HULDUFÓLK

I’m not Icelandic, but I have always loved Iceland and their folklore, and I have been wanting to create this design for a long time. For this image, I incorporated two of their folktales with my own artistic spin (please forgive me if I butcher any of these tales in my short descriptions).

Jónsmessa (Midsummer’s Eve): According to folklore, if you sit at a crossroads where all roads lead to a church on this night, the elves will attempt to seduce you with food and gifts. If you break down and give into temptation at any time during the night, woe will fall upon you. You will belong to the elves forever, go insane, or experience bad luck. However, if you resist their offers until the sun rises (which isn’t until 11:00am), the elves will leave and reward you will all of the gifts they offered throughout the night.

In this image, I am clearly about to regret my decision to give in to their offers!

Reynisdrangar (The Trolls of Vik): These are basalt sea stacks in the ocean off the black sand beach near the town of Vík í Mýrdal. According to legend, the rocks were once two trolls. The trolls were standing in the water dragging a ship to shore, when they got caught in the sunlight at dawn and turned to stone, which is what happens to trolls if they stay out after dark. The trolls of Vik do not have the appearance of a person, like the one in my image.

My idea behind my troll was that he got his feet stuck in a geothermal pool and, as he attempted to hack his way out, the sunlight touched him and he turned to stone. I wasn’t originally going to make him so troll-like, rather more of a stone person, but the more I changed him the better I thought it looked for the image. You can see the change in the credits or below in the making-of photos.

For the landscape, I combined 8 stock photos from Iceland to create a unique and magical crossroads scene. I also used a more traditional perspective on faeries and elves, though they do appear different in Icelandic lore.

I hope you like it! I can't wait to visit Iceland myself one day. Not for the elves, but because I think it's an amazing country with breathtaking scenery. Also, elves.

As always, I have included the behind the scenes images below so you can see a small part of the transformation needed to make the design. Let me know what you think in the comments!