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Tulikoura — Balins decision
Published: 2010-11-20 00:49:24 +0000 UTC; Views: 15281; Favourites: 206; Downloads: 154
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Description
After the battle of Five Armies Kingdoms of Dale and Erebor were rebuilt once again. For many decades dwarves laboured in Erebor, and even if many skills and much knowledge were forgotten and lost to the dragonfire, they were growing stronger and mightier in their skills. Both Kingdoms prospered.But peace and glories of their crafts weren't enough for some, and thus dwarves of the Lonely Mountain had sadness in their hearts.
In secret whispers started to spread; there wasn't enough space for all, Erebor wasn't simply enough, there were other riches to be found in the world. Moria was mentioned; the glory of their ancestors, Khazad-Dûm, was well remembered. At last dwarves were feeling strong and numerous enough to return to their ancient home.
Years passed and whispers became yearning, but dwarves still spoke with fear when Moria was mentioned; The Nameless Terror which, according to myths, still waited. For a thousand years had the Halls of Moria been empty after children of Durin fled - and for generations no dwarf had dared to enter the gate of Moria, except Thrór who was slain.
Balin had become restless, and at last he gave up to the whispers. In 2989 T.A, 48 years after the reclaiming of Erebor, Balin left and lead an expedition to colonize Khazad-Dûm. King Dáin mourned this decision, and didn't give him permission with a light heart, as Balin took Ori and Oin and a number of other dwarves with him.
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Drawing ink & graphite pencil work. My aim is to illustrate Balins journey to Moria and what happened there during his reign.
First illustration to "Balin, Lord of Moria" -serie.
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Comments: 38
They will almost entirely killed by (then) Hibernating Balrog...
When ı realized this; tears come to my eye. I guess Tolkien really didn't like the happy endings
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Yep, although Balrog might have been more or less active during that time after the war between dwarves and orcs. But true, Tolkien only had sad stories stored for poor dwarves....
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Yes.... At least Bombur; Bofur & Gimli's dad made into good ends.
I never be same after ı realize most of the company are dead
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Hi, your work has been featured here --> [link]
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Failed to notice in the book that Ori and Oin where in Moria to. I moan there loss now although it is to late...
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There were many characters in Balins expedition who were mentioned in the Hobbit, but who didn't really stand out or got a little bit attention in the Fellowship of the Ring.
Still, thinking about those twelve companions of Thorin... Thorin, Fili and Kili died in the battle of Five Armies. Balin was shot to death at Mirrormere. Watcher in the Water took Oin, and scribe Ori was killed in the chamber of Mazarbul. Illustrating their fates should be an interesting task.
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Thank you! I'll do my best, as always
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Very wonderful! The details are fantastic, especially on the clothing and the tapestries.
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You praise me of details which, in my opinion, were hardest to imagine and draw, that's a pleasant surprise
Coat of arms, heraldry in general, complex looking stone paving... such things you could imagine to interiors of Erebor. Damn hard to draw, obviously, that's why I saved some effort and used more graphite pencil
Thank you for commenting!
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You're very welcome. 
You do wonderful depictions of scenes with lots of detail. I've found that it gets harder and harder to keep things detailed but 'simple' enough for them all to be readable by the viewer. Clever use of black and white is one way I've used before; like leaving a thin white border around a dark section. Or giving the illusion of complex textures (like foliage) by using small pen marks.
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Hehe, I have used same the tricks as you. It can be quite unbelievable how those small lines and scratches you draw at beginning can resemble something much more detailed and complex after the work is finished. But well, eventually it all serves the same purpose, no matter how you do it.
About planning, eh... Hard to say. Did you mean pencil sketches, or planning in general? It can take minutes, hours or days with several A4 papers full of sketches and 1:1 outlinings. I'm sure every traditional artist knows that inspiration affects to this part of the process, more than anything.
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Yes, thank goodness for inspiration. Makes fantasy possible; inspiration and imagination. I guess I mean planning in general. You've got the basic idea of the scene you'd like to draw, then it's a matter of figuring out composition, what you want in the scene, where each item/character is, what they're doing, ect. It's tough, because sometimes I'm tempted to ink away because spontaneity can be great...but it's hard to make each piece of the picture fit together as a whole by doing it that way.
Details are so much fun. It's easy to overdo them sometimes, or at least for me, and that leads to the picture being confusing or unclear. I love that about the pen: you can suggest textures and such details to give the illusion of realism. Then when you get close enough to inspect it, you can see the strokes and lines.
Keep up the great work! Love all of your stuff.
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Oooh, this should be interesting. Dwarves are always cool, and Balin is an especially cool one, as Bilbo's closest friend.
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I agree, it's a bit shame there aren't any stories about Balin besides in the Hobbit.
Thank you for the interest and for the comment, I hope you'll like the serie
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Man did I love The Hobbit — a lot of Tolkien fans give it the short end of the stick because it's not as cool and dark and epic as LOTR and the Silmarillion.
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Well, artists have their preferences, as both books offers hundreds of themes to illustrate. This case is a bit "trickier" one - chronologically Balins journey happens between the Hobbit and Lotr (War of the Ring)
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Wow, this is amazing! So many details and such a great perspective! Very accurate.
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Well, I'm glad you like this - thank you for commenting!
Somehow it felt like a natural choice to use a "through persons eyes -perspective. Maybe it gives a feeling like witnessing the event like you were there personally, but well, I dont really know that. Good to hear it fits this scene
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It does very well! You are welcome!
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This is so amazing. I love the details here. Great job in portraying the event. Impressive lighting as well, which is hard to do with pencil in my opinion. Lovely work as usual!
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Thank very much you for the comment.
You're right, it isn't the easiest job to illustrate light with drawing ink and some pencils. Basically it's just a blank space you have to leave there and modify carefully afterwards. Although, I have to admit that good eraser helps a lot when it comes to drawing with graphite pencil 
In digital drawing, I don't really have a clue how lighting works. I have tried to do some practise works but always they miss something. Balance between colours is more than crucial, as adjusting shade just a bit can make a huge difference whenever the scenery looks good or odd.
I don't know how many years it required for you to develop an "eye" to spot and use these small differences in your advantage, but it surely was worth the effort.
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Sorry for my late reply. Have been busy doing stuffs (I have a 3 months drawing project that I have yet to finish).
Lighting for me is the hardest to develop. I've looking around various tutorials in order to create a good lighting but in the end most of the important parts they say is to pick a good, light colour, create a new layer, and start stroking for the parts that gets the light. Another good tip is to find references for lighting, so it slowly develops your 'feeling' about where the light should go.
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Excellent work! I'm so glad you've started your next series!
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Hehe, thank you very much
Well, I can say that the untold story of Balin and his colony in Moria troubled me so much I decided to give a try. Making it to a serie will naturally give a broader picture. Plus I have always wanted to illustrate the chamber of Mazarbul and the Watcher in the Water
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I look forward to seeing it, then!
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Thank you very much. I'm happy with the surroundings, although graphite pencil naturally makes a bit blurry look. It doesn't bother too much because of the light I think.
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Oh, and their outfits are looking great. I like the blurry look too, it adds more depth
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A very detailed and well picked illustration of the caption. Great work!
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Well, here it begins
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You've got some amazing detail work in there! Might I inquire as to the approximate time involved?
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Thank you.
This was a relatively quick drawing to finish after sketching (I liked to plan the surroundings a bit more than usually), as I mainly used graphite pencil. I would say it took about four days.
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