Never thought this might be necessary, but for some reason, I've found myself answering the same questions over and over again for years now. So here is the answer to all of your questions... ...it's 42!

About drawing, art, inspiration, and media When did you start drawing? How did you learn to draw? What media/techniques do you use? What's this about "Watercolour and Photoshop" I see on so many pics of yours? Who are your idols? Where do you get your ideas from? Can you teach me to watercolour? About me I have this notion you're German... Your role-playing seems to be real fun! Can you give me the link to where you play? If I may not use your pics for my Harry/Remus slash fic, are you a homophobe? Questions about my pics/characters Why do you draw [name of Tolkien character] with that hair colour/length? Fingolfin had golden hair you idiot! (Variant of previous question, insert random typos) What's a drow? Who is this Jhael? Where can I read about him? Who is Aidan? Who is this Drizzt Do'Urden, then? Has R. A. Salvatore/G. R. R. Martin/J. K. Rowling/(...) seen your art? What did they say? Requests, commissions, prints, use of my art Will you draw my character for me? I'd like to commission you for my project. We are only a small company and we have no money yet, but we will be published, and you will be paid as soon as our product sells. Will you draw Jarlaxle/Drizzt/Elrond/Frodo/Tyrion Lannister/...? Can I use your pictures? Can I buy prints of your pictures? I've attached this pic here, it's only 2 MB, critique it please! Other questions Xirrit'arizdridin'khriz, drewwizin-carizdiril arrhu'naz? Why "GoldSeven"? (Your website, login names, user names, nicknames, etc) What sorts of questions do you take up into your FAQ? About drawing, art, inspiration, and media When did you start drawing? That's a tough question to answer. The easiest way to answer it would be: I've never stopped. Most people swear never to pick up a pencil again when they hit 14 or so; I just stayed on and managed to learn a little... I got a kick of sorts when I was 20, and forced myself to start working on new areas--watercolour (heck, any colouring!) most of all, anatomy. At 24, I discovered comic artists I liked (Edvin Biucovic, namely) and decided I needed to work more to become as good as he was. I'm not, but I'm still working on it. :) back to "About drawing, art, inspiration, and media" How did you learn to draw? I'm self-taught. I had help from my mother at first, a friendly competition with a friend of mine who used to drive me to tears with envy, and later, I got a real boost when I discovered the internet a a means of getting help on pictures. I've never taken any classes, though. back to "About drawing, art, inspiration, and media" What media/techniques do you use? A pretty wide variation. I used to work exclusively in watercolour and/or coloured pencils until the summer of 2002, so most of the pictures up to that time were pencilled, then inked with waterproof fineliners and coloured in watercolour. I started colouring digitally in August, 2002, and have experimented with Photoshop and Painter, some cell shadings, airbrush work, watercolour tools in Painter Classic, and recently, some Painter 8. A lot of my coloured art after the summer of 2003 is done using "traditional" media shadings (greyscale pencil, or watercolour) which is then coloured in Photoshop, either with colour layers set on "Multiply" or "Colour", sometimes both (see next question). I rarely ink my pictures any more; most of the lineart you see from me after September 2002 has been done in pencil. I work with mechanical or normal pencils (0.3 to 0.7, 2B to 3H) over erasable coloured pencil to keep my drawings clean. Whatever I use to colour has to be quick. I'm terribly impatient. back to "About drawing, art, inspiration, and media" What's this about "Watercolour and Photoshop" I see on so many pics of yours? Which areas are photoshopped? Don't you think you're too good to stoop so low as to use digital stuff on your paintings? Lol. Yes, you won't believe how often I get asked this question. ;) Most of my pictures after the summer of 2003 were painted in greyscale and then coloured digitally. This gives me greater control over the colours, and it's faster (and cheaper, as I only have to buy black watercolour!) For more information and a tutorial/walkthrough on this technique, click here! back to "About drawing, art, inspiration, and media" Who are your idols? There isn't any one artist I try to emulate, but several whose pictures I really like, some of whom have probably influenced my style. My childhood idol was Ilon Wikland--the one who illustrated most Astrid Lindgren books. I still love her illustrations, and a lot of her sweet, slightly childish style is still in what I draw. Most artists I like today run along the same lines, usually, I fall for clear-cut, flowy stuff, and I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for lineart. ;) Alan Lee is a great idol of mine when it comes to watercolouring, as is Stephanie Pui-Mun Law; and I simply adore what Todd Lockwood does with light and shadow. Two more Tolkien artists whose stuff I could