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Okay so here's a thing that I still struggle to pull off in my drawings: getting across how tall Ireland is. I've been getting better at it but there are times where I just get frustrated with myself when I try to draw the different heights of my OCs.

Originally I decided that Ireland would be very tall. Around 202cm (6'6'' feet). After a while, I decided that I was being a bit cruel so I knocked a few cms off, bringing Ireland's height down to about 194cm. Whatever the case, he's still pretty tall. Taller than the national average. How come?

Well I have a few justifications. My first justification is based on the comments from Roman writers about how the Celts in Great Britain were really tall. Although the Romans never said anything about the height of Celts from Ireland (not that I’m aware of), in general the Romans regarded Celts as tall people. I felt that it wouldn’t be incorrect to expect that a lot of tall people were in Ireland as well. It comes from the idea that back then, most of Ireland’s and Great Britain’s population shared similar genetics.
Leading into my next justification, I feel that a good number of Irish people are genetically predisposed to becoming tall? Well that’s not visible from the national average of the heights of the Irish and upon being in Ireland, you wouldn’t feel like you’re surrounded by a lot of tall people. However from my own experience, I feel that almost every tall person I’ve met are either Irish or have an Irish ancestry. Within my own extended family, a lot of my Irish relatives are very tall. (and I have the resentment that I remained rather short while my younger sister shot up and towers over me now)
My final justification is based on Ireland’s mythology. Often enough, allusions to giants living on an island have been made in relation to Ireland… heck the two mythical invaders Formorians and Tuatha Dé Danann are typically described as giants. (though perhaps cyclops is more accurate to the Formorians as most of them seem to have been one-eyed, as well as one-armed and one-legged) Formorians were significant in Ireland’s mythology as they were the first to divide Ireland into the traditional 5 provinces (which is today only 4 because the 5th collapsed centuries ago) and introduced agriculture to the lands. The Tuatha Dé Danann are often called gods and goddesses and are seen as a possible reflection of the pagan religion the Celts had before Christianity arrived to Ireland. According to tradition, many of Ireland’s mythical creatures are seen to be descendants from the Tuatha Dé Danann. The hero Fionn Mac Cumhaill was a giant in some stories as well. ^^ (Fionn also built the Giant’s Causeway to go to Scotland to fight a giant who lived there)
Well those are my justifications, from Classical accounts of Britons and using genetic similarity to assume that some Irish were tall as well, to my own experience with tall people and to Irish mythology. Ireland is not a nation of tall people, however there seems to be a legacy of tallness in his mythology and in many Irish families. (I’m mainly referring to taller-than-average people, I want to clearly separate them from the famous “Irish giants” who have a particular gene that causes excessive over-growth and leads to health problems)
So yeah, Ireland would obviously stand out from the crowd because of his height but I just love the idea of him being a tall nation. I'm trying my best to make the difference in height more apparent when I draw him next to other characters, I still have some ways to go but I think I'm on the right track.

Description
Okay so here's a thing that I still struggle to pull off in my drawings: getting across how tall Ireland is. I've been getting better at it but there are times where I just get frustrated with myself when I try to draw the different heights of my OCs.

Originally I decided that Ireland would be very tall. Around 202cm (6'6'' feet). After a while, I decided that I was being a bit cruel so I knocked a few cms off, bringing Ireland's height down to about 194cm. Whatever the case, he's still pretty tall. Taller than the national average. How come?

Well I have a few justifications. My first justification is based on the comments from Roman writers about how the Celts in Great Britain were really tall. Although the Romans never said anything about the height of Celts from Ireland (not that I’m aware of), in general the Romans regarded Celts as tall people. I felt that it wouldn’t be incorrect to expect that a lot of tall people were in Ireland as well. It comes from the idea that back then, most of Ireland’s and Great Britain’s population shared similar genetics.
Leading into my next justification, I feel that a good number of Irish people are genetically predisposed to becoming tall? Well that’s not visible from the national average of the heights of the Irish and upon being in Ireland, you wouldn’t feel like you’re surrounded by a lot of tall people. However from my own experience, I feel that almost every tall person I’ve met are either Irish or have an Irish ancestry. Within my own extended family, a lot of my Irish relatives are very tall. (and I have the resentment that I remained rather short while my younger sister shot up and towers over me now)
My final justification is based on Ireland’s mythology. Often enough, allusions to giants living on an island have been made in relation to Ireland… heck the two mythical invaders Formorians and Tuatha Dé Danann are typically described as giants. (though perhaps cyclops is more accurate to the Formorians as most of them seem to have been one-eyed, as well as one-armed and one-legged) Formorians were significant in Ireland’s mythology as they were the first to divide Ireland into the traditional 5 provinces (which is today only 4 because the 5th collapsed centuries ago) and introduced agriculture to the lands. The Tuatha Dé Danann are often called gods and goddesses and are seen as a possible reflection of the pagan religion the Celts had before Christianity arrived to Ireland. According to tradition, many of Ireland’s mythical creatures are seen to be descendants from the Tuatha Dé Danann. The hero Fionn Mac Cumhaill was a giant in some stories as well. ^^ (Fionn also built the Giant’s Causeway to go to Scotland to fight a giant who lived there)
Well those are my justifications, from Classical accounts of Britons and using genetic similarity to assume that some Irish were tall as well, to my own experience with tall people and to Irish mythology. Ireland is not a nation of tall people, however there seems to be a legacy of tallness in his mythology and in many Irish families. (I’m mainly referring to taller-than-average people, I want to clearly separate them from the famous “Irish giants” who have a particular gene that causes excessive over-growth and leads to health problems)
So yeah, Ireland would obviously stand out from the crowd because of his height but I just love the idea of him being a tall nation. I'm trying my best to make the difference in height more apparent when I draw him next to other characters, I still have some ways to go but I think I'm on the right track.