Drawing The fates of Arda (Maedhros and Eärendil)

[Server Room Gremlin]

And Varda hallowed the Silmarils, so that thereafter no mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, but it was scorched and withered; and Mandos foretold that the fates of Arda, earth, sea and air, lay locked within them.
- The Silmarillion, Chapter 7, 'Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor'

While working on my fanfiction 'The Works of Curufinwë', and re-reading the relevant bits of the Silmarillion, the mental images for a few different drawings popped into my head. This was one of them. I sketched it on paper back in March. Then I coloured it in digitally, but I only worked on it now and then, so it took a while to complete.

What do you think?
First impressions? Is there something that stood out to you? Something you like/dislike? Do tell.

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

I was exploring unknown territory a bit with this drawing. Normally I draw in a comic-book style, with an outline, and minimal lighting/shading variation.

Here's an example (with my original characters):

With this drawing, I wondered what would happen if instead of putting semi-transparent shadow and lighting over the top of opaque colours, I instead made the colour layer semi-transparent, and added opaque shadows and light behind it.

Here's the solid shadow/light layer underneath the colours and finer details:

I then added some ordinary transparent shadows and lighting over the top of the colours where I thought I needed to.

I don't think the overall effect is that much different in the end. So it ends up being more of a symbolic choice, having Maedhros' light 'coming from inside', like a Silmaril. But unlike the Silmaril, he also has darkness/shadow within, and so it burns him.

 

[Maedhros_Nelyafinwë]

And Varda hallowed the Silmarils, so that thereafter no mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, but it was scorched and withered; and Mandos foretold that the fates of Arda, earth, sea and air, lay locked within them.
- The Silmarillion, Chapter 7, 'Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor'

While working on my fanfiction 'The Works of Curufinwë', and re-reading the relevant bits of the Silmarillion, the mental images for a few different drawings popped into my head. This was one of them. I sketched it on paper back in March. Then I coloured it in digitally, but I only worked on it now and then, so it took a while to complete.

View attachment 32883

What do you think?
First impressions? Is there something that stood out to you? Something you like/dislike? Do tell.

The first thing that stood out to me is the haunted look on his face. I always like the expressiveness of your characters. I also like the clothing design you gave him, the way the cloak is slightly tattered, and the subtle glow coming from below the cliff.

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

The first thing that stood out to me is the haunted look on his face.

I'm glad! That was the first thing I imagined when I got the mental image for this drawing, and the first thing I tried to get right, before colouring everything else afterwards.

 

[Maedhros_Nelyafinwë]

I'm glad! That was the first thing I imagined when I got the mental image for this drawing, and the first thing I tried to get right, before colouring everything else afterwards.

I think that his skin is so pale helps with that, too. It stands out against the dark sky.

If you wanted, you could add even darker shadows to his face to make the light of the Silmaril look even more harsh and striking.

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

If you wanted, you could add even darker shadows to his face to make the light of the Silmaril look even more harsh and striking.

I did play around with the darkness of the face shadows. But I found that having them too dark made things look a bit unbalanced (and made his facial expression a bit less obvious).
As the Silmaril is a very bright (and supernatural) light source, I imagine it can 'go round corners' more than a normal light beam. His face is pretty near to the Silmaril, and having dark shadows so close to the gem didn't look quite right to me.