Hello,

This piece started as a seascape: shoreline, water and a castle in the distance. But, it just didn't feel right so I started to erase a couple of things, and by doing that I found a new idea to work with.

I don't think I've ever worked longer on a digital piece, for it took me a couple of weeks, with non-stop days in it. Actually I've been a couple of times really close in tossing it away...
That hand holding the lantern was só difficult!

Especially because the position of the lantern and the hand didn't quite work out as I had hoped. So now it isn't anatomically correct, but I'm so happy with how it looks that I decided to let it rest...

The fairies came in at a later stage. From the beginning I wanted to place a fairy inside the lantern. But I found that it almost looked liked she was trapped in there. And the female holding the lantern (Ailin: which means Noble in Irish) doesn't feel like someone who would trap fairies, so that didn't fit in the image…

I decided on a different angle: What if the fairies were going to perform some kind of ceremony? For perhaps Ailin had to make an important decision and was unable to make it without the help and guidance of her small friends. So she picked up the magic lantern, closed her eyes and started to mentally call them and explain her situation…

I've tried to give each fairy a task or attitude that shows a bit of it's character. The fairy inside the lantern is innocent and pure and feels a bit like the young empress in The never ending Story. She is the first to answer Ailin's call for help, but is not quite sure how to do this. The fairy nearest to her is a more wise fairy, that starts with observing Ailin and her problem: she is the fairy who will listen, and think, before answering. Then we have the 'teacher' and the 'student' who is holding the ceremonial attributes. Well ... don't know if someone else would see it like me, but that is ok. In my opinion they interact now with each other and fit in the image.

For this piece started more or less as a light study and 'doodle'. I've used tons of reference pictures for the hands, face, lantern, arms, legs and such. But I can only show a few photo's here and because I found the hands the hardest (and don't want to show you pictures of my feet) ... I placed a hand reference in.

Thank you for viewing my work, and comments are always appreciated!

*wave*

Darthiir/Nicole