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DRAGONMOUNT

A WHEEL OF TIME COMMUNITY

Fan Art Friday: Mat Cauthon


JenniferL

This week, let's take a look at everyone's favorite rogue, Mat Cauthon. Mat is one of those characters that really grows on you as the series progresses. I remember not really caring or noticing him too much at the beginning, except as a plot MacGuffin in The Great Hunt. But after you see his first POV in The Dragon Reborn, you become aware of his sly wit. I like that as the characters gain more and more social standing in their world, there's still one guy who is all "Yeah, what ever. I knew you back when, Miss Hoity Toity." Let's see how he pops up in fan art.

 

MAT_CAUTHON_by_solitarium.jpg

 

This is what I think most of us think of when we think of "Mat". He's got the hat, he's got the scarf and he's holding dice. What's funny is that Mat does really become "Mat" until later in the series than the other ta'veren. Rand starts dressing like a lord in The Great Hunt after Moiraine steals his clothes. Perrin's clothes never really change, just Faile makes sure they are nice now. And they both figure out their unique abilities early on as well. Mat doesn't realize his luck until the third book, and his skill as a general doesn't come until after he encounters the Ael'finn and Eel'finn in the fourth book. This portrait is by solitarium on DeviantArt.

 

Matrim_Cauthon_by_PollyUranus.jpg

 

This is a photomanipulation by PollyUranus on DeviantArt. I like the way she incorporated images of the Band with Mat. It's an unusual piece.

 

aelfinn.jpg

 

Another Mark Bray piece this week. This is Mat with the Ael'finn in The Shadow Rising. Most of the Mat pictures I've seen are portraits of him all Matted Up. It's nice to see something a little different.

 

And to do something a little different this week, here's a Youtube video I found while looking for something else. Eye of the Tiger, baby!

 

As a reminder, if you're interested in having your art featured on Fan Art Friday, the Artists, Writers and Crafters Group on Dragonmount is doing a challenge this month. The theme for February is "Love", so if you have a piece of Wheel of Time fan art that fits that theme, post it on the forums and I'll choose my favorites to post next month.




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Haha, it is interesting that Mat didn't become the "iconic" Mat we all know visually until much later in the series.

 

What's interesting to me is how we all tend to really hate Daryl K. Sweets covers, and yet the way he portrays Mat on the cover of tFoH is how we almost ALWAYS seem to portray him in our fan art. Nothing wrong with that, just an interesting observation.

 

Thanks again for these lovely posts!

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I think Sam Webers Mat for the shadow rising e-book is the best I've seen. Everything about it reads Mischievous General.

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Jemron has a great point! Although DKS was often horrendously wrong, we all tend to use his version(s) of Mat as the 'canonical' version. Huh.

 

Sam Weber's Mat should be the archetypal Mat! It's so awesome.

 

As before, I have some favorites.

 

 

RoseMuse's 'Stages of Mat' and 'this standalone portrait' are swell. She had some delightful character study pieces on each of the characters, but sadly, they have been removed(?) (Here is google image's chached thumbnail). This action piece of 'the three ta'veren' makes me swoon.

 

I know that Richard Boye had a rather posh looking Mat in a grey silk coat with blue detailing, but it seems to not be present on his deviant-art page. I do like his comic-booky drawing of the three ta'veren looking really badass(but like comic book characters - I think it's one of his oldest, because it's very rough) . I do always wonder why most people always put Mat in a green coat, though? Is that another example of the fan-artists taking their cues (even unconsciously) from Darryl Sweet?

 

Por ejemplo, I like this Mat by Sk3tchit.

 

Hamilton Kline has a Mat that I like, even if he's vaguely hipster-ish with a small goatee.

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i would love to see some post TOG mat pictures but as for the ones posted here... i like polly's best. it gives us the not so much trickster side as the general who just fought his way through the entire seanchan army version of mat. the one the rumors all talk about in caemlyn.

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All of solitarium's and RoseMuse's sketches of Mat on deviantart are awesome and should definitely be checked out! But my favorite WOT fanartist (especially for epically wonderful Mat art) is Forbis, also on deviantart. Her stuff is incredibly sophisticated (though you have to dig through the gallery to find it behind a lot of other really excellent harry potter art).

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No offense meant, but the PollyUranus photo thing looks absolutely nothing what I'd expect from Mat. Looks more like a member of a modern metal cello band... kind of scary looking. You sure that isn't a blonde Mazrim Taim?

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Hello all-

 

@Sara V: I think the reason Mat is usually depicted in a green coat is in the text itself.  I for a long time have tried to find it again, but I vaguely recall a section of one book, where it talks about Mat wearing a nice, longer green coat with a high Andoran collar.  Seeing that it is one of the few times you see his clothing mentioned that is how he gets depicted.  I'm pretty sure if it did happen (and my memory isn't playing tricks on me again) the reference comes before Mat and Queen Tylin become involved, because I kept wondering to myself how the high Andoran collar worked with all the lace she kept him in.  Personally I've always seen the chest of the coat in my mind looking something like this: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/LargeImage.aspx?image=/lotfinderimages/D53366/a_group_of_household_and_civil_service_dress_uniforms_including_a_lord_d5336674h.jpg

 

with the overall length being something like a gentleman's 19th Century tailcoat in this style: http://www.milanoo.com/Handsome-Dark-Green-Jazz-Cloth-Double-breasted-Mens-Tailcoat-p67423.html

 

But that is just me.  Incidentally, if anyone knows of the lines of text I almost remember and can point it out, let me know.

 

Suravye ninto manshima taishite,

 

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