amphigoury | ART: BELOW THE DARKSOME YEW

Title: Art for "Below the Darksome Yew"
Characters: Merlin, Arthur, Kilgharrah, OMCs
Art Rating: G
Art Warnings: A little bit of Merlin whump

Story Summary: The Tyrant King Uther Pendragon would have had Emrys under his thumb until the end of his days but for one mistake: the execution of Camelot's Seer Witch. Driven mad with a lust for Pendragon blood, Emrys will not rest until Uther's dynasty is broken and Camelot forever changed, and he will use all the fury of the last living dragon to do so.

Alone and unaided, Arthur Pendragon knows he will never have the strength to stop Emrys, nor the power to slay the dragon Kilgharrah. But there's a reason the Druids speak of the glory of the prophesied Trio: It is only with the unity of Courage, Strength, and Magic that Camelot will be saved.

Story link: Read the Story!!

Artist's notes: I would like to thank

inheritedjeans for writing such a visually compelling story. There were so many scenes that I would've liked to have tackled - such great stuff! Big thanks and squishy hugs to

the_muppet for the amazing mod work she puts in every year for this community - you are AMAZEBALLS! And a very special big glompy thanks to my trusty beta

altocello , without whom I'd be crying in a corner with my art mistakes. Thank you also to the #paperlegends chat gang for the cheers and humour!

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin; BBC and Shine do. No copyright infringement intended, no profits were made. I DO own the art though, and request that you do NOT repost it anywhere without my permission. Now rebloggable on my Tumblr and deviantART (1, 2).

~~~~

THE HUNT

Really, it was perfectly reasonable for him to have fired on the raptor. After all, they hadn’t known what it was going to do. Not natural, to be flying about so close to where the hounds were roaming, and if it didn’t fear hounds, who’s to say it wouldn’t have carried off with the pheasant? Mangled that fine feathered gloss and spoiled Aeron’s hunt?

But the reasons don’t matter anymore. For as soon as the raptor was hit – and it was with a fine shot, if Aeron did say so himself, and never mind the scolding of the gamekeeper, because Aeron didn’t believe in bad luck, and certainly not for something as silly as shooting down a bird, regardless of what type – it began spiraling to the ground, and as it did –

“Hail Mary, full of grace – ”

– it twisted and grew, wings becoming arms, and (hail Mary, Mother of God) feathers shrinking into smooth skin, cloak flowing out from the clasp at his throat, smashing hard into the ground on its – his – back.

The hunt had begun so normally. How did it turn so strange?

Notes on "The Hunt"
This little comedic scene caught my eye early on. I sort of took some artistic liberty with the crashing into the tree and Merlin's faceplant.

I don't consider myself to be very good at character design and creating original characters and all that, but I tried my hand at Aeron and ~~George~~ James and I thought it turned out pretty good. The descriptions in the story was of a noble with a crossbow and a tired old gamekeeper with a crossbow. I knew I wouldn't be using their lower bodies in the comic, so they don't have a lot of detail. And sadly, James' horn and knife didn't make it into the comic.

I really wanted to draw them poking Merlin with a stick right after..... SUCH VISUAL GOLD!!!!!

THE LAST FIRST SON

Fire bursts heavy and loud from the dragon’s throat, raw and white and cracking the air with its heat. Arthur has the barest sliver of time before it hits him and he spends it staring over at Emrys, who had once – years ago – stepped between a blazing column of angry inferno and Arthur without pause and who now stands to the side, statue still but for the flap of his black cloak in the fire-wind. His eyes are wide and lit with fire-glow or magic – Arthur doesn’t know which, but he hopes that Emrys has enough good in him yet to stop another man from burning alive – and his gaze is fixed on the curling fingers of fire pealing from between Kilgharrah’s teeth. Pealing, spreading, pooling and twisting and flowing so fast.

Arthur snaps his tower shield up (and why hadn’t he had any tower shields equipped before, in the clearing where his men were burnt to snapping brands of bone?) and kneels in one smooth motion. Heat hits the metal with a punch and spreads, fleet and fierce, clawing hooks into Arthur’s hands where they clench so tight at the leather strappings.

Notes on "The Last First Son"
I re-read this scene at the last minute and was struck with the mighty need to draw some batshitcrazy!Kilgharrah breathing fire like whoa!

That's it! Tune in August 16th for my second Paperlegends posting!

Please remember to not repost any of my art without my permission first. The art can be found on my tumblr and on deviantART (1, 2).

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

alby-mangroves.livejournal.com

WOW AMPH!! The comic is fantastic for movement and flow, and you've done a brilliant job of pacing out the whole scene, frame by delicious frame! I love the mid-air transfiguration and Merlin's faceplant (OF COURSE HE FACEPLANTS LOLL) and the stunned looks of the hunters. All brilliant, against that lush backdrop of the tree, leading eyes down to the end of Merlin's journey to the ground. Fantastic.

And nobody goes fire and light effects like you - Kilgharrah is awesome and looks righteously pissed off! DIE PESKY HUMAN!

This is such a great set, congrats and well done! <333

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Life + Art = Low Investment Return

ART: BELOW THE DARKSOME YEW

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