As you can see, quite a change from yesterday. I’ve blocked in the colors for most of the large patches, and begun some of the detail work on Baelor himself. Usually, I’d do a great deal of the prep, like sketching and so forth, all at once. But Baelor just wanted to be painted. He will still need a good deal of work, especially in the robe department. His head is also about the size of a quarter, so getting just the right balance of benevolence and Targaryen crazy in those tiny violet eyes will be a challenge.
The surrounding star, and the colored clouds, are going to take quite a while. I’m planning for the seven points of the star to be filled with gilded stars depicting the seven sacred constellations. Each of the colored sections is going to have a figural representation of one of the Seven. But this is where I start to second guess some of the details. Color pairings:
- Stranger – Violet
- Crone – Indigo
- Warrior – Red
And those three are as they ought to be. I love having the Stranger at the bottom, flanked by the Warrior and the Crone, both of whom are sort of on death’s door. However, the rest are slightly more problematic. To me, the pairings should be:
- Father – Blue
- Mother – Green
- Maiden – Yellow
- Smith – Orange
But the layout I would prefer doesn’t match the color scheme. I’d love for the Father and Mother to be at the top, opposite the Stranger, as it were. I also like the idea of switching between male and female, like some absurd celestial dinner party. So the question is, do I go with the ideal color pairings, or just put everyone where I think they should go?
I also spun into a wild tangent yesterday, looking for the ideal pattern to use in that wide ring between Baelor and the star. I would like a mostly abstract pattern that I can paint to hint at dragon scales. I know what I’m imagining, but can’t quite find a good example, despite having gotten sucked into image searches of things like Knot Theory. The closest I can find is a brooch like one my grandmother used to have:
Does this have a specific name?
I remember having studio critiques when I felt much more confident explaining the looks of something that made sense rather than something I thought looked better; I’d follow your logic. I like the cosmic dinner party idea, with the obvious pairings and Stranger at “table’s head”. Otherwise, I’d probably expect to see them as they appear in the sept.
Phew. Good to have a vote one way or the other. Cheers!
Reblogged this on Food Through the Pages and commented:
A glimpse into one of my current side projects: a Westerosi Icon of Baelor the Blessed!