Lord of the Rings Week: Elladan and Elrohir
on October 8th, 2009
Elladan and Elrohir are the sons of Elrond.
The running debate around this picture is whether or not the horses would have tack, as Elvish horses were magical and didn’t need it. I’ve always thought the idea of no tack, packings, etc, was a bit of a stretch, even for magic horses. One assumes the elves would have some gear when they rode into battle.
Glorfindel, who appears early in the books, is specifically described as riding a horse with tack. And bells on. So, at least some of the time, elvish horses must have had some gear.
In the end, drawing horses with no tack is easier than drawing horses with it, so no skin off my nose if future pictures of horses have no tack.
Anyway, this will appear in an upcoming issue of Silver Leaves, another Tolkien journal.
A number of Tolkien fans like this picture enough to have asked to use it on their websites and as icons. Quite nice!
Colleen;
I have to ask the techie question. How do you get the range of values in that delicate graphite to come through without muddying the whites? Is your scanner that good, or is there a trick I don’t know? Whenever I go to pick up the details at that level of gray, I get mud and paper texture.
I’m in the process of composing a somewhat lengthy reply to the Tolkien series, but as it touches on family history and is quite emotional, it’s taking some time to say what I have to say just right.
Meanwhile, I must tell you how happy i am that you can attend the event- as a film score hound, I am so jazzed that they’re doing this!
Keep posting this stunning, eloquent work- we love it!
Diana
I don’t seem to have a problem with getting muddy whites, but that may be the quality of my scanner, which is awesome. I scan for archives at 600-1200 dpi.
Sorry, it took me so long to get back to you! I am on the road and I lost my password!