HOME | DD

IngvildSchageArt — Maedhros and Fingon :: Archery Practice

#drawing #fanart #fingon #jrrtolkien #maedhros #silmarillion #silmarillionart #tolkien #tolkienfanart #tolkienfanartist #silmarillionelves #silmarillionfanart
Published: 2018-05-01 23:16:48 +0000 UTC; Views: 5769; Favourites: 268; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description

  :: Buy this in my Society6 store ! ::


//"You might try to aim at the target this time." Maedhros chuckled in mockery, as he watched his young cousin with judgement like that of an older brother. "Or would you want me to show you, yet again?"
Fingon snorted humourlessly through clenched teeth as he drew the arrow to his ear as taught, the exertion of the act making the muscles of his shoulder and arm vibrate in objection after many such motions. The last arrow he had imbedded but a hand-length from the mark, and the frustration was clear in his tightened jaw and narrowing eyes.
The young elf inhaled deeply, this time determined to shoot straight. He exhaled slowly, releasing the arrow to fly through the air as the last of his breath left his lunges. It hit the mark with a twack as the metal tip drove into the plate of straw with force. Fingon exclaimed in a cry of victory, and turned to his cousin with a smug grin stapled on his face. "What were you saying, cousin? Perhaps you should not be so swift to disregard my quickness in learning."
Maedhros raised a brow unimpressed. "This is a testimate to my teachings, if anything. If I can teach you, then your baby sister will be next. It will not be so much harder a task, I should think." He flashed Fingon a challenging grin.
The youngster grimaced mockingly in return and held out his hand. "Be quiet and give me another arrow, old man."//

(I wrote the text now to go with the drawing and to underline my idea; it is rushed but I liked it.)



Idea
Do not ask me how this idea came into my mind, but I enjoyed drawing it thoroughly. I simply loved the idea of a fully matured Maedhros teaching his adolescent cousin to shoot with bow and arrow. My last time of reading the silmarillion I understood that at the time of Finwe's remariage with Indis, Fëanor was already grown and married to Nerdanel, so he would get Maedhros at aprox the time that Indis would have Fingolfin, which would mean that Fingon is quite younger than Maedhros. I do not know in years, but I'd guess half a dozen decades at least. So, it is definitely a headcanon of mine that Mae would enjoy the tutoring of his younger cousin. He always seemed the most sympathetic of the Feanorians, especially in his friendship with Fingon.

Some of you may also know that I have a headcanon of the dress evolution of the elves through the ages. In early Valinor I imagine them wearing something like the ancient egyptians did, it being a land of beauty and comfort, I see it as sunny and warm, even before the rising of the sun. So that is the explanation for their attires. There is nothing sexual about it.

Technique
I drew this exclusively with an 8H pencil, and tuned the contrast some in photoshop after scanning–btw, if anyone has a good scanner to recommend, which is not too expensive, I would gladly hear it as mine is terrible. I used a smudge stick for the shading, and it was indeed my first attempt at using one, so I instantly fell in love with the technique, so the shading was a surprisingly easy process, even with the two months grace period–which is my way of categorising my terrible anxiety of finishing drawings I have used much too long time on. The anatomy obviously is not perfect, but this is still one of the best drawings I have made with two people in it–I even drew feet! YAY! And of course I managed to misplace them on the page so I could not finish the top of Fingon's bow and the end of Maedhros'. But I could still stare at them both all day, as they turned out perfectly to my vision(!!).
 
Conclusion

It awes me whenever I don't hate what I draw, and lately I have hated very little of my art. It is slightly unsettling, to be honest, and it makes me put a lot of pressure on my art, which in return makes me procrastinate. Its a bad circle, but I do love this drawing, with all its flaws, and I was very happy and excited to finish it. It is rather sketchy in style, but I like that as well, and I enjoyed drawing something completely different for once.

 I hope you like it too, and let me know what you think, of the idea and the drawing!^^

Love, Iggy


PS. I cannot stress enough that I do not ship them romantically, and I would very much appreciate if you do not sexualize this drawing of mine. I respect that people have different impressions than me, but I also hope you will respect mine and focus on the art itself. Thank you! <3

Related content
Comments: 23

DGraymanFanatic [2019-12-08 03:51:27 +0000 UTC]

I can confirm your understanding that Feanor was indeed nearly fully grown by the time finwe married again. According to one of the unpublished stories of Tolkien in Morgoth's Ring. So with that in mind, there is almost certainly quite a bit of difference in age between maedhros and fingon. And yet they were so close, so obviously age gaps don't really mean a whole lot to elves. As long as it's not centuries I suppose. 
I always love stories of maedhros and fingon when they were young, those two were my favorites of the entire book

👍: 1 ⏩: 0

GraphiteWing [2018-05-02 21:51:59 +0000 UTC]

