Often one of the best things about fandom is the fanfic, the fanart, the creations surrounding a show, a book or a movie. Because yes, there’s some magic in loving the same thing and dissecting it over and over, but there’s even more magic in creating something that inspires people to use their own talents.
Now, as someone who can and has written plenty a fanfic, I will admit I always tend to gape more at the fanart that inevitably pops up in every fandom. That’s mostly because there’s no way I could manage that, but also because that’s way easier to hang on my wall, and we all want some sort of proof of how much of a geek we are, don’t we?
Which is why today I want to shine a spotlight on the uber talented Maartje van Hoorn, whom I had the pleasure of talking to about Timeless, her art, and the work that goes behind her creations. So here is a little interview with her, and, of course, a glimpse at all her beautiful art.
What’s your inspiration? How and why do you do what you do?
I paint because it’s one of the very few things that represent freedom for me. I’m physically disabled, something that limits me quite a lot in day to day life. It makes me less mobile, I tire easily and it even affects my fine motor skills. When I paint, I don’t feel any of those constraints. The Timeless paintings are all digital paintings, made using a Wacom Cintiq (a really fancy graphics tablet).
I paint portraits because human expression and capturing likenesses are my favorite things to do. It’s my passion, but not my job.
The dream: to make art for tv-shows or movies, but for real ;).
What’s your favored technique? What’s your process like?
Since I mostly paint realism, the first thing I do is look for reference pictures. In this case, I had about 80 – 100 pictures saved. Once I figure out which picture I want to recreate, I ‘pin’ it to the right on my screen and open up a canvas next to it. Next I make a sketch and then usually redo the sketch once or twice. After that I pick a background color (tip for beginners: a cool colored background makes the character pop. I also sometimes use their eye color.). The coloring that follows takes the longest; overall, most paintings take anywhere between 2 and 10 hours to make. For this series, it was a minimum of 6 hours.
Why Timeless? What is it about this show that inspired you?
Matt Lanter being really good looking. I’m kidding. Kind of. It started out like this: I love history. I love time travel. I needed a new show to watch. Timeless came up as a suggestion on Netflix and while I had never heard of it before, I started watching and was hooked right away. Then one night, I lost my internet connection… started drawing Matt and the rest… well, that’s history.
I love a show you can get lost in. But it was both the reception by Clockblockers as well as the very diverse characters on the show that made me want to do an entire series. And when the cast and creators started to respond to the paintings… that’s the best ever motivation I could have.
Who was your favorite character to draw?
That’s a tough one. Both Rufus and Connor were really challenging because of the lighting I was trying to get right. So that was really fun. I love Lucy as well. And the final painting I made was of Emma, which I think took the longest because of her hair and freckles. And then there is Jiya being kick ass in a cowboy hat. Aaaah, they’re all beautiful, don’t make me choose!
Where can people find your work?
Insert heart eye gif.
