BBC Merlin: this is war (but i've got your back)

"Maybe you should back off a little, sire. Wouldn't want to singe that perfect golden mane of yours…"


"Why, Merlin, I had no idea you have such a fixation with my hair. Perhaps you ought to direct your attention to the archers over there though, they seem to be aiming for your head.”

Crossposted on: 
tumblr || AO3

(Please click the download button on the right-side of the page for the full size.)


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*rises from the grave* EEEEYAAAARGHHHHHHHHH

Err... yeah. More Merlin (BBC) fanart (obvious, my current obsession is obvious). As always, it all started simple enough: the urge to draw golden-eyed Merlin (as in, him using magic) and with Arthur being completely at ease with it. I figured, let's have them fighting side-by-side like total BAMFs. So that was the seed. Also had this image of scale-patterns on Merlin’s robes, which was the actual thing I was excited to do, ngl. The idea was that they're dragon scales since he's a dragonlord but then again.... those must be pretty tiny dragons hahaha. Logic fails.

I realised later, a bit hysterically, that I really needed to come up with a scenario to put them in and everything sort of escalated to the point of ridiculousness. Backgrounds/composition aren’t my strongest suits. Also there was a period of utter hell at work, I hit several metaphorical walls with the composition and such, and RL got in the way so many times… hence, this took months to finish because I’d had to steal time to do this. And sometimes I was just not in the mood. ;; It really shouldn’t have taken that long… but well. I tend to be really my pace when working on fanarts, lol. I kept moving and switching things around and that resulted in repaints upon repaints...

I had some hurdles with the fire-magic thing, which was supposed to look like actual fire but all my attempts at it just did not look right. So instead, I just settled on some abstract sparkles and swirls because it was taking too much time and I just wanted to get it done. -__-;  

Anyway, my hope is that you might discover new things whenever you see this piece regardless of how often you've viewed it, that it remains interesting and captures your imagination. That would make me really happy~ 



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Merlin Emrys, Arthur Pendragon
Merlin (BBC) 

Tools: Paint Tool SAI, PS