A Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien

As a reminder- this was the original reference image I used to create my portrait of Tolkien. The image is from http://www.nndb.com/people/511/000022445/-

- And this is the final product of my Art Nouveau inspired portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm very pleased with the outcome. I used some shapes and fills, but I used the blob brush for the majority of the portrait. I used earthy colors because of the importance of nature and organic elements in Tolkien's works. The frame of the circle has a gold ring to symbolize the One Ring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it has the elvish inscription from the ring around it. I really enjoyed this project because we were given so much freedom in the direction we took and got to pick our subject. I think it turned out well. 

Here are some of my main references for this project: 

I used this image of a bullthistle as references for the design in the green background.
(http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/bullthistle8-10bb.jpg)

 I used this image of the inscription as reference and used the blob brush and traced out the elvish for my piece. (http://quenya101.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/circle_inscription.jpg)

 (http://www.codex99.com/design/images/mucha/job_lg.jpg)

I referenced both of these pieces by Alphonse Mucha for style inspiration.
(http://www.artcyclopedia.com/images/Mucha.jpg)