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aautio — Noldorin Character Sketches
Published: 2005-11-25 23:45:46 +0000 UTC; Views: 25092; Favourites: 147; Downloads: 994
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Ok.. The usual suspects: mug shots from the archives of the Police of Valinor !I'll post this as a "thank-you-for-500-hits pic" even if this sketch is still an ongoing process that isn't quite finished yet. But since I scanned it yesterday I might as well show it.. and it's become such an important piece for me during all this time I've been working on it -- even if it is just a sketch.
The picture is quite self-explanatory; anyone can see it's Finwë and his three sons in the top row, the seven sons of Fëanor on the left and the children of Fingolfin and Finarfin on the right. I made this sketch already a while ago to act as a reference sheet for myself when drawing these characters in my illustrations, but I've been revising and tweaking and polishing it all the time, because I'm still not happy with the looks of all of them.. especially not with Maglor and Angrod, I'll have to work on them still.. and Maedhros and Aegnor seem to be begging for some minor tweaking as well. The only ones I'm sufficiently pleased with as to not touch them any more are Turgon, Finrod and Orodreth. I think Fingon and Fëanor are almost there as well and the rest look basically like I envision them but each of those has some things (that I can't quite place) just slightly off about them, which makes me not completely satisfied with their looks.
I have no idea how much time I've put into this during the past month or so.. An hour every now and then which sums up into.. quite a lot. I've completely erased and redrawn all of these characters several times.. some of them as many as 5 times. The poor piece of paper has seen so much eraser that soon it'll be worn through! Some more is still needed, though.. and I will update this when I'm finally happy with all of them.
EDIT: I'm working on a new version here. When that's finished, I'll move this one to scraps.
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Comments: 28
Hi, your sketches are just great!
Fingon looks really cool here.
But there is one little thing on my mind. On your sketches is Fingolfin always dark haired. Correct me if Im wrong, but Im sure he is golden haired.
About the other guys - they are how I imagined them, really great work.
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I like your depiction of Finrod! He looks a lot like I imagined.
I also like Finarfin's expression. He looks so heartfelt.
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I like your depiction of Finrod! He looks a lot like I imagined.
I also like Finarfin's expression. He looks so heartfelt.
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WOW! You bring realism up to the forfront... FROM THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD.... hence i am not that good yet... i can do portraits (saidly none of them are in my gallary because they get wisked away to their owners as soon as they are completed)... but i always have to have some kind of picture refrence... These are so good! Im in aw! i esspecially like the two women on the bottom right... and the guy in the top middle!
Once again great peice!
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I think Curufin and Celegorm should be less like they are on your drawing and a lot bloodier with crows picking at their eye sockets. But that's just an opinion.
The first time I loked i this drawing I knew who's who but the more I look at it the more confused I am. They all have so much hardship graved on their faces. And one of them reminds me of a hobbit for some reason. Not that I have anything against hobbitses, on the contrary.
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Some of them don't look like anything i'd like them to look like.. only about half of them are anywhere near ok. This is kind of a WIP reference sheet, but i haven't had the time/interest to touch it up lately. Angrod, Maglor, Madhros, Aegnor and Curufin at least need work.. Only ones that i'm more or less happy with are Finrod and Turgon.. and maybe Orodreth and Fingon.
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They're al amazing. The sons of Feanor look stern and full of inne rrager, they're perfect!
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Interesting! I love seeing how different people view the House of Finwe.
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This is still WIP in a way.. a study for a big three-part painting that i'm planning. Let's see if i'll ever have the time for that one..
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Finwë looks too grim for a king in paradise. Otherwise, these are among the best Noldor portraits I've ever seen.
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Thank you! Hhmm.. you're not the first to mention Finwë's sullen looks.. must be that mouth of his, i don't really like it myself. I guess i need to fix him, i'm still looking to define my view of some of these characters, Finwë included.
