Silhouette illustration for a Victorian fairytale, The Necklace of Princess Fiorimonde, written by Mary de Morgan. It's not a terribly popular tale, but it's one I grew up with. Fiorimonde is an ugly princess who visits a witch to keep herself beautiful, but when she hears her father plans to marry her off, she realizes her husband would learn the truth of her beauty regimen. She gets an enchanted cord from the witch which turns all who touch it into beads on the cord. This poor man is her first unfortunate suitor.

I wanted to keep a Victorian-Art Nouveau-ish feel to it. I drew a lot of my inspiraton from cameo jewelry and the old 1920's silent animation "The Adventures of Prince Achmed." It was designed to be a two-page spread, so you can visualize the gutter to the immediate left of the gentleman's knee. I loved working with solid black shapes, and it's definitely something I'll keep doing.

Media: Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop