JCC [Image heavy]A thread for art: See note on page 776

Simon Eckert: Morrigan:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YxGZb

 

Gorthol and Mormegil Redone by Artigas

"So as it happens I was not satisfied with my last Illustration of Turin.

I just finished posting it and it started to grow on me. The urge to re-do it with some improved aspects.

Mainly the color scheme, the design itself ( that of course can use some refinement) and this is exactly what I did.

I think his anti-hero face is even more in evidence in this one here, and I liked how the mask turned to be something really believable, like a bizantine mask of sorts.

For the belt and greaves, I choose something more elvish but dark at the same time. I also made the cloak heavier and velvet like, and of course much darker.

The design explanation:

I was reading Sons of Hurin Lately and I came up with a very unexpected and mesmerizing conclusion about Turin's outfit and gear: He never wore the Dragon helm and brandished the famous Gurthang at the same time! Even in the book cover you see him using both side by side, and I was misled by this also, but reading carefully you can see that he lost the helm forever when captured by the orcs. To this point he wore the helm but used an unnamed sword from Thingol's armory. The one who were carrying Gurthang was his rescuer and friend, Beleg. So after killing Beleg he carried the sword but not the helmet. Later by the time of the raid at Nargothrond it is said in the books that he wore a Dwarven MASK (not a helmet) that he picked from Nargothrond's armory together with a Dwarven suit of Maille. The mask is said to be completely golden and terrifying. It is accounted that he withstood the Dragon's fire better than any other thanks to the Mask. Again, a mask, not a helmet. From this point on he carried the sword, but no word was ever said again about the Dragon Helm of Dor Lomin.

Even though it is not written down it is very clear now that the Helmet wasn't seen after that. Me, personally, I like to think Turin was not wearing the helm when the assault happened, and that the Orcs being so hasty as they were, never found it and that later Mîm, that little bugger, took it and added it to his personal hoard inside that mysterious locked door of his, where it still sits in the dark until the end of time.

For creating his armor I took inspiration in the middle eastern historical pieces, in particular Persian and Syrian armors. I think the craftsmanship and the appearance of those just match my mental image of the dwarves very well. After all, the dwarven culture as envisioned by Mr Tolkien is heavily based on those Semitic cultures.

The gear he wears is a mix of dwarven and elven artifacts, something you will often see in humans from the early ages, when they used to have more contact with both cultures. He wears a golden Dwarven mask, terrifying and magical (it helps the wearer to withstand dragon fire) and a Dwarven maille Hauberk, as in the book.

Dwarven maille has a reputation of being the best available, so I added many studs and plates in key places, following a somewhat Persian approach on the chest and a Japanese one for the arms, because it gives the armour a good balance between protection and flexibility. The inspiration for the studs in the arms was the scales that crocodiles have in their backs, with a little thick spike on the middle. The coif follows a similar pattern, but with more aggressive spikes. I think a warrior won't go to battle bareheaded, and the book say Turin wore a mask, so I wanted it to be a mask not a helmet, but I also wanted a realistic approach, so this is why I used a coif and a mask. Also the mask includes a Bevor of sorts, kinda Samurai style, the mask's golden beard. Everything very agressive looking for I think dwarves are really serious about the business of war, and a fierce enemy to face.

I guess the full enclosure of Turin's head adds for his mysterious and incognito aura, he is ever changing and hiding his name and face, so I think the mask and coif are perfect for him.

He also wears a fancy elven cloak and sash, as well as elven greaves and high boots. Everything as simple as elven stuff gets, for Turin is a grim and straight forward lad."

 

John Howe: Turin vs Glaurung:

https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Glaurung

 

Li King by yangqi917

 

Roger Garland: Sauron:

http://newboards.theonering.net/for...ost_view_printable;post=23772;guest=135113828

And he stood upon the rock and said: 'This is done as a sign of power. For I am Sauron the Mighty, servant of the Strong.' (wherein he spoke darkly). 'I have come. Be glad, ye men of Númenor , for I will take thy king to be my king, and the world shall be given into his hand.'

 

Numenorean Armor Color by TurnerMohan

"(from the earlier pen drawing, I decided to go back and color it in, awww yeeeahh)

a soldier from the numenorean "golden age," ranging from about SA. 1000 to SA. 2000. I've done several takes on numenorean armor already, but most of them were supposed to be styles of the rather more conquistador-like late-second-age dunedain, and I thought it'd be fun to go back in time and try and make some designs that could have evolved into those later models (i'd love to make one of those huge, victorian-style "historic costume in pictures" books for middle earth, consisting of hundreds of plates tracking the evolution of dress and armament for all the different races and cultures, over the thousands of years of history, sadly I'll mos likely only have one lifetime, and will therefore end up restricting such a project to a few one offs like this one)

