NokiMo
Jenny Dolfen
Jenny Dolfen

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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 sketchbook and draw away, putting it down every now and then when I'm talking to a customer. On the first two days in Birmingham, that was not possible - there was no time at which there were no customers! 

On the third, with a lot of interesting talks and panels on, there were the first lulls. I took out my sketchbook but, as happens quite often when I'm surrounded by awesome art, I was staring at my blank page. I started a sketch thee times and erased it again. 

Then, in late afternoon, it was Alan Lee's talk, and I found myself dreaming up a tree that I would draw the next day. 

Afterwards, I wanted to catch a talk called "Setting the Silmarillion to music" with Ted Nasmith, but it was already full; so we ended up in the bar with John Garth (yes, I'm absolutely dropping names here hahaaaaa, but I was really sitting with the two of them and talking sketchbooks), and afterwards, there was the absolutely wonderful performance of the People's Orchestra of Birmingham performing music from the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, Warhorse, Narnia, Game of Thrones and How to Tame your Dragon. My eyes were tired, so I closed them and refined my hypothetical tree. And that tree started to take shape, and was soon joined by another, and by a little stream, and (of course) some riders, who soon (of course) turned out to be Maedhros and Maglor riding to Mereth Aderthad. While I often plan entire paintings for several days in my head, none had ever come to me from scratch like that. It was Niggle-like. and pretty magical. 

So, another one I want to finish whenever I find the time. :)

Talking T-shirts! For those of you who are interested in getting a shirt with the Tolkien silhouette on it, how important is it for you to have a choice in cuts? I had those two or even three different shapes for the Noldor T-shirts, but that was too difficult for me to keep track of. If I only offer unisex/straight cuts, would that put anyone off terribly? Let me know in the comments! 

Conference sketch and t-shirt question

Comments

It is so nice story and the sketch! Looking forward to the next stage!) Unisex T-short with silhouette would be absolutely ok, by the way.

Kate Astat

I prefer the straight unisex cut myself. So glad you had a great time.

Vivienne E Collins

I enjoyed the illustrator panel on YouTube. Your comment on haircolor brought to mind a talk at Mythmoot VI in June by Marie Prosser on the genetics of elven haircolor. It was lots of fun. I don't think it's publicly available, but I'm sure Marie would share it with you (she's on Facebook).

Kate Neville

No matter the cut, I'm dying to have the Tshirt :D

Sirona

Straight cut is fine for me. (I usually prefer them)

Mary Catelli

One of these days I’ll have to one of the conferences myself. It sounds like geek heaven, but for serious scholars. I’d also definitely prefer a female cut T-shirt to a male cut (which is usually what unisex turns out to be). But, since the moment I saw the design I wanted a T-shirt badly, so I’d probably get one either way.

Kerstin Renger

That is going to be a beautiful painting!

Bonnie Marques

To be honest I would buy a women's cut t-shirt but not a unisex one. Unisex shirts fit me so badly these days that it's uncomfortable :( I'm short and slender-ish with big hips. (If I get a big enough size for my hips, it tends to be so baggy around my waist that a pouch forms on my stomach, and so long that it covers my butt; if I get a smaller size it constantly rides up and bunches on the hips where it's too small and also might look too tight in the chest area.) But I'm pretty sure that I'm in the minority in this so I understand if you choose to have only one cut to avoid hassle :) That Maedhros & Maglor painting idea sounds absolutely wonderful! And the way you arrived at the idea does sound magical.

elesianne

My whole Twitter feed has been full of the convention all week and I have been burning up with envy! I really should have got a ticket, even just for a day - I am not all that far from Birmingham. Glad you had a great time! As for shirts, I will get one either way I think, it is such a lovely design. My favorite shape/cut at the moment is the 'Curvy' tee that they use at Teepublic which I believe is from LAT Apparel but it doesn't seem to have that many distributors outside the US, sadly. Women's/girlie tees are a better shape for me but often run a bit too small, sadly, so I end up in unisex/men's anyway, and just get a bit lost in the shoulders.

Ann Wain

.... oh pleeease find the time to finish that painting!

Anjuschka


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