Prince of Fire.Thorin has a growlithe and Fili has followed in his uncle’s footsteps and has a fire-type Pokémon of his own! Fili started wearing darker leathers to hide the sooty little paw prints his hot-footed friend would leave when it snuggled with him.
Arrrrrrrrgh! Full disclosure, I have only watched the first three episodes of Black Sails. Did that stop me from looking up spoilers and chatting with the talented @medusinestories about the characters?
NO! It did not stop me!
There is a red-headed, polyamorous, bi-sexual pirate captain on this show! How could I stay away? His rage is a thing of terrible beauty. <3
This sketch is a gift for @medusinestories because she’s awesome for putting up with me for so long and also because she’s just posted another chapter of her post-series fanfic, Casting About in the Dark!
The story is Flint/Silver and it made me yell at my screen and then cry. Nothing with those two is ever easy, is it? (Honestly, I yell at the television a lot when I watch Black Sails, too. Ugh. Emotionally constipated back-stabbing pirates bring out the exasperated shouting in me!)
Teeny Tiny Introductions. The smoller Thorin is the ruder he seems! He’s not tiny and cute! He’s tiny and rude! When you’re that smol you have to always be on the defensive! You can’t see it, really, but in the last panel Thorin is giving Bilbo a THUMB DOWN!
Oh man. I completely underestimated the amount of work that would go into this strip. At least I’ve established just how teeny tiny little Thorin really is!
Trying to figure out just how teeny tiny Thorin should be based on upcoming scripts! I mean, the first one is tiny. The second one is teeny. The third one… that’s pretty teeny tiny? He’s still too big to fit in a teacup but he’d have a hard time getting out of a pint. Marked as NSFW because, technically, they don’t have clothes on even if they don’t have any nips or bits.
Nomnom Bacon. I keep adding to the Raven-borne Messages series on AO3 and this week it is Bard who receives an invitation to Thorin and Bilbo’s wedding!
That’s Roac trying to eat a strip of streaky bacon on King Bard’s sofa. Have you ever tried to pull a piece off of a strip of raw streaky bacon? It’s like an elastic band made out of meat!
I had a really hard time drawing the raven in proportion to the sofa. (Is that a sofa for ants?) I mean, ravens are already two feet tall and the Ravenhill ravens are supposed to be bigger than that? He looks far too big. I think if I ink this, I’ll have to scale Roac down about 15% to make him fit the sofa better.
I already blathered on about the process behind this comic at great length. Thank you to the few patient people who actually read it. XD I sort of wish I still had my tone library. Maybe I do on an external drive someplace. But I am also enjoying just playing with black and white. OH!! And the title for the comic uses a font called ‘Bilbo’ which just happened to be on my computer because I installed all of the Google Fonts!
I’ve been sitting on a few ficlets for weeks now! It’s about time I fastened my courage to the sticking place and just published them! ( @pangur-pangur I hope reading a bit of raven-fic cheers you up!)
This series of ficlets is about ravens delivering royal wedding invitations to various dignitaries in Middle-Earth! Despite Thranduil being pictured above, this first story is about Dáin and Roäc.
I’ve been sitting on a few ficlets for weeks now! It’s about time I fastened my courage to the sticking place and just published them! ( @pangur-pangur I hope reading a bit of raven-fic cheers you up!)
This series of ficlets is about ravens delivering royal wedding invitations to various dignitaries in Middle-Earth! Despite Thranduil being pictured above, this first story is about Dáin and Roäc.
Today I don’t have a single sketch to update with because I’ve been pushing myself to try new art techniques and make yonkoma about Teeny Tiny Thorin. So far I have 11 strips planned and the first one will be posted next Tuesday! (It’s pretty much done but I’m futzing with the art, still.)
So what is a yonkoma? If you didn’t click the link to the wiki above I’ll tell you. It’s a four panel, vertically-aligned gag comic. I used to make these so I’m already familiar with the rhythm of thinking in four panels. It can be a bit of a challenge compared to regular comics!
Sort of like short story writing compared to novel writing.
I’m not strictly following the traditional Kishōtenketsu story structure because in a lot of these comics I’m mirroring the movie just with the twist/gag of Thorin being teeny-tiny.
I thought it might be interesting to post some of my progress and sketches today as it is Sketch Thursday? Warning, this gets long and there’s a lot of pics.
Today I don’t have a single sketch to update with because I’ve been pushing myself to try new art techniques and make yonkoma about Teeny Tiny Thorin. So far I have 11 strips planned and the first one will be posted next Tuesday! (It’s pretty much done but I’m futzing with the art, still.)
