Jen is open for commissions again!

Good day to you! *blows dust off the blog*
I have just finished two major book deadlines (more about that later!) and am now taking on illustration commissions as I update my schedule.

In this blog post I thought I'd explain a little bit about what it's like for writers to ask me for help with some designs and paintings.
I've been asked to do things like covers, character portraits, full character designs and scenes from their story.

One example is the lovely Katy O'Dowd who first needed some help to visualize her characters for a book, so she sent me a short description and allowed me to do the rest.



A character design like this helped her during her writing process. Since she explains it all better herself, I decided to just ask her a few questions!

What made you want to commission an illustrator?
"I write to pictures, whatever I can find, usually off the internet or something I pick up on my travels - postcards, and so on. But sometimes there is just nothing out there to suit, so that's what made me seek out an illustrator."

Had you commissioned one before me, or was this your first time?
It was my first time, I popped my writer/illustrator cherry with Jen! I liked it so much I did it again - twice! (so far)

In what ways can you imagine an illustrator being able to help you out as a writer?
It's very inspirational having an image to look at when you write, and when an illustrator has done it to your own specifications it is exceptionally helpful. For example, having a picture of your character the exact way you imagine them can really help when writing them in different situations.


Cover for The Lady Astronomer, written by Katy O'Dowd and coming out in May.

Many thanks to Katy for allowing me to blog the pictures! If you're curious about her, please check out:

Her site: www.katyodowd.com
Her twitter - Click meee!
Her facebook - Click me!

And her other book which is out now:
The Scarlet Ribbon
(It's also in Waterstones and other bookshops!)


If you'd like to have a chat with me, just send me an email: jennie.gyllblad[AT]gmail.com
Or check out my site: www.jenniegyllblad.com

Small character portraits. (Commission)

Here's some progress of three small character portraits I'm doing as a commission for a writer:

Back in the UK! BOOM UPDATE.

First off, two Swedish scans of child portraits. The Swedish scanner make them look REALLY off in colour and brightness, but at least you'll get the idea :)





And now for some UK scans I just did (many of them will be old paintings that you might have seen as Swedish scans):

Character paintings for Clockwork Watch.


Character commission.


Page from Skal.


Steampunk short story cover.

Character commission: Painting progress.

A few layers have been added:

Character commission: Linework on paint-paper.

Here's one of my current commissions! A character design for a novel.



It is in the process of being painted.

Rough of a podcast banner.

Here's the first rough of a podcast banner for a team of gamers:



EDIT:
Whoops! That is much too large for my blog!
To see it properly, Click Here

Avatar commissions: An Update!

Sorry for the silence on the blog. been a bit busy this weekend. Also the reason why Skal hasn't been updated :(

Here's an update on one of the commissions:
It's all fresh from the scanner, so completely unedited.

Chibi Character Commission: Paint progress.

Not finished yet :)

Chibi Character Commission: Linework of one addition!

Chibi Character Commission: Linework (and some corrections)

Chibi Character Commission: First rough.

Here's the very first rough of my character commission:



Need to redo a few bits :P

Character commission: Linework.

Here's the linework of a character commission. The background hasn't been added yet.

Slowly back on track after tummy-bug mayhem.

Haven't drawn properly for about 4 days or so. This is my first serious attempt.

Concept sketch for a Swedish RPG company:

The tradeoff.

Thief hands loot to dodgy merchant. Maybe for evaluation?

Thief almost getting his loot! (first paint scan)

Thief almost getting his loot! (sketch)

Here's the sketch before being painted over.

A thief who's spoilt for choice.