oogle over for hours are Katarzyna Karina Chmiel and Anke Eissmann. Adele Sessler is an inspiration as well as a great friend. :) Edvin Biukovic, Jan Duursema and Enrico Marini are my favourite comic books artists. I don't care much for US comic book style. I've read a few mangas and seen a few animes, and I find the style more attractive than the Marvel-type style, but most of the time, I find manga to be just a bit too sweet for my tastes. I know the style is evident in some of my pics, but I like it slightly more realistic. (Just slightly.) I'm always slightly puzzled at how many people actually see me as a manga artist. Real manga artists usually laugh their anatomies off when they see my feeble manga attempts (which I have tried from time to time). back to "About drawing, art, inspiration, and media" Where do you get your ideas from? Always stories. Books, movies, and most of all, role-playing. All my pics are usually scenes; I do very few pin-ups, and if I do, I need to know the story behind this character. Just much more fun that way. back to "About drawing, art, inspiration, and media" Can you teach me to watercolour? No, I seriously doubt anyone can learn to watercolour with online coaching! What you *can* do (and what I did) is to learn by experimenting. Paint often. Your first attempts won't look like much. But by practising and observing other people's techniques, you'll learn. Here are a few watercolour questions I get asked quite often, so I'll post the questions and my replies to them. Please remember that this is only how I do it, not a bible or THE correct approach! These are some very basic starting tips: Should I water down my colors a lot or a little? I'd advise to use watered down watercolours rather than really saturated ones. Also, if you're afraid of starting out with watercolours, colour your pic in only one colour (monochromatic), so you don't have to worry about colours but only about technique. I often do that (my "Lady in the Forest" and "Daemon Prince" pics on Elfwood) and it usually looks really cool. I prefer thinner watercolours, more watered down. That doesn't mean that this is the "right" way, of course. :) How do I blend? As long as the colour's wet, you can blend anything. But you're better off trying to experiment with those things for yourself--nobody can explain to you how to paint without you collecting a lot of experience first. And don't worry if your first ones don't look that good -- practice makes perfect! What type of brush I should use? An expensive one! ;) I use several different brushes, from size 0/4 (smallest) to 6 (largest). I always use the tapering shapes of brushes, never the flattened ones, as i work in very small format, and I find the bigger ones are only good for laying down a background tone. You can work more quickly with big brushes, but for small areas, you'll have to use small ones. You have to work carefully with small brushes to avoid water edges unless you want them. Is it okay to ink before I watercolor? Again, there's no "right" or "wrong". :) Of course it's okay to ink. I "ink" with a pencil, but with rather bold strokes you can always see in the finished pic. Ballpoint pens remain visible under watercolour without dissolving in water; there are also water resistant felt pens. I was wondering what kind of paper you were using? do you use normal printer paper, or do you use watercolour paper? Printer paper is too thin; it gets wavy and doesn't take the water well. Ideally, you should use watercolour paper, which is thicker, can hold more water, doesn't get wavy after drying, and allows you to blend colours better. Sometimes I also use thicker paper, like Bristol board, but any other thick, smooth paper will do. Several great watercolour artists work that way. When you are shading with watercolors, do you wait for the light color to dry before you continue? That depends on the effect I want. If you look at this pic, you can see a hard-edged line along the cheekbone of the woman. That happens when you allow the lighter paint to dry. On her forehead, there's a gradual lightening from left to right; there I drew the darker colour into the light one when it was still wet. On her sleeve, there's another area of hard lines, and another of a soft gradient. In both cases, you need to know in advance what you want--and you have to work fast sometimes, before the colour can dry! :) back to "About drawing, art, inspiration, and media" About me I have this notion you're German... Hee hee. That's right. My first name seems to lead some people astray, but I am indeed German. I kept my website in English because the fandoms of most of the stuff I had on there initally were English, and I thought I'd reach more people that way. I'm more comfortable with English comments on Elfwood as well, knowing that I always feel so locked out when I find Swedish comments on the site of a Swedish artist. On that note, I might say that my name is Swedish rather than English; you pronounce it "Yenny." I don't have any Swedish ancestors though. :) back to "About me" Your role-playing seems to be real fun! Can you give me the link to where you play? No, I can't -- because