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Alene — Edmund
Published: 2008-09-01 17:43:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 1492; Favourites: 25; Downloads: 22
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Description
Another page from my picture book.
This is Edmund, not-at-all-dashing big Brother of Katia and prospective husband of Adele . This is a single-page illustration, with a line drawing on the facing page. He's having his portrait painted, btw.
Hope you like it! If you do, please tell me! Boost the self-esteem of a stressed student!
Critique discouraged because I haven't time to redo it. If there's anything horribly wrong that can be fixed using Photoshop or something, you can, however, tell me.
Size: ~A4
Materials: bristol board, Winsor & Newton watercolours, Prismacolour pencils, Art Spectrum waterproof ink (sepia), Photoshop.
Time Taken: Too long! About 15 hours, I think.
Enjoy!
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Comments: 29
Poor Edmund, the things I put him through! I'm so glad you like it, and thanks for the 
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Thankyou, and thanks for the
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yes very much so 
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It has a sort of rosetti/alan lee look. Very nice indeed.
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Alas, I am late, but at least I'm still alive, eh? 
I like him! He's cute in a bungling, charming sort of way. Like he'd be the first to come to your rescue but not exactly the most adroit in the chivalrous arts... I love how his banner and feather are kind of droopy, like he got caught out in the rain, lol. I can't imagine how much work you put into his armor. It looks fantastic!
I love the plantlife and the way you colored it. Very beautiful. 
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That's good! The character is supposed to be really sweet, but not a stereotypical fairy-tale prince, and since I have hardly any text, that all has to come out in the pictures. Hence the limp feather and flag (I'm glad you noticed those!) The same with the armour. Hopefully it looks like it hasn't been polished in ages, so that the distressingly shiny armour in the 'court painting' (shown on the next page) is really obviously inaccurate. I had quite a bit of fun with the armour, actually! I don't think I'll enjoy the shiny stuff so much....
I agree with you about the dapples. I wasn't particularly happy with them myself, so I think I might fiddle with them a bit in Photoshop. Thanks for the tutorial, I'm sure it will come in handy there! It doesn't put me out at all, as help is always ... well, helpful. And critiques that can be so easily fixed I don't mind at all; I just haven't the time to redo the whole image. Deadlines loom!
Anyway, I'm so glad you like the rest of the image, and thanks for your feedback too!
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Heheh, I'm glad I haven't put my foot in my mouth, hee hee.
The armor doesn't look polished at all -- that's why I liked it so much. All too often you see Knights in Shining Armor and that's not exactly realistic in my way of thinking...armor was worn in battle, in all weather...knights fell off of horses, plates surely got dented, and a bit rusty, right??
Well I've always been a sucker for greys, dappled especially, so you'll get no complaints for me there! Actually grey haired horses are quite fascinating, or at least imo -- they're born dark (sometimes quite black) and they lighten with age, like the Lippizaners. Also, even "regular" colored horses sometimes go grey around their faces, just like people.
My pleasure!
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I'm having fun coming up with the "knight in shining armour" painting; rearing horse, flying standard, firm chin, boofy feathers.... 
Armour certainly starts out shiny, and there are people who keep it looking vaguely decent while it's in use, although I'd think there'd certainly be a point where it would be impossible to get it looking like new
I like greys too. They look friendly. I'm not a particularly horsy person (fortunately I have a good friend who is, and who has been advising me on my pictures, making sure my horses look like horses, that sort of stuff.) I think the horse will become white for the '
And I suppose I should actually go and draw that now. I had planned to work all day, but after spending hours sorting out my father's computer (heaven knows what he did to it) and then putting the dinner on.... I haven't got anything done yet. Arrg!
And I too enjoy our conversations, so I'm glad you do!
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Oooohh...now that I can't wait to see.
I think that sounds great! Plus white has the advantage of looking good in every color tack -- it's always slightly annoyed me when black horses get brown tack, and vice versa. Silly, I know...
