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Description
WORK IN PROGRESS: Arafinwë Ingoldo, Son of Finwë

Character Background

Finarfin, Finwë’s third son, was the youngest of his five children. He was renowned for his wisdom, patience and golden hair, the two last ones of which he alone of Finwë's sons seems to have inherited from his mother Indis. He married Eärwen the daughter of Olwë King of the Teleri, and their children were perhaps the fairest of all Elves, being descended from the royal houses of all three kindreds of the Eldar.

Finarfin tried to pacify the Ñoldor after Fëanor spoke his terrible Oath, but could not restrain them, and he followed his brothers on the Flight from Aman reluctantly, mostly because his children wanted to go. After the Kinslaying of his wife’s kin in Alqualondë and the proclamation of the Doom of Mandos, Finarfin turned back with a part of the Ñoldor, was pardoned by the Valar, and named king of the Ñoldor in Aman, succeeding Finwë his father.

Design Concept

I picture Finarfin as tall (6'6" / 198 cm) and fair, with a flowing hair of gold he inherited from his Vanyarin mother and passed on to his descendants (while I picture Ñoldorin and Telerin hair as almost invariably straight, I see waves and curls as a relatively common trait among the Vanyar). Like (my image of) the Vanyar, he wears simple and traditional white robes (and a rather ceremonious cloak.. essentially a toga).

The heraldic design is my interpretation of Tolkien’s original design for Finarfin. The smaller design below his name is my idea for a more simplified emblem of the House of Finarfin: a crown of gold/silver flowers on a white or light blue background.

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This is a WIP character sketch for my “Lords of the Ñoldor ” project. It combines the scanned, not-yet-cleaned-up pencil lineart without shading or highlights, the current idea for the heraldic device(s) and the Tengwar inscription (I haven't decided yet whether I want to use the regular script or the cursive style, so I included both) to be used in the triptych. At some point I might finish it up as an individual character portrait but for now it’s just a WIP component.

Character drawn on regular copy paper, no references used. The originals are quite small; each character is under 15 cm tall (that’s a bit under 6” for the measurement-impaired). I draw them with a regular HB pencil that I try not to sharpen too much.. gives the line a nice thickness and more lively(=uneven) character. The size also keeps me from adding too many details, which would be lost anyway in the finished piece where the characters are fairly small.

The heraldic designs were drawn in AutoCAD, I looked at Tolkien’s design for reference. Assembled in Photoshop. (--Hard to say what category this should go into, but let’s say traditional, since the pencil drawing is the main thing..)

It’s still WIP, so comments, ideas, suggestions, etc. are more than welcome!

WIP:Lords of Noldor: Triptych Layout
WIP:Lords of Noldor: Character Portraits

Description
WORK IN PROGRESS: Arafinwë Ingoldo, Son of Finwë

Character Background

Finarfin, Finwë’s third son, was the youngest of his five children. He was renowned for his wisdom, patience and golden hair, the two last ones of which he alone of Finwë's sons seems to have inherited from his mother Indis. He married Eärwen the daughter of Olwë King of the Teleri, and their children were perhaps the fairest of all Elves, being descended from the royal houses of all three kindreds of the Eldar.

Finarfin tried to pacify the Ñoldor after Fëanor spoke his terrible Oath, but could not restrain them, and he followed his brothers on the Flight from Aman reluctantly, mostly because his children wanted to go. After the Kinslaying of his wife’s kin in Alqualondë and the proclamation of the Doom of Mandos, Finarfin turned back with a part of the Ñoldor, was pardoned by the Valar, and named king of the Ñoldor in Aman, succeeding Finwë his father.

Design Concept

I picture Finarfin as tall (6'6" / 198 cm) and fair, with a flowing hair of gold he inherited from his Vanyarin mother and passed on to his descendants (while I picture Ñoldorin and Telerin hair as almost invariably straight, I see waves and curls as a relatively common trait among the Vanyar). Like (my image of) the Vanyar, he wears simple and traditional white robes (and a rather ceremonious cloak.. essentially a toga).

The heraldic design is my interpretation of Tolkien’s original design for Finarfin. The smaller design below his name is my idea for a more simplified emblem of the House of Finarfin: a crown of gold/silver flowers on a white or light blue background.

---

This is a WIP character sketch for my “Lords of the Ñoldor ” project. It combines the scanned, not-yet-cleaned-up pencil lineart without shading or highlights, the current idea for the heraldic device(s) and the Tengwar inscription (I haven't decided yet whether I want to use the regular script or the cursive style, so I included both) to be used in the triptych. At some point I might finish it up as an individual character portrait but for now it’s just a WIP component.

Character drawn on regular copy paper, no references used. The originals are quite small; each character is under 15 cm tall (that’s a bit under 6” for the measurement-impaired). I draw them with a regular HB pencil that I try not to sharpen too much.. gives the line a nice thickness and more lively(=uneven) character. The size also keeps me from adding too many details, which would be lost anyway in the finished piece where the characters are fairly small.

The heraldic designs were drawn in AutoCAD, I looked at Tolkien’s design for reference. Assembled in Photoshop. (--Hard to say what category this should go into, but let’s say traditional, since the pencil drawing is the main thing..)

It’s still WIP, so comments, ideas, suggestions, etc. are more than welcome!

WIP:Lords of Noldor: Triptych Layout
WIP:Lords of Noldor: Character Portraits