Monthly Archives: January 2007

Spying on Bern

Leave a Reply
Spying on Bern

Spying on Bern

Whoo! (cheers) This is a terrific picture! And not just because I messed up the perspective, left out King Desmond’s hands because they’re too hard for me to draw and have them look like hands, covered the three heroes with cloaks because a) they’re wearing them in the game and b) I hated drawing from this angle! Ha! Ahaha! No, this picture rules all other Fire Emblem pictures becaaaaauuuuse… it has the very first appearance of Ceniro, my tactician! Pronounce his name either Japanese or Quenya, it doesn’t matter – keh NEER row. It’s from Quenya, though that might not be too obvious at first – I had a friend named Jessica, and her name is supposed to mean “she who sees” although some people say Shakespeare coined it to mean “wealthy woman”. I looked up her name, along with other people I knew, and kept that little bit of trivia in the back of my mind. When I came across it again, I thought… that would be a great name for a tactician! I changed it to Ceniro from Cenira, because… I forget why, and the quiet little green-cloaked man in brown took to the field, to accompany Lady Lyn, Lord Eliwood, and Lord Hector on their epic quest. I’m not sure how I imagined him to draw him this way… all I can remember is the finished version right now.

This picture is of the part where the heroes sneak into the enemy’s castle to find out what he’s plotting. The wicked king of the country of Bern is talking to the sinister and sexy Sonia (who seriously needs to brush her hair) who is the servant of the evil mad nemesis, Nergal, who is somewhere else. Fortunately, with the clues they get from the baddies’ incriminating conversation, the good guys (L-R Hector, Lyn, Eliwood) can save the day!

The Ford of Bruinen

Leave a Reply
Glorfindel reveals his power

Glorfindel reveals his power

Huzzah! Glorfindel saves the day! From Ringwraiths!

This is a scribble to celebrate the Ford of Bruinen. Frodo is on Asfaloth, obviously, and in the back there are (L-R) Aragorn, Glorfindel the Glowing – I mean, Golden – Merry, Sam, and Pippin. I think. I just drew random short people. In between, if you look carefully, are bits of all nine riders. Gandalf was going to be in the corner, but I cropped him because he was lousy.

Legolas profile

Leave a Reply
Mirkwood elf

Mirkwood elf

Hmm. This picture is based on a picture I’d done the day before of Link, which I didn’t put up here because my scanner/printer decided to die a more violent death than usual and now won’t even print things. The picture I did of Link was a profile with his hat off and I experimented with face shading. It didn’t turn out, and the top of his head was flat, just like Legolas here, so maybe it’s a good thing that I couldn’t put it up. Anyhow, this picture is not too bad, except I only figured out how to draw the insides of ears a few months ago so his ear is still a blank hole. I noticed that Orlando Bloom has dark eyebrows, which means Legolas-in-the-movie has dark eyebrows, which is actually kinda cool. Not bad for a scribble.

Link Through the Ages

Leave a Reply
I, II, III, IV, yay!

I, II, III, IV, yay!

This just outlines the different Links and how they fit into my own interpretation of the Zelda story… first comes the snub-nosed Link I, who saved Zelda in the first two games: The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link.
Next, there is the both handsome and adorable Link II, who found his inner hero in A Link to the Past, continued with Four Swords and The Oracle of Seasons and finally returned to his Zelda’s side after The Oracle of Ages.
Then, there is Link III, whom we all know and love as the hero of The Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and in a fit of insanity, I placed him in Link’s Awakening as well.
As an epilogue, we have Link IV, of Wind Waker fame, as well as the new ones I haven’t played yet that are in the ‘toon’ style: Phantom Hourglass and quite possibly Minish Cap, with Vaati coming back in a bishounen incarnation or something instead of a wierd black blob. I think Wind Waker had just come out, though, because that’s the only one written below his little head.

You can see my style for Link III has developed since I started: here I’ve found the look I want, and I use it with very small alterations indeed through the next couple of years. He’s also the only one in profile, which probably means something: I think I thought the others were more recognizable in 3/4 view. Also, Link taught me to draw profiles, but I probably overuse them since absolute profiles are rather rare. I like the long nose, but the eyes are probably still too high up.

I can see that I started to draw a 3/4 view of adult Link III behind the finished picture, but I erased it. He must have been ugly.

Redead Pirates

Leave a Reply
Redead + Stalfos = Zombie Pirates?

Redead + Stalfos = Zombie Pirates?

