ARTY FAQs

If you have a question that is not on here, feel free to ask me anything.

Bio. Chantal is a self-taught traditional fantasy artist based in the Netherlands. She specializes in pencil drawings (both b/w and color) and has a particular love for drawing faces. She has a history of portrait drawing but is now expanding her skills to a more fantasy like drawing style and has also picked up painting.

Q: how did you start drawing?
A: I have been drawing ever since I can remember, as a kid I was obsessed with pencils and my little brother and sister always wanted to copy everything I made! When I was about 16 years old I started seriously practicing techniques and tried to look at other artists’ work to see what I could do better. Since a few years my drawing has dramatically improved and I am now at a level that I am confident to show my work to others!

Q: what kind of tools do you use?
A: PENCILS! I have several brands and several grades (ranging from 8B tot 2H, I actually don’t use the higher H grades). Besides the pencils I have a vast array of erasers, both regular and kneaded (gotta love the Windsor & Newton medium kneaded putty rubber!) and pencil erasers. I also use a range of blending tools: q-tips, cotton pads, tissues and tortillions.
I like to draw on very smooth Bristol board. Canson has a great Bristol board in different sizes. I use A3 and A4 paper.

Q: where do you get your inspiration from ?
A: I draw inspiration from the simplest of things .. a small leaf or a shade of color in the sky. Usually the things that inspire me most are of the natural world. I love to look at animals (especially the ones with horns!) and trees and plants. I also get really inspired by fashion magazines .. I love to browse through Vogue and look at the models and the beautiful photography. I use a lot of model photographs as references for my drawings !

Q: do you use any digital programs to touch up drawings?
A: Definitely. Unfortunately I do not have such a fantastic scanner, so when I scan a drawing it always turns out really light and the shadows are hardly visible. I have to do a lot of touching up in Photoshop to get the scan to look like the original drawing.

Q: how long does it take you to finish a drawing?
A: This question is impossible to answer :) The time I spend on a piece differs a lot .. large detailed pencil pieces can take months to be finished, while small sketchy portrait only take me a few hours. Usually, the more detail a piece has, the more time I’ve spend on it.

Q: do you sell original drawings?
A: Yes, almost all of my work is for sale. Just check the link on the left (Sales & Commissions).

Q: are there any prints of your artwork for sale?
A: Not any more.

Q: do you do commissions?
A: At the moment I am not taking commissions.

Q: do you do requests?
A: No, I do not have the time or financial space to do unpaid requests.

Q: do you do art-trades?
A: If you have a good offer I am willing to think about it! Can’t promise anything though ..

Q: can I use your art on my website/MySpace/Facebook/… ?
A: No. My images are protected by copyright and I do not want them spread all over the internet.

Q: can I use you art as a reference for a drawing/painting/etc?
A: As long as there is no direct copying involved, I am OK with this. Just give me credit by putting a link to my page in the description.