Princess Loralyn and the Diamond Woods
A Fairy Tale illustration loosely based on the tale of 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'
My adaptation of the story changes with the youngest princess, named Princess Loralyn, who escapes her father’s castle at dusk every evening, to go down to the ‘diamond woods’. On the edge of the forest she summons the wild beasts to do her bidding by using an enchanted pine cone which she carries in a lantern. As the cone releases its spell, the forest trees come alive to lull the creatures into docility. The knight follows the princess, by order of the king, in order to discover her secret.
The following 69 elements, including people, animals and birds were combined to create the magnitude of the forest assembly:
A Princess
A Knight
2 Horses
11 Deer
5 Foxes
1 red panda
1 Badger
2 Bobcats
2 Leopards
10 Goats
1 Wolf
1 Chipmunk
1 Rabbit
2 Lions
1 Blue Pine cone
3 Bees
2 Tree Trunk Faces
Birds include:
4 Owls
3 Partridges
6 Hummingbirds
3 Swallows
2 Bee Eaters
3 Flycatchers
1 Blue Tit
Princess Loralyn and the Diamond Woods
For some images, like the princess, there are far too many elements (around 350 ) to show them all. The crown alone has 65 separate parts.The princess was originally a drawing I made which was the inspiration behind this picture.
A much less complicated example of one of the image recreations is this 18 century painting of a male lion. I added body parts and colouring in order to give you an idea of how I changed his original appearance to add more character.