I don't play online. I play the old-fashioned pen and paper variety of RPG (Dungeons and Dragons, that sort of thing) in which you sit around a table with the DM and the other players. I can't share my DM either--yes, he's great, and I'm married to him, and you won't get him! ;) The trick in having a good role-playing session is: Know the other players and the DM. I've only ever managed this really deep-immersion storytelling RPG with very few people. You don't necessarily have to be married to them, but it's easier to really get in character and play whole evenings without rolling a single die, just acting out conversations, when you know each other really well. back to "About me" If I may not use your pics for my Harry/Remus slash fic, are you a homophobe? Lol, no! I don't even have a problem with slash. What I don't like is slashing other people's characters. I have done it myself, but it feels wrong. Just to make it clear I have nothing against the m/m or f/f part--I think it's just as wrong to slash Malfoy and Hermione. I simply don't see the romantic potential. back to "About me" Questions about my pics/characters Why do you draw [name of Tolkien character] with that hair colour/length? Because I probably read somewhere that he/she had that hair colour. This is probably my MOST frequently asked question, believe it or not. (It's amazing how much Tolkien fans care about hair colours.) Rest assured: So do I. In many cases, hair colours are not described in the Lord of the Rings or in the Silmarillion (in Fingolfin's case, though, the index of names (under "Finarfin") states that "alone among the Noldorin princes he [Finarfin] and his descendants had golden hair, derived from his mother Indis, who was a Vanyarin elf"). For a wealth of information on the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings, however, read the "History of Middle-earth" series that was published by Christopher Tolkien after his father's death. That's twelve volumes of unpublished material, old versions of Tolkien's books, and huge amounts of infomative tidbits. There, you can find that Celegorm had fair hair, that Maedhros and Nerdanel had red hair, that Fingolfin and all his offspring were dark-haired and that Fingon wore his dark hair in braids. And yes, it's by Tolkien. THE Tolkien. The one who really ought to know. REALLY. And let us not forget the History should be read for more than just hair colour fetish. As for hair length: That's simple preference. I started drawing Silmarillion pictures in the early nineties, and had no visual reference for any of the characters. There were no long-haired Orlandos and no wild-maned Viggos. I had extremely short hair myself and all the guys I knew and found handsome did too. For some characters, I always thought that longer hair was fitting (like Fingolfin), but in the case of Feanor or Maedhros, I have never been able to imagine them with long hair. back to "Questions about my pics/characters" Fingolfin had golden hair you idiot! (Variant of the previous question, insert random typos) Kindly bugger off, please. Thank you. back to "Questions about my pics/characters" What's a drow? A drow is a dark elf in the Forgotten Realms, and the Forgotten Realms are a Fantasy setting from a whole cartload of books, as well as the setting for most Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) Roleplaying adventures, and several computer game tie-ins (Pool of Radiance, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights etc). Drow are usually evil (with notable exceptions, see "Drizzt Do'Urden" below), worship the Spider Queen, Lolth, and live in a matriarchal society in the Underdark. They're obsidian-skinned and white-haired, and most of them have red eyes. By the way: The plural of "drow" is "drow". Not "drows" or something like that. back to "Questions about my pics/characters" Who is this Jhael? Where can I read about him? Jhael Zalazar is my dark elf character I play in an RPG campaign set in the Forgotten Realms. I've finally edited the story and uploaded it; go here to read it! It's the beginning of his story and how he came to the surface. And no, I'm afraid I won't be continuing it in the near future. :) Jhael is currently teamed up with my husband's character Aseir, also a drow. back to "Questions about my pics/characters" Who is Aidan? Aidan Cameron is another RPG character of mine. He's also the protagonist in a novel I'm writing. I plan to publish it, but I haven't worked on it much since I started teaching. back to "Questions about my pics/characters" Who is this Drizzt Do'Urden, then? Drizzt is the creation of Fantasy author R. A. Salvatore. Drizzt is a drow (a dark elf) who defies the evil ways of his people, and walks away fom the Underdark to dwell on the surface. So far, there are 14 books to read. My suggestion to start is "Homeland", the first book in the "Dark Elf Trilogy", which was not written first, but depicts Drizzt's childhood and youth in the drow city of Menzobarranzan and explores why he is a good drow. It's one of the best, too; a great place to start, without any foreknowledge. It's a bit of a "fast food read" but still very nice. back