Beleriand's Finest by Zeen

[moetushie]

Title: Beleriand's Finest
Artist Name: Zeen (moetushie)
Prompt: Winter - "Let us think that at this midwinter the feast shall be merrier than in all our years yet, with a fearless spring to follow after!" (Children of Húrin)
Description: Five large images after the cut, political posters urging people to join the Union of Maedhros, a graphic with the text of the prompt, images of Morwen and Lalaith.
Rating: General
Warnings: Very large images (800x1024) under the cut. Will take some time to load.
Artist's Notes: So, this series plays around with the run up to the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, and Húrin (and his family's) place in it. Of course, knowing what we know, the prompt is incredibly bittersweet and filled with promises that are doomed to go unfulfilled. For a long time, I struggled how to convey that. In the end, I decided not to try -- instead, I went for something a little easier. Like trying to sell the Union of Maedhros! First thing to do would be to change the name...





[Image Description: The background is an image of a red poppy flower with a green grasshopper perched on a leaf. The foreground is black lettering that reads: "Let us think that at this midwinter the feast shall be merrier than in all our years yet, with a fearless spring to follow after!" (Children of Húrin)]



[Image Description: The background is deep red. The foreground is black and white text which reads: "Join the Union of Maedhros / because we have to do something, for Beleriand's sake!" Smaller text notes who paid for this ad.]

Join and die!



[Image Description: Against a light-colored background, a dark-haired Elf, a blond-haired Man, and brown-haired Dwarf are presented in profile. All are looking ahead, except the Man who will looking sides-ways to us. The black text reads: "Will you be left behind?"]

My original idea is that the Man is Húrin (of course.) You can decide who was, indeed, left behind.

(Also Húrin.)

A textless version can be viewed here.


[Image Description: Against a white background, a blurry image of a blonde little girl stares glumly back at us. Black lettering reads: "Never forget your dead little sister."]

Túrin, of course, is the proud possessor of a Dead Little Sister (warning: link goes to TVTropes.) He's even mentioned by name!



[Image Description: A stylized portrait of a dark-haired woman stands against a light blue background. Her features are indistinct because the artist happens to be kind of in love with the Photoshop Cutout feature at the moment. Grey and white text, positioned above her head reads: "The Iron Lady of Dor-lómin."]

I adore Morwen! She's so hardcore.

A slightly different, textless version can be seen here.

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

These are fantastic. They remind me a little of a collection of famous and obscure Spanish Civil War posters I saw at an exhibition in Barcelona when Laura was younger than her son is now. Moving and effective in exactly the same way. Heartbreaking really.

[moetushie]

Heart-breaking is definitely what I was aiming for! (Although that's a given, with the subject matter.)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I love them all! Possibly Union of Maedhros best - or possibly Dead Little Sister...

[moetushie]

Thank you!

[dawn_felagund]

I have been waiting for what seems like forever to tell you how much I love not only this idea but your execution of it! :D (Being a mod and getting to preview posts is great, but then I feel like I'm bouncing in place for days/weeks to actually get to officially comment!) The bold text, the loaded language, the choice of colors ... everything just feels so right for this particular project. Awesome work!

[moetushie]

Thank you so much! I was pleased at how this came together after weeks of angsting about it.

[hhimring]

OMG. Fingon, Hurin and Azaghal? Left behind, all three of them, although I suppose Hurin was the most left-behind of all. No wait, Azaghal's body got collected, at least...
Stunning.

[moetushie]

Hee, I love all these interpretations! The Elf and the Dwarf were to me when I was making it, just archetypes, but it would be cool if they were actual characters too! My personal concept of Fingon is, indeed, quite pointy.

Left behind = dying/captured by Morgoth, awwww. That's sad.

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Yep, the Left Behind one is totally the best. It reminds me of many earnest Communist posters.

I imagine the deep red one being sent over to Gondolin, by Eagle.

[moetushie]

Yup, exactly! Looking bravely ahead to a glorious new future, etc, etc.

I imagine the deep red one being sent over to Gondolin, by Eagle.

I'm sure this is what convinces Turgon to give it a go.

[astris-eldalie.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love every single one of these. The Morwen one is particularly beautiful!

[moetushie]

Thank you!

