The Legend of the Princess, Chapter Eleven Illustration

[rynling]

This is an illustration of a scene from the eleventh chapter of The Legend of the Princess created in November by Lightsintheskye, who has been supremely patient with me as I've been very slowly writing and editing this story. You can find the full size version (here)!

In this story, Zelda has visions in which she travels to past eras and experiences key events from a firsthand perspective. This is an illustration of one of these visions, in which Zelda sees an era of history situated several hundred years after Skyward Sword. Hyrule's civilization is once again as advanced as it was in the era before the war with Demise, and magic is commonplace. The aesthetic I was envisioning is fantasy-flavored 1920s American Art Deco, kind of like the art direction in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

In this scene, Zelda and Ganondorf are standing on a balcony of Hyrule Castle, and they're looking out at the Tower of the Gods, which Ganondorf is in the process of destroying. In the background, the Tower of the Gods is rising into a dark and stormy sky.

Zelda is in her late twenties, and she's wearing a long white dress with long white sleeves linked to her middle fingers with silver rings. The dress has a bold geometric triangle motif characteristic of many flapper dresses of the 1920s. I love the idea of Hylia being visually characterized by feathers, so Zelda's dress features a scaled triangle pattern on the sleeves. Also, the entire garment glows, because ~magic~. Speaking of magic, Lightsintheskye posted a fantastic tutorial video explaining how she achieved such a sparkly glow effect in Photoshop.

Meanwhile, Ganondorf is rocking the evil wizard look, with dark armor and a dramatic cape. While Zelda is visually distinguished by neat and orderly straight lines and a color palette of white and gold, Ganondorf's visual motif is a messy arabesque pattern of flowing circular swirls with a color palette of black and red. Also, there is more glowing, because ~*~magic~*~

Ganondorf and Zelda have a surprisingly cordial relationship in this era, and they're talking calmly and rationally like adults. Still, Ganondorf is justifiably upset about the imperial expansion of Hyrule and the Social Darwinist ideology of a Hylian master race that drives and supports it. Ganondorf is genre savvy well versed in the reality underlying Hyrule's mythology and knows that he's going to be killed by a hero soon, so he's trying to convince Zelda to carry on his work of dismantling Hyrule's grossly unequal social systems after he's gone.

There isn't any romantic tension in this scene; but, when I noticed that the wind is blowing Ganondorf's cape toward Zelda in the illustration, almost cradling her as it forms a barrier between her and the tower, it gave me a weird feeling. I was like, What is this weird feeling?? And then I was like, Oh........ I ship it.

I think that, at this point, I don't even necessarily ship Zelda and Ganondorf anymore; I'm just interested to see where their story goes as I explore their characters. I've been watching a lot of cut scenes from the games to make sure that I'm not making either of them too OOC in this AU, but it's still a delicate balance between interpretation and original creation, and I still feel like I'm hammering out the details. This is one of the reasons why it's so incredible for me to see Lightsintheskye's visual portrayals of these characters, which cut through the nonsense of my half-formed ideas to illuminate clear and sharp visions of who they are and what they represent.

I love Zelda's facial expression and body language, which convey that she is both open and guarded at the same time. I also love how Ganondorf is clearly menacing yet still respectful of Zelda's personal space. It's cool how the details of his face express that he is very, very tired yet still determined to see this awful thing that he's doing through until the end. These are such specific situational expressions, yet the artist captures them perfectly. This is definitely a painting where every single brushstroke contributes to the story told by the image, and it's incredible.

The characters' clothing is also amazing. The softly glowing nodes on Ganondorf's armor are interesting, but it's even more interesting that the nodes on his headdress are turned off when he's speaking to Zelda, which helps to suggest that he's approaching her as a person instead of as a warlord. Meanwhile, everything about Zelda's dress practically screams sharpness, from the scalloped triangles to the diamond sparkles, so the contrast of the soft pearl accents is fascinating both in the visual effect it creates and in the way it hints at the complications of her character.

The juxtaposition of visual elements in the entire composition of the image is incredible. My favorite is the contrast between the delicate and civilized filigree of the railing and the blunt and primal shape of the tower, but even the more subtle contrasts, such as that created by the warring red and black in the sky, are striking. The contrast between the terrible inferno and the gorgeous backlighting makes the piece even more compelling. It's easy for me to write something like "the white line of the tower rose into a black sky stained with red," but actually being able to convey the sort of atmosphere this is supposed to create is an entirely different magnitude of talent and creativity.

I set this painting as the lock screen on my iPad, and I never get tired of looking at it. Honestly, it's beyond brilliant, and it probably belongs in a museum.

Comments

[lassarina]

Oh gosh this is absolutely gorgeous!

[rynling]

ISN'T IT THOUGH.

I still feel like a pretentious asshole for paying someone to illustrate my shipping trash fanfic, but it has absolutely been worth it for me. These illustrations have been like rocket fuel for my creative inspiration - so much so that, when I start writing original fiction, I fully intend to be even more ridiculously self-indulgent and pay people to draw my OCs.

Meanwhile, I'm going to take a break from writing in order to level up my own skill in visual art. I love fanfic so much, and one day I'd like to be able to illustrate other people's stories without embarrassing anyone in the process. I'm not there yet, but one day...!

[lassarina]

Okay but what else is money for if not to give us things that make us happy? You got a thing you love, an artist gets to eat, everybody wins.

one day!! I too would like to learn to art, but I just stare at blank paper/screens like "I know what I want to do but I have less than no idea how to make it happen, FUCK."