spicyshimmy:

iheartapostates:

Anders in the style of Marco Mazzoni. My little homage to a brilliant portrait artist and my favorite rebel mage. Ink, watercolor pencil, and acrylic on paper.

Heaps and heaps of gratitude to Shimmy for her endless encouragement and research of the floral elements! <3

truly one of the most stunning works of portraiture. it helps that it’s for a character i love, and it helps that it manages to make some serious magic happen—something surreal, something not quite serene, something still so beautiful. sometimes art can just grab you by the wrist and pull you into another world without even asking permission. this does that. and i’m sure varric would be jealous—because this is what he was always trying to paint, the struggle between the skin and the shadow, the themes and the metaphors of flesh and spirit. in a few strokes, with the right amount of pigment and some damn smart choices, it achieves a wisdom, tells a story, gives the whole picture, a truth that doesn’t have to pretend it isn’t lying for a second.