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akitku — The Magician
#mage #cold #crow #fantasy #ice #magic #magician #medieval #medivalfantasy #morrigan #norman #raven
Published: 2018-11-29 22:12:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 1521; Favourites: 105; Downloads: 0
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Ah, finally finished the first prize drawing for . This is his character, Ranulf FitzRufus, a talented mage and son of the Norman king William Rufus. I tried to make the drawing resemble the Magician tarot card but also keep it personalized to the character. Hope I managed!You can read Jez's winning entry here:
www.deviantart.com/jezmiller/g…
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Comments: 42
That blue makes such a beautiful accent against the neutral background. Love how the hair color echoes the color of the clothing.
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Thank you so much! I'm really happy you think so! I was really happy with the colorscheme this time so I'm glad to hear you like it too! 
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Wow, beautiful indeed, I love the ethereal blue of the foliage in the background matching the magic 'drop" and the almost vector-like shading of the planes of his face, hair and even the goblet - a wonderfully clear and clean-cut looking card, and the infinity symbol is lovely in its subtle glow
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Thank you!!! I've been having fun with these 'card' designs. It's quite a new approach for me but it's interesting! (and I get to practice shading much more).
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I think they're more fun as you can weave in symbolism too if you wanted
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The effect of details glowing out of semi darkness is very well handled and your rendering of shadows is first rate. I especially liked the vegetation (a la Wm. Morris!) used as a back drop, and the embroidered tree on his tunic. Some kind of alchemical Arbor Dianae ?
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Thank you! It was a new way of shading I tried out - trying to really get the planes of the face. But I had to use reference for that...
Ah, I was so pleased with the floral pattern on the bottom, I'm glad you think it looks good here!
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Not exactly an Arbor Dianae. It's a coat of arms, one that he chose himself (this was in the very early days of the concept, before the rules of heraldry became codified under Henry II). He selected an oak because his teacher was once a druid and much of Ranulf's magical "style" derives from druidic traditions
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My apologies! I can see that the world you have created is well thought out in all its particulars, even from this short comment; something I value above all things in a writer!
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Ohh he's really handsome! And the way you painted him is so neat! Nice colours and shading (((:
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Ah, I'm so glad to hear that!!
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Beautifully balanced - everything looks just right.
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You're truly welcome, friend.
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Wow this looks gorgeous!! He does indeed look magical with his eyes bright green like the magical symbol him, as if they were lit up by the same energy, while the blue patterns and the spell frame the lower part of the painting wonderfully. The shading on his face is beautiful - and so is he
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Ah, thank you so much!!! I'm glad he does! I like drawing mage characters! XD
I worked sooo hard on the shading of his face! I rarely shade that way...
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Ooh, it looks fantastic! Like those tarot card loading screens from DA:I.
His eyes just leap out at you, don’t they? Very striking.
Why does he have an infinity symbol over his head, is he immortal? The chalice piques my interest as well, it’s not something you usually see in a mage/sorcery setting. I also really love the lighting off of his spell, it casts a really cool effect over the whole piece.
This is stunning work! Brava!
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He does have very striking green eyes. I mentioned them in the story and Akitku did a beautiful job with them
His red hair is partly due to red hair being associated with witchcraft and partly due to his being the son of King William II, called William Rufus, the Red King. (That was supposedly due to a ruddy complexion rather than his hair, which was fair, but I took a few liberties with history).
The chalice was Akitku's idea, but it was inspired. There is a theory (not, to put it delicately, widely accepted in academic circles), that William Rufus was involved with surviving pagan witch cults. I used that for Ranulf's background. He grew up leading a double life as a witch and a Christian Norman nobleman, and the chalice, with its associations with the Holy Grail, has both pagan and Christian interpretations.
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It's fantastic, I've seen chalices on all sorts of oil paintings from the era, but had no idea there was a pagan connection as well. Nice!
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I LOVED the cards in DA:I (and the game in general - probably my favorite game ever actually). So that's really flattering to hear! Thank you!
Ah, the infinity symbol is a great fit because it is a typical feature of the Magician Tarot Card. But that said, the character IS immortal! So it connects nicely!
