References for Writing

Dear Fellow Cosplayers of the Tolkien persuasion,

Wellington is currently doing this “Costume Trail” thing which is fantastic. What they’ve done is taken the costumes of the main characters from The Hobbit movies and placed them around Wellington, NZ, for people to look at. There’s usually one at each location but some places like The Roxy and Embassy theatre have three.

So, naturally, I am doing the thing but I’m also doing it with a fairly powerful camera to take hi-res photos of the costumes as references. What I am going to do once I’ve got good photos of all of them: upload the pictures to tumblr, one character costume per post. I’ll upload the ones I’ve seen already but I won’t get photos of all of them until probably Christmas or Boxing Day.

One minor thing to be noted: The costumes are housed in cases with super reflective glass which gives the photographer in me nightmares. I do my best taking the photos [including making my mother hold up table cloths to block the light, lunatics that we are] and with photoshop but alas, I can only do so much. Detail shots are fine because I can easily block the glare but full body shots are dicey.

Characters being displayed:

Thorin

Bilbo

Oin

Gloin

Bifur

Bombur

Bofur

Fili Part 1 & Part 2

Kili

Dwalin

Balin

Nori

Dori

Ori

Gandalf

Legolas

Tauriel

Radagast

Elf Lieutenant

Elf Soldier

Bard

Nori’s costume

Actor: Jed Brophy

Designer: Ann Maskrey and Bob Buck

Made By: 3 foot 7 Costume Dept.

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Post 7/21 from the Costume Trail in Wellington. Another very reflective display case. :/ Message me if you’d like higher resolution photos or other detail shots.

Dwalin’s costume

Actor: Graham McTavish

Designer: Ann Maskrey and Bob Buck

Made By: 3 foot 7 Costume Dept.

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Post 16/21 from the Costume Trail in Wellington. Message me if you’d like higher resolution photos or other detail shots - I have a lot for Dwalin because his harness is so intricate.

            After a long awaited 3 year hiatus, I am finally                                               reopening  commissions! 

All prices in USD (United States Dollars)

Price list:

Sketches $15 per character. Extra characters +$5 each

Outlined paintings $30 per character. Extra characters +$20 each

Realistic paintings $50  per character. Extra characters +$30 each

How to ask for a commission:

Email me at [email protected]

Describe and discuss your idea in the email - add reference pictures if necessary

Wait for a reply with a simple watermarked sketch. Make sure it’s what you want.

Pay me via PayPal

Wait for the painting. I will email it to you as a TIFF, PNG and / or JPEG file.

What I will draw

any ship from any fandom (yes, most of my work is supernatural, but I’m flexible!)

nsfw (please ask what I’m comfortable drawing first!)

Original characters

Real life people

OC / RP crossover into fandom (insert yourself or your OC into your favourite fandom!)

Crack / Canon “fixing” - I love painting funny things!

mild kink stuff (bondage, latex, etc) - again, please ask first what I’m comfortable with!

simple backgrounds - complex backgrounds will be charged as an “additional character”

Fic / novel covers - Text will be added free of charge

What I won’t draw

Paedophilia

Non Con / Rape

nsfw incest

If you’re unsure, please ask me first! 

Please reblog to spread the word! I am really struggling with money at the moment, so every little helps! 

Can’t afford a commission but still want to help? Buy me a coffee or donate via Paypal! 

Check out my art page @k6034art to see other examples of what I do or visit my deviantart page 

Some Dwarven patterns inspired by the wonderful Hobbit artbooks… Because I need a selection of Dwarven patterns for all my Hobbit fanart.

Have you noticed how similar the pattern on Kili’s coat is to the pattern Thorin wore as a young prince in Erebor?  My reconstruction is:

If you look closely, not only the diamond pattern, but the vertical segments that point outwards on either side of the diamond motifs are reflected.

As part of my drapery studies I had to dissect the light and shadow of folds. It's super easy to draw a bunch of crisscrossing lines in a sketch, but I always get lost when it comes to rendering. After this exercise I learned that the most straightforward way is to think about everything as a pipe fold, then go from there.

>>Disclaimer & more of my art notes/tips here<<