The Eyes Which Saw Only Black

A while back, the people at Kastil Fantasi held Fantasy Fiesta 2011

For those unfamiliar with it, Fantasy Fiesta is an annual fantasy short story competition for Indonesian writers. It was first held in 2009, and continues to attract more participants every year.

The latest Fantasy Fiesta picked 5 winners out of 332 entries submitted. My story got picked for the 2nd place winner. Its Indonesian title is "Dongeng Kanvas"; the literal (and somewhat rough but still charming,) translation would be "Canvas Lore."

But if I were to translate this story into English, I would use this deviation title, "The Eyes Which Saw Only Black."

The story is about the struggles of a young painter. She wanted to surpass his grandfather's skill and reputation as the best painter in the kingdom.

Only problem is... she's blind.

I made this illustration for that story. Here's Una, the blind painter, and Ruis, the fae who taught her how to 'see' the fair folk without using her eyes.

Since the story is based on the Irish leanan-sidhe legends, I didn't get the chance tho show a lot of ethnic Indonesian flavor in this illustration.

I tried to use this cel-shading-ish coloring style to get the fairytale feel. Quite happy with the result, but I want to try and use paper textures for another illustration that I will work on for this story.

Special thanks to my friends in Kastil Fantasi. I'm happy that you liked this story, and really grateful that you voted this work as one of the favorite illustrations submitted for the event.