Here’s what the icon looks like after day one.
As you can see, not a great deal of painting actually done, but I did manage a great deal of useful research. For those empty puffy cloud bits around the border, I’m leaning towards either “holy” scenes from Baelor’s life, or the story of how the Faith came to Westeros with the Andals.
Between the first sketch and the end of day one, there were some changes. I shortened Baelor’s beard considerably, as he died at the age of 28. For inspiration, I’m drawing from some of the old icons of hermit saints, like St. Anthony; They seem appropriately gaunt for Baelor, who fasted to death. If the beard seems too dark to you, then I agree. Icons are usually painted from the darkest color up, so it will grow lighter with each layer.
The color palate:
- Lamp Black
- Indigo
- Synthetic Ultramarine (in place of Lapis)
- Terra Verde
- White
- Yellow Ochre
- Translucent Red
- Burnt Umber
As you can see, nothing too fancy, but some great, solid colors. I’ve done some basic color blocking in some areas, but am still debating which aspects of the Seven should correlate with which colors. It’s proving somewhat difficult to reconcile where I think they should go with keeping the colors in a rainbow order. Somehow, I shall prevail.
I’m also toying with the idea of finishing the icon with a very thin raised frame around the border. In the meantime, I’ve blocked it out with burnt umber.
So there you go! Check back in as I continue to update my progress, and as always, ideas and input are always welcome!