to "Questions about my pics/characters" Has R. A. Salvatore/George R. R. Martin/J. K. Rowling/(...) seen your art? What did they say? Well, authors are veeeery busy people. :) R. A. Salvatore has seen my pics on the forum on his site; he said something to the effect of "Nice work". George R. R. Martin did like my work enough to request its presence in the artbook, "The Art of The Song of Ice and Fire". back to "Questions about my pics/characters" Requests, commissions, prints, use of my art Will you draw my character for me? I accept commissions! Check out my terms and contact me with details. E-mail me for questions regarding commercial art (RPG, games, etc). I rarely do art trades, as my time is so limited. Since I'm a professional illustrator, I don't do free request art. back to "Requests, commissions, prints, use of my art" I'd like to commission you for my project. We are only a small company and we have no money yet, but we will be published, and you will be paid as soon as our product sells. I believe you, but I still have to say no. My time is very short, and in that time, I need to draw things that will keep me and my family fed now, not in a few months or next year. back to "Requests, commissions, prints, use of my art" Will you draw Jarlaxle/Drizzt/Elrond/Frodo/Tyrion Lannister/...? Probably not. I've currently moved away from drawing the Drizzt characters, and everything else just has to fit. When I'm not working for commissions, I need to get the pictures out of my head that are already in there. And believe me, there's loads of them. :) In some cases (notably Jarlaxle) I've been asked to draw him so often that it's started to get on my nerves, which doesn't really help inspiration. back to "Requests, commissions, prints, use of my art" Can I use your pictures? Yes, if you want to use them (for personal/non-commercial, non-promotional purposes only!), all I ask is that you do the following: - not to change titles and characters names, - not to take more than six or seven pics, - not to alter them (no cropping or mirroring and absolutely no colour changes, filters, drop shadows and lens flares) in any way except to resize them, - to give my name (Jenny Dolfen, not GoldSeven), well visible, near the pic and link back to my Elfwood gallery. If you want them for a purpose you're not sure I would approve of (e. g., I do NOT want my art to be seen on Harry Potter slash sites), please drop me a note and ask. If you just want a face for an avatar or some such, please email me and show me the way you've cropped it. And remember that the ultimate decision whether or not any of my art may be used is still mine. back to "Requests, commissions, prints, use of my art" Can I buy prints of your pictures? Yes, you can! At my Cafepress Shop, you can buy posters in different sizes. Currently, there are only my most "popular" pics available as prints, but if you wish to purchase one that isn't there, or would like other "merchandize" besides posters (mousemats, mugs, T-Shirts etc...), feel free to email me and ask me about it, and I can upload it for you to buy. Alternatively, or if you want to buy a smaller pic (A4 size) or/and you want it signed by me, you can email me directly, and I'll make a print for you myself (Cafepress prints aren't handled by me). (Short clarification: A print is just that--a printed version of any of my pictures that you can see in my online galleries. If you want me to do a picture of your RPG or similar character, that's a commission--and in that case, you get the original as well. :) Go here for info!) back to "Requests, commissions, prints, use of my art" I've attached this pic here, it's only 2 MB, critique it please! Please don't send me anything just like that. I delete attachments from people I don't know, and some people send me attachments of several megabytes without asking me first and expect a full critique -- it just doesn't work like that. I'm active on several forums but I like to decide what I'll comment on -- sometimes I just don't have anything to say. Please don't expect me to give critique on command. I'm not the authority to tell you whether your pic is good or bad anyway. back to "Requests, commissions, prints, use of my art" Other questions Xirrit'arizdridin'khriz, drewwizin-carizdiril arrhu'naz? Sorry, I don't speak drow. My Sindarin and Quenya has become a bit rusty too, I'm sad to admit. Please use English, German, or Latin if you like. back to "Other questions" Why "GoldSeven"? (Your website, login names, user names, nicknames, etc) Gold Seven is the callsign of Captain Samica Trey, a character I once played in a long-running Star Wars campaign. She was a Y-wing pilot flying for Gold Squadron. She's one of my most favourite characters ever, and I set up most of all my internet stuff (forum memberships, my website) during a time when I still played her. Click here if you wish to learn more about that campaign (pics and fanfic)! back to "Other questions" What sorts of questions do you take up into your FAQ? A question makes it into my FAQ if it's asked several times in one week. Yes. Go figure. XD back to "Other questions" Any more questions? Email me!