In the 15th century poem "The Parliament of the Three Ages", Sir Gawain manages to survive the battle of Camlann and becomes the one that throws Excalibur to the lake. That's a rather interesting twist, seeing as it is traditionally Sir Bedivere the one who throws the sword away (as well as being one of the survivors).
References
Gardner, J. (1971). The alliterative Morte Arthure, The owl and the nightingale, and five other Middle English poems in a modernized version. Southern Illinois University Press. https://archive.org/details/alliterativemort00dver
I chose the Grail because I'm Captain Obvious. But I hope that giving it to Lady Kundry (la Mauvaise Pucelle, Orgeluse, l'Orgueilleuse de Logres) is slightly less obvious.
I'm continuing with these, but I'm very much behind and none of the pictures I've done are particularly 'finished'. I'm just sketching... Number 4 is currently in the works; I still have to start on 5 and 6. The set palettes are a real struggle - I feel like I don't know how to use them and am just slapping colours on without understanding why.
Anyway: have an Arthur, with his heir Gawain (and his heir's faithful horse Gringolet, of course!).
Note: The Following are some pictures I've scavenge online. They may not necessarily be realistic, but then again, its proof that artists never cared about "realism"
BTW, fun fact: from what I've researched, Medieval Noblewomen did participate in hunting trips.
And when they did, the most popular hunting tools for women are spears and clubs.
... I'm honestly not sure how to explain the 'reigniness' of this picture, but - I dunno, this Earthy Arthur just popped into my head. It's not as finished as I would like, but time is up and I have to get on to the next drawing (Gawain!! 😍).
My colour palette isn't entirely correct, but as I don't work digitally, I'm having to match each set colour with what I have in my colour pencil collection. (It's oddly unsettling to me to have to use preset colours - I nearly gave up 😅! I mean, there's NO BLUE and NO RED; it is profoundly disturbing...)
My track record for challenges is disastrous, so let's see where this goes.
March to Camelot: an arthurian palette challenge for March 2026
When: March 1st to 31st
Rules: The objective is to try to draw something Arthurian inspired by each word prompt using the palette provided. This could be anything from a full illustration to a character design, but it must be a drawing or illustration of some kind (animations are also acceptable but no moodboards). You have 5 days to complete each prompt, except for the last prompt where you get 6 days.
The intention behind this challenge was always to get people making art that engages with Medieval literature and lets them play with their own interpretations of Arthuriana. To that end I'm afraid this year I am asking people not to submit fanart of Merlin BBC or other popular modern adaptations since that is not the point of this challenge. If you're looking for Arthurian inspiration I can recommend checking out the @arthurianpreservationproject, which has lots of resources for texts including an intro to Arthuriana.
Finally, remember to tag your work #march to camelot or @ me so I can reblog and share your work. Happy drawing!
... I was thinking of all the drab medieval costumes in TV shows as I was colouring this. So painful. Owain is a prince. He has colours and bling, thank you very much. (I only hinted at embroidery because this drawing is a bit small, I couldn't add much more detail.)
Adar/Birds prompt from @gingersnaptaff 's Mabinogion Madness 🐦⬛.
So - I was really looking forward to @gingersnaptaff 's (thanks, @taliesin-the-bored 😅) #MabinogionMadness, and to be fair, I have several works-in-progress going - but it's September 30 today and all I can offer right now is a simple pencil drawing of Owain and a raven.
I'm thinking of continuing with the Mabinogion theme through Drawtober (Mabinober? Octogion?) because it's just the sort of thing I love and I haven't found another October prompt list that's in my wheelhouse.
Anyway. This is A6 size (9×14 cm) and drawn with a mechanical pencil because I couldn't find my colour pencil in my bag :p. I heightened it a bit with a white felt tip by way of experiment (and I rather like it).
S'mae! Hi! Thought it would be fun to do a lil Mabinogion-inspired prompt event for September because The Mab bangs and imo Welsh mythology doesn't get enough attention. Please don't feel like you have to do every single prompt and also the texts are just for flavour, they're not rigid. Have fun, go ham, read whatever translation of The Mabinogion, The Triads, and other Welsh myth media your heart desires!
So, THE RULES
No AI. Period. Please don't use it, that isn't what this event is about. Plus, it's inaccurate.
You can do anything you want! Music playlists (I mean. maybe not for all of them. Pigs might be a bit of a stretch!) drabbles, fics, drawings, moodboards, anything!!!!
Welsh submissions are absolutely encouraged!!!!!!
The event will start from the Sunday 14th of September and run until the end of September but it's not rigid!!! (If you have things that won't be ready until October then still post them! 😊)
Welsh mythology-adjacent stuff (like Alan Garner's 'The Owl Service,' Lloyd Alexander's 'The Chronicles of Prydain,' and Thomas Love Peacock's 'The Misfortunes of Elphin,' to name a few) is also encouraged!
Tag your stuff with #mabinogionmadness so I can see it!
The prompts are as follows:
DŴR/WATER "He took on the sea's nature and swam as well as the best fish in the sea.” - Math fab Mathonwy
2. CEFFYLAU/HORSES “After that, the knight who owned the pavilion arrived- he was the Proud One of the Clearing. And he saw the horse's tracks.” - Peredur fab Efrawg
3. ADAR/BIRDS "They that wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.” - Branwen ferch Llŷr
4. CEWRI/GIANTS “You stupid men! Throughout the world people know that it is the fort of Ysbaddaden Bencawr.” - Culhwch ac Olwen
5. PEIRAN/CAULDRONS "The property of the cauldron is that if you throw into it one of your men who is killed today, then by tomorrow he will be as good as ever except that he will not be able to speak." - Branwen ferch Llŷr
6. CENHADAETHAU/QUESTS “When Llefelys heard that the king of France had died without leaving an heir, apart from one daughter, and had left the kingdom in her hands, he came to Lludd his brother to ask him for advice and support, not only for his own benefit, but also in an attempt to increase the honour and dignity and status of his people by going to the kingdom of France to seek that maiden as his wife.” - Lludd ac Llefelys
7. BREHINOEDD/KINGS “Where do you come from?” said the knight.
“I come from Arthur's court,” he said. - Peredur ap Efrawg
8. CŴN/DOGS “One morning Pryderi and Manawydan get up to hunt; they get their dogs ready and leave the court.” - Manawydan fab Llŷr (Third Branch of the Mabinogi)
9. TRYSOR/TREASURE "The floors of the hall he imagined to be of pure gold, with golden couches and silver tables. On a couch facing him he saw two young, auburn-haired lads playing gwyddbwyll." - The Dream of Macsen Wledig
10. BLWYDDYN A DIWRNOD/A YEAR AND A DAY “But a year from tonight, a feast will be prepared in this court when vou, friend, shall sleep with me.” - Pwyll Pen Annwfn (First Branch of the Mabinogi)
11. MOCH/PIGS “And out of fear of the pigs the queen gave birth. And the swineherd took the boy until he came to court.” - Culhwch ac Olwen
12. MORYNION/MAIDENS "If I could choose from all the women and maidens in the world, it is you that I would choose.” - Pwyll Pen Annwfn (First Branch of the Mabinogi)
13. GWYDD/TREES “Alder, front of the line, formed the vanguard. Willow and Rowan were late to the fray.” - Cad Goddeu
14. TRIOEDD/TRIADS - FREE PICK
'And so ends this branch of the Mabinogion.'
So, again: Select however many prompts you want. Do them however you wanna do them. You can post ur first prompt on the 14th of September so u can get a few under your belt before then! If you want to do all of them you can but don't feel like you have to! As Rhiannon mignt've said: 'Journey on your own errand, babes!'
You should take life advice from her, believe me. 🙂↕️🙂↕️🙂↕️
Anyways, hwyl fawr!!!! If u have any questions don't hesitate to ask me!!! 🙂↕️🙂↕️🙂↕️🙂↕️ Cannot wait to see ur lovely works!!!!!
Would love to! I'm extremely unproductive though, so we'll see where I get 😅. But the more Mabinogion, the better! I also wish my Welsh would amount to anything at all, but um, it's sad. It's a work in progress.
Sharing for now.
(Learning to draw pigs has been on my to-do list for a while now.)
Getting back to my Gawain comic, finally! I made a very pleasant discovery: I found pages 105 and 106 all sketched out in my previous sketchbook 😆 - I'd completely forgotten that I'd done that. It's only because I leafed through the old sketchbook before shelving it that I saved myself double work. I *was* working on page 107 thinking it was page 105, then looking through my notes because it seemed like I skipped a passage.
... Hiatuses will do that. Thank goodness I checked my sketchbook 😄.
I want it to be reasonably authentic-looking, and I think that means I'll have to figure out some tricks to reduce bulk. And also, a way to suggest chainmail while making sure it's light enough.
My Gingalain is a Dollmore Theo, sculpted by my favourite doll artist: Gu Mi-Jung (Mydolling). I'm so nervous about doing this doll justice that I have been procrastinating over his costume for aaaaaaaages 😭.
(I think his face-up is one of the best I've ever done; I'm still proud of it.)
