Chapter Text
Title: Art for "Out of Body" a 
paperlegends story by 
magnolia822
Artist: alby_mangroves
Fandom: Merlin
Pairing: Arthur/Merlin
Rating: R
Media: Conte Crayon and charcoal on Riegel Natura
Warnings: Partial nudity
Story Summary: Finding out that his best friend is gay shouldn't be a big deal. But then, catching Merlin wanking to gay porn shouldn't turn Arthur on, either. With his plans for uni in shambles and his place on the high school footie team in jeopardy, Arthur's determined not to disappoint his father any further. Running away from Merlin seems like the easiest thing to do, but his denial might cost him everything.
Notes: "Out of Body" is such a wonderful story; it's a modern day, high school AU, full of emotion and drama. I found myself really hung up on certain phrases and pieces of dialogue, finding these important, weighty moments which kind of drew themselves. They were so important that I ended up using them within the drawings, too.
The challenge was to portray Arthur and Merlin as teens, growing into themselves, body and spirit, and discovering their own selves while growing up. Their relationship had such organic growth that I decided to bring this element into the art, using a vine as the metaphor, showing it gradually unfurling through the stages of the story. I also decided to keep the art wholly hand-drawn, including the Cover Art and text, to (hopefully) preserve the organic feel.
All the love to the talented and lovely magnolia822 for allowing me to illustrate her beautiful story ♥ and to the_muppet for being a fabulous mod ♥ as well as to asya_ana and sapphirescribe for their fabulous cheering ♥
I hope you like it!
1. Cover Art
2. Divider