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JRock-Prophet β The Raven King
Published: 2005-02-14 23:53:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 1307; Favourites: 17; Downloads: 30
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I am currently reading a book called "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke. It is a particularly thick book and I am enjoying it a lot. It is a book about the revival of magic in England during the early 19th century. The librarian told me (quote) "It is meant to be the new Harry Potter for adults" (unquote). Although I haven't read Harry Potter, I am sure that this is superior by far. After all, Harry Potter is only a childish pursuit and cannot possibly rival the rich language and subtle humour of JS & Mr N.As a testament of my enjoyment I have drawn the Raven King, John Uskglass, the magician king of an age long gone, who features extensively in the book through reference. I haven't finished the book yet but I felt a need to draw my concept of the Raven King, so here he is. I think that he looks rather wise and serene... also perhaps in a world of his own. Perhaps he is contemplating something very deep and magical.
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Comments: 34
Great picture, and I really like your thoughts about it
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I've just finished this book! ^^
It is great!!!
It's very much better than Harry Potter! I took 4 months to finish the book (I'm brazilian and I was reading it in English) and I'm already thinking about starting again, so I can pay better atencion to the details.
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Yay! Go for it! It's a great book indeed and I would love to read it again if I had the time for it. ^_^
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What I meant to say before the carriage return button suddenly became the send button was: Great picture, your attention to detail is amazing, I love the Raven - most people don't seem to get how big they actually are - they're like the birds of prey of the crow family, and the hair is nicely detailed too. Not how I imagined John Ucksglass (I thought he'd be a bit more messy and generally twiggy and mossy and slightly more lighthearted - having been brought up by the fairies he'd get their... unusual sense of humour) but maybe my Raven King would look like yours after a bath and a hairbrush!
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Hehe. Yes, well, I had a run in with drawing ravens too small - I was even wondering if I'd done it again. After all, I've never seen a raven sit on a man's shoulder so I'm not exactly sure of the direct proportions.
Hehe, well, actually I guess a little bit messier would be right. It's just that I have this thing with polishing everything to some sort of distant perfection. I always seem to "clean" everything up a bit. I think that if I read the book again I'd be able to draw another picture and a much better one, let alone a more represenative one. My view of a particular character changes with every reading. I guess at the time I was reading it into some sort of gothic romanticism style.
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Yeah but another person I was talking to about the Raven King said something interesting... she said that she thought it was reasonable to assume that he appears differently to different people... I suppose it depends on what type of person you are. If you're increadibly mundane and self-involved, he might not appear to you at all. So he's allowed to be clean
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Hehe. Yeah, fair enough. That's a nice kind of thought. Well, I don't expect he's entirely real anyhow.
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I bought Jonathan Strange as soon as it came out because Amazon said I would like it, and I saw the raven on the front, read what the story was supposed to be like, and saw that it was 800 pages long and then I clapped my hands together and rubbed them in glee! I think I only took a few days to read it as I was so engrossed, and although it wasn't what I expected it to be, it was way better than I expected it to be 
Reading some of the other comments... I have to say that I get that knowing smirk too. I was an avid reader of young adult fantasy and Terry Pratchett books before Harry Potter came out (I was about 11 when it came out - hence the young adult) and it wasn't until Harry Potter that people would smirk at me like that... it seems to have given fantasy a reputation for being "for kids". But aside from that, I've read all the Harry Potter books so far (I liked them better than the film) and the way that the language develops and becomes more mature as the characters grow up is very clever, and there are so many things in the plot that you miss and don't realise are important until you read a later book. I do love Harry Potter... and if you ever do read it I have to say, don't be put off by the more childish "talking to kiddies" language in the first two books. Harry Potter is good.... but it certainly isn't as good as other fantasy I've read, such as LOTR, His Dark Materials, some of Terry pratchetts later books, Anne McCaffrey can be quite good, OMG I love Neil Gaiman, and indeed Suzanna Clarke. Anyway I think I've waffled enough, and I'm far too young to waffle.
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Hehe. Well, When I read it I didn't know too much about that stuff but I'd had more contact with Jane Austen than the average teenager, I think. These days, studying English at University, I know much more about period dress, manners and behaviour than I ever did before. I love the way it's written. It's like a Dickens meets Jane Austen fairy tale. It's beautiful.
Yes. -.- I hate that so much. There is so much more fantasy that is available to anyone and for a full grasp of everything aobut it you'd probably need to be older anyway, especially this book because it isn't just fantasy but it is literary too. The style is very classic, which I like very much. And it is based in a real period with historical aspects so it isn't just one of those fantasies that lives in its own world. I find that... refreshing.
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Yes I totally agree 
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Heehee. What kind of Fine Art? Of course it depends on what your specialities are and your interest. Well, I've read quite a few old books in my time so I'm quite familiar with that period anyway.
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My course is quite open, we can basically do anything we want to do, and we don't get given projects as such. We really lead our own education... I like to do a bit of everything as you may see from my gallery, but hey - in a year's time who knows what I'll be doing? Thats what I love about art. The only thing thats really structured is the history of art and critical and contextual studies - oh and we can sign up for workshop projects and things.
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Ah, so it's still art, then. The "pictures" sort. Well, still there must be particular styles and movements you're interested in?
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I like experimenting, basically.
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I like painting realisticy type things in a free sort of style... i'm not really into minimalism or abstract expressionism... i also like time based media like film and sound, and assemblage is also fun. Oh and going out into the countryside and doing fun things like making towers of rocks. So quite a lot of things really
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Heehee. Ah, ok, I see where you're going with this. That sounds pretty fun.
