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elegaer — La Belle Dame sans Merci

Published: 2005-08-27 21:50:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 8881; Favourites: 104; Downloads: 334
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Description OK. Here we go. The result of strenuous hours of angst.

The story behind it ...

The people in the pic are Cersei and Jaime Lannister from George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" books. John H's topic of the month is "The Dark Side" and when I was pondering idly what to draw for it, I kept coming back and back to the fact I didn't wnat to draw darkness and black and vampires and scary monsters. I just didn't. So I thought some more, and wondered if there was anything I could draw from GRRM. And Cersei suddenly sprung to mind. She's as dark as hell, but blindingly white and beautiful and princess-y at the same time. A sudden idea sprang into my head.

What about doing a light "Dark Side"? Show how not all evil comes from the obvious dark shadows, but can be hidden in pure light and beauty. Cos make no mistake, Cersei is evil. She kills, she's an expert poisoner, she commits adultery - and more than that, commits incest with her twin Jaime, with whom she has 3 children that she passes off as those of her husband. She drinks wine and sings songs while battle rages outside her protected pampered world at court. She's basically horrid.

And then the poem came to mind. La Belle Dame sans Merci ... how very very appropriate ...

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Comments: 69

SherryAmbrosia [2013-09-05 18:57:39 +0000 UTC]

Excellent!  You executed your vision beautifully.

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ArilianaFireQueen [2011-09-17 04:53:38 +0000 UTC]

Absolutely gorgeous. And you're right, that's our Queen Bitch to a T.

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PrincessAndDragon [2011-03-27 10:32:53 +0000 UTC]

Love it! Love it! Love it!
Cersei + La Belle Dame sans Merci.. what a wonderful couple, I had the same idea as you can see in my gallery (:

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SteveGarbage [2008-10-16 15:52:19 +0000 UTC]

"I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all"

If that doesn't describe Jaime, I don't know what would. An excellent tie in - my favorite poem too! Great work.

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elegaer In reply to SteveGarbage [2008-10-17 09:42:08 +0000 UTC]

Mine too, I love that poem immensely. And there is just something that speaks of Cersei and Jaime through it. I must do some more on this ...

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aibashi [2008-06-01 17:07:43 +0000 UTC]

Oh...
I simply love this one.

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elegaer In reply to aibashi [2008-06-06 16:55:20 +0000 UTC]

thank you cersei is a joy to draw!

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cabepfir [2008-04-07 21:41:27 +0000 UTC]

Art Nouveau suits Cersei as a glove. It was all about femmes fatales, so...

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Memnalar [2008-02-28 16:40:00 +0000 UTC]

Impressive mastery of detail!

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IgAndAug [2007-11-12 03:35:30 +0000 UTC]

love the muchaness

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SilverSpiderTM2 [2006-12-12 01:17:31 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful drawing. I agree Cersei is as evil as they come, but I rather like Jaime. He's one of the few characters that truly grows and develops in the series. I like that he's kneeling in the picture. It's representative of how he was always the submissive one in his relationship with Cersei. Again, wonderful job.

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katrover [2006-10-29 10:23:00 +0000 UTC]

Such a vile succubus, that Cersei. An interesting succubus, though, as she turns out in A Feast for Crows.

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lambdaDevice [2006-09-15 12:08:45 +0000 UTC]

Modern style! That's worth a fav...

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elegaer In reply to lambdaDevice [2006-09-15 16:34:48 +0000 UTC]

thank you

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schizochicken [2006-09-15 00:21:15 +0000 UTC]

Such beautiful line, colour and composition, just gorgeous!

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elegaer In reply to schizochicken [2006-09-15 16:38:46 +0000 UTC]

thank you *grins* I'm still proud of that one!

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cyrano82 [2006-09-06 13:33:33 +0000 UTC]

Wonderful, the uncolored version is beautiful too, but this has more verve
Well done

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arcanoide [2006-08-18 12:40:01 +0000 UTC]

i really love art nouveau and your work is amazing

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InTenebris [2006-07-06 18:53:31 +0000 UTC]

absolutely lovely! you have a magnificent and most interesting gallery!

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sassyeggs [2006-03-30 19:55:45 +0000 UTC]

i knew there was something about your gallery that i liked(besides the tolkien theme for some of them), and this made me realize what is it. it's very art nouveau-ish. and i LOVE that.

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elegaer In reply to sassyeggs [2006-03-30 21:26:00 +0000 UTC]

*grins* I loooooooove Art Nouveau, and as hard as I try to move away from it occasionally, it doesn't work. Everything always ends up with an Art Nouveau hint to it!

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sassyeggs In reply to elegaer [2006-03-30 21:31:01 +0000 UTC]

and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that

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LightningFlash [2005-10-24 08:59:32 +0000 UTC]

Poor Jaime. I like him so much. But at least he's learning . . . .

Beautiful artwork.

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elegaer In reply to LightningFlash [2005-10-25 15:18:42 +0000 UTC]

He is, isn't he? Poor Jaime. I started off really hating him, but now ... I'm just getting through AFfC now, Cersei development is very - interesting in there!

