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Title: Art for "The Dragon Within", a ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
paperlegends story by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gfeather
Artist:altocello
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
Warnings: Partial nudity, art contains spoilers for the story
Medium: Watercolor pencils on toned paper. GIMP used to correct for contrast lost when photographing the original, to add my sig, and (in the case of the title page) to add the lettering.
Summary: In the aftermath of the Great Dragon’s attack on Camelot, the city is left with the enormous task of recovering from all it has lost. Left a broken man by the loss of Morgana and Kigharrah’s fiery rampage, Uther’s rule begins to fail. Arthur finds himself struggling to hold the kingdom together while Merlin slowly begins to discover
all that becoming a Dragonlord entails.
Notes: It takes a village, every time. This time the village included my writer,gfeather, without whom there would have been no inspiration, and my crack ninja-beta team of amphigoury and reni_m, without whom these pieces would be so much the poorer (/|\). I would also like to thank everyone at #paperlegends for their encouragement. I owe you all so much for keeping me motivated, making me laugh when I needed it, and helping me when I got stuck. And, of course, the_muppet, for organizing everything.
References used included screencaps from the (sadly, now defunct) site disparue.org, promo photos from Merlinskeep, a random (beautiful!) photo off tumblr thatphoenixacid had in a post a while back, anatomy poses found at deviantArt, and images found with the almighty google.
Disclaimer:These are non-profit fanworks; no harm intended, no money made.
Title Page
The knotwork for the dragon is original, and drawn on smooth black paper; the lettering was done digitally in GIMP, because I am pants at lettering by hand.
Chapter Breaks:
All of the chapter and scene breaks were drawn freehand on paper with pencil, inked, and then adjusted and laid out using GIMP.
"Balinor's gift"
Which represents the legacies left to Merlin by Balinor and Gaius, the dragonlord's gift and knowledge.
"Uther's Legacy"
Which represents the legacies left to Arthur by Uther, a kindgom and it's wars.
Merlin's scene break
Arthur's scene break
Illustrations:
The first two are drawn on latté colored paper that instantly made me think of the light in the chambers of Camelot (which, for me, is practically a character unto itself, lol). I accidentally drew Merlin on the textured side of the paper, and liked the effect so much that I did the same for Arthur. Both of those drawings show them struggling to understand and accept the mantles left for them to take up. The last is drawn on the same type of smooth black paper as the title page.
"Awakening"
"He reached up to touch it, and startled again at the feeling of fingers on skin but didn’t withdraw his hand."
"Burdened"
The wind buffeted the window and the rain left long streaks across the pane. It didn’t look to be a particularly fierce storm, but the weather matched the turmoil of his mind. He stood for a long time, watching the rain and trying not to think.
"Strangely Beautiful"
"When he was settled, his head resting on the wonderfully soft feather pillows, Merlin heard Arthur sigh loudly. He felt Arthur moving closer and then there were arms around him, dragging him off the yielding down and onto solid chest. Merlin found Arthur’s chest a pleasant substitute and hummed in contentment.
Arthur ran his fingers along the base of Merlin’s wings and whispered, “I thought you wanted to wrap me up in your wings.”
“Yes,” Merlin breathed, and drew his upper wing around Arthur, holding him close.
“That’s nice. I like your wings. They’re strangely beautiful, like the rest of you.”
“Mostly strange. You’re beautiful, though. Not that you don’t get told that a dozen times a day,” Merlin said, yawning widely.
Arthur dropped a light kiss on the top of his head and tightened his arms. “It only matters coming from you. Goodnight, Merlin.”
“Goodnight,” said Merlin, pressing a kiss to the warm skin in front of him.
Wrapped up together, they fell asleep."
Fin
paperlegends story by gfeatherArtist:
altocelloRating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Merlin
Warnings: Partial nudity, art contains spoilers for the story
Medium: Watercolor pencils on toned paper. GIMP used to correct for contrast lost when photographing the original, to add my sig, and (in the case of the title page) to add the lettering.
Summary: In the aftermath of the Great Dragon’s attack on Camelot, the city is left with the enormous task of recovering from all it has lost. Left a broken man by the loss of Morgana and Kigharrah’s fiery rampage, Uther’s rule begins to fail. Arthur finds himself struggling to hold the kingdom together while Merlin slowly begins to discover
all that becoming a Dragonlord entails.
Notes: It takes a village, every time. This time the village included my writer,
gfeather, without whom there would have been no inspiration, and my crack ninja-beta team of amphigoury and reni_m, without whom these pieces would be so much the poorer (/|\). I would also like to thank everyone at #paperlegends for their encouragement. I owe you all so much for keeping me motivated, making me laugh when I needed it, and helping me when I got stuck. And, of course, the_muppet, for organizing everything.References used included screencaps from the (sadly, now defunct) site disparue.org, promo photos from Merlinskeep, a random (beautiful!) photo off tumblr that
phoenixacid had in a post a while back, anatomy poses found at deviantArt, and images found with the almighty google.Disclaimer:These are non-profit fanworks; no harm intended, no money made.
Title Page
The knotwork for the dragon is original, and drawn on smooth black paper; the lettering was done digitally in GIMP, because I am pants at lettering by hand.
Chapter Breaks:
All of the chapter and scene breaks were drawn freehand on paper with pencil, inked, and then adjusted and laid out using GIMP.
"Balinor's gift"
Which represents the legacies left to Merlin by Balinor and Gaius, the dragonlord's gift and knowledge.
"Uther's Legacy"
Which represents the legacies left to Arthur by Uther, a kindgom and it's wars.
Merlin's scene break
Arthur's scene break
Illustrations:
The first two are drawn on latté colored paper that instantly made me think of the light in the chambers of Camelot (which, for me, is practically a character unto itself, lol). I accidentally drew Merlin on the textured side of the paper, and liked the effect so much that I did the same for Arthur. Both of those drawings show them struggling to understand and accept the mantles left for them to take up. The last is drawn on the same type of smooth black paper as the title page.
"Awakening"
"He reached up to touch it, and startled again at the feeling of fingers on skin but didn’t withdraw his hand."
"Burdened"
The wind buffeted the window and the rain left long streaks across the pane. It didn’t look to be a particularly fierce storm, but the weather matched the turmoil of his mind. He stood for a long time, watching the rain and trying not to think.
"Strangely Beautiful"
"When he was settled, his head resting on the wonderfully soft feather pillows, Merlin heard Arthur sigh loudly. He felt Arthur moving closer and then there were arms around him, dragging him off the yielding down and onto solid chest. Merlin found Arthur’s chest a pleasant substitute and hummed in contentment.
Arthur ran his fingers along the base of Merlin’s wings and whispered, “I thought you wanted to wrap me up in your wings.”
“Yes,” Merlin breathed, and drew his upper wing around Arthur, holding him close.
“That’s nice. I like your wings. They’re strangely beautiful, like the rest of you.”
“Mostly strange. You’re beautiful, though. Not that you don’t get told that a dozen times a day,” Merlin said, yawning widely.
Arthur dropped a light kiss on the top of his head and tightened his arms. “It only matters coming from you. Goodnight, Merlin.”
“Goodnight,” said Merlin, pressing a kiss to the warm skin in front of him.
Wrapped up together, they fell asleep."
