Ashitaka and Yakul - Princess Mononoke

I'd quietly admired Elsa Charretier's work for a bit when she shared a very fun Princess Mononoke piece for her Patreon mini-print club at the start of this year and mentioned she'd recently started to finally watch and enjoy the Ghibli catalogue one at a time. As a fan of her work and avid commissioner of the subject, what better time to reach out and see if she'd be up for my 'draw whatever Miyazaki thing you want' commission series?

She initially proposed doing The Boy and the Heron, which she'd seen most recently, but ended up going back to Princess Mononoke after some further reflection. This time no San and the wolves, but Ashitaka and Yakul roaming the forest in a piece that for me even exceeds the mini-print which made me want to commission her in the first place!

I also included a head sketch she did of Nausicaä in the additional images. Elsa was a guest at a local comic convention, FACTS, in early April and a delight to meet. I had only offhandedly mentioned I might be there once during our communication so when I let her know it was me she jokingly told me I should have let her known as she had actually finished the commission before the con unbeknownst to me and it was ready to ship out at home. Alas, I had to wait a little while longer, but it was impressive to see some of the Love Everlasting originals as well as those of her mini-prints in the meantime. She was doing head sketches for €50 as well and I couldn't resist getting one of my favourite, Nausicaä. Got a very gracious €10 discount too, as it was cash only but it turned out she didn't have the change at hand.

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Update: As of June 2025, now also a mini-print!