Achren by pantalone
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Description
Sixth century B.C.; Achren, the vengeful warrior queen of Prydain (Britain), prepares for what will become known as Cad Goddeu, the Battle of the Trees. She fights naked in the Celtic tradition, covered only in a paste of the blue antiseptic herb, woad. Her red hair, common to many Celts, is shaved at the forehead, in the druidic tradition. Her golden torc will indicate her status, so she can select worthy opponents in the battle to come. She fights on foot, with a spear of alder wood. The bard Taliesin records that her army could not be defeated unless ner name was known, nor could that of her opponent unless his name was known. He reports that she fought in the thick of the battle, and prevailed when she guessed the name of her opponent and the trees came alive to support her cause.
Stirring stuff. This is really a w.i.p., part of the larger battle scene, but she kind of evolved into a portrait as I was working on her. I read about the Myrvyrian Archeology of Wales about the same time as I found the Xandra morphs in Pixeluna's excellent collection of freebies (thanks for the pointer, TeaRex) and had to do something with them. There are several legends surrounding Achren, every one a gift to Poser-ites with a taste for fantasy and all written up in Wiki. She's probably based on a real person, but the Celtic myths are very alien to modern minds and numerous interpretations are kicking around. Taliesin didn't think much of her – her called her a “shameless cow” for fighting naked, but it was certainly the way things were done at the time and it scared the hell out of the Romans in subsequent centuries.
The hair is modified Instant Hair, the tats, woad and the torc were painted onto Mask skin with Diva eyes. Now I just have to mass produce her army and some magical trees....
Comments (18)
clbsmiley
WOW~!~WOW~!!~!EXCELLENT!!!
xeniaghost
She certainly looks very fierce! Wonderful portrait!
Tea_Rex
Whoa!.. Mark .. You, literally, took my words away. & we all know what a challenge that is. ;-) Really now! Stunning .. original .. & very moving. Yes, Pixeluna's ladies definitely have a way of inspiring further innovation and creative expression. I'm going to have to sit before this portrait a while and then comment further by direct mail. Wonderful craft!! Terry
brycek
Magnificent!!
jclP
magnifique,tres beau portrait & render
callad
Those eyes! They pierce right through me! Stunning skin and the red hair, well.. no secret I have a 'thing' with that.. :) Awesome portrait and story!
Tracesl
creative, excellent
SIGMAWORLD
Excellent image!
mmax.ch
Wonderful and very creative work
ragouc
Very good light and texture. Great portrait. 5+
Mondwin
Superbly image!!!!!!!!!!!bravissimo!V:DDD.Hugsxx Whylma
Arki
Fascinating image! I like the way the paint and tattoo contrast on her skin. It looks very real - and her eyes really do stand out!
kbrog
Excellent work! The lighting and hair are fantastic, very photo realistic. :)
PSDuck
Strong and wonderful portrait! Thanks for the historical reference, it adds much to this work.
brewgirlca
Very impressive. To me she looked like a photograph - so intense were the skin tones and the piercing eyes. Tattoo and blue are marvelous done. Tork is totally fab. Excellent story that does justice to the warrior within.
bob4artist Online Now!
Really interesting and well done portrait. Liked the story too. - Bob
Odessey
Agreed about the eyes on the intense direct contact to the viewer , so many cg images lack direct contact to the viewer, few can pull it off ......
loligagger
Excellent!!!!!