Wedding Portrait of the Unburnt: Topsfield Fair Entry 2018

Welcome back to my marathon of writing up about my entries to the Topsfield Fair. This week’s picture, made in 2018, was also intended to be a wedding gift for one of my cousins, who married earlier that summer. I received a suggestion on how to interpret my cousin and her fiancé, but I was not sure how well I could execute the idea.

2018 was a time when people still had high hopes for Game of Thrones, but I will admit to this day, I have not seen a single episode of the show. Thus, I had to do some research about the characters.

My cousin (left) is garbed as Daenerys Targaryen, I think as she appeared by the end of Season 7. I chose to garb her husband (right) as Illyrio Mopatis, a character who was a merchant (fits with his IRL job) and one of Daenerys’s early benefactors. Apparently, Illyrio gifted Daenerys with the dragon eggs which he (and the rest of the world) thought were petrified until Daenerys hatched them, kicking off her career as the “Mother of Dragons”.
Looking back on the image, I think my favorite parts of this one are the dragon-head chain around “Dany” and how in-depth I got with her hair.

I also tried to put more detail into the background of this image, setting it on a balcony overlooking a beach. Even with such an attempt, though, I will admit I’m a better character artist than a background artist. That will be something to build.

I don’t have much more commentary to add; I cannot discuss Game of Thrones very well, maybe because I’m just not interested in the show or the series. What might be interesting in the future, however, is trying to redraw this picture. I feel like I can do better than this.

One last note: I originally submitted this picture to the fair under a different name. I call it by a different name here out of respect for the couple. Who recently had their first child, by the way; I honestly did not plan that timing.