Hyumph. I remember this was drawn because a) I had to watch a freaky movie called Pirates of the Caribbean, and b) I was beating the Shadow Temple, the freakiest Ocarina level I’ve ever seen. So, Will is trying to explain to Link what they’re up against, and Link is trying to fit this in with his own knowledge, so their conversation is a bit as follows…

Will: They’re pirates, cursed so that they can never die. In the moonlight, they turn into skeletons.
Link: Oh, so… That sounds like… Redead!
Jack: Redead?
Link: They must be Redead that have been turned into Stalfos at the same time.
Will: Whatever you think.
Jack: What are you talking about?
Link: Redead are actually Undead, only I killed so many that they’re not exactly UNdead anymore. They’re tricky.
Jack: And what under the sun are Stalfos?
Link: Uh… They’re not exactly under the sun, are they? They’re large skeletons. They take about half a dozen hits with the Master Sword.
Jack: You’re a strange guy.

Yeah, Link’s a straaaange guy according to these 19th century folks. So, I didn’t like the movie too much, but I enjoyed this picture, even if they all look like dorks.

I found out at my Telemann rehearsal that the down bow symbol for strings comes from an abbreviation of the Latin word for “noble” and the up bow symbol is the abbreviation of the Latin word for “vile”. This is why they look sort of like an n and a v. Odd, no? This was because the down bows mostly come on the down beats, and the down beats are more important – more “noble”.

Zela and Flair Dancing

Leave a Reply

I know you, I walked with you once upon a (waking) dream

This picture is of Zela and Flaer dancing, and I drew it after watching a very romantic movie with lots of dancing: Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. I kind of like the artificial way that her dress swirls… Here I was going for the same kind of tall slenderness that I got in the first picture, but it didn’t work as well, especially with Flaer because he’s not wearing a robe, he’s wearing a tunic-ish shirt thing. Whatever them medieval-type folks wore. As you can see, he now has long black hair, and they are the exact same height.

Dancing is an important part of Flaer and Zela’s relationship.

Old Ones

Leave a Reply
Merry, Will, and Captain Toms

Merry, Will, and Captain Toms

This is a picture of three great characters from the pentology (like a trilogy of five) called The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. The bearded man is Merriman Lyon, a mysterious figure who everyone seems to know casually. The elderly man on the right is Captain Toms, a kindly old seafarer who lives in a big stone house with his lovely red dog, Rufus. The boy in the middle is one of the most main characters: Will Staunton, an eleven year old boy who wakes up on his birthday and finds the world upside down and discovers a startling heritage. He’s my favourite character. Although Will is eleven, in ‘reality’ he is an ageless, powerful Old One, one of an ancient group called the Light (who are fighting against the Dark, no surprise there) who seem to centre on Welsh myths like King Arthur. All these three in this picture are Old Ones. Will is the youngest and last, and Merriman is the eldest. I liked The Dark is Rising very much.

I just learned from DiscDrive that the phrase “no strings attached” comes from the silk industry – if there was even a slight flaw, they would put a string on the end of the cloth.

 

 

Ecthelion

Leave a Reply
The Steel and Silver of Gondolin

The Steel and Silver of Gondolin

This is Ecthelion, the Captain of the Silver Fountains of Gondolin or something like that. Whatever his real title, Ecthelion represents all of the above, as well as unparallelled bravery and unflinching self-sacrifice. (cheers) This armour is perhaps toned down a little, since I wasn’t good at ‘character design’, but it has his signature jewelled spike on the top of it and his shield has its “thousands of ‘stars'”. I want to paint a really good Warhammer figure based on this. I cropped the shield and put it up beside him, as it was wasting space. I think he actually looks quite determined, even if his hands are too small and funny looking.

Ecthelion is one of the great heroes and characters of Middle Earth, although he is mainly remembered for killing Gothmog chief of Balrogs, he is the one who greeted Tuor and let him into Gondolin when Tuor showed up, and also is remembered fondly by Eärendil for playing on his silver flute.

I like the character type of ‘nice guy, friendly with kids, very kind’ who turns into ‘noble sword-wielding anxious-about-others hero’ when need arises. Probably also unconsciously poses a lot without realizing it. Yes, I said the same thing twice in two different ways.

Friendship

Leave a Reply
Best Friends Forever

Best Friends Forever

Link has just beat the Forest Temple and his best friend Saria has become one of the six/seven Sages, so she has to stay there, at least for the time being. Even though Link has grown up and will never remotely be a Kokiri again, she wants him to know that they’ll always be best friends.

Saria’s too short in this picture, but other than that, it’s quite nice.