Portfolio
Fantasy Art and illustration of Karolina Węgrzyn 'Sirielle'
Selection of my fantasy art, including the images avaliable here in print. For fantasy maps, RPG art and more go to my portfolio at sirielle.art, and for old art archives, including the Arda section visit sirielle.weebly.com.
Digital drawings & paintings, unless stated otherwise. Mostly personal projects.
All drawn by hand with a graphic tablet or traditional tools, no Ai generation.
Balerion the Black Dread
Book inspired: Balerion of the Song if Ice and Fire, with tiny Aegon the Conqueror by his side. My test on Balerion's look and size (the dragon should be able to swallow a mammoth). Done in 2014, before the dragons appearewd in both related tv shows. Also a test on black teeth since the dragon's bone was said to be black.
Let the Havens Burn
Maedhros son of Fëanor arriving at the Havens of Sirion, inspired by The Silmarillion.
"And so there came to pass the last and cruellest of the slayings of Elf by Elf; and that was the third of the great wrongs achieved by the accursed oath."
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, Chapter 24: "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"
Go to You Tube to see the "Let the Havens Burn" illustration in motion: Maedhros and Fëanor, son and father portraits morphing with Maedhros in flames.
Or see the Maedhros in flames illustration solo animated below:
Defenders of Gondolin
The Fall of Gondolin / The Silmarillion inspired: Glorfindel, Tuor & Ecthelion. Plate armor variant in rusty hues.
Hel in Black
Nordic Goddess Hel | 2019
Hel in Black, Painter & Photoshop 2014/2019.
Hel, goddess of the Underworld in Norse mythology. Half dead, half alive, rules over Helheim, a realm of cold, hunger and famine where those who die of sickness and of old age go. Carvings on her throne present her siblings: the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr, all of them children of the god trickster Loki and giantess Angrboða.
Hel
The older version of Hel's portrait (2014), in clothes more stylized on the Viking Age, wearing a Norse woman's apron held by tortoise brooches. I dressed her black later, in 2019. The clothes and jewelry are not one hundred per cent historically accurate, especially the head dress, but I believe that in a realm of fantasy and mythology gods and goddesses could attire differently to real people of that time.
Painter & Photoshop 2009/2014.
Note - I have retouched her face, prints on the site are the updated version. If you prefer a print of the untouched variant let me know.
Lost in Helcaraxë
Inspired by The Silmarillion: Arda before creatiuon of the Sun and the Moon. Fingolfin's scouts looking for a way to cross the wicked labyrinth of Helcaraxë.
Fingon The Valiant
"On the way to Thangorodrim" | Photoshop 2016 | Inspired by The Silmarillion.
Fingon in the Iron Mountains, searching for an entry into Angband.
"Therefore he dared a deed which is justly renowned among the feats of the princes of the Noldor: alone, and without the counsel of any, he set forth in search of Maedhros; and aided by the very darkness that Morgoth had made he came unseen into the fastness of his foes. High upon the shoulders of Thangorodrim he climbed, and looked in despair upon the desolation of the land; but no passage or crevice could he find through which he might come within Morgoth's stronghold"
– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion, Chapter 13: "Of the Return of the Noldor"
Scion of Kings
Double portrait of Gil-galad, the legendary Elven king from The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, with the son of Fingon at the top (after The Silmarillion) and the son of Orodreth in the bottom (after The History of Middle-earth vol. XII). Originally b&w illustration to a polemics on Gil-galad's parentage in the 20th jubilee issue of the Polish almanac "Aiglos".
Heraldry in the back represents the fathers, while the emblem on the shield is Gil-galad's own. Gil-galad's epessë Ereinion means "Scion of Kings", thus the title - he is is literally a scion of kings by the unsolved parentage question and by the given honorific title.
Painter & Photoshop 2015/2019.
Fire and Ice
"Fire and Ice" | Painter 2007
Done for the Opposites challenge at the old Pixel Brush forum. Prints in various formats avaliable.
Fairy King / Prince Charming
Finarfin from the illustration below as Fairy King / Prince Charming.
Finarfin, Idril Celebrindal and Anairë
Inspired by The Silmarillion and The House of Fëanor by Deborah Judge. Finarfin, Idril Celebrindal and Anairë meet in Aman:
"In Valinor, Nedanel sculpts, Anairë teaches lore, Finarfin regrets, Idril claims her birthright, and the world changes."
Illustration to the story for Aiglos #23. Photoshop 2018.
Finrfin solo is avaliable as the Fairy King / Prince Charming design.
Tar-Míriel
Tar-Míriel, known as Ar-Zimraphel, the last queen of Númenor. A character from "Akallabêth" / "The Silmarillion" by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Traditional media on A5 paper, 2020.
Art for Kids
Art for children: cosmic kids, astronauts and more!
