y's art blog

yara • portfolio @ yaraelfouly.com • insta @yaraef • side blog to share my art! Mainly fantasy and fanart!

[yaraef]

I'm continuing down memory lane with Quest for Camelot, and inadvertently slipped and stumbled on what-if-Ruber-was-the-protagonist? I guess? Why did he come out looking like that... ദ്ദി ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ )

I did read Vera Chapman's The King's Damosel when I learned the film was 'inspired' by it a loooong while back, and it's... something alright. As an aside, Kayley's thought bubble is in direct reference to the book.

Note: Given how I drew Ruber, let me confess this... Ruber's nails genuinely upset me, and since I have the power to draw them more nicely manicured, I shall whole-heartedly make use of it and extend it to bringing down his hairline juuuuust a bit. Juuuust.

Not-so secret note: Knights of the Round Table are messy.

[yaraef]

⟡˙⋆ I (roughly...) cleaned and colored some sketches I'd done when revisiting Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper last weekend. I thought I'd add a side-by-side this time before I post my next walk down memory lane (hint: two-headed dragon) ⋆˙⟡

[yaraef]

A walk down memory lane has led me to present to you Lord Preminger and his Knickknacks. (I'm today year's old when I learned the two goons ~I say, affectionately~ are named Nick and Nack.)

[yaraef]

Meanwhile, a random story thing from the vault. (Ruritanian vibes just come knocking sometimes~ ⊹ ࣪ ˖)

[yaraef]

Ever since I drew Legolas as a baby gremlin, I wanted to follow up with the idea of him as an orc/half-orc. And so, the idea of Elf! Legolas and Orc! Leg'Olas sprung, though I'm not sure how they became siblings... haha...? (Maybe it's because I like the chaotic energy generated from having an orc as part of the fellowship...!!? It would be nice *green* energy, lolololol.)

[yaraef]

When one offers a humble suggestion and crosses the path of someone with a fraternity's worth of suggestions...

Side note: It's becoming a pattern that whenever I post something LOTR related after a break from it, it's usually because something frustrating happened in my life and I use the proverbial lemons to make metaphorical eyedrops... ദ്ദി╥ ᴗ ╥)

Having said that, shout out to "The Council of Elrond" and "The Ring Goes South" chapters from the book for making me grin when I went over how the Fellowship forms. Bilbo enthusiastically volunteering as tribute? Elrond throwing shade at Pippin and saying "my heart is against his going," like??? And then Pippin's response???? "You will have to lock me in prison, or send me home tied in a sack" !!!

[yaraef]

Back in March, I found a stash of very rough sketches I'd made after reading T. Kingfisher's A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. I've since been working on and off on seeing the sketches through to some sort of conclusion, aaaaand this is it.

Note: Take these illustrations as if they were for a fanfic with an alternate ending, in which Oberon and the Spring Green Man are redeemed (somehow) and take Mona and Spindle under their wing and teach them bureaucracy or something... A crazy take given the events in the book, but in my post-reading notes I had a whole page dedicated to deconstructing the motivations and methods of the antagonists. In an alternate universe, maybe I'd be a video essayist covering middle grade fantasy book politics... but I'll have to accept being in the struggling artist timeline.

As as an aside, I wanted to share some bts stuff...

In the third illustration, I adapted the painting Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo Da Vinci into a niche reference to Meggie and the horned marten, Gwin, from Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I can probably attribute my love for fantasy back to this book. I'd daydream about being transported into books all the time. Goodness, I still do...

Also, iirc, I posted a wip of the third illustration some time ago but it now has a different color palette. Tbh, one of the reasons I've been sitting on these for quite a while is because I've never felt quite satisfied with the colors. I've been leaning towards more 'naturalistic' color palettes lately but also...

I was not sure who I was doing this for beyond just me pouring back the good energy I felt reading the source material into drawing. Thinking of making and sharing art as my little messages in a bottle I throw into the digital sea helps? Kind of? Hopefully there's another defensive baking reader out there that was thinking about a redeemed Oberon and Spring Green Man lol... May this find you!

[yaraef]

' "The sea did not want me. If you do not want me, maybe Peri will." '

From The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip.

I wanted to sneak in some kind of MerMay before the month is over by drawing a loose adaptation of a moment from one of the most magical books I've read. It can make you smell the salty breeze and feel sand tickling your toes while stuck in bed with nasal congestion.

[yaraef]

Summer is finally here! And with it, is this thought: Do you know how Ty Lee has the Kyoshi Warriors? What if... What if Mai has the Freedom Fighters? *twiddles my thumbs*

P.S. Again... Jet is sporting a mark on his forehead because of the big rock that may or may not have dealt a mortal blow. Shrugs with eyebrows raised this time. "You know, it was really unclear."

[yaraef]

This started from an idea of non-benders opening up an academy... and then I'm not sure what happened...

P.S. Jet has a mark on his forehead now because of that big rock that may or may not have been a mortal blow. Shrugs. "You know, it was really unclear."

[yaraef]

Nature/nurture, duty/desire, fate/free will and all the things that make me want to give fictional characters hugs...

[yaraef]

Is the Avatar captured or did the Avatar do the capturing? . ₊˚⊹

[yaraef]

I was conflicted on what the size of the pendant should be... In the end, I just thought: Why not? Go big or...

[yaraef]

Good morning, "I-Rise-With-The-Sun." (Some Zuko sketches under the cut...)

I had the thought that I would never forgive myself unless I drew a close up of long-haired Zuko at least once in my life... lol. But I was very conflicted about what kind of hairstyling to go for, so I ended up going with the *timeless* bedhead look for the colored sketch...

[yaraef]

Of course, I've been seeing a lot of ATLA on my timeline (because the craziest thing happened?!?!?) and since I've only seen the news about the film and I'm currently brooding about animal companions, I wanted to draw Appa for some comfort. (A big Appa and a small "appa!" that the Gaang presumably find). I'd like to think flying bison are like mola mola (sunfish), in which they start out really small and then grow relatively very large.

[yaraef]

To the lazy days that are like hiding procrastination under a rug...

[yaraef]

Ok... So I tagged dragon earlier, but upon some reflection (specifically, thinking about those bird-like wings) griffin would probably be more fitting?

I clearly have too much time on my hands to be thinking about this, and also that I don't have a degree in cryptozoology...

[yaraef]

To the lazy days that are like hiding procrastination under a rug...