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aautio — The High King
Published: 2007-09-16 13:55:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 19740; Favourites: 236; Downloads: 238
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The High King of the Exiles“Fingolfin was held overlord of all the Noldor, and Fingon after him, though their own realm was but the northern land of Hithlum; yet their people were the most hardy and valiant, most feared by the Orcs and most hated by Morgoth.”
-- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion, Chapter 14: Of Beleriand and its Realms
“Now Fingolfin, King of the North, and High King of the Noldor, seeing that his people were become numerous and strong, and the Men allied to them were many and valiant, pondered once more an assault upon Angband.”
-- J. R. R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion, Chapter 18: Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin
The first High King pondering grave matters of state upon his throne..
A simple drawing.. I had just about enough forethought to draw a couple of haphazard construction lines to help getting the throne perspective about right, but other than that it was a fairly quick one.
I chose fairly simple and modest clothes for him this time.. something like more practical everyday wear instead of the more formal robes. Again I threw in some simple knotwork decoration.. and this time, again as a bit of laugh, I chose to repeat “King Solomon’s knot” design for the border because.. well, he is a king, right?
I left the lineart fairly clean and didn’t shade it (save for the skin), since I thought I would try to paint it digitally at some point. I have no idea if I’ll ever end up doing that, though.
HB pencil on art paper + Photoshop.
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Comments: 69
Hi
This deviation has been featured in my journal 
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I like how he has armhair, a very original and well received (I like it anyway) rendering of the elf. I like the added sense of realism.
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Professor Tolkien really was a genius: Making up entire languages, created a fascinating world that I'd love to know more about, and practically invented the Swords-&-Sorcery genre.
Very well made picture BTW.
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WHOA! great work with the throne!!!!! the king looks really cool as well...
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I absolutely love the details, especially those on the sheath.
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Woot, it's Fingolfin! 
I love that throne design, it kicks ass!
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Oh he's fantastic. Hehehe you definately draw Fingolfin better than Feanor I must say. I like all your renditions of him. This is lovely because you can see the strength and power of form and yet the serene contemplative air of the pose is a contrast and balance. I'm digging his throne too I wish I were as good at drawing chairs and scenery. I suck at non-organic objects.
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Breathtaking - you outdid yourself once again. I love the shading on his face, and that ponderous look. Great matters indeed, judging from the quote. And the throne design... his emblem in there, it looks so fitting, somehow. The eagles, and Ringil... that's bitter foreshadowing.
The only thing I have a small issue with (his hands and the hairy arms were already mentioned, no need to repeat that) - the celtic knotwork. Don't get me wrong, it is beautifully drawn - I just think it is a little clichéd in connection with elves or fantasy in general, and too "our-worldly" to be used in a Tolkienian context. But then this is once again personal opinion and not detrimental to the picture itself. Well done!
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I don't know.. I kinda see your point, but I still feel knotwork is quite nice way to do decorative patterns and I don't think it's unfitting for Tolkien illustrations. I have used and will continue to use some sketchy floral patterns as well, but also knotwork, I think.. It's a matter of taste, I guess.
Anyway, thanks!
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You're welcome - and definitely right about the matter of taste.
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awww, how dost thou pose him so well? whenever I try to draw people sitting, I screw them up
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I don't know.. I was just lucky, I guess.. I drew a normal stick skeleton and used the head as a measure as usual.. Normally I screw up something anyway.
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The best i've ever drawn was Joey (thats what I call my stick-figure 
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The throne design is really nice and I got feeling like its texture is real. Love the sword and clothes design too and Fingolfin for sure!
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Thanks! 
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oh, I really like this one
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Poor guy, he looks so troubled. He was much happier on your drawing for the project.
Throne is lovely, eagles desing is beautiful, the blessing of Manwë is on the High King.
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True.. in that drawing he was much younger and not yet troubled by all the tragedies that came afterwards..
For some reason I've always associated eagles with Fingolfin.. as well as Turgon of course.
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I like the thousand-mile gaze. He really does look like he's thinking about something really important.
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Thank you!
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awesome! is there a description of his throne somewhere or is that your interpretation? i like the thoughtfulness of his pose.
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Thank you!
No, I made the whole thing up.. although the heraldic device behind his head is modeled after Tolkien's design.
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very nice, i like the eagle armrests...
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I really like his facial expression, somewhere between thoughtful and haughty... and it's an interesting take on Fingolfin in general. His face looks a bit... I dunno. Siberian? Or Sami? Something northern, at any rate. Very interesting, at any rate!
And that throne is just amazing. I especially love the eagle armrests!
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Thank you!
It could be the high cheekbones.. there's something about his face that I couldn't quite place, but it didn't turn out exactly the way I had wanted. I didn't know what to change, though.
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It's a nice piece of art at all, but I have to give right to Balduran..his hand looks really a bit to human like^^ I like his expression..He looks worried and deep in thoughts as he would plan something or even look on something
d^^b
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Thank you.
As far as I understand, there is no differerence between elven and human hands.. it's not like they have seven fingers or something..
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Oh no it's not like thiis
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Heh, I was joking..
I see where you're coming from, but I don't generally like to apply the general fantasy clichés to Tolkien's Elves.. According to Tolkien the Elves and Men are virtually one species (in a biological sense) and their differences were even smaller in the Elder Days. Moreover, Fingolfin was a strong warrior so I feel he should look like one.. this is of course just my way of seeing it.
Thanks for the feedback!
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I`m sorry for that but I like the imagination that they where a bit taller^^ I didn't say that the are perfect^^ they arn't in deed
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Yes, certainly.. they were generally taller, wiser, more beautiful, etc. as compared to humans, but not really physically different (save for the fact that male elves didn't have beards and their ears were "leaf-shaped" ..although the last point has been debated)
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I schould really go on to read the silmatillion again
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The beards are debatable too - didn't you just draw Círdan? 
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Yeah, I should have written "usually"
Old Elves would indeed grow beards in the late stage of their lives in Middle-earth, when their hröar were aging and fading, but what I meant above was they didn't have them back in the Elder Days. I also know I've read all that somewhere, but can't seem to find the references in HoME now..
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Ah, sorry... I guess I was feeling particularly nitpicky that night. The beards, true... though Mahtan was special in growing one when he was only in the second circle of his life; some people say it was out of loyalty to Aule - still couldn't find the appropriate reference, but will you know when I do.
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Please let me know, I'd like to read it.. couldn't find anything in the HoME index, so it must be somewhere else.. VT, maybe?
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You're right - it's in VT. There doesn't seem to be much info either, but at least some sort of explanation, according to this source: [link] (point 5). A friend of mine has that issue of VT - I'll ask her if there is any further info.
And I would really really like the HoMe index, that would make research so much easier. *sigh*
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