When the king died, the land died with him.

All the color went out of everything.

The Queen tried her best to keep it safe

But in the end all she could do was let it lie fallow. The peasants had gone for more colorful climes long ago. The stray sheep had grown too unruly to be worth keeping.

Time passed.

Nothing much happened.

Then it didn’t happen again.

This went on for quite some time.

One day, a young dragon came to the ruins of the castle. She was looking for a place to make her lair, and she had hopes this land would be it.

Remote. Quiet. Solitary. These were all things that suited her. And that herd of feral sheep would do just fine for her meager appetite.

Soon, she had a room high in a turret all tidied up. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for her.

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I said I wasn’t going to draw my own stuff for this, but this morning I had an idea for a little fairy tale that’s a metaphor for how my transition involved me rebuilding my personality from the inside out. And “ruined fairy tale castle” was what came to mind when I looked at the theme I chose for today.

Will I draw the rest? Will I figure out how much more story it needs and finish it? Who knows.

Illustrator, 1:30. Lots of use of a couple of ‘brick’ art brushes and the 'roughen’ filter so I didn’t have to draw every little detail.