So what is a yonkoma? If you didn’t click the link to the wiki above I’ll tell you. It’s a four panel, vertically-aligned gag comic. I used to make these so I’m already familiar with the rhythm of thinking in four panels. It can be a bit of a challenge compared to regular comics!
Sort of like short story writing compared to novel writing.
I’m not strictly following the traditional Kishōtenketsu story structure because in a lot of these comics I’m mirroring the movie just with the twist/gag of Thorin being teeny-tiny.
I thought it might be interesting to post some of my progress and sketches today as it is Sketch Thursday? Warning, this gets long and there’s a lot of pics.
Characters
I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone and trying to draw as much as possible directly in Photoshop. But I still suck at it. XD I broke down after trying to draw Gandalf a dozen times and drew him with paper and pencil then scanned him into Photoshop to ink and adjust.
My first attempt at digitally drawn Gandalf:
Giving up and drawing him with pencils from a screen reference. This is a 5-minute sketch:
Scanning him in and adjusting hue in preparation to ink:
Inked Gandalf:
I’m still futzing with him because the Thorin I drew… is so much better. -_- Now I have to up my Gandalf game!
I tried to do the same thing with Thorin but this time I grabbed a screenshot of the reference I wanted to use first (I don’t usually use reference photos this much but I’m trying to recreate scenes from the movies with these comics):
There’s the face I want! I tried drawing it on paper first. Oh gawd. This is so bad. Five minute sketches are sometimes terrible ideas. XD
Blarg. Go home, Thorin, you’re drunk! Also, at this point, I still wasn’t sure what style I wanted to draw in yet so he wound up a mish mash of how I usually draw him combined with trying to draw more realistically like the screen cap.
Dutifully I scanned this wonky fast sketch into Photoshop then started inking, while looking at the screen cap for reference. Then something clicked. I could move things around in photoshop! I didn’t have to stick to the pencils like I do when I ink traditionally. I started pushing black around, erasing things, in some places I painted more than I drew and after (WAY TOO LONG) a bit I came up with the best Thorin I’ve ever drawn! (IMO):
I like to think it’s close enough to the reference people can identify the scene in context of the comic without being a direct copy. It’s not my usual style but I really like how it turned out!
Backgrounds
There is a reason I have set past comics in deserts and cloudscapes; I hate drawing backgrounds. I’m impatient and more interested in characters and their expressions than I am in drawing a tiled floor with the right perspective. -_- For this comic series, however, I decided to challenge myself and this is a good comic to do that with because I’m recreating scenes from the movies so there are plentiful reference shots I can use!
I think if I were doing an original comic I’d use something like SketchUp to create settings and use those because, boy howdy, it takes forever to draw backgrounds.
So this scene (which I am using in Teeny Tiny Thorin #2) is supposed to be Gandalf introducing Bilbo to Thorin.:
However, because Thorin is teeny tiny I cannot use this shot as a reference because Thorin is too small and won’t show up ‘in camera’. So I searched for an empty shot of Bag End’s front hall I could use.
Ahhh this is the shot I need! And, as I’ll probably need to use this shot a few times I started a new file just to recreate as much of the hall as I can so I have flexibility with how I place it in panels.
Many layers, different colour overlays for each layer, pulling on ancient knowledge I learned in a drafting class back in the 80s, and I have a start on the hall. I wish I would’ve thought to take a screen shot before I started erasing the pink and blue lines so you could see how I had them stretched all the way across the canvas so I could match up angles. The next time I have to draw something like this, I think I’ll find a good perspective grid I can overlay. I might still do that for this pic and make adjustments because I can see places where I didn’t eyeball the angle quite right.
Anyhow, now that I had a basic hall I could test character placement to see if I could recreate the scene with a teeny tiny Thorin:
Ahh! It looks like it is going to work! Gandalf’s head will be up with the chandelier (which I sort of sketched in pink) so I might have to move him closer to the camera but with this shot I can get all three of them into view!
Anyhow! I’m hoping to get one strip a week out, likely on Tuesdays (instead of coloured art), and it looks like I have enough material to have this go until the New Year. Unless I get bored. XD Which happens. But I’m so looking forward to some of the later strips that I don’t think I’ll get bored!
Pinchy! Pinchy!@tea-blitz requested Bilboctopus playing around with a bit of crabby!Dwarf armour! Just to be clear, Bilboctopus did not rip a claw off of a crabby!Dwarf… he found it. Lying on the ocean floor. Then he snatched it up and zipped back to his little Bilboctopus cave to play with it. XD
Reblogging because I accidentally posted this on Sunday instead of Tuesday this week! XD
Also, @tea-blitz and I have a collection on AO3 for our undersea adventures! I’m still not entirely sure how collections work so hopefully it’s set up properly!
