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Just a quick note, if you were following me on Instagram: they disabled my account. Apparently I violated their terms of service. NO idea how, since literally all I ever did on there was post art, but that’s what they said and there’s no way to contact them.

The only way to appeal it would have been to give them a selfie and a copy of my passport, which given Meta/Facebook’s history, was NOT happening. So the account’s gone, and I probably won’t be on Instagram anymore because I doubt they’ll let me make a new one. Mildly annoying since quite a lot of people followed me on there and I have no way of even letting them know what happened.

But I just wanted to give an update if you were following me on there, or know anyone who was!

A princess on her way to learning how to become a dragon. Digital work | 2014.

dragon, –n
1. a mythical monster usually represented as breathing fire and having a scaly reptilian body, wings, claws, and a long tail
2. a fierce or intractable person, esp. a woman

*  *  *

Fear widened the eyes of the princess as she stared at the dragon, but a small spark of defiance lifted her chin. “Why have you captured me?”

“Captured?” The dragon’s scoff sent two puffs of smoke steaming from her nostrils. “I’ve set you free.”

“Set me free?” said the princess. “You took me as a toll!”

“I took you from the kinds of people who would sacrifice their princess to a dragon in order to save their own lives,” the dragon shot back. The princess fell silent as the memory sent anger boiling through her veins.

“Now you have a choice,” the dragon went on. “You can sit and wait for that royal idiot to brave the danger and rescue you. Or…” She drew nearer, and this time the princess did not shrink back in fear. “Or I can teach you how to become like me, and you will never be at the mercy of others again.”

The princess frowned. “I am not a dragon.”

“How do you think dragons came to be? Once, we were nightmares, a fear of shadow and flame. The one thing everyone fears. The one thing that could keep those who would harm a defenceless, innocent girl at bay. So she took it for her own, she became it, and she passed on what she knew to others who needed it. Just like I will now pass it onto you, if you want.”

The princess thought back to the sacrifice, and beyond that, to all the times she had been ordered around, passed over, leered at, talked about as if she wasn’t there. She thought about the prince who might come to save her, and take her for his own as if she were a prize at a tournament. And she smiled.

He would come, and she would be ready.

“Show me,” she said.

*  *  *

Inspired by a post I saw on Tumblr a while ago about how dragons are not born, but taught. Who ever said that when the dragon takes you, you need saving?

Digital work | 2014.

Character portrait of an elven huntress. Digital work | 2014.

A character portrait of an elven huntress, inspired very loosely by The Hobbit. She’s not a Tolkien elf, I just had the idea for this after watching the film.

WIPs:

The pencil sketch which served as a base for the painting. Basic colours, shadows, textures etc, all done digitially.I expanded the canvas to show more of her costume and the quiver.

Digital work | 2014.

Illustration for a story about a woman whose lover has been imprisoned in a tower out in the sea. Colour pencils on pastel paper | 24 x 32 cm | 2013.

My entry for this month’s Draw-Along challenge, drawing this lovely reference by GretaTu. I changed it a little and added a background. If you’re curious about the story: she’s looking out across the sea, towards the tower where her lover is imprisoned, wrongfully accused of murder…

WIP:

In-progress photo of "I Will Find You".

Polychromos pencils on dark grey Mi-Teinte pastel paper | 24 x 32 cm | 2013