The scene
From The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien, Book II, the end of Chapter 5. The Company stumbles out of the mines onto the bare mountainside, and the grief takes them all at once. Eight companions, each alone with it: one turned away, one with his face in his hands, one kneeling by his axe, two small ones holding on to each other, one lying face down while another comforts him. Below them the long valley falls away under a cold sky. I wanted it quiet and heavy, the moment before anyone can find a word. An inspired-by print: nothing in it is taken from any film.
The style
A German etching and aquatint of the 1890s: dark bitten line, soft grey tone, the plate's own haze over everything, and cold overcast light with no sun anywhere. My first try at this scene was a watercolour, and it simply wasn't sad enough. Etching was.
The inspiration
The look comes from 1890s German etchings, the printmakers who drew grief and loss in plain grey line and tone. I borrowed that look only, the tone and the weight of the figures, not any one picture.
How it's made
I design each scene and refine it until it feels right. It's a print of a digital artwork made in the style of an etching, not a hand-pulled etching or an original print. Each one carries my printed "Chapter & Scene" signature in the margin.