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#byzantine #roman #field #historicalfantasy #horse #medievalfantasy #warrior #warriorwoman
Published: 2017-09-24 12:02:05 +0000 UTC; Views: 1905; Favourites: 167; Downloads: 0
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This is a picture which I have had lying around inked and waiting to be finished since early summer. I only got around to watercolouring it now. This is Farasind - a Herulian mercenary fighting in the field army of the Eastern Roman Empire from my "A tale of Byzantium and Persia" storyline.Β I have no idea what she's hunting here, but I am pretty sure she's ruining that field by riding through it though...You can also see her here: Of Empires and Barbarians
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watercolour, gouacheΒ
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Comments: 52
What a beautiful, golden scene! Love the swallows.
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Thank you so much dear!
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So awesome! Lovely colours!
And god damn it Farasind, ruining people's fields. Get off my lawn.
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Thank you so much!
She's a rebel!
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Now this is a very challenging piece indeed! Not only to draw a horse but a horse in motion with an archer on it's back- that is impressive! Your skills have gone from strength to strength this year! I love the look of focus on her face and the lovely, golden contrast of the wheat fields with the dark shadows of the birds swooping over head- the wild flowers are a nice touch too.
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Thank you so much for the wonderful comment! I'm so glad you think it looks good - it was indeed quite challenging. Also, I'm so happy to say that there is improvement in my art, especially that nowadays I have much less time to draw...Thank you!
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Nice pose there! Has a nice majestic vibe to it and colour choices are pretty nice! (but oh man, poor wheats)
I think only critique I have about this piece is that it needs bit more detail on the field? Wheat is such a nice subject to do detailed backgrounds, grains can add more depth and texture on the front parts of the field. The field looks pretty flat/plain in here, especially with the horizontal shadow lines. The blue flowers also looks like a good addition to add more into the field.
Keep rocking and creating 
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I know what you mean about the flatness/smoothness of the field. I think I was worried it would look messy so I ended up going to the other extreme. Thanks for the advice!
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Your art is amazing, every piece you put out is so detailed and skillfully drawn!Β
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Gosh, thank you for the kind words!!
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Beautiful vivid color on the background, simplicity in distance and details in front are what give the impact. And very dynamic pose indeed.
This Farasind is very badass. How she does that??? It seems hard to balance, take aim, and still moving forward in one time. Maybe I'm not educated in this war-thingy but still I can't imagine... I even low-key scared of horses.
No... Don't trample the field... You'll regret it when the famine strike. π¦
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Thank you so much for the great comment! I wish I had added more detail in the foreground actually - but maybe next time! 
The horse archery does seem near impossible, right? But from what I read it seems that it was one of the important elements of military training at this time in the Eastern Roman army.
Haha, true!!
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Oh! This is BEAUTIFUL!Β
I can always place myself right in the middle of your gorgeously painted landscapes!Β
Golden fields are some of the most beautiful things to me! Well done!Β
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Gosh, thank you! 
I know what you mean about golden fields- for me as well!
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I didn't know anything about the Herulians, so I made a quick research and wow, they were some scary folk! Β Nice sketch! I like the vast field and the swallows but I have to admit I am surprised to see a warrior from a Germanic tribe adept at horse archery. Most of us imagine them wielding shields javelins and battleaxes. Do you know of any report of the Herulians deploying horse archers? Β Β
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Thanks for checking this out! You're right of course, horse archery would not have been a typically Germanic approach (well, excluding the Goths anyway), but this character has been brought up Romanized, and, following her father she serves in the army not as a member of a typical foederati band, following their own chieftains, but as a paid Roman soldier of the field army, and horse archery was an important element of the training of the East Roman cavalry at the time, Maurice mentions it a lot. Plus hunting was generally considered a useful form of military training. (Of course this is ignoring the complete historical inaccuracy of a female in the East Roman army at all...but you know, that's what fiction is for! 
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You must've worked hard on this m8. Props to you
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This is incredibly beautiful and elegant at the same time. The pose of the horse and Farasind are like one would find on painting we court hunts with cheetahs chasing small deer and such, which I kind of think is pretty fitting myself. The colours are wonderfully saturated too, the yellow of the crop works really well, even against a brown horse. Maybe she's hunting some kind of bird, but it'd be a waste using arrows on it. Maybe it's a rogue wolf and so the farmer won't care that she's galloping through these...
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Thank you so much!
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You're welcome!
That would be amazing if you did, I always thought it was really extravagant to hunt that way, I mean, how would you get the animal back? The colours look perfect on my screen (and on my phone, so they work on two separate devices very well) and they're all natural, I mean the yellow of the field isn't an unnatural yellow, so the vibrancy is a natural one to the eye. If that made any sense.
Let's hope she's not hunting the farmer 
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Odd, I was just researching whether Byzantine womenΒ (guess who) ever rode horses in trousers- and did find an account of just that, and now this from you. A beautiful image and one skillful rider! She must be a wizard at tzykanion if she can control that horse with just her knees, let alone shoot and fight . I love the swallows- just the way they fly around here in the summer, taking their food on the wing, and a brilliant association with your nimble rider! Btw- A grassland that size would hardly be under cultivation, so I shouldn't worry about a few hoofprints- this isn't the American midwest, thank god. Great picture!
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That's an interesting coincidence. Well, as you know I refuse to be tied down by historical accuracy when it comes to women and their roles in my stories, so instead I just acknowledge it would be highly unusual but put them in such roles nonetheless. What did you find out in your research? I do know that in earlier, classical Roman times, it would be inaccessible for a respectable Roman woman to ride on horseback at all, but I think this might have changed in the later centuries?
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Well, susannaforrest.wordpress.com/2β¦ for one- it's interesting what comes to light when the patriarchal blinders are off, tho I say it as shouldn't you might think. Any way, if Hephastia went places with her father, I'm willing to bet she didn't go in a covered litter . A little mood music, then: youtu.be/YHLr3FzgpOY
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You are welcome. I like your drawing's style. π
If You have the time visit my gallery.
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She looks so fierce! 
I'm always in awe of how you draw horse tack, it's both elaborate and sensible, if you know what i mean.
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Glad she does!
Well, really I just try to render what I know about Roman tack from the period; so elaborate but practical sounds just right- but I think I make it look simpler than it actually was...ugh.
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beautiful Golden field! And the rider is very confident sitting on a horse and shoots perfectly!
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Thank you so much! I'm glad her seat looks comfortable - it was a difficult pose to capture!
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This is GORGEOUS! The colours really pop and the way you did the horse is very nice. The muscles are well defined but not overdone, giving the horse a sense of solidness. I love the way you did the wheat in the foreground!Β
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Thank you so much!
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I absolutely love the clever way you drew the field with the wheat straws shaping clearly in the foreground and the sea of golden in the background! The way the horse's legs sink into it gives a cozy and smooth feel that fits the atmosphere of freedom and energy of the entire piece.
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Thank you so much! 
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Wow!Β how wonderful it is! Such freedom and flight in this image! How much swiftness and strength in this archer. So beutiful horse and fields! My congratulations, wonderful artist! I love it so much!Β Β Β Β Β Β
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Thank you so much dear!
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