Kristina is now a FULLTIME freelance illustrator! - updated April 3rd

[Satu]

Ooh I think it's so cool that you decided to do a character from Kalevala.
It looks very nice (and hot too thehe). I would love to see your interpretations of Väinämöinen, Louhi and Tuoni also.

[Maidith]

Thank you, Satu

Today I didn't feel much like painting, but still managed to get shit done.
This is Louhi, a sorceress and one of the main characters from Kalevala.

[cgaddict]

Nice work on the new painting, really enjoy the pose and lighting of the figure.

[FrogOnAZipline]

I really like the color, lighting, texture and drapery of Louhi. The linework has good solidity, makes it feel heavy and grounded. Nice stuff.

[Maidith]

FrogOnAZipline and George, thank you

I'm doing a few studies referenced after photos from http://lockstock.deviantart.com/ , while also looking at 19th century paintings and trying to figure out how Bouguereau and company used color.

I'm now quite sure that the "secret" behind their badass awesome use of color is not so much the colors itself but the values, and the modeling of form.

[Maidith]

Another study done after a photo from http://lockstock.deviantart.com/

[sony]

Lemminkäinen is awesome and the expression on Louhi is wonderful too

[Maidith]

sony, thank you

A random character design. Heavily inspired by Yoko Tsuno, one of the comic book heroes of my childhood.
Not really fanart, because the actual Yoko Tsuno character wouldn't dress that "sexy". XD

[Maidith]

It crawls.
It eats.
It oozes.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Multiheaded Omnivorous Slimeworm (nasticus ultimus)

Photoshop and tablet, as always. About 3 hours.

[cgaddict]

Nice updates! Loving the creature design, can I have it as a pet?!

[Maidith]

If your landlord/lady doesn't mind, George ;D

New work! A commissioned book cover illustration.

[cgaddict]

My landlord can always be bribed Excellent work on the book cover, really enjoy the composition, and the colors look very natural and convincing. Keep up the great work!

[Maidith]

Thank you, George

New work, and probably my last personal painting this year, as everything else right now is commissions.

Basically, I just wanted to paint an awesome old room with lots of awesome old stuff in it. It's the most time consuming painting I made this year; the sketch and line drawing alone took somewhere in the vicinity of 10 hours.

As you can see in the WIP steps-

http://i46.tinypic.com/wj9gso.jpg

- it started out as a Tintin fanart but I lost my fangirl spirit somewhere along the way. And now it's... well, this. This thing. With the Siamese cat from Marlinspike Hall, a window view of the Sant'Ambrogio chapel in Florence, and the lamp that hangs above my parents' dinner table, and maps of Syldavia and Borduria on the wall, and 1920s technical gadgets.

The dress is real, too. I bought it at Dawanda (the German/European equivalent of Etsy)

Medium: Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always.
References: http://i49.tinypic.com/24obtit.jpg

[Lagarto]

wow. this last painting is really amazing. It looks so real I feel I could almost touch it. You got the mood really well, the colors are just a pleasure and I love the girl´s face.

[cgaddict]

Amazing indeed, your latest has definitely been made with a lot of care and effort and it shows through wonderfully. Really enjoy the lighting, very dynamic and your color choices are very natural looking and not overdone. Great job overall, you should definitely be proud of this piece!

[miycko]

wonderful paintings, wow - you're such a huge Tintin fan, i couldn't manage to do that many fan-arts of one character while paying as much attention to detail you do so kudos to you. the ship in post #720 is... well the whole scene is just breathtaking - wouldn't mind seeing more of those. The commissioned book covers/paintings are great, one can clearly see how work you put into those awesome studies as well, keep it up

[Maidith]

Thank you all

Here's a new painting, a commissioned illustration for ISeeMe! Inc., USA.
Heavily inspired by Bouguereau.

The idea was to paint an allegory of Germany as a small child, and I chose to represent it by giving her the "Bavarian" look, one universally recognized as "typical German", even in Germany.

The pretzel (not the small cracker, but the large, soft bread dipped in lye before baking) is also popular throughout Germany. It's said to represent two arms folded across the chest in prayer, and has been used as an emblem of bakers since at least the 12th century.

Medium: Wacom tablet and Photoshop as usual
Time: about 20 hours
References: My own this time, from family photo albums. Face, and 1 hand and foot each are referenced, everything else including the background is painted from imagination.

[midknight523]

ooh lots of improvement since page 1

[ezekrialase]

Very nice updates, it's great that you're getting commissions

[Murderotic]

Oh Maidith. Lovely work as usual! Great to see new updates!

[Maidith]

Geez, so long since my last update?
And WTF happened to the forums o_o The old design was much more readable. Or I'm getting old.

midknight523, thank you =)

ezekrialase, thanks

Murderotic, thank you

Here's two new illustrations; commissioned work for a childrens' book.





I'm working on a bunch of more commissions, which I'll show later.

And I'm very happy to say that dropping out of art school in June has been The Perfect Decision! Working full-time - that is, doing nothing but painting and business all day long - teaches me SO MUCH more than art school could - at least than mine could. And I'm very happy to say I've been able to make a living solely from illustration for the past 3 months. Yay!

[Maidith]

I'm currently working on a big project called "Die Märchenbande" ("The Fairytale Gang") that interprets Grimm's Fairy Tales in a modernized fantasy-like style. My client is making a series of pop music CDs and books that use my illustrations.

You probably know Little Red Riding Hood, and all the others already

A LOT more fairy tale illustrations are going to follow in the future.

Now back to work!

Medium: Photoshop and Wacom tablet, as always.

[Mepainter]

i love, love your work! extremely inspirational stuff. your paintings,and illustrations are among the best i've seen.

nice to see you making aliving off illustration. i wish ihad the talent, and most important the dedication you have.

[Maidith]

Thank you, Mepainter! :)



New work: The Box of Pandora. Recent illustration for a private client :)
Painted in Photoshop with Wacom tablet as usual.

[cgaddict]

Really enjoying your clean style; Your latest is very solid, nice and clean with great use of perspective. Nice concept as well, very unique and well done.

[ja1307]

Some really nice work in here you convey a lot of emotion in your work its really good stuff.Very good story telling too.

[Maidith]

Thank you George and ja1307!

Evil magician dude for a commissioned ebook cover:



Here's the said ebook cover:



It's animated, slowly running through from left to right, hence its width.

[Maidith]

I wrote a little tutorial:

Top Seven Mistakes Made by Illustration Students and Aspiring Illustrators

=)

[Maidith]

Commissioned fantasy world map. Yes, I draw all sorts of things!

[zou]

hi maidith

a big thank for your tutorial

if u want some critics:

-pay attention to your heads and their connection to body (sometimes they are a bit small and neck a bit large)

doing very fast gesture will make them better (perhaps)

-this is personal of course, but your painting could be better if they had more painterly effect (not so precise edges), perhaps using bigger brushes and choosing more painterly brushes (contrasting between messy and clean areas)

good luck with your nexts