Artist's commentary
‘His envy grew then the greater within him; and he also took visible form, but because of his mood and the malice that burned in him that form was dark and terrible. And he descended upon Arda in power and majesty greater than any other of the Valar, as a mountain that wades in the sea and has its head above the clouds and is clad in ice and crowned with smoke and fire; and the light of the eyes of Melkor was like a flame that withers with heat and pierces with a deadly cold.’
JRR Tolkien: The Silmarillion: AINULINDALË: The Music of the Ainur
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So, I've portrayed Sauron a few times before. But not the big guy, the boss man: 'He Who Arises in Might'. I wasn't sure whether to go with a portrait of his face post-marring at the claws of Thorondor much later on. Or - as I went for in the end - this one, since I've come across far fewer representation of him from this period.
This is 80% or more graphite, with the rest being black pan pastel for the two areas either side of him. Incidentally, I listened to a track called 'One who Bares Fangs at God' quite a lot while drawing this - seemed apt.
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