Having enjoyed making fan art of Yennefer, from the Netflix adaption of The Witcher, I thought it might be fun to try the titular witcher himself, Geralt of Rivia. Unlike the WIP I doodled for Yennefer before moving quickly into colour, I ended up going into quite a bit of detail on this one. Sometimes I can get a bit obsessive with detail and it feels very satisfying.
I may have started a doodle of Ciri as well…
The chemistry between Henry Cavil as Geralt and Anya Chalotra as Yennefer is excellent in the show. I would say I don’t know who to crush on more, but, hot as Geralt is, I have to admit I’m leaning quite a lot towards Yennefer. Still, the way the two characters, who are so very different in many ways, have that they are both deeply wounded in similar ways in common – leading to: fearing needing or being needed, fearing showing weakness, and being distrustful and aloof because of their pasts, yet reflecting all of this back at each other in their struggle against an obviously very powerful attraction – is compelling. So far the show has stayed very true to the books in many ways, but for me this one was most important, not just turning their relationship into the usual trite “will they/won’t they”, strong independent woman vs. shallow man-whore thing shows always seem to do. They are both strong and independent, but that is because they are also both fundamentally wounded and reticent to be vulnerable due to their pasts, even though that is exactly what they each need to move forward. It is easy to see why things will play out as they do with Ciri on this front. There is a huge amount of strength found through facing adversity and healing in all three characters.
Can’t wait for season 2!
Music while drawing: Wicked Game feat. Annaca (warning, contains clips with spoilers).
Janice Duke Illustration 
This is an absolutely amazing piece of art! It looks incredible. I have (so far at least) never read the books, but have enjoyed the television series immensely so far. Both characters have amazing chemistry, and I agree it’s good to see that it wasn’t turned into one of those “will they/won’t they” things that we see everywhere😀
Thank you very much! Hopefully he will work as a well in colour 😊 The books are good up until the last one, which is a bit weird. Will be interesting to see what they do with that in the show! I much prefer that it is based on a book series that is already complete, unlike another show I could mention… And rant about 😂
Haha….oh yeah, I know exactly which show you mean, and I can definitely join you in that rant…for about two years or so 😂😂😂
I might check the books out for myself eventually, just need to find some time! (I have way too many hobbies! 😅😅😂😂😂)
Great Post Janice and damn can you draw a fine representation of Cavil as Geralt. Having played some of the games before I knew it was a book series, I was a bit iffy about the casting of Yennefer as well as Triss, but I hope they grow on me with season 2. Loved the First season
Thank you! I wasn’t sure about the casting either until I watched it and I think they did really well with Anya for Yennefer. But I’m still not sure about Triss… A few gamers I know feel that way, what with Triss having a much bigger part in the game than the books. Maybe the actress for Triss will grow on me, but it may be that they don’t even have her character as that much part of the plot for the show. We’ll see.
We will. Really glad to know there are so many other Witcher fans out there.
Wow! The expression in the face and, even more so, the eyes is amazing
Cheers! His eyes were quite fun and straightforward, very expressive in all the promo photos, but his nose and mouth I struggled to get right for a while. He’s a good looking guy, but his nose is odd 😂
Could be worse. Could be good looking nose but his face is odd haha
Hehe!
That’s excellent – you’ve really done a super job on the costume and his face is really expressive. If anything he looks closer to the Geralt I imagined from the books than Cavil does (although I do think he was a good pick for the role).
Thank you 😊 That studded leather took ages!
Great work Janice, his nose looks fine to me!
Thank you, Pat! 😊
[…] this point I’m wondering about combining the previous Yennefer and Geralt pics with this one as a single picture with all three characters once I’ve finished them. […]
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