Do you sell original art or prints?
Where can I buy your books?
Have you illustrated any storybooks?
Are you available for commissions or collaborations?
Can I use your art?
Have you made art tutorials or videos?
Which medium or art tools do you use?
Which camera and lens do you use?
Do you sell original art or prints?
Yes I do! I sell original artworks (and self publications like art books, calendars and postcard sets) in my own Art & Books shop. A large selection of my art prints and other print-on-demand products are available over at Society6. Note that these are two separate shops!
Society6 ships orders worldwide. If you have a question about your order from Society6, please contact Society6 customer support.
My own Art & Books shop shipping destinations are listed here. If you have a question about your order from my Art & Books shop, please send an email to info@ullathynell.com and remember to include the order number in your email.
Where can I buy your books?
My self published art books (Woodlands, A Month of Ink, Tiny Black Fox) and my colouring book are available in my Art & Books shop. Other books that I’ve illustrated are usually available in various bookstores; online purchasing options can be found by entering the book’s title and my name in your preferred search engine. I recommend contacting the publisher if you have more specific questions on a book’s availability.
Have you illustrated any storybooks?
Yes, I’ve illustrated some children’s books, fantasy books and folktales. All the books are listed over here. Please note that I’m not currently available for new commissions.
Are you available for commissions or collaborations?
No, I am not available for new commissions, collaborations or other projects, sorry! I will update this page if the situation changes.
Can I use your art?
In short, the answer is no. Please do not use, copy or publish my work (or any parts of them). All my artworks, illustrations, photos and designs are protected with copyright and may not be used for any purpose without my written permission. Unfortunately I don’t currently have time for new permission inquiries, business collaborations or licensing contracts. If the situation changes at some point, I will update this page.
Have you made art tutorials or videos?
I’ve published a couple watercolour tutorials for magazines: “Illustrating in watercolor with Ulla Thynell” , for Graphite magazine 6/2018 (in English) and “Luonnoksesta kuvaksi”, Kuvittaja magazine, issue 2/2019 (in Finnish). You can find some of my drawing and painting process videos online in my facebook and deviantart. Whenever I have time to make new videos I also post them on my instagram.
Which medium or art tools do you use?
There’s no quick or easy answer to this: I work with many techniques and styles! I paint with different inks and watercolours on various types of paper; I sometimes mix painting with drawing tools like coloured pencils; I usually draw by hand with ink pens, pencils, markers or such on paper or sketchbook; in some cases I colour or edit my drawings digitally in Photoshop; my digital colouring and editing techniques vary a lot – I might for example work on different types of traditional drawings/elements/textures and then combine and edit them digitally in different ways.
I like to modify my style, techniques and tools based on what is available or which style suits best with whatever idea or project I’m working on. Commissions often include specific expectations in regards of the planning and illustration process, which means that some of the techniques that are great for personal artwork, may not be suitable for client work. I’m also often curious to try doing things a little differently than before to see where it leads me. Experiments and variation keeps things alive and interesting!
Here are some tools I’ve used a lot recently:
Drawings: Micron pigment ink pens, and/or Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901 colour pencils, and sometimes also markers and gel pens.
Watercolours: I mostly use various Schmincke watercolour pans. I also like to use masking fluid to create negative space or highlights. I prefer about 300 gsm heavyweight, textured watercolour paper.
Ink paintings: For the backgrounds I use either Copic Various Inks (alcohol ink refills) with smooth drawing papers, or Zeichentusche ink bottles from Rohrer & Klingner with textured watercolour papers. R&K inks are also great for detailed painting with a paintbrush, similar to watercolours. I also often use mixed media with my ink paintings, drawing some details with colour pencils (Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901) or using other drawing tools like ink liners or Sakura Gelly Roll pens.
Papers and sketchbooks: I use a lot of different paper types, depending on the medium and size of the piece. For drawings I’ve recently use natural white Hahnemühle Nostalgie 190gsm paper and Royal Talens Art Creation sketchbook (the small, square book with rounded corners), and sometimes a bit more textured sketching papers with coloured pencils. For watercolour and ink paintings I prefer natural white 100% cotton 300gsm rough textured watercolour paper, from brands like Sennelier or Fabriano, and sometimes I also use Hahnemühle Bamboo 265gsm paper, which is a more fragile paper type (don’t use with masking fluid). For my experimental paintings with Copic alcohol inks I use smooth drawing papers, around 200gsm, but beware that the alcohol ink will bleed through, stain everything and the process is super messy and impractical (which is why I don’t usually recommend this techique for anyone). :)
Digital and mixed media: I often use Adobe Photoshop to edit my illustrations and sometimes I draw with a Wacom tablet. Most often when I use digital media, I combine it with scanned traditional elements such as my ink drawings or watercolour or ink paintings/textures that I’ve made.
Which camera and lens do you use?
I use Canon EOS 6D camera and Sigma Art lens, 50mm f/1.4 A DG HSM. I especially love taking phots with wide aperture during the long hours of the northern dusk, just before and after sunset. I photograph with raw image mode and usually edit my photos in Photoshop / Camera Raw.