I see this as a sort of numenorean "hellenistic period" following numenorean Antiquity (from the reign of Elros Tar-minyatur and going until Tar-Aldarion) and preceding the Imperial phase (beginning with the reign of Tar-Ancalimon and ending, famously, with Ar-Pharazon's disastrous invasion of Valinor); a period characterized by numenor's rise as the great seapower, by increased interaction (benign at first) with the people of middle-earth, and the establishing of coastal cities in middle-earth. I went with a more or less greek hoplite/alexandrian-style cuirasse of scales and hardened linen, only the harness is much longer than the greek kind, trailing off into these long skirts of scale, which seems appropriate for both the great height of the numenoreans and their rather atlantian aesthetic. His Karma is quite a bit closer to tolkien's original design than some of my other designs; I was thinking that at this stage numenor was not the crushing military presence that it later became, and so their armor at this time is more artistic and less concerned with remaining perfectly streamlined than the later models (like the difference between those beautiful, iconic greek korinthian helmets and the comparatively bland utilitarian roman "gallic" helmets)

i'm rather proud of that sword, I was trying to make it look like a greek xiphos, roman gladius and viking longsword all at once. It's always been a particularly damning question to me - given that the numenoreans, who practically cry out for a greco/roman bent to their style, are the descendents of the very northern european, dark-age seeming edain - how do you make fashion evolve from beowulfian mail and longswords into a more mediterranian look?"


Numenorean Armor 2 Color by TurnerMohan

"And here we have a sample of the later, imperial-era numenorean armament, following from my concept for numeorean "golden age" armor, Whereas that piece was more late-classical greek in inspiration, for this one I wanted to incorporate many of the same elements, but evolved into a more advanced, streamlined and regimented look, like the roman loricas, and incorporating more naked steel. a long while back, I'd done a quick sketch of Numenorean plate armor (which sadly has dissapeared) that was basically a full plate harness, sculpted like the finest gothic suits, but with this aquatic, atlantian bent to it, all spirals and fin shapes: I tried to incorporate much of that (or as much of it as I could remember) into this one while keeping it an only partial plate harness (tolkien doesnt really seem to favor plate armor)

The greek-style cuirasse we see in the golden age armor has carried over to this one, but the scale sides have been replaced by chainmail, and the hard-woven linen front and back by sculpted steel. The shins, elbows and upper arms are now armored, and the shoes and cloak heavier, as an adjustment to more serious campaigns in middle-earth. the scale skirt has remained constant.

I'm quite pleased with this late-period karma as more sleek and functional than it's more decorative predescessor, while still striking a weirdly elegant, cephalopod-like profile (moreso that the earlier one actually, i think). I dont think all the design elements work with eachother; Those greek/roman style shoulder guards were carried over from the hellenistic "golden age" design, but looking at it now I think I should have gone for more sculpted, 'naked steel' pauldrons (which were my initial impulse, and would have fit better with the the overall harness I think)

and that's a leopard skin tied around his shoulders, a popular item among legionnaires in Harad."


Numenorean Armor 3 by TurnerMohan

"and rounding it out I thought I'd try some archaic numenorean armor; I imagine this as solidly First Millennium S.A. when the dunedain were more interested in exploring their own beautiful island and the surrounding seas than looking to Middle-earth. I wanted a very earthy, sylvan pallette for this one, as opposed to the polished bronze and bright colors of the "golden age" or the heavy steel and deep blue/blacks of the "imperial age"
and, as with my earlier endeavors to build a convincing transition between those two pieces, I wanted this armor to look like it could evolve into the golden age variety without much difficulty. the leather/lamellar look was intended to catch some of the flavor of those way-pre-classical greek, mycenean armors, as seen in Eric Shandower's wonderful "age of bronze" comics (and, um, in history) while at the same time looking like it could have evolved from viking-style lamellar armors, possibly something played around with by the late-first age edain (I figure upon hitting warm, comfortable numenor, with no foes in sight, they dropped the chainmail and spangenhelms, and over the next few hundred years a more leasurely, greek style emerged, emphasizing - as the greeks did in their sleeveless armors- athleticism and mobility over heavy protection)

Really this whole piece started from a desire on my part to take yet another stab at the Karma, and one that took Tolkien completely at his word (or rather, his drawing) including making it of red and green leather scales (the rest of the armor was largely an attempt to make something that felt like it would be of a piece with that) I am sure the importance and prominence of the karma in numenorean dress and armament is overstated in my mind (and in the minds of most other fan artists) mostly on account of it being the only piece of middle-earth costumery for which Tolkien offered us an actual illustration, but also because it's just so damn... numenorean. It hits all the right notes; evoking those classical corinthian helmets worn back on the head, or those weird thracian nobbed caps, while looking like some giant mollusk shell and giving the wearer this elegant but bizarre, alien-like silhouette (I wouldnt say that Tolkien is under appreciated as an artist - I think he's plenty appreciated within the right circles - but he did have some shockingly good instincts for design)

oh and this one's got a shield, thank you Zeonista for keeping me on my toes "

 

Ash Walkers, First Hunt by TimofeyStepanov

"Called Ash Walkers, guild of experienced soldiers who provide the passage across a wasteland of ash and cinder."

