JUN. 2022 REWARD (Lineart) (Patreon)

June is Remake Month for my Patreon, and as per your vote, I've decided to try stepping just a bit out of my comfort zone and attempt to emulate a live-action portrayal! This is the sketch for a remake of "Within the Grove of Secrets", an artwork I produced back in 2012 when I was pretty big into The Lord of the Rings franchise, both the original books by J. R. R. Tolkien and the film series by Peter Jackson. While there's plenty of reasons for my attachment to it, the films specifically gave us the iconic depiction of Legolas, whom I'll admit I had a bit of a crush on for a while. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before I ended up drawing him in a kinky scenario! Looking back, though, the artwork practically reeked of my earlier style, with very rough and dirty line work, burn-and-dodge shading, and a lack of understanding of both anatomical forms/proportions and basic perspective. I can tell fixing those issues is gonna be a chore - I admittedly half-assed the tree Legolas is resting on because I wanted to meet the end-of-month deadline - but ah well, a vote's a vote! XD

As with the original version of this pic, I decided to go with a tickle scenario that wasn't torturous for once. Part of that was because I wanted to stick with the spirit of the original pic, but for the most part I felt it would be good to step away from the tradition of absolutely wrecking the monthly reward subject every once in a while. I tried to replicate Orlando Bloom's actual facial features as best I could here while having Legolas maintain an expression of quiet pleasure while struggling not to break out into giggles (because as all elves know, giggling is simply uncouth), but I don't know how successful I was in this regard. Breaking away the more cartoony, anime-esque style for this one may have been a mistake on my part after all, but a mandatory one nonetheless. Bear with me on this one, people - I may still have some hard limits with respect to what I'm willing to draw, but sometimes I have no choice but to sacrifice personal confidence for authenticity.

The final version of this piece will be posted on Sunday, July 3!