[elliska.livejournal.com]

These are awesome! I agree with tehta--these totally remind me of Soviet propaganda posters from the 50s and 60s, with their bright colors and provocative slogans. I love them!

[moetushie]

They definitely take their inspiration from Soviet-style propaganda, so nice catch there. :)

Thank you!

[tehta.livejournal.com]

I would like to point out that, for me, it was a trivial catch as my school in 80s Poland was PLASTERED with them.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Very powerful artwork.I liked it.

[moetushie]

Thank you!

[zdenka]

Very cleverly done, and I like the artwork, especially the one of Morwen. These are simultaneously making me laugh aloud and go "Noooooo! D:"

[moetushie]

Thank you! That's a great reaction. >:D

[fadesintothewest]

These are great. I especially love "Will you be left behind!"

[moetushie]

Thank you! :)

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

(And Cousins.)

No, but seriously now - these are wonderful. I love Morwen especially... the design is very striking, as befits her name, but they are all excellent, and by far the most unusual (meaning that in the best way possible!) take on a prompt I've seen so far! :D

[moetushie]

(Celegorm put that in.)

Thank you, dear! I had a lot of fun thinking them up. :)

[binkaslibrary.livejournal.com]

These are stunning! Thank you so much for all your work :)

[moetushie]

Thank you for commenting! :)

[paranoidangel]

These are interesting - I love how you've interpreted the prompt and these pieces are different from anything else I've seen before.

[moetushie]

Thank you! I was afraid I might have strayed a little too far from the prompt, but I think it's still in the same neighborhood anyway.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Oh these are very well done, and hilarious to imagine posters like this (I love the little notes on the bottom of poster 2 and 3) - yet also a little sad, when you know the outcome. All this enthusiasm, and then D:

[moetushie]

Exactly! Thank you for your kind words.

[ilye-elf.livejournal.com]

Oh, brilliant! Very clever. And I love the style of the artwork. Great idea.

[moetushie]

Thank you!

[zopyrus.livejournal.com]

These are all beautiful and clever. I love how many different styles you were able to work in! I don't think I could pick a favorite.

[moetushie]

Thank you!

[suzll.livejournal.com]

Oh my godddddd, these are WONDERFUL!

[moetushie]

Thank you!

[tanis2014.livejournal.com]

This is hysterical - I love them all, but the recruiting posters had me howling with laughter. In particular the small print on the coppery red on - SoWeCanAllGetOnWithOurLivesWithoutLosingAnymoreLovedOnes(OrCouins)

The choice of posters as your medium was sheer genius!

[moetushie]

Thank you!

[kittotter.livejournal.com]

Excellent, excellent, excellent.
Where can I sign up?

[moetushie]

Capital, capital! You are a credit to otters everywhere..

If you are in Hithlum or East Beleriand, it's very possible that you are already volunteered. Otherwise, contact Gwindor, son of Guilin in Nargothrond or Beleg Cúthalion of Doriath for further details.

If you are in Gondolin, I don't know how we are communicating...

[ysilme]

This is awesome. What an unique approach, and how well it suits the prompt! I haven't yet read the Children of Húrin, "only" listened to the audio book read by the incomparable Achim Höpper who did the German voice for Gandalf and does the most terrific job of reading Tolkien aloud, one of the few cases where I actually prefer the translation to the original. It's also one of the few cases I can imagine where a audiobook reading actually got more deeply under my skin than the book itself would have, particularly with evoking this sense of bleakness, loss and despair that I also sense so intensely in your artwork. Looking at them literally gives me the chills. It feels as if you snatched images out of my mind I didn't know were there and made them visible. Sorry if this is so personal, but I can't seem to express my thoughts in a better way.

[moetushie]

Thank you for such a thoughtful comment, I am really glad you took the time to tell about your reactions to the images. ♥

I think that when you're engaging with a work -- whether it be art, or the written word, or performance or whatever, the viewer/reader/audience is just as important as the creator. Not just in a 'tree falls in the forest' kind of way, but to actually make meaning of it.

Bleakness, loss and despair were definitely on my mind while making these things!

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

Oh, but I can see this up on the walls of recruiting offices now!

[independence1776]

These are awesome! My favorites are the second and third ones.