Imagination and play is often lost as we grow from childhood. Here There Be ______ : (Terranel) is a large-scale fantasy illustration that invites viewers to explore a vast fictional world. The first part of the title, “Here There Be ______,” refers to old maps that would use the phrase “Here There Be Dragons” to warn of unexplored territories and unknown dangers. Removing the word “Dragons” encourages the viewer to explore the world before them to find what might “there be.” The second part of the title, “Terranel,” is the name of this fictional world filled with the seeds of stories waiting to be told, including unexplored ruins, kindly giants, towering cliffs, and an adventurer looking over it all.   

The juxtaposition of a large-scale paper and deeply detailed mark-making intensifies the feelings of grandeur created by the piece. The monochromatic, line-based rendering is heavily inspired by early to mid-twentieth-century children’s storybook illustrations, largely Henry J. Ford and Barbara Cooney’s illustrations in Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books and Princess Tales, respectively. The piece also draws from tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, open-world video games, classic fantasy such as Lord of the Rings, 19th-century Romantic paintings, and so much more. Here There Be_____ combines a long history of visual storytelling to create something new while also incredibly familiar. 

Fantasy and illustrated texts are often left behind as one grows older, exchanged for literary fiction and nonfiction. This piece invites the viewer to embrace their inner child by using a medium inextricably linked with a childhood filled with storytelling, curiosity, and whimsy. Here There Be ______ : (Terranel) bids the viewer to bring fantasy back into their lives. So come explore Terranel and the endless stories held within and beyond its lines.