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Description
"Thus fell the High King of the Noldor; and they beat him into the dust with thir maces, and his banner, blue and silver, they trod into the mire of his blood" The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien

This is my first ever illustration for the Silmarillion, and one of my few attempts at using watercolour! It was somewhat obviously inspired by Jenny Dolfen's fabulous rendition of the same scene (The Death of Fingon ) but my technique (or lack thereof, if you will- as I said, I lack experience in watercolours) is quite different.

No lineart, though I did a detailed underdrawing from photoreferences (of me- no unlucky victims to play a dead elf for me!). I meant to make it more realistic rather than illustrative. This photo isn't very good but even in real life the colours are muted rather than luminous or transparent. It's partly because I overworked some areas but I think it renders dust, mud and blood quite well. Weirdly, some of all that haemoglobin belongs to me (e.g. on his helm and face) because I happened to stick a pin in my thumb while taking a break from painting!
I'm quite pleased with it, though I'm aware of a few mistakes (I really need to learn how to paint metal better...); though if anyone takes issue with his unusual pose, I would argue there must be a good amount of broken bones in there, jutting at weird angles (yes, it was pretty uncomfortable lying this way!)

Description
"Thus fell the High King of the Noldor; and they beat him into the dust with thir maces, and his banner, blue and silver, they trod into the mire of his blood" The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien

This is my first ever illustration for the Silmarillion, and one of my few attempts at using watercolour! It was somewhat obviously inspired by Jenny Dolfen's fabulous rendition of the same scene (The Death of Fingon ) but my technique (or lack thereof, if you will- as I said, I lack experience in watercolours) is quite different.

No lineart, though I did a detailed underdrawing from photoreferences (of me- no unlucky victims to play a dead elf for me!). I meant to make it more realistic rather than illustrative. This photo isn't very good but even in real life the colours are muted rather than luminous or transparent. It's partly because I overworked some areas but I think it renders dust, mud and blood quite well. Weirdly, some of all that haemoglobin belongs to me (e.g. on his helm and face) because I happened to stick a pin in my thumb while taking a break from painting!
I'm quite pleased with it, though I'm aware of a few mistakes (I really need to learn how to paint metal better...); though if anyone takes issue with his unusual pose, I would argue there must be a good amount of broken bones in there, jutting at weird angles (yes, it was pretty uncomfortable lying this way!)