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Another splenidi character study sheet, this are things that can make a good portfolio, very useful for every gaming company, cxomic work, movie studies.
truly so well done, and love the mug shots parallel
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Thank you, Ana! Hhmm, perhaps i should indeed build a true illustration portfolio when i have time.. next summer perhaps
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wahh! great work!!!! all family!!!!** it's a wonderfull idea ^^
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Thanks. I will still refine their appearance until i'm happy with their appearance.. Later i'm planning to do a big triptych piece featuring all these characters.
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ohh great!** even if it would be a very big work°°
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GRARR!! That's so cool... what an awesome idea! You manage to make them believable and real, but still keep a fantastical feeling to them. Not only that, but you kept the families looking like each other... Very nice.
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Grrr-hrar! (which means 'thank you very much')
The tough part while doing this has been that here there are 19 individuals who need to have their own personal appearance.. That's already difficult, but then they also need to have similar features because they're all siblings or cousins.. Indeed I tried to tie the three family lines together by trying to have the siblings look slightly more similar to each other than to their cousins.. And the descendants of Indis more alike to each other as a group than to the sons of Fëanor. And Finarfin's children a wee bit more different still because of their half-Telerin heritage from their mother's side. i'm glad you found it shows in there.
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Finwë 
The family resemblance is visible, I'm guessing who is Curufin, sa alike his father (though more wrathful... or I'm mistaken 
I like here very much all the top 4 noble lords and Turgon, Galadriel, Aredhel and Finrod. Turgon and Finrod are subtler than others, quite alike my own vision of them being rather thoughtful than wrathful.
Fingolfin is my favorite here, strong and thoughtful the same time. (And most handsome in the group 
Generally I like their sharp face features, visible noses, feeling of strength coming from them. And great Silmarili on Feanors brow
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I'd believe the first High King of the Noldor would be rather annoyed when he got dragged down to the police district and put to the photograph screen.. 
I didn't mean to draw them as angry, but more or less draw each one with their typical expression.. which would be a bit haughty, thoughtful frown for most of them.. 
Oh, so your avatar is Finwë.. that actually seems like a very good portrayal of him. i hope to see it finished sometime.
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I haven't thought of the passport issue. Now custom officers on every border will be blinded by the Feanor's passport photo with Silmarili
My Noldor are usually haughty, angry or sad... Quite hard to make them shiny and happy looking at their history.
Is Aegnor the one with wavy hair in the 3rd row or short hair? That's another thing I like here - you gave them wavy hair
My Finwë was the first sketch of Noldor at all; I never finished him, but made the Feanorian soldier on this base. I have tried to finish him a few times, but always his face gets spoiled, so he is waiting for better times.
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They are all in age order from oldest to youngest from left to right. So Aegnor is the one with short hair and more Noldorin features, The one with wavy hair and more Telerin features is Angrod (who is still looking very wrong, just like Maglor.. they will still change). I always envisioned the Noldor and most Teleri typically having very straight hair and the Curls and waves being more common among the Vanyar (and also Silvan elves who would have more mixed hair types and colours). Thus the curls only among the descendants of Indis. This is just my own typology, though..
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I like Aredhel and Galadriel. They have nice faces. Maglor looks like a woman though. The twins are pretty cool. I've never seen Feanor with short hair myself. Everyone else seems to view him that way.
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Thanks! I've always been better in drawing women than men.. obviously because i find women more interesting!
Yeah.. like i wrote in the description, i still don't like Maglor's look at all. I wanted him (and the twins, whom i'm quite happy with) to have facial features more after their mother and the same goes for Angrod (and Maedhros's eyes) but that seems to be the source of the biggest problems, because they are exactly the characters that look the most wrong! But this is WIP, so I will most certainly be redrawing them until i'm satisfied with their looks and then i'll update this. Everyone sees Tolkien's characters their own way of course, but i've always imagined that Fëanor usually kept his hair short for practical reasons (though of course nothing would prevent him from letting it grow longer from time to time).
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