Gratua's Art

Illustrator / Storyteller

[gratuacuunart]

Never stop painting!

I've been wanting to do the Draw it again challenge for a while now. Left: 2017, Photoshop, 8 hours Right: 2025, ProCreate, 1.5 Hours Practice makes all the difference. Sometimes, all you need is to compare and see how far you've come! Never stop painting, everyone can be a great artist! Happy holidays and see you all in 2026!

[gratuacuunart]

Mature - M/M - Erestor/Glorfindel - Erestor - Glorfindel - 9867 words

Glorfindel doesn't like wearing a shirt and Erestor is very bothered by it!

Author: quothhh READ THE STORY

Artist: gratuatuunart REBLOG THE ART

[gratuacuunart]

"The Seven gathered again" for TRSB 2025

Inspired by the passage:

[...] but now hearing of the renewal of Doriath and of Dior's pride the seven gathered again from wandering, and they sent to him to claim their own. – The Silmarillion, Chapter 22, Of the Ruin of Doriath

This moment always hits me hard. It's the last time they meet, and it just gives me feels!

All of that and more is captured in the story to all things housed in silence by queerofthedagger! The depth of the story was so inspiring for me! Go read it!

To the process:

For this one, I mainly focused on color palette, design, and most importantly, the composition.

They're one family, so I imagine they all come in their family colors. However, a sea of red would look boring. Luckily, the family also wears a lot of gold! Mixing some green into it, we now have at least three colors we can use.

For the design, I wanted to play into their personalities: Maedhros always prepared for battle, Caranthir with extra jewels since he's rich, and the twins being hunters, wearing more simple and practical clothing.

And then there's composition. I wanted to make sure there's still a lot going on and the tension is high, with just them sitting around a table, talking.

Once all of this was decided, it's just painstakingly rendering all of it. :)

[gratuacuunart]

"Put a shirt on!" for TRSB 2025

Glorfinde's continued state of undress is becoming difficult to deal with for Erestor. Who can blame him?

Read here!!!

This years TRSB has been a blast! The collab with quothhh was absolutely wonderful! They're the best partner I could have wished for! The tone of their writing is exactly what I had imagined! Our talks were always filled with joy and laughter! (Okay, mostly squeaking on my part about their writing!)

I can't wait to read the whole thing! Go and read it here! (link coming soon)

Here more to the art process: I've wanted to draw Glorf shirtless basically every day. Because why not?

This one mostly focuses on composition and lighting, keeping the details simple. Their body language is more important to me than design this time.

Once I had the outline, it was just carefully shading and rendering everything.

[gratuacuunart]

Ah, it's been a while! I recently finished the entire "Legend of Drizzt" series and immediately fell in love with all the drow. (And perhaps a certain human assassin.) So here's the first of a potential series? Maybe? Did some sketches, a bunch of WIPs. Kimmuriel is the first one to be finished. Enjoy. XD Titel: Farewell, my friends.

[gratuacuunart]

New DnD Character. It's been a while since I posted, I'm so sorry. RL had be really hectic. But now I'm passionate about a new project. So I'm here to dump some random art I did before starting with something fresh. XD

[gratuacuunart]

The grandchildren of Finwe and Nerdanel. 100+ hours over 8 months. It was so worthi it. Can you name them all? (no looking at tags. :-P) Edit: I forgot a comma and I think a lot of people are confused. (Me included.) It's supposed to be: The Grandchildren of Finwe. And Nerdanel. I'm so sorry. XD

[gratuacuunart]

I DID IT!!!! After almost a year, I finished the entire generation! May I present: King Finrod Felagund, fairest and most beloved of the house of finwë. I can't believe I actually did it! It was so fun, but also so much pressure! To get them right, to make them pretty and realistic. And I'm so grateful. I think I've gotten better in the process and now I want to go back to polish some of the others. On my list of polish are: Celegorm, Amrod or Amrass (I can't tell), Argon and some of Turgon's hair. Thank you so much guys for your likes! I really couldn've done this without you all!

[gratuacuunart]

TRSB ART 2022: Legacy of Fire

my second contribution to @tolkienrsb 2022. Wheeling stars below to be revealed on Saturday on AO3.

Story: In the hall of Mandos, Feanor and Fingolfin bond with the loss of their children.

It was an absolute joy to work with @ettelene who was the best author an artist could hope for. <3 The collaboration was always filled with positive and creative energy that I couldn't believe I had such luck working with her! Her story has BLOWN ME AWAY even before it was finished. The attention to detail, the clever use of subtlety and her understanding of these characters all lead to this heart-wrenching story that had driven me to tears many times. <3 <3 <3

Go read it! (once it's live. :-P ) Thank you all so much!

[gratuacuunart]

TRSB2022 ART

Finally, the first piece of my contribution to TRSB2022!!! @tolkienrsb

It was so fun and wonderful to work with my author @secretlythranduil who wrote this beautiful story! I am humbled that my art inspired this and grateful for the collaboration! <3

The melancholy story about Glorfindel and Erestor will be revealed this weekend on AO3. Stay tuned. *wink*

ARTWORK: Something Missing

[gratuacuunart]

I know you're still hard at work on your art, I just wanted to say how very much I am looking forward to seeing it when it's finally done and posted <3

Thank you so much! I'm sorry it has been taking so long. RL has been very busy. But Finrod is coming soon, I promise. XD

[gratuacuunart]

Galadriel, Lady of light.

(now I think everyone can guess who's next. :-P)

[gratuacuunart]

I'd love to see some more female elves ( esp Luthien, I'm a stan) Maybe you could even do a Valar portrait series? How much time does it take to do one drawing? How did you learn to draw? Your art style is great for Tolkien! Can't wait to see more, you're bookmarked!

haha, I absolutely plan on drawing "more" females. Like Idril and Findulias. (It just so happens that this generation has more sons than daughters. :-P Mainly bc of Feanor.) It usually takes around 10h including all the prep for one portrait. Thank you so much for liking it! <3

[gratuacuunart]

is there any way I can support you like kofi or patreon? because I love your art, it brings me so much joy.

Sorry for the late reply. I don't have any of those (yet). I've been thinking about it, perhaps setting up a print shop. Haven't really tried to gauge how much interest there is. Thank you so much for liking them. It brings me joy to draw them and see that people enjoy them. <3

[gratuacuunart]

Your art is breathtaking! I also think you're one of the rare artists in the fandom who draws elves the most accurate, there's described little difference between male and female elves and you draw it so well. Do you use references or draw from your own head? Are there any characters you're particularly excited to draw? Which Tolkien stories did you enjoy the most? Are you in any other fandoms? Can't wait to see more!

Thank you so much! *humble bow* I do use references, mostly for lighting and some details. And I change them according to the image that's in my head, making them feel like how I interpret them. I am SUPER excited to draw Finrod (coming soon) and then the big three. Feanor, Fingolfin and Finarfin. And some others, like Glorfindel, Echthelion and Rog. You know, the classics. The Fall of Gondolin must be my favorite story. Closely followed by everything about Feanor. I'm currently not very active in other fandoms. Just playing some ttrpg in smaller communitites. Thank you so much for liking my art! <3

[gratuacuunart]

Aegnor, Lord of Dorthonion

[gratuacuunart]

Angrod, Lord of Dorthonion

Ah.... finally got to the Arafinwean! I was really looking forward to draw blond hair. <3