Pinchy! Pinchy!@tea-blitz requested Bilboctopus playing around with a bit of crabby!Dwarf armour! Just to be clear, Bilboctopus did not rip a claw off of a crabby!Dwarf… he found it. Lying on the ocean floor. Then he snatched it up and zipped back to his little Bilboctopus cave to play with it. XD
I’ve come off of vacation and I’m feeling adventurous. Send me an ask for an art request and I’ll see what I can do for you! (Offer expires midnight Sunday, August 13, 2017.) Any fandom any characters provided I can find screenshots. XD
@joasakura I will be working on Trevor Belmont in Ashley Riot’s outfit. =p But feel free to request something.
Elwing. Okay, one, I like drawing donkey ears on elves. Come at me. And two, Elwing is awesome! Before she turned into a bird for good and spent the rest of her days strategically pooping on people she didn’t like (like Feanorians. -_- ) I like to imagine her wearing feathered cloaks that were stylish foreshadowing. Or maybe she used to turn into a bird all of the time, sekritly, and the feathered cloak was a big hint that made her giggle.
Random elf: Oooh Elwing, your cloak is so pretty. It looks like feathers! Elwing: Ye-aasss… it does, doesn’t it? Yee hee hee… Random elf: Heh heh. Uh, so, we’re giggling now? Elwing: Hee hee hee! Random elf: I’m going that way, now.
I also like to think Elrond got his sense of humour from Elwing.
And.. bonus sketch! I’m still trying to work out how an older Thorin might have styled his beard when it grows out.
I like to imagine his beard is rather floofy and it might feel like wool. Thrór had so much beard and I can imagine Thorin might have taken after him.
Lament of the Pink Roses. I had posted the pencils and some ideas for headcanons for this pic last week. ;___;
*SOOOBS*
Okay, wait, wait, so maybe there are some happy headcanons for this pic?
Revolutionary Dwarf Thorin: Thorin is the new warrior at an exclusive training ground where all battle to win the favour of the Rose Bride! Plot twist! Upon reaching the special battle arena the very first time, a strange transformation overcomes Thorin and rose tattoos bloom on Thorin’s skin! THORIN IS THE REAL ROSE BRIDE! Now Thorin has to fend off advances and manipulations to locate the jewelled heart (stolen! gasp!) which may hold the key to unlocking Thorin’s missing memories and what had happened all those years ago.
(Okay, so I veered a bit off-plot. XD)
Thorin ½: Young Prince Thorin and his companion Dwalin were training near the forest of Mirkwood when they each fell into enchanted springs! Now, when drenched with cold water, Thorin becomes a girl and Dwalin becomes a black bear! Drench them with warm water, and they return to their former selves. Cursed, they travel Middle-Earth looking for a cure until they come to live among hobbits… who are rumoured to have the cure!
(Pfft. XD Omg! Dain turns into a pig!)
Or how about Thorin is tired after a long day’s work and is falling asleep. He’s very secretive about how he got the rose tattoo. All anybody knows is he’d gone off to work in Bree, got lost, and returned two months later well-fed and sporting a floral tattoo. All of Ered Lund is gossiping about it but Thorin refuses to give details. Then one day, dwarf traders return with a hobbit in their cart! A hobbit who demands to see Thorin! A hobbit… who has the same tattoo as Thorin. :O Dun dun dunnnnn!
Yup. That scarlet ink really does like to come off as berry pink if you only use a thin layer. The roses and the decorative detail in Thorin’s collar are the same ink! The roses were painted with a small brush. The collar I used a nib to apply the ink.
Lament of Roses. Thorin with a tattoo of three roses. Sads under the cut.
Bagginshield version: Not to be a downer, not to bring the sads, gonna talk in code here for those of us who might be sensitive just gonna say… BUT AU where three people whose names rhyme with uhhhh Leelee and uhhhhh Pillbow die but Thorin lives. So Thorin gets a really visible tattoo of three roses as a symbol of those three.. people… who were so important to him.
He is ashamed of his actions that may have led to his loss but he is never ashamed of those three… people.. he lost. -_-
Excuse me while I go ugly cry and kick my brain for going there.
