SciFi & Fantasy Fanart by Catherine ´Kate´ van Mark

You have a wonderful gallery, and your personal gallery is also very amazing. I especailly loved 'The One Ring'the composition of it worked beautifully. You are very talented!

Your stuff is ok you just need more color to make it stand out.Otherwise its fine.

Your Sirius Black portraits really capture his pain exquisitely. Good work.

your pics are wonderful.
may I add some of your pics in my site ?
http://www.fanfictions.it/fanfic/index.htm
it is a site for Fanart and Fantasy!

*Starea at ur pic* How'd u make ur earz like that? Did u do it urself or R u really an elf? R u 100 years old, cuz' u look x tremely young? Pleeze answer me cuz i'd really like to kno how u did that.

Hi Kate! I'm familiar with those copy accusations here in Fan Quarters. I had the most dashing Snape portrait to be moderated, and what I get was a cold shower and a serious warning for not to copy. Aww... I was being ignorant at that time. I really thought that even if I used a pic of an actor as a reference, my art would still be mine and not a copy. Now I'm wiser and never leave a trace to the original photograph, and that - as far as I know - is the way _they_ want it.

Apart from Elfwood, copying is how artists learn. We take a still life of fruits and copy it with oil paints, we take a photograph of a person we admire, and copy it. What's the difference? As Ulla said there earlier, there is always a touch of that specific artist brought along to the piece. For me it works so that I make a few careful studies of a person's face and other features, and after that I'm more or less able to do my own drawings of that person without a reference.

Btw, how are artists supposed to do any real portraits if they are not allowed to use references?

Well, about 'copying.' Copying a work can be considered a creative act. And yes it is a good way to practice. But elfwood started (and continues to be) a place for original artwork. If you copy a work of art, it is no longer original. But the MAIN reason elfwood does not allow copies, is Copyright infringement. In US law, a work of art is copyrighted the INSTANT it is created if it is original (not a copy, or close enough to be considered a copy.) A piece of art doesn’t have to be marked Copyrighted or anything, it just IS copyrighted.

And if you look at the elfwood rules, there are guidelines on how art can inspire other art and visual to visual art is frowned upon.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! You look STUPID! Bloody STUPID! BWAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Catherine 'Kate' van Mark replies: "Yes, of course *Pat*Pat*Hello? Is anyone there to put him back into his cage?"

you have wounderful talent! I am making a Sirius Black tour and was hoping that I could add "And he fell..." "Pain" and "Sirius" to it.

Catherine 'Kate' van Mark replies: "Yes you can Sirius Black's friends are my friends ^-^"

Your pics are haunting me, everywhere i go, they follow me, and its not bad thing. You are very talented. And you got pointy ears, its always good thing=)