Some apres ski sketches

Hello and servus, dear readers and followers (old and new)!

I have just returned from our skiing holidays (which were fab - a lot of sunshine, enough snow (although there could have been more of it), good food (although there could have been less of it ;), lots of good sleep and wonderful forest walks with the dog) and as I promised to myself to take up drawing again this year I took my small sketch book, some pencils, a rubber and a small booklet from the "Game of Thrones" TV series with me...

...and I came up with at least four pages filled with various sketches which I am (more or less) content with - so I dare share them with you.

I prefer to draw with a drop action pencil (because it doesn't need sharpening ;) when I work on a small format like my small sketch book.

Most difficult for me to draw are mouths honestly (and hair too - because I am too lazy to finish hair drawings... ;).

My HB and I really like "Game of Thrones" - as it is fantasy but NOT that kind of kitsch fantasy (if you know what I mean). You barely find any of the typical shallow fantasy cliches...but in fact a dense and good story with a lot of depth and beautiful images - with all you expect good fantasy to be and to offer ...and also some surprising new elements.

Hm....I admit that SHE (and her warrior prince below) look rather close to the fantasy cliche at first sight...but she does not behave like you would expect her to do...so this character works well too. And fantasy is based on this kind of archetypes - so I guess you just have to like it or leave it be ;)

My HB has always been very much into fantasy... and some of the fantasy novels from his large collection would not meet my expectations of a good story (or good storytelling) at all. But "Game of Thrones" is an exception to that rule - I really love this series very much and also started to read the novel (which is rather complicated but beautifully told). And of course there are others like for example Ursula K. LeGuin, whom I love to read too.

I have always loved to draw fantasy characters - especially during the time when we used to play a lot of pen and paper roleplaying games like "Dungeons and Dragons", "Everway" or "The Black Eye". So drawing some of the characters from Game of Thrones brought back some of the "good vibes" and a lot of nostalgia ;)

I hope my short side trip to the realms of fantasy did not bore you to pieces ;)
(You should have seen me in my heavy leather armored Borg* costume I wore at the one (and only) live role playing game I took part in...LOL...which was actually ages ago (oh my, have we really grown that old already ? ;) and I mainly did it to impress my HB (who wasn't my HB at that time and our love was rather young at that point...well, don't tell me about the things we do for love *giggle).

Next time I will be back with some mixed media and/or stamping... well, we'll see... promise! ;)

Claudia x


*) Borg = the hostile collective from Star Trek - The Next Generation (just in case someone might NOT know who the Borg are *erhemm)


edit: I've shared these simple sketches with the community of "Share Your Face" - hosted by the lovely Kim Dellow. For more information check HERE.