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Matěj Čadil

@matejcadil.bsky.social

60 followers 11 following 50 posts

Tolkien-inspired artist 🇨🇿 Illustrator of Middle-earth & beyond 📜 Bringing Tolkien’s words to life in art 🏔 Inspired by wild hills, ancient halls & forgotten roads ✨ Exploring beauty, myth & light in dark places My shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MatejCadil

www.etsy.com

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 1d

At last I managed to draw something for this year's Inktober. 😅 More because I finally found some time to draw, than because I was especially keen on this prompt "Heavy", for which I finished it too late anyway. 😄

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 11d

There is a Shadow by the Door (2023)
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The awful moment when Bilbo is stuck in the door out of the goblin-tunnels – invisible himself, but his shadow has just been spotted by the goblins.⁠

What do you think of my depiction of that moment?

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 15d

Thank you!

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 15d

Thank you, I appreciate that!

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 16d

Finished line art for my new illustration of "Riddles in the Dark".⁠
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Bilbo sits on the dark shore of the lake, while Gollum lurks in his little boat. Around them, circular vignettes show the riddles, with the text, hand-drawn into curved decorative bands.⁠
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What do you think of it so far?

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 22d

As I often take inspiration from Tolkien's own art, here I tried to emulate the style the original illustrations by Pauline Baynes. While her illustrations are mostly black and white, I wanted to add some colour, but still keep it relatively simple.
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What do you think of my illustration? 🙂⁠

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 22d

In the story, the protagonist (Smith) from our world, is blessed with the ability to visit the beautiful and perilous land of Faery. So this is meant to be a general faery scenery that he is able to see (thanks to a faery-star shining on his brow).

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 22d

The King's Tree that I finished a few days ago was not my first illustration inspired by Tolkien's story Smith of Wotton Major. I made one illustration titled "In Faery" in 2022.⁠

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 24d

If you would like to dive deeper into the idea behind the drawing and see close-ups, I have a longer post on my Patreon.

www.patreon.com/posts/138407...

https://www.patreon.com/posts/138407093⁠

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 24d

Last year I painted Niggle’s Great Tree from Leaf by Niggle, where the Tree is intimate, central and lovingly known leaf by leaf. The King’s Tree is different. It appears only once in the tale, remote and blazing, a single flash of meaning the traveller can never quite find again.⁠

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 24d

I tried to capture that one bewildering vision that Smith has: A sudden, towering tree of light upon a hill of shadow. The passage is brief, yet it feels like the very heart of Faery; a distant, impossible beauty that changes the watcher forever.⁠

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · 24d

The King's Tree from Tolkien’s short story "Smith of Wootton Major", made for the last prompt of the Amon Hen art challenge “Tales from other realms”. I love to illustrate these lesser known stories by Tolkien.⁠

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 12

Designing the circular bands with the riddle text has been quite a challenge, writing it by hand to make everything fit, but I’m happy with how the layout is coming together.⁠
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What do you think of this structure with the ten riddles?⁠

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 12

Work in progress: Next Hobbit chapter illustration, Riddles in the Dark. At the centre will be Bilbo and Gollum in their fateful riddle-game, while around them I’m drawing ten small vignettes, each one showing a riddle.

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 11

This illustration, At the End of All Things, started as an ink drawing for Inktober 2020 prompt “Hope” and later I coloured it for Tolkien Reading Day 2022 with the theme “Love and Friendship”.
Prints of it are available: matejcadil.etsy.com/listing/1212...

matejcadil.etsy.com

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 11

On the slopes of Mount Doom, the Ring destroyed, the quest has been achieved, but it seems that all is over for Frodo and Sam. Frodo, who has long held on with endurance beyond hope, is resigned that this is "the end of all things", whereas Sam, with unquenchable hope, doesn't want to give up yet.

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 11

HUMAN artists, use only one piece to convince people to follow you

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 5

I would love to. 🙂

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 4

Speaking of Oxonmoot, are you attending, online or in person?
I would love come in person some day. For now, I'd love to meet you at least virtually, on Discord or elsewhere. Anyway, I'm looking forward to all the talks and other events.

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 4

For the last prompt of the #amonhen Art Challenge "Tales from Other Realms" I decided to draw the King's Tree from Tolkien's short story Smith of Wootton Major. It's still a work in progress, I need to work on the background, but I hope to finish it while listening to some talks of Oxonmoot online.⁠

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Sep 4

My approach in the past few years has been to work with the well-known Inktober prompts and interpret them in Tolkienesque way (though I rarely did more than half).
Purely Tolkien list is a nice thing as well, but what about crossovers where the prompts lend themselves to it?

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Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Aug 30

Thank you!

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Aug 30

Do you enjoy this style of “cross-section” storytelling?

More details, sketches, and behind-the-scenes notes are up on my Patreon:
www.patreon.com/posts/over-h...

Over Hill and Under Hill – Final Illustration | Matěj Čadil

Get more from Matěj Čadil on Patreon

www.patreon.com

Matěj Čadil @matejcadil.bsky.social · Aug 30

At the top you can spot echoes of Tolkien’s “Mountain-path” illustration and stone-giants hurling rocks across the valley. Below, the tunnels guide you through key moments of the chapter: the cave where the Company shelters, their capture and trial before the Great Goblin, and the desperate escape.

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