Ack, drawing! I tried to pick up my pencils again the other day but I think my muse died. 
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Well, who isn't? (Well, I suppose horses probably wouldn't like them..... they'd be rather heavy....
I know nothing about tack. I think I'll probably give this white charger gold tack, and just go all-out glitz. Some of my references for equestrian portraits seem to have gold tack, which seems suitably regal to me. Perhaps gold and red....
Ahh, to have the luxury of a muse!
My father is actually rather good with computers, but he panicked, which wasn't at all helpful. All his programs tried to open at once, which naturally jammed the poor computer somewhat. And his photo library got mucked up too... *sigh* All fixed now, though!
Oh, and I suddenly realised that (silly me) I hadn't actually clicked the button to watch you, so I've rectified that!
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Good point!! ;-D And lol re: the poor horsies getting tired. Actually IIRC, that's where the warmbloods (crosses between "cold" bloods i.e. draft horses, and "hot" bloods i.e. lighter horses) came from, to serve as chargers for knights...
Gold and red sounds great! Very regal.
Luxury!! Ha! Mine isn't a loafer, either -- she gets put to work all the time, just in other departments.
Computers + panic = bad.
Haha! That's okay. ;-D And I think I've already watched you, so I'm good to go.
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I've practically finished the sketch for that picture, so you'll see it soon. After discarding several attempts, I settled on just basing the painting on one of Napoleon (fitting, since Edmund really isn't at all Napoleon-like
I hope your drawing muse returns refreshed, then!
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Okay, great! And I love that painting of Napoleon on his horse Marengo -- the David portrait, crossing the Alps, correct?
Well I really don't have the time but I did pick up my pencils again tonight, after being inspired by John Singleton Copley, so we'll see how it goes.
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That's right! And I'm nearly finished with it! Hooray!
Good luck!
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Thanks ever so, and thanks for the
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No problem. You do gorgeous work.
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I love it. I have to agree with what everyone has said so far. I would just like to add that the flag/banner looks awfully drab and out of place when compared to the bright blues and reds on the horse. I don't know if this is important to the story though so I don't know if it should be changed or not.
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Thankyou!
The flag is drab, but it was intentional, along with the way it's not really waving in the breeze, and is more limp. I wanted a lot of drabness, but used brighter colours on the horse because the main figures were being a bit lost. When I did colour studies, brighter colours on the flag drew all the attention to it.
I can definitely see what you mean, though, and might dull down the brighter colours a bit, so there's less of a contrast there. Thanks for the advice!
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Wow. I personally think it's awesome. The background could have been a bit more pastel for the character to stand out, but that's not an absolute necessity, there's somethign really nice about the old-style earthly tones you used. And the lineart is exquisite. Excellent face expression that makes this a not-so-straighforward pic!
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Thankyou so much!
You're right, and I'll see if I can lighten the background just a little (I love Photoshop). I really wanted a feel of the Golden Age paintings, which was pretty tricky for me, because I'm not, in any way, the world's best watercolourist! I'm glad you can see, and appreciate, my intention, therefor!
I had fun drawing his face - this character is nice to draw (lucky, because he's on practically every page!) and it was amusing to draw someone so doleful while wearing armour, not to mention a bit of a challenge.
Thanks ever so for your words! My poor illustrations never get much notice, which is a bit gloomy for them, so it's always nice to know if someone likes them!
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The fact this is done in watercolor is total win
I always like your illustrations but I seldom leave comments on any deviation anymore because I don't have the brainspace to say something meaningful
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I do wish someone had done a book entitled "how to paint like Arthur Rackham" though
That's understandable.
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i think he rocks! he has a reluctant Don Quixote look about him. Well done!
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Thankyou! That's what I was going for.
On the next page, the painter has turned what we see here into one of those dashing equestrian portraits, with rearing horse, flying banner, shining armour, etc etc, so I really wanted as big a contrast to that as possible. You've no idea how hard it is to draw a droopy pose in armour.
I'm so glad you like it, thanks a lot!
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