A tree-herder, or ‘Ent’ inspired by the Big Belly oak of Savernake Forest in Wiltshire, and the excellent walking (and talking) trees from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Mixed media on A4 200gsm paper, 21 x 29.7 cm, or 8.3 x 11.7 inches.
Prints and shiny things available here.
Treebeard and Ent sketches,
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Monday 21, November, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/11/21/treebeard/
Father and son (one of them) with the border design I made especially for Elf portraits
(you can see it being made here.)
Fëanor whose name meant ‘spirit of fire’.
“Curufin the crafty … who was of perilous mood.”
Both from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Saturday 10, September, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/09/10/feanor-and-curufin/
Thingol, King of the Grey Elves, from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.
“In Beleriand, King Thingol upon his throne was as the lords of the Maiar whose power is at rest,
whose joy is as an air that they breathe in all their days,
whose thought flows in a tide untroubled from the heights to the deeps.”
Thingol throned in his grand and secret underground kingdom The pillars were said to be sculpted like great beech trees, with golden lamps hung from all their branches.
In the frame, either side of him are symbols based on those for Melian (his wife) and Luthien (his daughter), and above him his doom: the ‘Nauglamir’ necklace with a Silmaril in the middle.
He can also ornament your own underground lair, with pretty printed things from my RedBubble shop here.
Thingol (work in progress)
Thingol (detail)
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Friday 9, September, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/09/09/thingol/
Eöl the Dark Elf from JRR Tolkien’s Silmarillion.:
“But Eöl, though stooped by his smithwork, was no Dwarf, but a tall Elf of a high kin of the Teleri, noble though grim of face; and his eyes could see deep into shadows and dark places.”
If you’d like a print of his glowering suspicion, you can find them in all sizes and finishes here.
This glowering gentleman was painted in a different way (for me): sketched entirely in paint, no line drawing at all until the end for details.
An interesting exercise, though riddled with mistakes and horror and doom. :)
Eöl (detail)
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Friday 26, August, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/08/26/eol-the-dark-elf/
An experiment in pencil-less sketching, where instead of drawing lines and then painting, the whole thing is sketched in paint with brushes, no pencils involved until at the end for details. It’s an interesting exercise to create something just using colour, shape, and brush-stroke.
The character is an experiment too, as I’m trying to get a clearer idea of how Tolkien’s (book) elves should look.
This particular gent is/will be Eöl the dark elf from the Silmarillion.
Painting in the basic figure using a broad brush and big strokes.
Still just painted at this stage, no drawn lines. Using armour references from both Ancient Greece and early European Medieval (circa 13th c.) And also spikes.
Now the drawing stage begins to bring out the details, starting with his face.
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Tuesday 17, May, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/05/17/eol-the-dark-elf-work-in-progress/
Sandman commission:
Two of the Dreaming (with Matthew the Raven). The frame includes white lilies for Death and her ankh below; and the poppies of Morpheus for Dream as well as his helm above. This was destined for a long-time Queen fan, so Death rests upon a gravestone in honour of Freddie Mercury (with his true name). Dream stands over the statue of a fallen angel…
9×11 inches, mixed media on treated canvasboard.
All praise, honour, and little cakes to Neil Gaiman for the creation of such interesting characters.
Dream and Death
Dream and Death detail
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Tuesday 16, February, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/02/16/dream-death/
Sometimes hearts and flowers will only do if the heart’s cursed and the flowers are omnivorous. If you wish to tell someone you love them horribly then let one of these dear little monsters be your messenger.
Greeting cards, as well as diverse ephemera for your haunted house, available here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/bohemianweasel/collections/486329-valentine-horror
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Thursday 4, February, 2016
https://bohemianweasel.com/2016/02/04/horror-valentines/
John Uskglass, the Raven King with a crown of ivy leaves, for ‘ivy binds English magic’. The magician King raised by faeries, from Susanna Clarke’s book ‘Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell’.
Pencil and acrylics on old paper, 8×11.5″, finished digitally.
A detail of the whole (click to see full size) :
John Uskglass, the Raven King crowned in Ivy (detail)
And the entire thing.
(If only someone would hire me to illustrate her next book. PleaseOhPleaseOhPlease. )
John Uskglass, the Raven King crowned in Ivy
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Tuesday 7, July, 2015
https://bohemianweasel.com/2015/07/07/john-uskglass-ivy/
Gentleman with the Thistle-down Hair, in the Venetian Mirror.
The dangerous Fairy King from Susanna Clarke’s book: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. (An earlier, uncoloured, work-in-progress version here.)
Pencil, acrylics, and digital.
Gentleman with the Thistle-down Hair in the Venetian Mirror
Posted by Soni Alcorn-Hender on Wednesday 24, June, 2015
https://bohemianweasel.com/2015/06/24/thistledown-hair-venetian-mirror/
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