The hero of "Iridar" is rescued from a shipwreck by a squadron of flying dragons, led by a beautiful young blonde girl. That same girl nurses the hero back to health. All of this is standard operating procedure. It turns out, of course, that the girl is really "Llys," the Queen of Iophar, City of Magic. She is no older than 18, which makes me wonder how she got to be Queen of Iophar. Then again, Queen Amidala in "Star Wars" is also a teenaged ruler, though Lucasfilms does explain it in some sort of historical way. I assume that Llys lost her parents through some disaster and must rely on the wisdom of courtiers. The story does have a sympathetic royal adviser male figure for her to learn from. Of course in the story Llys and the hero fall in love but their relationship is complicated by the red-haired hussy who appeared earlier in the story and also has designs on the hero.
Llys and the hero go through lots more adventures, though to my dismay the author forgets that this girl is a dragon-rider and an active Queen and keeps her cringing behind the brawny arms of her hero-man for the rest of the story. I guess that's part of the standard story too, especially one written before the rise of feminism in fantasy.
This drawing of lovely Llys started out as a pencil sketch. I then scanned it in and drew over it in Photoshop using my Wacom tablet and stylus and digital inking technique. Yes, this drawing could have been made by a steel dip pen point and sepia ink. Would you have known if I didn't tell you? I am finally getting better at drawing digitally. And I don't get ink all over my fingers. I will color Llys in shortly.
Llys drawing is digital inking in Photoshop over pencil, 4" x 8", February 8, 2014.
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