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LightningFlash In reply to elegaer [2005-10-26 00:37:51 +0000 UTC]

I finished it Monday night. There's a real 'Go Jaime!!!' moment at the end.

I need someone to discuss the book with, tell me when you're done. (Especially if you like Brienne. )

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elegaer In reply to LightningFlash [2005-10-26 00:52:00 +0000 UTC]

I will! I need someone to discuss it with too!

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LightningFlash In reply to elegaer [2005-10-26 10:37:24 +0000 UTC]

Oh, YAY!

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QuestingRaven [2005-09-15 15:47:41 +0000 UTC]

Beautifully illustrated

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elegaer In reply to QuestingRaven [2005-09-15 18:11:02 +0000 UTC]

Thank you Glad you like it

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Elenai [2005-09-13 11:03:55 +0000 UTC]

Ah, Keats, I'm very semtimental about this poem... Great idea with evil hidden behind fair. Beautiful colours. All in all, great job

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elegaer In reply to Elenai [2005-09-13 14:25:15 +0000 UTC]

Thank you :hugs:

Isn't Keats wonderful now I have a sudden urge to do a whole series of pics based around his poems ...!

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Elenai In reply to elegaer [2005-09-13 14:33:03 +0000 UTC]

Good idea I think they would perfectly fit your style - Lamia for examle...

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elegaer In reply to Elenai [2005-09-15 20:47:26 +0000 UTC]

Ooooooh Lamia! Now *thats* a good idea!

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Elenai In reply to elegaer [2005-09-15 20:49:16 +0000 UTC]

Glad to help you

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lilymaid7 [2005-09-12 05:12:09 +0000 UTC]

Very wonderfuly noveausy, and Keats makes me happy.

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elegaer In reply to lilymaid7 [2005-09-15 21:03:29 +0000 UTC]

*grins* yes - Keats makes me happy too ... he's wonderful!

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fuzzy-head [2005-09-09 16:59:51 +0000 UTC]

A very cool idea and concept for a Cersei picture!

You did a great job on the two of them (especially on this female monster ...the title fits totally)

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elegaer In reply to fuzzy-head [2005-09-15 21:30:52 +0000 UTC]

I love this idea of beauty being evil. That wickedness can lurk behind such beauty. The very first idea for this was a pic of Cersei in her tower during the battles of King's Landing - do you remember the paragraphs where it says she's standing there listening to the battle while drinking a glass of wine and wearing a beautiful dress of white? I still want to draw that exact scene ...

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LadyVoldemort99 In reply to elegaer [2006-04-08 20:37:00 +0000 UTC]

I'm a bit disgruntled. I like Cersei, I wouldn't say she's evil as such...a bit cunning maybe, ambitious, but then, aren't all Lannisters????

I never imagined her hair that curly...have you done any on Jaime???? Well, the front of his face, I'm hopeless and drawing men, I can only do women, because I design dresses and such. I'm off to search for aime pictures!!!!

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elegaer In reply to LadyVoldemort99 [2006-04-08 22:40:45 +0000 UTC]

No, I don't really imagine her with curly hair, it just fitted the pic

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LadyVoldemort99 In reply to elegaer [2006-04-09 00:52:18 +0000 UTC]

oh fair enough, i may join the thing you suggested. i love sansa too...

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Gold-Seven [2005-09-06 18:17:48 +0000 UTC]

I just admire your patience with patterns, and your sense of them! This is fantastic, it looks almost like one of Aubrey Beardsley's. I love art nouveau - my mother is a great fan of all art nouveau, and it was actually the first style of art I knew and could recognize I love the flowy lines and stilised figures here. And those borders are wonderful!

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enricap [2005-09-05 11:19:25 +0000 UTC]

Really, really, really beautiful.

It's just her feet I don't like much, it looks like she's sort of floating...

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elegaer In reply to enricap [2005-09-07 10:19:37 +0000 UTC]

Floating Cersei Um yeah, you're totally right. I kinda ran out of inspiration in that corner *blush*

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saiaii [2005-09-01 03:12:57 +0000 UTC]

oh wow this is just beautiful!

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elegaer In reply to saiaii [2005-09-25 21:23:55 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! Glad you like it

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rockisdeaddclxvi [2005-08-29 19:41:21 +0000 UTC]

that's quite lovely. i like the nouveau style.
dw

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BraveAnimal [2005-08-29 09:25:10 +0000 UTC]

lovely colours.. though if you don`t minde the critique... I would have done her dress a different hue (darker, maybe pink?) And would have the lilies a clear white with a darker heart..

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elegaer In reply to BraveAnimal [2005-08-29 10:11:28 +0000 UTC]

if it was up to me, I would have done completely different colours LOL. But I stuck to George Martin's character descriptions ... and Cersei wears white a lot ... (as does Jaime )

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BraveAnimal In reply to elegaer [2005-08-29 10:58:23 +0000 UTC]

In that case:

nothing said

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