 

Roger Garland: Ulmo:

http://newboards.theonering.net/for...ost_view_printable;post=23772;guest=135113828

Ulmo is the Lord of Waters. He is alone. He dwells nowhere long, but moves as he will in all the deep waters about the Earth or under the Earth.

 

Champion of Light by ForrestImel

 

https://www.uncommongoods.com/blog/2012/autumn-art/

 

Grigor Georgiev: Morgoth:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XB9VQR

 

Stonehorn Dignitary by Dave-Kendall

 

Roger Garland: Luthien in the woods:

http://newboards.theonering.net/for...ost_view_printable;post=23772;guest=135113828

Though all to ruin fell the world
And were dissolved and backward hurled
Unmade into the old abyss
Yet were its making good, for this--
The dawn, the dusk, the earth, the sea--
That Luthien for a time should be.

 

http://www.saleoilpaintings.com/paintings/jasper-francis-cropsey-autumn-landscape-ii.html

 

Mongol by AdamaSto

 

Agnieszka "Anez" Dabrowiecka: Evenstar:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/A9WNW

 

https://www.1stdibs.com/art/paintin...scape-cows-near-warwick-new-york/id-a_349082/

 

Orsolya Andrasfi of Karpati Kiralysag (Magyar) by Gambargin

"Haraszt-Hazi Orsolya Andrasfi of Kárpáti Királyság
A Remake of the original concept drawing for the Hungarian/Magyar Women Warriors in the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited, which is roughly based on the Middle ages covering 800 AD to 1400 AD. Karpati Kiralysag, or the Kingdom of Carpathia, represents the historical Hungarian Kingdom in the Medieval, during the reign of the Arpads. Carpathia is taken from the name of the mountain range that stood tall over the region.

Inspired by the Music - Zengő együttes + Rüdiger Oppermann + Epi - Rózsák és tövisek


INTRODUCTION

The Early Magyar Tribes, ancestors of the modern Hungarians, have been the source of many scholarly studies and debates ranging their origin to the impact they caused in the history of Balkan and Western Europe. Begrudgingly, they were referred to as nomadic raiders who brought the demise of Great Moravia and terrorized much of Western Europe, comparable to other nomadic raiders like the Huns and the Avars. Though this idea is somewhat challenged by modern scholars, it is without doubt that the settlement of Magyars in the Carpathian basin led to the founding of one of the largest, influential and powerful medieval kingdoms, rivaling even France, that shaped the history of the Balkan region, as well as being one of the last bastion of Christian Balkan states to fight against the onslaught of Ottoman expansion from the 14th century onward


DRAWING COMMENTARIES

Probably one of the least portrayed in DA, (unless you count Hetalia version of Hungary for the artwork) the Magyars are one of the most interesting medieval groups of people to study. Famous for their mounted warriors and also the goulash, I feel that I must make a contribution to represent them more in the art community. After all, the Historically Wrong Sketch Series would not be complete without the Magyars dominating the Carpathia region. However, I would like to point out that the History and the identity of Magyar itself is something that still puzzles me to this very moment.

The origins of Hungarians, or Magyars, is currently still a mystery and much to the subject of scholarly debate. One theory suggested that they were originally minority tribes inhabitting the central plains, surrounded by the Slavs and the Vlachs. Another theory, suggesting that the Magyars were originally Turkic when they settled down in the Hungarian Plains in the 9th century, specifically, the year 895 when Arpad brought the Magyars through the Carpathian Mountains, whose ruling elites adopted what assumed to be a Finno-Ugrian Language from 11th century onward. Regardless whether or not these two theories are correct, The early Magyars had a very strong ties with the Persian and Turkestani culture, which are reflected in their arms, armours and combat tactics.

Having said that, there's plenty of contemporary depictions as well as archaeological finding suggesting what early Magyars would have looked like when they arrived in the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. This, along the depiction of seven chieftains of Magyar in Hősök tere in Budapest, allowed my imagination to play wild with depicting a Magyar Woman Warrior in the Historically Wrong Sketch series.

Here, Lady Orsolya is drawn with a reconstructed Magyar clothing (with stylistic addition), which is somewhat similar to the tunic worn by the neighboring Turkic nomads. In addition to that, she is also drawn with the reconstructed Magyar bowcase with my own stylistic elements added and steppe sabre. The noble on her right (left of drawing) is depicted in a familiar 12th century surcoat-over-mail, which would have been common amongst the Hungarian Nobles by that time, whom the majority were already westernized. On the other hand, Lady Orsolya's Image is a contrast to the western image, giving it a more nomadic look of the early Magyar tribes."

 

Agnieszka "Anez" Dabrowiecka: Snow the Warrior Princess:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/aGxo0

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/...ngs-on-display-at-his-hudson-valley-home.html

 

Agnieszka "Anez" Dabrowiecka: Empress

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/RyeJE

 

Offering to the gods by ALMEIDAHelder