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Degare — There Was A Crooked Man
Published: 2010-05-22 12:09:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 1787; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 81
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Description
Yet another character portrait to go with my Celtic story. Sorry. It's all I'm inspired by at the moment. But it's getting me to exercise my styles. I think I've got the hang of digital painting now - I love putting loads of different colours into the flesh-tones. You wouldn't think there were so many! (Though I may have gone overboard with the grey here - it was supposed to be that shadow of stubble older men have because I couldn't actually paint stubble ... makes him look a bit pasty.)
Anway, this is an overhaul of Lledrith's appearance. Mainly because his image wasn't sitting well. His face was fine but it was the hair that bugged me - and that was mainly because after drawing it a few times, I couldn't get to grips with the style. I mean, really, did I want him to look like Lucius Malfoy's darker cousin? (What's the opposite of an albino?)
Every time I attempted the long hair, I was left with a sense of looking at a man in a wig.
Some kind of reject punk rocker. So I hacked it off. I spiked it a litte, too, to give him a bit of a manic/rough-and-ready appearance ... which I suppose was influenced by watching Sherlock Holmes. I like that tortured-genius look. Other than that, the purple coat has gone. This is simply because I wanted to take Lledrith's colour scheme from the Magpie bird - blues and greens. He's a collector (of people) and a preening, crafty kind of man/god.
But I spent a lot of time on the face this time, because it was an up-close and personal portrait. Hope it's OK because my hand aches.
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Comments: 18
Lledrith is my favourite character if he is still the character type that you were going for, a sort of Loki figure? The colouring is superb but what I really love is his expression. Very cheeky!
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Yes, Lledrith is still the character you knew and loved. 
And he's a very cheeky guy, so the crooked smile is perfect. I tend to always draw him with a half-smile.
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I was thinking that myself, actually, after I cut his hair off. Maybe it's the crooked smile
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Omgawsh this is awesome!! And he did remind me of Sherlock Holmes X'D GAWSH I WANNA SEE THAT MOVIE @@
ANYWAY It does look like stubble, dont be so worrysome He looks very realistic and awesome and I love the textures of the clothes too :3
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Thanks 
And you should definitely see Sherlock Holmes. I hate how people keep dissing the recent film by saying "it's not true to the books" when what they really mean is that it's not true to the TV series where Holmes wore a flaming deerstalker! That was never in the book! 
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It wouldnt have had the same effect if you had, it looks great how it is! XDD He would have looked like a transvestite O_O Ahhh I dunno how mens mouths are different, everyone has different mouths, there isnt really a "manly" mouth in my eyes :/
I may go onto lovefilms.com and get a free trial just so i can borrow sherlock holmes on DVD XD I never read the books D: I really should, but I draw to much and ....actually all i really do is draw, it's a shame O_O Though I have reached a breakthrough with my drawing style so Im happy anyway XD
OMG YAY I LOVE TORTURED GENIUS ;W; slow beat ups are what make the world *of movies* go round
YEAH I REALLY SHOULD READ THE BOOK THEN O[]O
by the way, what is your celtic story going to be? Are you writing it or is it some uber-artistic form of a graphic novel? @@ Im confused XD
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True. Men's mouth aren't different (apart from the lack of lipstick 
Ahem. Yes, the story. Sorry, I sometimes forget that people don't know what I'm talking about. It's a novel - or series of - not a graphic novel. I just like drawing the characters for my own amusement. But I forget to explain it all 
It's about a boy called Evan who finds out his ancestor visited the Celtic Otherworld and "stole" a flower, then went mad. This caused the doors to close for good - incidentally trapping Lledrith in the mortal world.(This flower-theft idea is actually based on a traditional Welsh legend.)
The flower is kept inside a pocketwatch - which Evan inherits. So it acts as a kind of key to open the doors. Lledrith swoops on the chance to return home - but what neither of them realise is that there was a reason the flower was "stolen". If a door closes one way, it closes another. So ask yourself whether the doors were closed to keep people out, or to keep something in ...
Pause for dramatic effect.
So without revealing anything else, I'll just say that the major "bad guy" is a semi-god called Esus. Again, like the Flower legend, Esus is based in fact - or at least known myth. I'm just giving him my own spin. There's always been questions surrounding him because he only appears in ONE carving and is depicted as a mortal man. Check him out here: [link]
Doran is the only druid in the Otherworld - but I can't say why. (It's to do with Anglesey and the Roman massacre and something they did which they shouldn't have ... like making a deal with the devil.)
Oh, and if you didn't know, Lledrith is a god. Without his powers. He was banished for doing something incredibly ... bad. He's a god of magic - an off-shoot of the god Cernunnos. In my world, some Celtic gods are split into their three aspects. Humans can't seem to handle believing in a god that can be many different things at once. They have to give them "split personalities". Just look at how similar the Welsh and Irish pantheon are (eg): Llyr and Lir.
I can't say much more without giving out all the plot twists and revelations. The whole premise is about finding out the truth about the flower thief, Esus' origins, Lledrith's past, and the missing druids. It's complicated and will take up several books and probably never get anywhere!
Hope that helped
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Maybe it's you paranoia and attention to detail? Well, I suppose thats why you make amazing art so don't you go changing
Woah that sounds awesome! If and when you get it published, tell me the title and I'll buy it
Helped alot yes, good point it, you can design your own book covers YAY
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Aww, cheers.
I'm always quietly hopeful about getting my stories published. What writer isn't. But I'm nothing if not pragmatic. I've got a terrible sense of realism. At the moment it's far from ready to be read by anyone yet. I'm still collating all the notes and excerpts in my 13+ notebooks! But it's coming together ...
Actually, I never thought about the book covers! Daft, I know. I guess: [link] would be good for the first book because it's all about the watch and how Evan meets Lledrith.
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I think all artists are self-critical, the more self-critical you are, the better your work is. As the ones who just think "Meh, thats good enough" dont make very great pieces usually ^^" Except with me, If I am actually happy with a piece, noone ever looks at it or comments on it unless its fanart =_="
Well there are alot of classic novels that got rejected SO MANY TIMES before getting published, so don't ever give up! It's just a case of finding the right publisher OwO although a smaller publisher is better, as they will give your novel more time love and attention than a huge company, and you'll get more of the profit :3 YAY when it is ready to read, I'll proff-read it for you if you want? Owo I'd love to help ^^
You could indeed :3 ALL YOUR RANDOM AWESOME DRAWINGS FOR IT CAN PAY OFF 8DD
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I still get that. The artwork I upload that I think is really worth something hardly ever gets notice. But then whats special to me isn't always important to others. They don't know the work that goes into it - or the deeper meaning claptrap. People just like what they see. And that's all art really is
Believe me, I'm way off from even looking for publishers yet! I may be starting to compile everything together, but the notebooks are still going strong. And I keep changing my mind over parts of the plots - and the characters themselves.
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Hmmm I think that art is best when you not only think it looks good, but when it also makes you feel something :3 Thats why I like your art, it always has feeling put in it
Yeahhh its hard to stick to one thing XD
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Aww, cheers 
I do try to put a lot of feeling into my art - even if it is only frustration
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no problem
XDD frustration is one of the most passionate emotions >.D yeah that makes sense :3
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