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Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 9:36 pm
by caedmon
Ok, after much disembling and a change of course.... My first Numenorean design step by step...

I had threatened to do nautical motifs, but as I spent more time working on the patterns I realized that the I need to deal with the basic form.

Many semi-codified artistic styles base their work on a set of basic shapes. LaTene celts specialized in spirals, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings in animal interlace, North-West Coast Art in formlines, and Art Noveau in organic shapes. The Numenorean art we have overwhelmingly uses built up arcs. (To a lesser extent they also use scrollwork) So rather than start with the Nautical motifs I started with the Lozenges which really showcase that buildup well.

Green lines denote the first in a series of repeated shapes, red are continuations.

lozenge-1.ai.png
lozenge-1.ai.png (448.18 KiB) Viewed 27472 times

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 1:18 am
by Greg
Holy freaking cow.

Jack, you've outdone yourself. Do we have carte blanche to run amok with this(these) on our own projects?

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 4:35 pm
by caedmon
Greg wrote:Holy freaking cow.

Jack, you've outdone yourself. Do we have carte blanche to run amok with this(these) on our own projects?

Absolutely, that's the whole point.


I should have another today.

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:53 pm
by caedmon
ok, here's another. One of the more complex borders, one that doesn't initially seem to be arcs until you break it down.
border_1.png
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Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 6:22 pm
by Elleth
Hunh... I wonder if there was a Numenorean Pythagoras playing with things like this once upon a time? It's all very mathematical.

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 8:55 pm
by Udwin
Oh man, we really need a 'jaw dropping' emoticon - I'm speechless, that is Too Cool. Well, I know what I'll be doodling in the margins for the next long while!
Looking at your broken-down border compared to Tolkien's original pencil design, it really feels like you're reconstructing the frescoes of Knossos or something like that. (Mediterranean mother culture, makes sense).
Very exciting.

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 9:53 pm
by caedmon
Elleth wrote:Hunh... I wonder if there was a Numenorean Pythagoras playing with things like this once upon a time? It's all very mathematical.
Oddly enough I keep thinking along the same lines. Tar-Meneldur is who I keep coming back to, but he was born over 500 years after the founding of Numenor, so that feels a bit late.
Udwin wrote:Oh man, we really need a 'jaw dropping' emoticon - I'm speechless, that is Too Cool. Well, I know what I'll be doodling in the margins for the next long while!
Looking at your broken-down border compared to Tolkien's original pencil design, it really feels like you're reconstructing the frescoes of Knossos or something like that. (Mediterranean mother culture, makes sense).
Very exciting.
Thank you I am flattered. As for Knossos, wait for the wavy lozenge and border. They really have that Minoan feel.

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:30 pm
by caedmon
The value of decoding an artistic system.



Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Wed May 11, 2016 1:04 pm
by Elleth
Hah! You've given me visions of ignoring my chemistry teacher to doodle Celtic knotwork and tengwar in my notebook.. memory lane!

Anyhow, these are lovely! Thank you caedmon!

I confess a lot Tolkien's drawings don't appeal to me on the page, but realized in craft they do take on a nice look.
I've fallen in love with that "flower in a square" corner tile he made, and find it lovely on trinkets.

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Sat May 21, 2016 12:58 am
by caedmon
Found another...
crownofgondor.png
crownofgondor.png (12.69 KiB) Viewed 27324 times

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2016 5:01 pm
by caedmon
Ok, one more. Before I jump into plant motifs, here's another lozenge. This is an important one, I call it the bat-wing, and it comes from the flowering plant in the Numenorean carpet. The importance is that it is one of the major motifs picked up by other Numenorean imspired artists, for example Turner Mohan uses it as an armour detail in some of his illustrations.

I initially do it in the same aspect ration as my other lozenge, and then re do it as Tolkien drew it, as a corner motif.

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2016 9:14 pm
by Kortoso
Very nice.

I adore the Art Nouveau approach, and I appreciate seeing a path to making "fractal"-like designs.

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 7:20 pm
by caedmon

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Tue May 23, 2017 11:52 pm
by Elleth
OH MY GOD SOMEONE ACTUALLY MADE THE CARPET!!!!!
norbu-rugs-numenorean-carpet.jpg
norbu-rugs-numenorean-carpet.jpg (125.14 KiB) Viewed 26299 times
https://twitter.com/NorbuRugs/status/508495861983088640

Honestly, it looks a lot better than I would have expected. I fear I'd always thought the drawing itself a nice collection of motifs, but rather chaotic and unpleasant in total composition. As we're seeing with so many of the Professor's drawings though, once rendered into the real world it looks quite nice!

Re: Numenorean design motifs

Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 2:31 pm
by Udwin
wow Wow WOW! That is amazing! I hear you on the chaos of the original...while the rug-maker did simplify some of the elements (borders mostly), it came out incredible. I'd be scared to think about how much the client paid for it.