Flame of Udun and The Servant of the Secret Fire

I've been in love with Tolkien's Middle Earth ever since I watched The Fellowship Of The Ring in the cinema back in Dec 2001. At the time I did a number of fan art inspired from reading Tolkien's writings as I was just starting out with digital painting - the results were less than satisfactory. Now after many years of honing my craft I'm inspired once again to delve into that world that changed my life. Hopefully this is the first of many works to come.

This is my take on the Battle at the Bridge of Khazad Dum, focusing on the two natures of the combatants involved. I've long saw this scene as analogous to a battle between two angels, one fallen and another a faithful servant of the light. With that image in mind I decided to portray the Balrog as more demonic and terrifying in appearance; its wings no longer physical but are instead made of thick black smoke that surrounds it and making it more man-like in proportions while still projecting that immense power the movies so perfectly captured.

As for Gandalf, his portrayal in Peter Jackson's films is nigh perfect that I pretty much just retained that look, but in order to emphasize his angelic nature, I played up his other-worldly power in the form of white light, represent the pure flame of Anor as I imagined it. The white is also a foreshadowing of his later resurrection as Gandalf the White.