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Isric · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2000 4:17 pm

My take on Morgoth (or Melkor as he was known). I cannot for the lofe of me get the light correct.

For those of you who can help and haven't read the Silmarillion, those jewels in his crown are the Silmarils. They give off an incredible light.

I need to represent this but still be able to understand how dark and scary he is.
Can someone help?

Nex · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2000 4:39 pm

I think morgoth should have an aura of dark tentrils or something..
he looks a bit too "normal" here.. maybe because I do not imagine the mightiest evil in the history of middle earth as having a normal human/elf face...

maybe you should choose a body shot where the head in in shadow..

don't know.. just had to reply because I really dig the books.

[This message has been edited by Nex (edited October 31, 2000).]

sacrelicious · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2000 4:47 pm

Blatantly stealing Nex's idea, maybe his head could be in shadow and all you see are the Silmarils and glowing red eyes. Or he could be holding the crown in his hand and the jewels are the main light source; the light that they cast is intense but fades by the time it reaches his head, letting a darker, secondary light illuminate his face. I know the red eyes would be a tad cliche, but hey, nothing says "evil" like glowing red eyes. Continue!

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mmm... sacrelicious

waylon · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2000 4:48 pm

If the silmarils are incredibly bright, they WILL be lighting up the rest of the image, no matter how dark and spooky Morgoth is. As it stands, there's way too much contrast between the gems and his face...

You've already got some pretty neat lighting goin on with his face. What you could try doing is brightening the highlight along his right side (our left.) You could make a bright blue highlight, like moonlight, and it would probably make him even spookier while offsetting the silmarils.

Oh, and you could probably also tie the silmarils into the rest of the picture a little better by having them highlight his face and crown a bit, and by giving them a little bit of a glow.

I did a little mock-up of what I'm talking about... hope you don't mind.

You could obviously take it a lot farther thank this. There's a lot of really cool detail in his face that's just really hard to see because of how dark it is!

[This message has been edited by waylon (edited October 31, 2000).]

Nex · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2000 4:53 pm

this is gonna get into a full fledged religious war

I think that morgoth is as evil as the silmarils are good.. thus absorbing the light that they radiate entirely.

Very inspiring idea Isric.. I will try that one too tomorrow.

Melkor · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2000 5:21 pm

Melkor here, I can tell you now I dont look abit like that, not since that blasted eagle Thorondor scared my face and Beren and Luthien stole one of Feanors Silmaril from my crown. But nice pic non the less.

-Melkor

Zenzuke · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2000 5:23 pm

That is a difficult theme for sure Isric!
The image is cool, but I think you should gather information through the silmarillion and the lord of the rings. There are not many definitions of what Morgoth is or how is he like, but you can try.
Angus Mc'Bride is an artist who made wonderful drawings of the characters from The Lord Of The Rings, I don't know any URL of him, but he's very very good, and his drawings are also very documented.
Cheers!

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Look! There's a three headed monkey behind you!

Isric · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2000 7:38 pm

Hey thanks guys. Some good ideas here.
In my defense, I intend to redo the face entirely. After posting it I saw how weak he looked.
Also in my defense, I haven't finished the Silmarillion yet. Was just getting to gitty and I had to draw something.

I'll be back with the redo, using some of these great new concepts. Until then.

(Edit) here's that Angus McBride guys stuff http://home.nordnet.fr/~lbezotte/macbride.html

[This message has been edited by Isric (edited October 31, 2000).]