#salamanderreplies

[icesalamander]

been rereading silm, loving how you draw some elves as darker-skinned. which lineages do you differentiate the colouring of?

Thank you :D Words are failing me today but here are these sketchy family trees. The little circles represent the eye colour… close up is under the cut :)

[icesalamander]

Please more of Jaime x Ned

My hands are full of requests at the moment, but maybe you will like these old sketches I’ve never posted :)

[icesalamander]

Torn between naming genderbent Robb Alys after Alysanne Blackwood or Cass after Cassana Estermont.

Oh Anon, I’m sorry for only answering now but trust me I was thinking about this ask in the middle of exams...

I would go with Cass after Cassana Estermont. It parallels nicely with Robb being named after Robert, which is my personal headcanon. Either Ned told Catelyn he would prefer the child being named after Robert or Cat made the decision based on their friendship, and it was also a political statement in support of Robert’s Rebellion overall. Point is naming a girl after Robert’s mother, Cassana, is logical for the same reasons, which is probably why you considered it 👍

Alysanne Blackwood is also a good idea, it would follow the naming conventions of Sansa and Arya, they were both named after historical Starks. The only thing is that Alysanne isn’t related to the current Starks who are descended from Cregan's third wife, Lynara. Although that didn’t stop them in the case of the name for Sansa.

Honestly, I personally think if Robb is the firstborn girl he might just have been named Sansa? Just like if Sansa were the firstborn son Robb would be the most logical name. But that would make it incredibly confusing for everyone so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[icesalamander]

Happy International Fanworks Day! Just want to let you know how much I love your work! <3

Thank you and Happy International Fanworks Day! Please take this little Maedhros sketch :D

[icesalamander]

How do you select your colours? Sorry if you’ve been asked this before, I just love your palettes!!!

Thank you! Disclaimer: there are lots of great materials to study colour theory, and I’m no way an expert or particularly well informed in this field. But my basic colour picking method goes like this:

I still have a lot to improve on the way I use contrast but basically as long as in black and white mode you can still easily see what’s going on, you are more or less good.

Other random advice:

I try to limit the amount of main hues in my pictures

also try to limit the amount of highly saturated colours

make sure that the darkest colours still have some contrast with the black lineart

Alternatively if I don’t use lineart I prefer to have a higher contrast than usual

I also rarely use plain black or grey in my drawings (not including lineart). I prefer slightly colour-tinted greys, it’s something I picked up from painting traditionaly

I also like to check the colours both on my phone & computer screen before I post them, sometimes it can be helpful to notice mistakes.

Of course it all depends on your own ideas and taste, you can do the exact opposite of this and still have amazing colours. This is just how I like to do it. When I draw traditionally I completely go with my instincts, which is also a valid method ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[icesalamander]

Hello, I love your beautiful art, and designs of Tolkien's characters. I'd like to ask what was the inspiration for design of the hobbits, if there is any. Thank you.

Thank you! Here's my design for the hobbits, just so its easier to follow what I'm talking about:

The overall silhouette was inspired by a certain type of traditional Hungarian costumes with the wide sleeves and pants + the vest. It’s worn by hobbits of all gender though.

The colours are the ones hobbits canonically preferred, green and yellow. The pattern is also somewhat inspired by Hungarian embroidery, but I just think hobbits would have liked patterns with flowers and plants.

The mushroom hats are there just because hobbits love mushrooms and they fit the more fairytale-like mood of my Tolkien art. I’m thinking about making the hats as indicators of the certain hobbit families, but I still have to develop that idea some more.

[icesalamander]

JESUS????

Only the way it's written in The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov :D Pilate has a huge and confusing crush on the accused, angst, even more angst, and in the afterlife they are having long walks in the moonlight together for eternity...

[icesalamander]

What are the names of the 5 kids Lady Ned and Robert have?

Well I can offer you this old line-up: