Here's some more about my wip original story "Of Dragons and Unicorns" (prepare for an essay long info dump). Thank you @catkin-morgs for asking about it!
I originally started this idea around 2017 and it was completely different. It was about the princess, still named Sylvia, who was led to a crashed dragon by her horse during a ride. The dragon gives her an egg to take care of, which shocks Sylvia because she didn't think dragons existed. The egg hatches and she has to keep it a secret from this visiting kingdom but little does she know, the kingdom secretly has dragons. There was also a love triangle between the Sylvia, the prince, and this horse breeder that wore a mask for some reason??? I don't know, young me was obsessed with love triangles.
Then sometime around 2021 I decided to revamp the idea. I wanted to make every kingdom have a mythical creature and since I'm a horse girl I made Sylvia's kingdom the unicorn kingdom. She also has a brother who she used to be close to until he married into and became king of the pegasus kingdom. So she's pretty lonely since she's a judgmental introvert and thinks other royal kids are boring; her only friends are the stable keeper and the unicorns he keeps (there isn't a love story between them, the stable keeper is happily married). Sylvia laments about being betrothed to the prince of the dragon kingdom, Crown Prince of Drakes, Eluard. She doesn't know him since they met once when they were around 4-5 years old and when she was 10-ish she tired to reach out to him via letter but she never got one back. So the only things she knows about Eluard are rumors people tell about him, like how he tamed his first dragon at 2 years old and that dragons feared him. But she thinks he's a pompous jerk because the portraits he sends annually depict him as an emotionless and cold. But when the dragon royalty arrive for her debutante ball, she sees that Eluard looks nothing like his portraits (i.e. kind, freckled, tall, more stout than jacked). He's either super formal with her or gets nervous, especially when his brother tries to play match maker to get him and Sylvia closer. That only leads to Eluard getting more distant to Sylvia which makes her think that he was just trying to trick her with a first impression. She resents him up until her debutante ball where the two dance and she freaks out because she does not want to get married. She excuses herself then escapes into the garden. While she's trying to calm herself down, Eluard comes out to check on her. This causes her to go off on him and basically rant about the awful person she thinks he is until she can't breathe. Eluard then asks what he did to make her think all that because he was trying his hardest to abide by her kingdoms customs and she tells him that he showed who he was all the way back when he didn't answer her letter. Lo and behold, Eluard did write her back but his letter got lost in the mail so he thought that he came off too strong in the letter and scared Sylvia off. Sylvia is shocked as her preconceived notions come crashing down around her, so the two of them sit in the garden and get to know each other. Originally, this part ended with the two becoming pen pals and starting to grow a friendship.
That's where I originally stopped writing, but I planned on this story idea to be two books: one taking place in Sylvia's kingdom while the other takes place in Eluard's kingdom. The second one would be about a year later after the two had kept up with one another, where Sylvia would be moving to the dragon kingdom. Since the two of them are more friendly, Eluard shows her around the castle/the towns around the castle and introduces her to a bunch of people and dragons. It becomes clear to her that his people adore him and he adores his people. At a party celebrating her arrival, Eluards estranged twin brother crashes the party to mock his family and meet Sylvia. He eventually gets chased off and Eluard has to sit Sylvia down to explain the whole curse thing to her. She's surprised but accepts that it doesn't change who he is. Then at some point while Eluard and her were out for a scenic ride they get attacked by the brother and his crew of dragons and they steal Sylvia. Sylvia, however, hates the brother more than she fears him and makes his life a living hell until Eluard comes to try to save her. The brother gives her up instantly and idk they live happily ever after. I haven't really thought about the second one too much, those are just some ideas I have for it.
My inspiration for the unicorn kingdom is a usual vague European fantasy world that most fantasy stories take place in. There are a ton of different unicorn species like nocturnal ones aside from the ones that have obviously been selectively bred. For the dragon kingdom, however, I wanted it to be like a fantasy wild west with cowboys and bandits and dragons instead of horses. I got a lot of inspiration for the terrain from a trip to South Dakota because I just fell in love with all the nature and different biomes like the the black hills and badlands. I imagine that the capital would be in a badlands like area where the castle was carved from one of the huge rock formations like this one
For Eluard's dragon, I wanted him to have a Drake (wingless dragon) because I imagine he has a fear of flying because his twin dropped him once while he was flying (brother's curse gives him dragon wings, Eluard's doesn't). I see him having a huge drake that looks intimidating but is literally his best friend. I envision the drake kinda looking like a bison, but I couldn't make it look the way I wanted to. Here are some sketches I made, but none of them really felt right
While I'm on the topic of sketches, I have drawn Eluard and Sylvia a few times in the past to help get a good picture of them in my head.
This was the first drawing I made all the way back in 2021. I knew I wanted Sylvia to have a graceful and elegant look to her to contradict how snippy and blunt she is. Her look doesn't change a whole lot in my drawings since her look is simple yet effective. I kinda want to redesign her to contradict Eluard more, but I haven't had the motivation to work on this story.
Eluard, on the other hand, changes quite a bit through my drawings. At first I didn't really know how I wanted him to look, so I went for a regular modern-ish southern cowboy (he does have an accent). I don't really like this one, he looks too young and not as rowdy as he actually is.
This is another design for Eluard (far right). I went for more of a bull rider look because he enjoys training and riding rowdy dragons that other people are too scared to ride. He's just a dumb guy who isn't afraid of pain, basically a himbo but book smart. Still didn't have the vibe I wanted, I wanted him a bit chubbier to look more like a strong man instead of a body builder.
The middle character is Eluards brother, Oswald. He's crafty, quiet, and is determined to help his brother woo Sylvia. This leads to him overstepping and trying to rush things, but he means well. He's just an ambitious kid. He didn't give off a cowboy vibe in this version, just kind of like a standard fantasy prince.
The character on the left got cut from the (for now) final version of the story. He's supposed to be a witch in training that knows way too much about flora and herbs. He was going to be Oswald's love interest, but he doesn't really fit in the world anymore and I don't want to force him in.
This is where I started getting a good idea of what I wanted Eluard to look like. He's a big tall guy that sturdy-looking, like it would take a lot to knock him over. I also leaned more into a western pleasure like style for his formal clothes. In these pictures (besides the one where he's shirtless) I drew them first meeting where he kisses her hand (I really needed to work on my side-profiles). The top two drawings are of Eluard trying to shut his brother up as he says something embarrassing then talking to Sylvia to explain that his brother was talking nonsense. I wanted him to have some unprincely "imperfections" like freckles and a chipped tooth he got after a dragon headbutted him. He also has a bunch of scars from wrestling and handling different dragons.
I also realized I wanted Eluard and his kingdom to have an indigenous American inspiration, specifically from the Lakota tribe since (from my research) they were one of the tribes that used to inhabit the badlands. I still like this idea, but I'm also terrified of accidentally depicting something offensive on accident. Because I can do all the research I possibly can but I can never know everything about the culture since I'm not apart of it. I want to be respectful of Lakota culture and include some sort of indigenous representation since it's a big part of western cowboy media.
So I really got into drawing Eluard for a while because I just fell in love with his design. I decided to make bolo ties the important piece of clothing much like a crown to help show status based on what was carved inside it. I lost my idea for the royal emblem meant to be carved into Eluard's and Oswald's bolos. Also, I gave Eluard a cane because I also gave him ~hip pain~, he got thrown around by a nasty bucking dragon and ended up injuring his left hip (inspired by my own horseback riding injuries).
I also drew Oswald, I'm still not sure what to do with his design but I was getting close in this one. I didn't draw him a whole lot all in all, but I think he turned out fine. His essential design element to me is the little snake-like dragon around neck that's his companion. He always has the wyrm with him because its his little sidekick and emotional support dragon.
In the other picture where Eluard is shirtless (I realize I have drawn him twice shirtless) I don't know what 2022 me was on but she was really working on drawing dude torsos. I think I was trying to imagine how he'd look muscle wise since he wouldn't not have muscles. He works closely with big dangerous dragons, he needs to be able to hold his own. But I honestly believe that a prince like him wouldn't care to cut his muscles, he needs the fat to help protect his organs. And there's nothing wrong with being a bigger strong guy, not every strong guy has to be defined like a body builder.
Also Sylvia being shy seeing him shirtless lol.
Again, really obsessed with drawing Eluard. I already felt pretty solid on how Sylvia looked, so I was really focused on getting his characteristics down.
In the upper left corner is Eluard with his curse starting to flair up. He gets scales coming from his pores, claws, and his pupils change shape. He gets really defensive in this state because he's afraid he might hurt someone while he's in it because he knows first hand how dangerous dragons can be.
Speaking of that, in the upper right picture is after a particularly rough fight with a dragon. Eluard isn't phased by pain, at least that's what he wants people to think because he hates it when people worry about him. Idk something about independence i guess.
In the bottom left, Eluard is hugging his drake. I was giving the drake's design another try but gave up. Also emphasizing how close the two are because I imagine dragons don't enjoy hugs and stuff because it can come off as a dominating action.
The bottom right is a little doodle of Eluard defending Sylvia from something. I don't know what, but something.
This is the first look at Eluard's estranged twin. I wanted him to really lean into the whole dragon thing and use it as an excuse to be wild and not take responsibility for his destructive tantrums. It's kind of cut off but he's saying "Y'know, if I wasn't disowned you'd be betrothed to me."
The Sylvia next to him is her reaction to him. I don't know why I gave her a Padme Amadala looking fit, but there she is. In response to Eluard's twin she said, "Aren't we glad that never happened."
In the bottom right corner there's a little doodle of Eluard and Sylvia dancing. Probably in the garden after Sylvia's meltdown when they hear a song they both like. Just very fun and enjoying each other's presence for the first time without fear of judgment. Also wanted to once again highlight their height difference. Sylvia's like 5'4 and Eluard's around 6'2.
Also another attempt at the bison drake. Literal nightmare fuel, he looks peeled.
Last but not least, a little comic thing I made about the twin crashing Sylvia's party. I really like the twin's design, but hated drawing all the scales. It's hard to decide where they should end on the skin because I don't want them to cover everything but I want it to kind of act like an armor. Also fun wings, spiky. I had fun drawing this, I like the contrast in how the brothers look at one another. Eluard with fear and surprise while the twin (he still doesn't have a name yet) looks excited. Ooo, the tension!
But, in the end, this is an unfinished idea. I have so many other doodles in notebook margins that I can't find, these were just the big ones. I'm honestly not married to any of the names, the only reason I kept them is because those were the names I used in the original 2017 story. I'm open to any suggestions you may have. And if you made it this far, kudos! I know I wouldn't have lol. If you have any questions or comments about this, please let me know!
