It took two weekends to complete the Samwise Gamgee Mini-ME from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I love Sam, because he is so good. If more people were like him, this world would be a much better place. I confess, I do not remember the character from the books, but the way he was presented in the movies–he is basically the hero. Without him Frodo would not have survived long enough to destroy the ring.
Samwise Gamgee and pony Mini-Me
For this Mini-ME I’ve played around with proportions a bit more to make them even cuter. What do you think? The drawing took much longer, because there are 2 characters (Sam and the pony). In total, the time it took to create this Mini-ME was about 12 hours. I tend to charge 30-50$/h for my work. (The price varies depending on what the work would be used for and what rights I’m selling.) Therefore, the cost of this Mini-ME is $360 – $600. The image is created in Photoshop CS5 on a Cintiq Companion. The final PSD image has 2 rough folders, clean line layer for each of the characters, 3 background layers, and 3 colour layers (colour, shading, and highlights).
You can watch the Time-lapse video by joining Mili Fay Art Fan Club below to access the YouTube Playlist. Unfortunately, you will not be able to receive the colouring page and full-resolution PDF image this week, because the mail has been sent. However, if you do join you will get the PDFs for the following Mini-ME.
Why do I insist you join Mili Fay Art Fan Club and not just give away my work?
- I do not believe in giving away art for free. I need to sell art to survive. Even if I had a patron who would pay my living expenses for the rest of my life, there are other artists who may not be as lucky. It is wrong to give away art, because this creates the impression that art is free, and each free artwork is taking away food from an artist’s mouth. As is, you can enjoy the low-resolution image, but it will not work for commercial purposes. By joining Mili Fay Art Fan Club, you may help me spread the word about my work at least, which I consider a fair trade for some artwork.
- I’m working on a fantasy novel. I need to find other fantasy fans out there who like my work, who may be willing to purchase some of my work, or at least know others who would love to purchase my work and can offer advice on how I can improve my work. Currently, I’m looking for people who liked The Lord of the Rings, Avatar: The Last Air Bender, Sailor Moon, Chronicles of Narnia, fairytales and mythology, because I believe they would like my fantasy series, and I need to find these people so that they can read my series in exchange for advice and honest reviews.
- I like to meet people with similar interests and exchange ideas. It is great to work from home, but sometimes it can get really lonely.
I have not done much work last week other than my assignment for the eBook Publishing and Design course I’m taking and this Mini-ME. I’ve been drawing so much lately that I’ve hurt my drawing hand. I do not know quite what I did, but I can no longer lean on my right hand. Then I managed to electrocute myself by accidentally touching an exposed socket. I did not know the socket was exposed, and I got a nasty shock and a bruise. I can only be grateful that I’m in Canada and not Europe.
This week, I need to finish an eBook and Mobi for my class, so I may not have much time for drawing, but I’m still working on Warriors of Virtue. On the subway, I have worked out Vert’s basic design as a dragon (and let me tell you he will look amazing!). Remember, I have decided to paint more realistic covers for the text-only edition, and to use the first 9 episodes to introduce the main characters. Below are the final rough sketches for Episodes 1 – 4. I want to create all the rough sketches before I start to paint, because I wish to see how they will look together. The font is only placement font for now (I may create my own if I can figure out how), and the blue border gives me cutoff space. If you are reading this, I hope you will take some time and offer me advice if you see anything I can do better.
Rough sketch showing Cornelian and Artemis looking inside the cauldron. I was inspired by some Arabian designs for the cauldron. This moment is the catalyst for the entire series.
Lauraliee as the Water Warrior, Nenya. Lauraliee at sixteen has a freakish talent with a sword. She has not been defeated in a swordfight since she was fourteen.
Vladimir at fifteen is the Fire Warrior, Narya. Even though he does not use the bow and arrow (in the first volume he only uses darts), he is superior in archery. (You may recognize this pose as the one I used for Legolas 😉 ).
Nikolina (fourteen years old) is the Wind Warrior, Viliya. She has the ability to speak with animals. She is surrounded by a unihorse, phoenix, griffin, and is holding her pet dog, Lunja–a mutt.
That’s it for now.
Wishing you a wonderful week!
Mili Fay