Fëanor - a pencil sketch

Been doodling a bit with my pencils.

I love this dark, dark, rebellious, scowling, gloomy Fëanor, brooding and selfcontained within his own storm.

"Fëanor - Spirit of Fire"

Graphite Pencil,

35x50 cm 

© Katherine Wyvern 2018

"For Fëanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him."

― The Silmarillion, Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor

I always thought that if there was ever an elf who could sport a mohawk, that would be Fëanor, for sure, the Noldor's very own enfant terrible. Plagued with insufferable pride and a rebellious spirit, but the most talented and creative of all the elves ever spawned, I feel a more than a little fondness for him.

There are many illustrations of Fëanor, but they all seemed pretty bland to me. When I saw this dark, brooding selfportrait of Danila Kovalev, I knew it was the Fëanor I was looking for.

 Faber Castell - Graphite Pure HB to 9B

 I had this idea that between the his "Spirit of Fire", and the fact that the first elves were born in a dark world before the Sun and the Moon were created, Fëanor could perhaps have shiny eyes, like a cat.

It was my husband who mentioned the likeness with Riddick. Well, "You are not afraid of the dark, are you?"


I can claim very little credit for this picture. All the beauty, intensity and elegance were already in the original photo of (and by) this amazingly gorgeous, talented and kind model.

Cernunnos - a pencil drawing

 "Cernunnos"

35x50cm

Ⓒ Katherine Wyvern 2018

Lately we have been binge-watching Hannibal, of which we liked the first season (with some reserve at first), but not so much the rest (despite the uber-sexy Mads Mikkelsen, eh!), and the antlers imagery has been rather present in my mind…

So I drew this, not so much for Hannibal, but as Cernunnos.

It hints to Herne in the old Robin Hood series, and even Harry Potter’s patronus, but it’s none of these things really, or not only. It’s also not really the Celtic or even Wiccan Cernunnos for me, but an altogether earthier and more elemental being ... a personification of the life of the forest.

Like all natural spirits, I believe that despite the antlers, it should not be quite male or female, but both, or above it…

I added all the things that are brightest in my garden/forest now (those were copied from life), hellebores and arum leaves, and ivy, and pale lichen, which is at its brightest celadon now… Its lovely fractal shapes are the essence of all life forms, trees and lungs and veins and roots…

It’s the things I could draw from life at this time of year, but also, maybe, this is the time of year when we (or I, at least) most need to remember that the forest still lives, and will be green again.

There was to be a stag skull on Cernunnos’ head, but alas the paper was not large enough (that cramped my style a little),  so I had to be content with an eagle skull. A skull for mortality, but an eagle is a finely odinic animal, and Odin himself a good omen that life will come back from darkness, stronger, stranger and wiser.

The runes are Norse runes too. Ogham lettering is so ugly.

And it's an homage, once more, most of all,  to Danila Kovalev’s 

otherworldly beauty, and unique intensity.

Thank you!

 Faber-Castell Graphite Pure pencils, from B to 9B!

Haldir - a sketch

 

"Haldir" 

©Katherine Wyvern 2017

A new sketch I did a few days ago, still inspired and copied froma  picture of my arch-muse, Danila Kovalev (and I still don't think that I am done drawing this model and his incredible eyes... I have already a different thing in mind, way stranger... stay tuned).

The quote is from the Lord of the Rings, my favourite book ever (it sits on my bedside table at all times, where in other houses a bible might be found) and says: "“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

These words, spoken by an elf called Haldir, a minor character in the book, often come to me at times of sadness... 

In the book (unlike the movie) Haldir is always seen in the vicinity of the watery boundaries of Lorien, of which he is one of the wardens, and I thought that Aeshna cyanea, the Sounthern Hawker dragonfly, would be a good totem animal for him. They appear in my garden each summer (they fly in from large distances, and stay, because of the pond) and it is a thing of wonder to see them tirelessly guarding their watery realm, fiercely fighting off any intruder that chances by. They are also magically beautiful animals, the closest thing to a winged fairy you can get in this world (but not a fairy to be trifled with... these creatures can fight like dragons, indeed!). When the first Aeshna shows up, each summer, it's a time for celebration...

This drawing was supposed to be midnight dark and faintly moonlit, but it did not pan out that way, so this is the third attempt. Still, the way it came together in the end, as the simplest pencil sketch, no colour, no fancy effects, was deeply satisfactory. There are rare golden moments, as an artist, when something clicks into place, and you feel a sort of golden certainty that 'this is the right way to do it'. This drawing gave me one such moment...