Goldenwolf
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Goldenwolf (Christy Grandjean) is an anthro artist and is a professional, top selling artist in the fantasy, furry, and anthropomorphic genres.
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[edit] Background
Christy Grandjean was born on March 28, 1974 in San Bernardino, CA. Her parents did not stay in California long, moving to (then) West Germany for a few years, and then to Southern Utah where she lived off and on from Kindergarten onwards. She has been drawing since she could hold a crayon, drawing crude unicorns at first, then dragons, and finally wolves and werewolves when she was out of High School. She has always been into fantasy and animals, and has always been fascinated by werewolves and shapeshifters. It was only natural that when she was introduced to roleplaying in her 20s that it took a strong hold on her. The game with the most influence for her was White Wolf's Werewolf: the Apocalypse where someone could roleplay a werewolf, but a werewolf that was very mystical and spiritual, tied to the mother Earth, nature spirits, and the cosmos, and fight the evil corporations and forces that were bent on destroying the world. The world this game brought to life consumed her and she spent all of her time in the 90's roleplaying, storytelling, and drawing her characters, other people's characters, scenes from the game, and werewolf art in general. This was the beginning.
[edit] The Internet, Wolfhome, and the House of Were
Christy made her first brief appearance online in 1996. She submitted a very few of her werewolf images to "Bender's Werewolves in Suburbia" and had a very small gallery of about three pieces there. However, lacking the necessary equipment and resources to get her artwork online properly, she left the internet in frustration. She returned again to the internet in early 1999 where she came across "RS Creations Werewolf Pages" and began meeting other Therians. She was told at that time that it was preferrable to have a "handle" or a fake name when dealing with the internet, so she randomly chose the moniker "Goldenwolf" because she is blond and it sounded neat. Not long after she was contacted by Gre7g of Temple of Luna who bribed her for her artwork with a hard drive that was larger than 1G. This was Goldenwolf's first online gallery. Not long after she moved in with Gre7g in Lenexa, KS to begin a business collaboration. Together the two began creating Wolfhome, a 2D web-based graphical chat. Gre7g did the programming, and Goldenwolf did the artwork. They were later joined by Underdog to assist in the programming and development. Soon after Wolfhome became public Gre7g started dating Kyoht and moved her in as well. Goldenwolf and Kyoht became fast friends. Thus the beginning of the House of Were.
In 2002 the household moved to Cedar City, Utah and were joined at that time by Goldenwolf's boyfriend at the time, Mitternacht, and their friend WolfmageX. Goldenwolf and Mitternacht were married in 2003 and moved to Colorado in 2004. They later split in 2006 due to irreconcilable differences.
One of her paintings, Eyes of the Night, was sold for $10,000 USD to a local appreciator of furry art at Further Confusion 2004. This is the currently highest selling piece of art within the fandom to date.
[edit] Going Professional
At that time that she sold "Eyes of the Night" she met a fellow artist Sandra SanTara, and they hit it off immediately. Sandra had been selling her artwork professionally in the science fiction/fantasy circuit for twenty years and saw the direction that Goldenwolf could go. After splitting with Mitternacht, Goldenwolf moved in with Sandra in her house in Boulder, Colorado and Sandra began showing her the professional ropes, taking her to Renaissance Festivals, Sci-Fi/Fantasy conventions, Anime conventions, Art and Gift shows, etc. Goldenwolf was very well received at these venues and began focusing on these to further her career as an artist and to broaden her horizons.
With Sandra's careful tutelage, Goldenwolf, who was by now simply known as "Goldie", began garnering attention not only online, but from businesses and other professionals. She was contacted by the Art Director/CEO of "The Mountain" T-shirt company in 2004 to license her artwork on their t-shirts. She happily agreed, and soon Vantage Point, "Eyes of the Night", and her wolf tribal were gracing the fronts of The Mountain's signature tye-dye T-shirts. In 2010 The Mountain commissioned her to create an exclusive design for them, "Golden Feather", and they additionally picked up "Tiger Portrait" and a new piece of hers, "Bruin". As of 2011 "Vantage Point", "Golden Feather", "Bruin", and "Tiger Portrait" are popular T-shirt designs. At the same time as she was commissioned for "Golden Feather", she was asked if she wanted to participate in a deal with Wal-Mart. She agreed, and Wal-Mart began carrying her "Vantage Point" T-shirt in January 2011.
In the Fall of 2010 she was approached by New Remote Productions in Atlanta, GA about using her artwork on MTV's upcoming new series "Teen Wolf". She heartily agreed, and the studio then asked for a custom piece for use as a pivotal prop in the pilot episode. She created "The Wolf's Bride" for MTV, which was used in the Teen Wolf Pilot, Part 2. Other artwork was seen briefly in Teen Wolf Pilot, Part 1. There has been talk from the studio of commissioning her again for other pieces in the future.
[edit] Nowadays
Currently Goldie is still living with Sandra, now in the East Mountain area of Albuquerque, New Mexico where they moved to in 2011 (after living briefly in Rapid City, South Dakota). The two have created a joint company, Wolfsisters Creations, under which they travel and sell prints, t-shirts, and art jewelry at art shows. Goldenwolf's artwork is widely known not only on the internet but from the shows she attends and word of mouth. Several other high-profile clients have shown interest in her work, so she anticipates that the ball will just keep rolling.
Goldie has been happily single since 2007 and plans to stay that way.
[edit] External links
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- Goldenwolfen.com - website
- Goldenwolf on deviantART
- Goldenwolf on FurAffinity
- Goldenwolf's Journal on LiveJournal
- Wolfsisters Creations - Joint studio with Sandra SanTara