This one time I illustrated the Fire Swamps from The Princess Bride

This movie is one of my absolute favorite movies. We watch it at least once or twice a year in my house. All of my kids love it, my daughters can quote so much of it. It’s the perfect non-gendered fantasy love story. If there ever was a movie that seamlessly blended swashbuckling adventure with heart-fluttering romance, it’s this masterpiece. It’s the cinematic equivalent of having your family all agree on what to have for dinner, which is you have kids you know never happens. Unless it’s ice cream.

This movie is the ultimate proof that it’s possible to be a hit with both boys and girls. I mean, it’s got everything a growing heart desires: epic sword fights that make you want to wield broom stick with finesse, a damsel in distress who really isn’t in that much distress as Princess Buttercup is a badass, and a dashing hero who manages to rescue said damsel while maintaining perfectly coiffed hair.

Everyone in my house loves this movie, and rightfully so. There have been talks of a remake for years, which for a long time I wasn’t on board with. You don’t remake classics. However, I did hear an idea for a remake that I am 100% behind and would absolutely love seeing.

Fred Savages character, The Grandson, tells the story to his grandchildren. Then the story we see would be that new grandchild’s imagination and how it unfolds in their head. You could have him reading it to a couple of grandkids and they fight for control of the visuals, allow for multiple interpretations of the story. You could have the grandkid be female, black, Asian, whatever, to allow for the story to have a different twist to set it apart from the original, while still fully respecting the original.

That’s the only remake of this movie I will ever support.

Ok, that’s probably a lie. If they remade it I would still watch it, reluctantly.

Awhile back I decided I wanted to do some illustrations for the “Terrors of the Fire Swamps“, mostly as a testament to my love for the movie, but also cause I just really wanted to experiment with some stylistic choices.

These were so much fun to make, and they didn’t take as long as I though they would. These are done 100% traditional with micron pens, Copic markers, gauche paint, and a lot of trial and error.

I made a pretty sweet 7.5×11 metallic print of these that you can get in the shop here, but I only made 10 of them and I’m not making anymore. I also made a limited run of 100 11×17 prints of these, but this size is a pain in the ass to ship so if you want that you’ll have to see me at a convention.

If you want to see some progress pictures on the creation of these illustrations you can click on the link below for each, which will take you to a post all about that one illustration.

Lightning Sand
R.O.U.S.’s
Flame Spurts