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John Uskglass, the Raven King! Great work on the shading - especially the raven's! I adore the outfit; it suits the character very well, and oh! This is just how I imagined him to be!
Heh heh 
On the discussion about the 'Harry Potter' series (curious how all fantasy books are always, or most of the time, linked with Harry Potter, eh? I am completely against the idea!) I must say I did rather enjoy/i> the series. Enjoyed. But this book, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Oh! I could almost say I lived it. I adore it. It is the best book I've ever read (- which is saying a lot, considering I've read a large amount of book, all of them fantasyβ¦but THAT is beside the point!).
Ah, I just canβt get over the book, now can I 
I will say, once again: very lovely picture; it shall go to my 
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Yes. I hate that. I am sworn against Harry Potter because of the awful associations everyone makes with anything else of the genre. Harry Potter is too childish and uncomplicaed to be compared to any other work of fantasy. It is for KIDS! Why must people insist on comparing Harry Potter to anything fantasy when other fantasy is so much more meaningful and sophisticated? Perhaps this is the reason why I moved away from Fantasy (well... also my tastes changed and broadened) but when I told people that I wrote fantasy they'd immediatelly say, "Oh, like Harry Potter!" Like they're some kind of genius who knows what you;re talkinga bout and can identify.
NO! Not like damned Harry Potter! I'd die before I wrote something that simplictic!
Anyhow... rant over. Not saying Harry Potter isn't good - it's probably great and lots of fun but at best its only a light read.
Yes! Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel is great! It rocks! It's like Dickensian Fantasy. It plays like a movie in my head... or maybe like a sophisticated cartoon...
Heehee. Anyhow, thanks for the enthusiasm.
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the mystery is in his eyes.
I have one illustration to "Jonathan Strange&Mr Norrell" in my gallery if you want to see. It's the death of Miss Absalom... I got emotional while reading her story... here it is: [link]
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I love this book, I fell in love with Mr Norrell :wub: but I haven't got 3rd tome yet, argh, I can't wait! Your Raven King is great, but I imagine him diferrently... older and ugly maybe? however, your drawing is excellent, especially this embroidery on his cloth.
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Thank you very much.
But the Raven King is explicitely said to be a rather captivating young man. Perhaps you glossed over those particular descriptions. Either way, I figured it was a nice interpretation on him.
I really wanted his mystery to come through in this picture. The embroidery just seemed very HIM.
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*is reading Jonathon Strange atm*
But I've hardly got anywhere with it XD
Love the details, like the border and brooch.
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You're reading it? REally? REALLY?
Heehee. Thankee! I took the raven on the brooch off the cover of the book.
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Yes, i *actually* am XD
My mum got a first edition hardback for christmas, and I am slogging through it XD
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wow! you must be the first person I've met so far who has even heard of it, let alone is reading it! I think it's really nice. There are some cute bits of humour in that I find delightful. I plan to tell my friend from Chesterfield that the church of his city is odd because fairies turned it into sugarloves and it melted!
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Say what you will about Harry Potter, but I still like it and I find my taste to be... ah... rather adult.
In ANY case, that's not the point. The fantastic shading in this piece is. Wow. The feathers are just... wow. The way they fray at the edges and fan and move with his bone structure. And the way his beak gleams still amazes me. Gorgeous intricate design on the king's clothing its self. And as always, the amount of attention you give in the way hair flows astounds me.
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Dude, this picture kicks ass! It's great, especially the raven! *gives the raven a cookie 
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*Raven pecks at it and hides it in its nest*
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hey, harry potter may be a little childish, but the directness is rather appealing after long paragraphs of pointless prose that are only slightly related to whatever story is unfolding...
sorry bout that, i'm an avid reader who dislikes seeing any book slandered, esp when the book is unread!
i do like your Raven king, and you interested me in jon strange and mr norrell.... i find the raven's feather details particularly interesting! nice wing layering, that is very hard to do while keeping the bird in a natural form! *offers kudos*
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Hehe. I know that I'm quite silly in my famed disregard for Harry Potter when I haven't even read it. I am the first to admit that I'd probably like it if I were to read it. In the meantime I cannot help but dislike the impact Harry Potter has had on Fantasy - when I used to say that I write fantasy people would say "Ah! Harry Potter!" and that would just make me angry because (although I haven't read it) I suspect that it isn't too hard to write something more intricate and challenging than Harry Potter. English Literature has long been a passion of mine and simplicity of language grates on me.
Sorry. I should keep my rants to myself.
ANYHOW! Thank you for the compliments on the picture. Heehee. I have drawn a raven before so that reassured me that I CAN do it. Whereas for the previous raven I used a reference picture, this time I didn't... not until mum said that the head was wrong and showed me tons of ravens... I guess it did help. Hehe. Compared to the head the feathers were simple.
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i kinda agree w/ ya on the impact of harry potter... i read A LOT of fantasy books, and after the most annoying question in the world is asked(can you guess what it is? that's right! "what'cha readin'?") most people are like, ahh, like harry potter, right? and they always say it with that annoying smirk on their face..... 
i am glad you put so much effort into your work!
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Exactly. That knowing smirk as though they know what they are talking about. Just because they know ONE fantasy reference makes them think that they know everything. As a matter of fact fantasy isn't JUST Harry Potter. It isn't just Lord of the Rings either, though I find The Lord of the rings more... ... noble? Don't know if that's the right word.
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