Perfect! 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to GraphiteWing [2018-05-31 19:57:24 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

LittleGreyDragon [2018-05-02 19:00:14 +0000 UTC]

Nice work! It's always nice to see Silmarillion art, and I love the classical pose you put Fingon in. Even before I read your note about the Egyptian dress style, I immediately thought of the poses seen in ancient Egyptian and early Greek art.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to LittleGreyDragon [2018-05-31 19:57:17 +0000 UTC]

I actually didn't even consider the connection between the poses and Egyptian artwork ^^' must've been some subconscious thing, but I am really glad you like it and the poses!^^ Thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Artist1976jason [2018-05-02 17:27:23 +0000 UTC]

Incredible and I really love the attention you presented in this picture!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to Artist1976jason [2018-05-02 18:21:49 +0000 UTC]

Thank you, im glad to hear you like it!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Annathelle26 [2018-05-02 16:51:34 +0000 UTC]

They look like marble statues of beauty  

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to Annathelle26 [2018-05-02 16:53:34 +0000 UTC]

Oh wow, thank you!!   

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Langschlange [2018-05-02 16:40:09 +0000 UTC]

Not bad

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to Langschlange [2018-05-02 16:44:44 +0000 UTC]

thanks

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

anniecoleptic [2018-05-02 15:50:44 +0000 UTC]

Look at those muscles! Your technique is really good and anatomy spot on. I think all us artists are super hard on ourselves, and you definitely deserve the praise for this piece!

Also omg thank you SO much for NOT shipping them. It's refreshing that you focus on their familial relationship, almost like brothers. We need more of that.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to anniecoleptic [2018-05-02 16:44:35 +0000 UTC]

Yeees, I could look at them for hours (which in all fairness I did... ^^') I am glad you like the technique and the anatomy, as I worked very hard to get everything right! And yes, I definitely put too much pressure on myself, especially now that I feel I have gotten quite a good grip on anatomy and my style/technique! I just want to draw so many things I cant seem to focus on anything! >.<

Honestly, it both grosses me out and pisses me off when people ship them! It is just very disrespectful to Tolkien in my opinion, as he has such strong friendships in his books, and this is one of the major ones, and I just LOVE considering them as close friends and cousins, as you say more like brothers! (and I cant handle the incest thing that is sooo popular on Tumblr in particular, so im glad to hear Im not the only one who doesn't ship them romantically! last time I said this, people got pissed off and called me a homophobe so, I try not to be too opinionated about it anymore ^^') 

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

anniecoleptic In reply to IngvildSchageArt [2018-05-04 08:22:18 +0000 UTC]

haha glad to see i'm not the only one who stares at my art for hours >.>;; (but yours is definitely warranted bc ohhhh dem muscles and lovely faces~) and boy do i know that feeling! you just want to draw EVERYTHING but there's only so many hours in the day xD

ugh don't get me started on tumblr's toxic shipping mindset. it's one reason i couldn't really get into any of my preferred fandoms on there; people are just CRAZY about shipping. and yeah i agree, the incest is really gross and it doesn't make you a homophobe for feeling that way. like you said, shipping them feels disrespectful to Tolkien's vision and to the characters themselves. i mean i'm all for fun-type shipping (heaven knows i do it with my own OCs enough), but blood-related cousins?? ick. to me, Maedhros' and Fingon's relationship feels deeper when explored as platonic love. thank you for depicting them that way.

that said, i think you should be opinionated about the topic, at least when it comes to your own work. if people don't like it, they can shut up and leave. and the rest of us who appreciate your work will stay and enjoy it.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

White-Rose-Brian [2018-05-02 14:31:06 +0000 UTC]

Excellent!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to White-Rose-Brian [2018-05-02 16:35:59 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

EPH-SAN1634 [2018-05-02 12:07:01 +0000 UTC]

Great poses and shading!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to EPH-SAN1634 [2018-05-02 16:36:06 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

EPH-SAN1634 In reply to IngvildSchageArt [2018-05-02 16:56:12 +0000 UTC]

No problem

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Baileyboybee [2018-05-01 23:44:07 +0000 UTC]

Oh my! Outstanding job. You did an incredible job with the anatomical details--the muscles in relation to the action. And the expressions --Maedhros looks so content. Thanks for sharing.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to Baileyboybee [2018-05-02 16:37:38 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much for your feedback!^^ I am really glad you think the anatomy is right, I was a bit uncertain as I am very unused to drawing full bodies! And Im glad you like their expressions and faces, that is usually the hardest part with this sort of big drawing, but I liked them too a lot! ^^

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

FeynaSkydancer [2018-05-01 23:30:55 +0000 UTC]

You did a really fantastic job!  

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

IngvildSchageArt In reply to FeynaSkydancer [2018-05-02 16:36:15 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much! ^^

👍: 0 ⏩: 0