Celebration At Sunrise
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[Image ID] The rising sun appearing between 2 hills casts a golden light over the landscape and the bride and groom. They are stood on an open grassy area, in front of a rock sculpture, holding hands and looking at each other. Her dress is gold and white. It has long sleeves with ruffled cuffs, a full skirt and a train. She is wearing a golden headdress. His outfit matches hers in colour and has brocaded sleeves and a high mandarin style collar. [description end]
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The Fairy Tail series itself left large parts of Zeref and Mavis’ history up to interpretation, however I have always liked to imagine them as being married. After seeing another fan of the series mention the idea of the wedding being during the summer solstice, I got the urge to paint this scene.
This piece was stuck at the sketch stage for quite some time as I struggled to find a pose that worked for Zeref. I must have sketched at least three versions of him before I was satisfied with it! By contrast, Mavis’ pose and expression came together very easily.
Zeref’s outfit in this piece is a merge of his main outfit form the series, as well as the one he changed into during the final arc. None of Mavis’ outfits from the series were ‘elegant’ enough for the setting, so I made hers up based on formal dresses from elsewhere.
It is worth mentioning, for those unfamiliar with the series, that the rocky sculpture behind them is the crest of the country where the wedding is taking place.
The lighting of the piece was challenging, but enjoyable nonetheless. This was the first time I have painted a piece so strongly lit by a single colour. Finding the balance between the lighting being strong enough to convey the brilliance of sunrise, without losing the actual colours beneath, wasn’t easy. This was especially tricky on Zeref’s hair as it needed to still look black, but be affected by the yellow light at the same time!
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Time taken: 7 hours 45 minutes
Program: FireAlpaca
Drawing Tablet: Gaomon M106K
Characters: Zeref & Mavis, from the manga (Japanese comic) ‘Fairy Tail’ by Hiro Mashima
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