taniakerins

[taniakerins]

Sketches of some of my biking friends who’ve really helped me out this year If you’d like yourself/someone drawn in this way, please message me! (£22 per person)

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The Maids | Buckethead Character designs for the maids in my graphic novel, Buckethead. Having fun with all the shapes and sizes that women come in

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Rachel Atherton 5x World Champion DH Biker Rachel Atherton as she passed the finishing line in 2018. I was watching this on TV from Brink, a local bike shop, two weeks before racing her at Red Bull Foxhunt (I lost, obviously)

[taniakerins]

Do you have any advice on commissioning artists? I’ve never done it before and I don’t want to do anything wrong. thanks!

Sure! :)

1. Get a quote:

Contact them with a brief description of your request

Mention whether it has a background or not, full body/portrait, colour, etc.

How big? If you want a file you can print to A3, specify that in the quote.

Reference their own work to show the style you want it done in (personally this gives me a strong indication of the time I’ll spend producing the work), and/or find an image with a style you want if you haven’t seen it on their portfolio, but think they can do it.

Provide a few visual references of what you want drawing (a deer in a hat makes for a faster drawing than an 8 winged, 12 legged dragon with crystals for scales. This is all I need to know at this stage)

If you have a deadline, mention it when getting the quote; it may not affect the price, but if you want the 12 legged dragon in full colour by tomorrow, it might not be feasible.

2. Payment & terms of agreement:The artist should be able to reply with a price that accurately reflects the work required, or whether they’re currently closed for commission.The fee stated will vary between artists, and it’s here that people seem to do something wrong:

If you’re not happy to pay the fee, don’t make insults or start complaining about how hard it is for you to accrue the money; accept it or politely decline. The artist doesn’t need to be made to feel bad about your financial decisions; they’re probably not charging enough for their time as it stands and they don’t need encouraging to charge less.

(Consider that some artists are self employed; they do not get a pension, sick pay, holiday pay, and they must deduct their own taxes from their income. Their prices reflect this just like any self-employed person in any industry.)

Agree on payment terms with the artist. This again varies. Personally I require payment upfront as it’s safer. Some will agree on half upfrontor after a sketch has been approved, half when complete, etc. Some also expect you to sign a contract or you to accept an invoice; the artist will let you know what their terms are.

3. The Brief:

If you’ve accepted their terms and fee, it’s time to get into the details:

Send as much visual reference material as possible! If you like a particular distressed leather look, send them a picture of it!

Try to avoid irrelevant information; I don’t need to know why there’s a cut on the characters ear, only that there is one. Too much irrelevant information and you risk important facts being lost.

4. Finished!:

It’s done!

If you’re happy with it, let them know! Don’t be shy! The reaction I get from clients is a big part of why I do this in the first place.

If you’re not happy with it, let them know! Politely. Maybe there was something missed out which you clearly briefed them on; it’s the artists responsibility to give you what you paid for, but be nice about it; find out where there was miscommunication and make practical steps towards resolving the issue.

Changes to commissions are always a bit of a grey area. There comes a point when it isn’t economical for the artist to continue amending the visual, and a point when it’s unreasonable to expect the artist to have guessed what’s in your head. If it concerns you, find out in the payment stage what you can expect regarding alterations.

When requesting an alteration, be very clear about what it is. In some cases where the change is substantial, you will need to pay for amendment time.

Hopefully that clears everything up for you! :D

[taniakerins]

Morzine | Lemon You may not know this (as it’s my art blog) but I am a keen downhill mountain biker. I’m really excited to be going to the Alps in summer with some new found biking friends -  so I’ve designed a shirt with everyone on it! Kind of like a tour shirt?... The white version is a poster and the grey a concept for the shirt. “Lemon” is a mountain bike merch brand I’m going to play with now that I’ve gone freelance. (that’s me, second on the top :o)

[taniakerins]

I made another ad, because Tumblr’s fancied one of my paintings as adult content and I just don’t have the patience. I have returned to freelancing at the start of this year, and thus: commissions are now open! I would be grateful if people could share this post Please message me or email me at taniakerins@hotmail.com to inquire :) Thank you!

[taniakerins]

I have returned to freelancing at the start of this year, and thus: commissions are now open! I would be grateful if people could share this post Please message me or email me at taniakerins@hotmail.com to inquire :) Thank you!