Thorinduil version: Thorin’s hair and beard have turned snow white. It happened so quickly. He had thought he’d have so much longer with Thranduil but… he knew his time would come very soon. Thorin and Thranduil picked out a tattoo to symbolize their love (and after much sqabbling, tantrums, and a thrown vase) and they decided upon roses. (Thorin veto’d Thranduil’s initial… LEWD suggestion. -_- )
The tattoo is so Thorin can bring a bit of their love with him to Erebor when his body is interred there.
*SOBS* Okay, but srsly. I spend so much time imagining what the funeral procession from Mirkwood to Erebor would be like and how Thranduil would be trying not to lose it in front of the dwarves…
Jfc. More ugly crying? Why do I do this to myself? Wrrrryyyyyyyy?
More Bagginshield: Ooh or maybe Thorin was kidnapped by ferocious hobbits and they have decided to make him one of their own? The Thain declared Thorin would belong to the rose clan, on account of his being royalty, and that is also the clan Bilbo belongs to.
HA! No ugly crying this time. Fierce flower warrior hobbit clans are fun!
Honestly, half the time when I draw something I have two or three or more stories going on in my head about what is going on. I just really wanted to draw Thorin with a rose tattoo. Oh! And I adapted the pattern on his collar from a Russian folk art design.
My normal Pentel 0.3mm pencil with HB lead on Paris Bleedproof paper. I actually drew this because I accidentally bought the wrong coloured red ink so I thought I’d draw something with flowers so I could use it up.
Back to the basics. I’m still fairly new to digital art. I’ve been enjoying it but I’ve really missed the thrill of inking with a nib and ink. It’s been a bit of a re-learning curve. You can see the difference between the picture of young Thorin being a brat and older Thorin in the photo beneath it. It’s taken a few practice pictures but I’m finally starting to remember how to ink with nibs!
Holy crap. I wrote a novel about inking with nibs below the cut.
When you ink with a nib you are opening yourself up to oopsies! There is danger in every stroke you attempt! The most common sort of oopsies are:
dragging your hand through wet ink
catching your nib on the ‘tooth’ of the paper and splattering ink
if you don’t wipe your nib between dips, getting clots of ink could happen
warping your nib if you clean it too aggressively
spilling your ink -_-
failing to take a deep breath and exhaling slowly while you try to draw a long line and your line ends up wobbling or going off-course
You have to sit and really think about the order of the lines you’ll be drawing in order to avoid oopsies!
I’m right-handed so I tend to start in the upper-left of a picture and work my way to the right so there’s less chance of me dragging through wet ink. I use Paris Bleedproof paper which is smoooooth and beautiful and never catches my nib! I work with short strokes when I can and I take a moment to centre myself before I attempt long strokes. Each long stroke is also a brand-new dip into the ink so I don’t run out of ink mid-line.
I test the nib I’ll be using by drawing some warm-up lines on scrap paper or writing a sentence out. Nibs are ever-changing tools, btw. A brand -new nib needs cleaning to remove the manufacturer’s oils then I like to draw lines with it until that brand-new sharpness is dulled. OR I’ll save a brand-new nib for doing fine detail work. As you use your nib, it gets duller and duller. You can see your lines changing as you work. Back when I was inking comic pages, I’d have a few nibs lined up, ready to swap out when the one I was using got too dull.
I wipe my nibs off on an old piece of denim. I find I don’t get fuzz if I use denim. I keep the denim across my lap.
Pigment liners just can’t get as black as dip ink can get, imo. It doesn’t matter much anymore, when you can just scan the work and adjust levels in Photoshop, but when you’re photocopying your pages for zines and stuff, the dark lines copy over really nice.
I’m using Windsor Newton inks. They’re not bad? That darn ‘red’ that I bought, which was labelled ‘Scarlet’ is more of a ‘berry pink’. -_- As you can see from young Thorin’s cheeks above. -_- That is why I did not ink some crazy ass battle field picture for Tolkien week. It just wouldn’t have been the same with berry pink blood flying everywhere.
My default nib of choice is a Deleter G nib. It’s a good, general purpose nib that can get some good line variation if I want it to. I have used other nibs but a G nib is my preference for most pictures.
The nib holder in the photo above? That you can’t get just anywhere. It’s made out of balsa wood and is over a hundred years old and was given to me by my grandmother. ^_^ It’s so light in my hand!
It’s a pity some ancestor of mine chewed on it. Grandma said it hadn’t been her. Mmmhmmmmm… I have tried plastic nib holders but they feel so heavy and I can feel the line that runs up them. Blah.
Regarding the picture in the photo… the pencils will be posted on Thursday and the colour-inked version will be posted next Tuesday. Hopefully ‘berry pink’ is Thorin’s colour. XD
