The Ugly Princeling. I was looking through my photos the other day and came across a photo of myself at age 11. I was a hideous troll-child! XD It’s a pretty funny picture that captured that awkward time of a child’s life when puberty has started to rear its ugly head and some parts of you are adult and some parts are still a child and you just look awkward af.

Then I thought about Thorin and how awkward he might’ve looked and I decided to draw that. XD Eventually he grows into his nose, his adult teeth stop looking so huge and awkward in his too-small mouth, his ears don’t stick out quite so much and his childish facial hair becomes more majestic.

Also, he stops letting his mom dress him.

This is from an AU where Thorin’s angry outbursts as a child was a source of constant worry for his parents. They sent away for Dwalin, a cousin, to come be Thorin’s companion/friend to see if that would help soothe Thorin’s temper.

Dwalin’s outfit includes a ‘modified’ dwarf-sweater! he cut off the sleeves and ribbed neckline and cut a V in it. He was already a little badass as a tween. XD He started maturing earlier than Thorin so he’s taller/bigger than his cousin. (Thorin sulked SO HARD when he realized his younger cousin was speeding past him into adulthood!)

Of course, what Thorin’s parents didn’t count on was… Thorin being able to talk Dwalin into all sorts of mischief and rule-breaking. And vice versa. 

There’s proportion issues happening here. Dwarves are so hard to draw, sometimes, and tween dwarves even more so! But, overall, I’m happy with how this came out and I like the feel of the pic Really, just getting to draw Thorin in romper-shorts was hilarious fun! I drew this with a 0.3mm Pentel mechanical pencil then finished it off with a regular HB pencil. Drawn on Paris Bleedproof paper. It seems that no matter how large a piece of paper I use, I always end up running off of the edge!