mythtember prompts

Thanks for all your suggestions! I'll put up my prompt list on Instagram, anyone who would like to participate can do as much or  as little as they’d like. I had to call it Mythtember as the ones who put together Folktember didn't want me to make my own list, so here goes. 

Hmmm, on second thought... Folktember suggestions?

I've been looking at the prompt list for Folktember (by _jessicadonnellyart_ on Instagram), and found I had to google half the creatures, and some I know I don't really feel. 

The prompts are: The Seelie Queen - Dragon - Loch Ness monster - Pixie - Pooka - Leshy - Stone Circle 

I defini...