Thank you! (Q&A) (Patreon)

Hello, everyone!

The year is almost over, and I wanted to take the time to say: Thank you for your support.

I feel very honored that you decided to be my patrons. Without you all here, I wouldn’t be able to try new things and invest in more equipment and props.

2022 will be full of changes for me, like the last two years before. In January I’m getting married, and I will quit my part time job as a cleaner in April. I will need to look for a new part time job, if I don’t make enough money with my reference photos, but that’s okay.

I wanted to make a Q&A video during the holidays, but I realized that it would take much longer than I thought. So instead, I’ll answer your questions in this post. And hopefully someday I will be able to make a video, too!

I started taking references in 2019 to draw more. I wanted to use my own references to improve my skills. Instead of drawing more, however, the exact opposite happened: I spent more time taking photos than using them for my drawings.

The biggest motivation for me is that I can help a lot of artists and get to know them better. It's always exciting to see how many different drawing styles there are and what creative ideas people come up with to use my references. I'm especially happy when my photos are being used for fanart of characters that I like a lot or with a style that I haven’t seen (a lot) yet.

Seeing all these great works of art on social media inspires me the most when I take new photos. But I also like to look through artbooks, comics and watch films. That helps a lot to find new inspiration.

When it comes to the angles, I often try a lot of different things and end up going by what feels right. Or I take different poses with a specific angle. Not everything works, but it gives me a better sense of what angles are right for certain types of poses.

Most of the projects I can't work on at the moment are very time-consuming and some are not easy to do with my current camera. Especially photos with difficult lighting conditions are currently not possible, because the quality would be too poor, just like some projects where fast movements have to be captured. Unfortunately, my beginner camera quickly reaches its limits there.

I also want to film more video references in the future with a focus on acting. I don't actively train my skills as an actor because I haven't been in an acting group for a long time, but if I want to capture specific characters or situations in my references, I inform myself in advance about the character or scene and then try to interpret them as realistically as possible.

I have some ideas for these video references, but since these projects can be very time-consuming as well, I unfortunately have to put them aside for now.

But especially these character poses are one of my favorite topics as a model and photographer. That's why I hope that in the future I will have more time to work on that. I’m not an active cosplayer anymore, but I would love to use more props and costumes soon.

I would also like to collaborate with artists, photographers and models as soon as I have more time.

There is one question left and it might be the most important one…

• Lasagna
• Crêpes
• Poutine
• Katsudon
• Saure Eier (eggs in mustard sauce)

Thanks again for your support and stay creative! 🌛

Jen