[taniakerins]

Aileen Campbell | Buckethead A character from my story, Buckethead.  She spends most of her days as an anxious mess, wondering whether she’s worthy of God's love. She’s slept in and been kicked out of every church in Scotland. Volatile and unpredictable, but kind at heart. She’ll never go about something in the right way. Probably my favourite character, even though she’s not the protagonist.

[taniakerins]

Rock Study to practice brushstrokes and where to add detail

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Pink Experimenting with new colour palettes

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Breakdown

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Bladerunner, Secret Cinema 2018 I went to Secret Cinema the other day and it left a huge impression on me. Best described as playing a low-tech Westworld or a sophisticated irl open world multiplayer; actors pull you into side quests, everyone’s in costume, the environment is like a film set (it was raining indoors!)... no matter where you end up, you seem to be in the middle of a very aesthetic cinematic cutscene. It was amazing! And they played my favourite genre of music at the end to boot. So here’s me dancing as a scavenger with LED aviators and a fancy jacket. I think I might go on a spree of painting my favourite memories in order to practice a quick style. It’s important to me that I make nice brushstrokes, and I don’t trust that I do at the moment, which I think is due to having not explored photoshop much; I often find I spend hours botching them to “look” free and traditional instead of finding a better solution.

[taniakerins]

500 Followers!! Crocodile study & sketches

There’s no connection between 500 followers and crocodiles. Still. Thankyou!! :DDD Went to a crocodile zoo recently and saw this little stunner doing some poses. I always struggle with dragon chests so I’ve been doing studies of the photos I took. Threw in some other sketches of recent too. They’d never get posted otherwise - some people studies I did in Germany, and my back muscles (I had planned to draw myself dancing with my characters to celebrate 500 followers. But I didn’t get past drawing me...)

[taniakerins]

The Last Shift

Super cheese. In 2016 my day job was driving a tractor at a farm-play park for toddlers. At the end of that last shift I had some poignant feelings that were worth remembering: relief, of course; I’d finally got my foot in the concept art industry, but also a strange sense of pride and belonging. Something about my love of the outdoors, my tendency towards typically masculine things, the dungarees, camaraderie between staff and being The Tractor Driver, was all very satisfying. (the repetitive work and incessant children’s songs from the trailer behind...not so much) I’m pretty sure I looked this badass as I walked away from my station btw. I might have employed a bit of artistic license on the size of the tractor though...(but yes, it did have eyes)

[taniakerins]

The Grim Reaper

He’s back! Did a pose sheet for the Character Design Challenge on facebook.

“A charismatic Grim Reaper, passionate about love, life and health. Within his cloak he can bring things back to life, turn back time, tap into the realms of the deceased, or form whatever best illustrates the story he wants to tell. “

This was one of those attempts that I’m sure you’re all familiar with... where you try and come up with a quick, nice and unlaboured style...but inevitably you end up over-rendering it.

[taniakerins]

Inktober | Week 1

First time I’ve ever done inktober :O I don’t use ink so it was difficult to know what to do with it. I’ve decided to use this month to practice character design for Buckethead. There’s a lot of “sexy” ladies around and I think it’s a shame they don’t get the same characterisation as men...so I thought I’d try my hand at doing that. I’ve got a few keepers here that I’ll probably refine later.

(please right click > “copy image location” and paste in a new tab to view full size....grr Tumblr.)

[taniakerins]

Vouivre | Buckethead I’m trying to hold onto the fantasy and mythology of my story. These days it’s difficult to find room for it with all the social conflicts taking precedent. Anyway, this is a vouivre! French for wyvern. These guys are French (really?) Unlike GoT dragons, they make terrible battle mounts; they prefer a conflict free life and cannot be persuaded to breathe fire or follow commands. They could kill people simply due to their bulk, but fire is an expensive resource that’s created in the digestion process and is used only to roast food. They prefer to whack the horn on their nose into their opponents in the same way a giraffe would, and rarely enter fights outside defending a nest from other vouivres. They aren’t especially territorial either as flight offers easy access to new sources of food and shelter. Meaning that should a knight attempt to kill one, it’d just fly off.

I actually started this in 2013 and it’s definitely time to put it down. Back in 2013 I painted images at actual size, so it was minuscule, and when I zoomed in I was painting the pixels. You can see how it started here if you’re interested: https://tabon.deviantart.com/art/Vouivre-WIP-480198258 I tried tripling the size and repainting it all, but that was a lot off work so I turned it into a phone background \o/