The artist is IN

[oloriel]

The SWG's Block Party prompt for Monday was: "Take us behind the scenes of one of your own fanworks!" I'm taking a leaf out of Indy's, Narya's and Lilith's book and taking questions from my gentle readers, i.e., you (possibly?).

So! What would you like to know from behind the scenes? Ask me about old stuff, new stuff, stuff I may or may not be working on, stuff I want to write or draw, stuff I probably won't write or draw, whatever. Ask me about writing, my writing process, art, inspiration or whatever else you're curious about. Ask as many questions as you like!

In case you need a handy overview, most of my fic is here and most of my Tolkien art is here.

Comments

[independence1776]

What is your dream fic to write? What do you want to paint next?

[oloriel]

My current dream fic to write would be the sequel to The Tempered Steel, which I've been promising - and intending to write - for years now, without success. My next painting project is going to be my art for TRSB, so I can't tell you what it's going to be... aside from that, I honestly don't know yet. Maybe something non-Tolkien?

[narya_flame]

Did you use a reference for your painting Bright Himring Morning, or were you inspired by a real life location or style?

[oloriel]

I did! Curiously enough, it's one of the few paintings where I used reference and pretty much stuck to it, too! The layout (and much of the architecture) of this particular Himring is heavily inspired by Wartburg Castle in Thuringia. Because the Wartburg hugs the mountaintop in just the way I wanted, not because of any historical or religious implications. XD

[narya_flame]

Thank you! I'd never actually heard of Wartburg :D I just thought it was a really interesting way to imagine Himring, so I was curious!

[hhimring]

How about something about Andunie (Earendur's Andunie)? Like background information for Embalmer's Apprentice that you've thought out but not explicitly written or something like that.

[oloriel]

Oof. Considering that I keep writing it as some sort of happy place, I really should have a lot more background thoughts on it, but it's all mostly fuzzy. Still, I'll try!

Out-of-universe, my Andúnie is very much inspired by a couple of holidays in Britanny, for no good reason except that it pleased me. It was probably the small bays facing west - generally the ocean to the west - that did it. The description in UT tells us merely that the Andustar is rocky in its northern parts (yup), with high fir-woods looking out upon the sea (not so much), whereas the southerly part is fertile and also have many woods of birch and beech on the heights and oaks and elms in the valleys (close enough). Since the land is reportedly fertile, I've also given it plenty of well-going but decentralised agriculture - the sort cultivated landscape, with small farming villages and fields and meadows more or less stuffed between patches of wood wherever the rocks and the sea winds permit it, that you find in Britanny and Normandy and probably elsewhere in rural France. Andúnie as its major city is one of these venerable but lively old cities that has its own culture and, perhaps, feels a little apart from the rest of the world.

Because it's my story and I can do what I want (and because I have inherited Tolkien's pro-Andúnie bias ;)), Andúnie (and Andustar as a whole) has been fortunate and preserved a lot of the initial "let's build a better world for ourselves" attitude that must have driven the early decades of Númenor. It's as feudalistic as the rest of the island, but the lords are generous and idealistic. Their income has, so far, always sufficed to satisfy the (rising) demands of the crown, maintain a comfortable lifestyle AND put something on the side for investments or bad times. So taxes and fees are moderate, which allows the commoners of Andúnie to also lead a comfortable life and be generous to their neighbours/servants/kids, which leads to mostly happy people, who in turn are easy to govern. In short, it's been a highly succesful social experiment so far - but of course, now Tar-Telemmaite has unbalanced it. What will happen? *dun dun dun* We won't know, because our eyes are elsewhere! (Well, there'll probably be the occasional letter.)

... OK, I did have some thoughts after all. Does that answer your question?

[hhimring]

Of course it did!
Sorry to have given you a bit of an "oof" moment. I just thought it would be nice to talk and hear about a happy place, as your fondness comes through.
Of course, what you think of as "fuzzy" looks like beautifully detailed world-building to me! Thank you for sharing it!

[oloriel]

It wasn't a bad "oof" moment! You made me order (at least to some extent) my fuzzy background thoughts, which is a good thing. You never know when it might come in handy! <3

[hhimring]

Good!
(By the way, I'm aware there's a new chapter of the Embalmer's Apprentice I haven't read yet!)

[oloriel]

No rush! It isn't going to run away. And the next chapter will probably take a while to get written, now that it's back to school. ^^