Jenny Dolfen

Squirrelly homework

Added 2020-12-15 19:34:28 +0000 UTC

I decided to avoid a mistake I'd made in my Dungeons and Dormice last spring: I'd jumped straight into a series without more than a very basic idea of what dormice even looked like. So this time, I set out to understand squirrels' faces. In the process, I found again how much more expressive they are than dormice, with their more visible mouths, their white rings around the eyes and the possibility to express a lot more with ear position.

My second 2020 sketchbook is almost full, and when that's done, I'll move to an A4 one, hoping to make full sketch pages of characters, maybe with a coloured one at centre stage and some sketchier ones in margins. I did that a lot for "Cannae" in 2014, and loved the look of it.

One word to those of you wondering (more or less) whether this squirrel stuff is serious - I think it is. That doesn't mean there will be no Tolkien at all for months, but there will be less than, say, in 2019. Just wanting to be honest with you all. :) But I think it has been possible to guess this from the last months, and I'm very happy so many of you are here for the squirrels (and have joined up for them specifically, even!)

I'm *very* excited for the post tomorrow or so - I ordered a few duochrome watercolour paints from a German artist/paint maker, which look absolutely incredible in her shop. Fingers crossed they'll arrive tomorrow, and I can give you a taste (as it were)!

Lockdown, here I come! (I stocked up on watercolour sketchbooks this summer, wisely!)