Helen Fanart.

[izilen]

Hey everyone! I'm a relatively new fan of Queen's Thief, and about a week ago I reread A Conspiracy of Kings and was yet again awash in feelings. So of course I've drawn some fanart.

I have been reading a lot lately about the representation of female rulers' power and the imagery associated with it. I was looking at some manuscript illuminations of medieval queens when I was suddenly struck with the inspiration to draw Helen in that style. Helen Eddis is my favourite character of the Queen's Thief series, and part of that is because of the way she firmly wields her power, but not without kindness and warmth. So here it is, under the cut, a fake manuscript illustration of Helen, Queen of Eddis, heavily inspired by byzantine & medieval art.




Originally posted on Tumblr here.

The text reads ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΝΤΙΣ, or Queen of Eddis in (Modern) Greek.

I have also drawn a Helen/Sophos sketch, which is here, should anyone be interested!

Comments

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Love it! Followed you on Tumblr. This fandom needs moar fanart!

[izilen]

Thank you! Glad to hear you liked it.

I agree, there really needs to be more.There has been a little more fanart lately (see minuiko@Tumblr's excellent character sketches), but I would really love to see more finished pieces, and particularly more fanart that goes a little bit beyond Gen and Attolia (not that I don't adore them, too!).

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! I love it.

Isn't art history fun?!! :D

And I adore your Helen/Sophos picture. It reminds me of a linocut and it's beautiful. :)

I will follow you on tumblr!

I was actually looking for art of Helen the other day, because I called my QT tumblr after her (well I say mine. Anyone is welcome to run it with me!). It would be awesome to have an icon of her, but I haven't seen any Helen icons (there's no official art of her!). I was thinking maybe I could try and make one out of someone's fanart (with their permission and credit obviously). If you'd be ok with me using your art, let me know!

There's some lovely fanart on the deviantart QT community, too, if you haven't checked that out yet.

[izilen]

Art history, like all forms of history, is REALLY FUN TO ME.

Thank you for the follow, but certainly don't feel obligated. I know I post a lot of very different fanart on my artblog.

Ahh, what is your QT Tumblr? I would be interested in checking that out. Feel free to icon my art and use it with credit (or without credit, tho credit is nicer)! I'm glad you think it's nice enough to use on an icon. =D

I have seen some of them, but alas my thirst for fanart is endless: I want MORE.

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Yay, thank you! :) This will be fun. I will just have to figure out how to icon things now. :P I got a version 6 copy of Photoshop, perhaps it's time to give that a try... Or just crop in iphoto. Eh....

It is http://heleneddis.tumblr.com/. I think someone put a link on the side of the Sounis main page too? It's somewhat inconsistent because I get busy/lazy/post little original content/whatever. I am "hazelwillow" on tumblr too (for my personal page).

Yes for history. It's great being able to explain all the sexual jokes in a triptych of the annunciation.... Makes a trip to the Met that much more entertaining!

eta: you will see one of yours on their already actually. I tend to reblog things in the QT tags.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Oh, very, very nice, both of them, in their very different styles.

[izilen]

Thank you very much. :)

[deirdrej.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous -- and the Helen Sophos drawing is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!! (I had to say it 3 times, with 3 exclamation points)

Helen and Sophos looks rather like a woodcut -- is it a linocut, perhaps? Or do you just draw so cleverly that it looks that way?

I love it!

[izilen]

Oh, thank you very much!!!! You're making me blush.

Nah, it's just digitally drawn in Photoshop – I hadn't thought it looked like a linocut, but that's a quite flattering comparison, I think. If it looks like that it's because sometimes I like, because it's quicker and easier, to draw and shade with only two tones. It's good to hear that it pleases. :)

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Hello there, and welcome!! Wow, this is great...I'm taking an Art History class this semester and I can just see turning a page in my textbook and seeing this along with the other illuminations we've been studying!!

Thanks for sharing! :)

[izilen]

Aww, that's a huge compliment! Thank you!!! I wasn't going for perfect accuracy (I'm too fond of shading, and of hands to go for an authentically medieval style), but I'm glad to hear the spirit is there.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice! I do love the colors in the Helen picture. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to making art with a computer--how do you do the shading?

[izilen]

Thanks! I don't know why but I have always felt like dark reds and greens would suit Eddis.

Ahh, that's a bit hard to explain. In Photoshop, which is the program I use, you use a slide to pick colours. You can set it up different ways, but the way I have it, there's three options: one for hue (which is the colour), one for saturation (which is basically how vivid it is), and one for lighting. I choose my base colours, and then, from those, I choose variations: like a more yellow shade of red for the highlights on the skirt, or a darker purple for the shadows of the cloak, and apply these with the same brush tool I use for the colouring itself. You can also adjust the transparency of the brush tool, so that when you apply a colour it doesn't cover the colour beneath wholly. That is basically it! Hope that helps.

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, this is so cute!! I love the bright complementary colours and the shadings and the style and the design and the details... I could go on!! I particularly love the Greek text ^__^ Thank you for sharing this. We love fanworks here!

[izilen]

Oh, thank you so much for your comment!! I really appreciate it. I can't take credit for the Greek, though; I got a Greek friend of mine to translate and transcribe it for me.