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King Thranduil
Medium: Photoshop paint |
Every time you leave your campfire burning and
it sets a forest on fire, an elf cries. Think of the elves! Protect our forest
friends. Only you can prevent wildfires.
Sorry about that. Smokey the Bear popped into my mind when I finally finished
this.
The Lord of the Rings and all its relations has always been my
favorite story, and I've just realized that I've done precious little
Tolkien-related art. I think it may be because I'm afraid I won't do the story
or the characters justice. But then I thought, "Peter Jackson changed
Thranduil enough. What does it matter if I accidentally change him some
more?"
This is J. R. R. Tolkien's character Thranduil, the king of the Mirkwood elves.
While the book will always hold a special place in my heart, I do like all three of the movies Jackson has put out. I like almost everything that he added
into the story and I like how he brought Legolas into The Hobbit, even though he didn't play
a part in the book. I'm sorry if die-hard Tolkien fans are about to become physically ill
for hearing such blasphemy, but I like those movies. I also like Tauriel's
presence as well. I'm not a huge fan of the romance between her and
Kili (that smacked of a decision they made while that one guy was in the bathroom, and was so obviously thrown in just to feed the Kili fangirls), but I did like her presence. Let's be honest, if she hadn't been in
it, there would have been no females in that entire movie except for the little
girl in Bard's house who screamed at the orc. It kind of needed at least one
female.
And then there's Thranduil. Jackson completely changed him, and I thought for
sure I wouldn't like it, but I did. (Just so we’re all on the same page: I like Thranduil’s character, but
I’m not a Thranduil fangirl.) I like both Tolkien and Jackson's versions. In
this picture I tried to combine the two. I wanted to show the softer,
"less wise" Thranduil of the book, and the hard-core, emotionally
scarred Thranduil of the movie.
I mean, come on! He's an elf, which is awesome, and he's a king, which is
awesome, so he's awesome + awesome, and… and…
What does that even equal?
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"King Thranduil" detail
Medium: Photoshop paint |
A close-up of the eyes, because eyes are fascinating and fun to paint. I painted them in a moving car. I should be proud of myself.
