Illi and the Jinn

These are my illustrations for the character portion of my Conceptual Design class. The production is "Beauty and the Beast," but can take place anywhere, at any time.

This rendition of Beauty and the Beast takes place in the late 7th century Maghreb, in what we know today as Algeria. A majority of the communities in the Greater Maghreb at this time are Christian and Jewish; the largest Kingdom is the Aures Confederacy of Queen Dihya, (Kahina,) which fought against the Islamic conquest of North Africa. The “beauty” of this story is an Amazigh princess named Illi, living in the Kingdom of Ouarsenis, who later gets trapped in an abandoned palace with an evil spirit — a jinn — who forces Illi break the curse bestowed upon him, or he will hold her soul for all eternity.