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No sweat!
I liked the story of DA:I a lot myself: though the armour and weapons made me cringe. It's no DA
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Cool!
Were there portraits of William Rufus that you could base this on?
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Thank you!
Well there is a medieval portrait of William Rufus if I remember correctly, drawn by Matthew Paris. But I don't think medieval portraits actually bear any resemblance to how the people really looked. Medieval art just...didn't work that way I think; from what I understand it was symbolic rather than accurate...the red hair is assumed from his agnomen, Rufus...
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I think that it was around the reign of Richard II that we started to get actual portraits of English Kings in the modern sense of the word. Before that it was just "picture of some random guy wearing a crown to show who he is".
I wouldn't trust Matthew Paris anyway. "One of the most vicious, spiteful, untrustworthy people who you could hope to meet outside a church, let alone inside one", my old history teacher told me once, "but tremendous fun to read".
There's some question about what "Rufus" referred to. It's believed to describe his florid complexion rather than his hair, which was supposedly fair. But if you can't take a few liberties with historical accuracy in a world where the Hospitaller Order harbored vampires, when _can_ you take them? 
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heh, yeah Matthew Paris isn't really very trustworthy, is he? And yeah, I know what you mean, the nice thing about historical fantasy is that you can do a bit of interpreting like that. And it's just fun!
The only Selethryth I know of is the 7th century abbess...a relative?
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She _was_ named for an abbess named Selethryth, but this one was late eighth / early ninth century, not seventh. She was the Abbess of Lyminge.
Ranulf's mother was a Saxon aristocrat whose family held lands in Kent, and claimed descent from Abbess Selethryth and her brother King Aldberht - probably with _some_ degree of truth, although she was a very distant relative at best. Her father died at Hastings and she found herself married off to one of King William I's Norman knights. The knight was a brutal thug who began their marriage believing that he'd beat her into submission and take possession of her father's lands. His confidence shattered along with every bone in his hand the first time he tried to hit her.
She was able to bear Prince William's bastard quite openly; her husband was far too terrified of the King (not to mention her) to voice any objection. The King, to be blunt, was delighted to have visible proof that his son wasn't gay, and Ranulf and his mother both enjoyed fairly high profiles (and status) at court. As the story hinted, Ranulf has since devoted a lot of effort to editing himself out of history, having discovered the drawbacks of notoriety.
Selethryth couldn't become immortal in the same way that Ranulf could - that spell required the sacrifice of an anointed King to enact - and she had no wish to become a vampire, so she died peacefully in her sleep at the age of about 120 (she'd used her magic to slow her aging and maintain her good health). Her final years were spent as a nun in Romsey Abbey, where she worked as a herbalist.
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Medieval "portraits" (including Byzantine ones) are generally iconographic rather than actual likenesses, which is why I wondered. This picture does have a wonderfully authentic look.
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Digital coloring keeps getting better and better! I also really like the way the halo looks! Well done!
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Thank you! Glad to hear that! I was sort of feeling I'm learning with every one of these 'card' pieces...
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Oh wow this is great! i love the colours. And he's a handsome guy. Just like i imagined him when I read the story! XD
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So glad he looks like you imagined him! I hope agrees!!! 
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Oh, he looks beautiful! You've really captured his essence, his personality. And the colors and lighting are amazing. It's a lovely piece. I shall have it in my mind's eye when I write about him, now. Thank you!
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So glad you like him! I do hope I got everything right - I was trying to give his magic this icy feel, as you explained in your note. And I thought it would be cool to repeat the tree motiff from his tunic...
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Oh, you got everything absolutely perfect! The icy effect of his magic is beautiful.
The oak motif is his chosen coat of arms. He selected it himself, because his teacher, like Matt's, was a druid (although not the same one as Matt's teacher). So having it run through the picture as a theme was ideal.
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Wow, I like this a lot! It makes me want to see more tarot cards in your style! It's so interesting seeing your style digital. I really like how you did his face shape here.
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Ah thank you so much! Well I've made a number of tarot-styled cards, but this one is the first which actually draws directly from a specific Tarot card.
Thank you! I was pretty happy with his face, if I do say so myself!
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