Thursday, January 28, 2010

Jasmine Becket-Griffith’s Creative Process

Have you ever wondered how Jasmine Becket-Griffith creates her world famous fantasy paintings? We were curious, so we asked her to share with us some images of a piece of art in progress and tell us about her creative process. There are many steps and a great deal of work involved (and maybe a little magic!) to transform a blank canvas into one of Jasmine’s works of art.

Few people are able to watch a painting be created before their very eyes. But Jasmine has graciously shared her process with us through this series of images. Now we’re thrilled to be able to share these images with you!


First, Jasmine starts with an outline layout of the composition. In the second image, you can see she has refined some of the detail in the foreground characters.


In the third image, you can see that Jasmine has started underpainting the background. When you look at the next image, you’ll see the cemetery in the background is complete. Here Jasmine has also started underpainting the light on the fairy’s and jack-o’-lantern’s faces.


Now you can see that Jasmine has begun layering in colors and shading on the fairy and jack-o’-lantern. In the next image, notice how she has refined the fairy’s face and added color to her lips and eyes. Jasmine’s signature look is really starting to emerge. She has also applied color to the fairy’s dress.


Further along in the process, Jasmine has added detail to the fairy’s dress and wings, and she has also given the jack-o’-lantern an underpainting glow. In the next image, she contrasts another shade of yellow on the jack-o’-lantern to provide a feel of illumination. She also has added the final highlights of detail to the fairy’s hair and wings.


Finally—the finished work of art! This is the final digital version of Jasmine’s Halloween Twilight painting. Absolutely amazing!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Jasmine Becket-Griffith Tattoos

Our month-long tribute to world-renowned fantasy artist Jasmine Becket-Griffith continues this week with a different take on her art—in the form of tattoos! Many of Jasmine’s most devoted fans have adorned themselves with her fairy art, and some of the designs have even been inspired by our own figurines.

Tattoos continue to become more popular—some major art galleries even hold exhibitions of tattoo art. To most anyone who has one or admires them, the people who create these intricate designs are artists, indeed.

Today we’ve gathered a collection of images of tattoos inspired by Jasmine’s art, and we’ve also included the painting that inspired the tattoo so you can see for yourself just how detailed they can be. The likeness is amazing!

Here are a few of the tattoo designs:






Jasmine has received over 500 pictures of her art featured as tattoos from her fans. You can find all of the images at http://www.strangeling.com/fairytattoos.html.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Top Five Paintings of Jasmine Becket-Griffith

Jasmine Becket-Griffith is a world-renowned fantasy artist. Her mystical paintings blend realism with wide-eyed wonder, exploring gothic themes with elements of classical literature, the occult, nature and fantasy. It is her goal as an artist to bring a little bit of magic into the mundane world.

This week we would like to shine a spotlight on Jasmines current top paintings. We hope you enjoy these images and her comments on them.

Snow White and Her Animal Friends — is one of my best. I'm very proud of this one. I can't stop staring at her! The most recent installment in my Fairy Tales series, it shows a slightly gothic Snow White sitting in a forest glade with some cuddly critters—a raccoon, some bunnies, a baby deer, a squirrel, and a chipmunk!

Lute and Lyre — A beautiful painting indeed. Lush and gorgeous. Two nymphs in a dark lovely wood—twin muses with their respective instruments.

Pink Lightning! — She is a striking one (no pun intended!). Brilliant pink lightning flashes in the storm clouds surrounding her…big eyes crackling with energy. Her pink and blonde hair is swirling in the wind. I love this painting!

Alice in Clockwork — the first of a slightly more refined/grown-uppish Alice in Wonderland series I'm working on, with a steampunk flair. The original won the Juried award in the 2008 Dragon*Con Art Show! It features Alice with a more subdued colour palette with clockwork (elaborating on the juxtaposition of time and pocket watch themes in the stories), and it is absolutely gorgeous.

Marie Masquerade — most likely inspired by my recent artist retreat to France. Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen, dressed with her over-the-top glory with her sailing ship hair adornment…magnificent hairstyle, lush makeup and her not-very-concealing masquerade mask! I love this painting; it really looks awesome in person. Her big eyes gleam out of the gloom. It really is lovely.


Friday, January 8, 2010

The Value of a Remarque

Happy New Year, Fans of Fantasy!

In this new year and new decade, we have a little insight to share on something new you will soon see on your Jasmine Becket-Griffith collectibles. Each collection will feature a specially-designed remarque composed of Jasmine’s initials to create the main icon of the collection. This remarque will be featured on the bottom stamp of each figurine.

Used to authenticate a work of art, this special symbol was first introduced in the early-19th century. Today, it is your assurance from Hamilton that your figurine is an authentic Jasmine Becket-Griffith collectible.

Here is a preview of the remarque from our Jasmine Becket-Griffith Legend of the Fairy Dragon Riders Collection. Look closely, and you’ll see her initials actually create the unique design of this “dragon.”

Wishing you all a "fairy" magical 2010!