Saturday, September 27, 2014

Ged the Goatherd

boy carrying goat kid

Fanart for Ursula Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea". The protagonist Sparrowhawk (aka Ged) spent his childhood on the island of Gont.

Real world cultural inspirations I used for envisioning Gontish clothing styles: Navajo, Tibetan, Uzbek, Kazakh.
Reasons for looking to these particular cultures:
  • Presence of a sheep herding/goat herding economy, which is practiced on Gont.
  • Use of clothing elements mentioned in the Earthsea Cycle's description of Gontish people, such as jerkins, aprons and ruffles. (Not necessarily common or native to each of the societies mentioned, but between all of them, there is the use of such items, or something pretty close, in traditional clothing.)