Deirdre agus Naoise

My entry for the Myth of the Celts Contest held by

The scene depicts the meeting of Deirdre of the Sorrows and Naoise, one of Ulster's greatest heroes, from "Longas mac nUislenn" (the Exile of the Sons of Uisnech), one of the most famous legends from the Ulster Cycle.

As the day of her wedding to King Conchobar mac Nessa was drawing near, Deirdre grew restless, and she took a stroll through the woods that surrounded the fort where she had been raised by her nurse, isolated from all contact with men, except the king himself and his druid. There, she heard music playing and a man singing, and following the song, Deirdre came upon Naoise, son of Uisnech, and recognised him as the man she had seen in her dreams, and with whom she had fallen in love even though she had never seen him before...

"She walked towards the music, and as soon as she saw who it was who sang, she recognised Naoise, though she had never set eyes on him before. And she went, at once shyly and impelled beyond herself, to pass him, but with her eyes down. And as she went past him, Naoise, seeing her beauty, couldn’t help but remark on it because he had never seen her before, in Emhain Macha or anywhere else; and he knew very well that a girl as beautiful as this wouldn’t stay away from Emhain for very long unless there was a reason for it.
‘Oh,’ he cried, ‘how beautiful…’ and then, sweetly: ‘How fair the doe that springs past me.’ (...)"

Sketch/lineart - [link]

Still trying new techniques, playing around textures, in this case to give it a old style and weathered look to the piece.

Photoshop CS4 & tablet.