The Hobbit Meets The Lion King

Rises and Falls Like the Sun
Medium: digital painting

"A king's time as ruler rises as falls like the sun." -Mufasa

The Lion King meets The Hobbit! I dug up this drawing that I started a little before the "Desolation of Smaug" came out. The shading was awful, so I decided to chuck all the shading and start over with just the lines. The linework is from a few years ago so it's not up to par with my more recent art, but I still wanted to finish it! From left to right: Tauriel, Thranduil, and Legolas. Yeah, I know Tauriel's not an actual Tolkien character and that Legolas wasn't in the book, but I still wanted to draw them. I draw what I want. ;D

The Elvenking

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?

"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.