#benolly

"Ben? What's wrong?"

ENG: I'm proud of the texture and colour scheme of this artwork, but not so much in the lighting (I've set the brush way too light and some of the areas didn't make sense), and Ben and Holly could have a more dynamic pose. Still, I like this painting, but this can be way better, in my opinion.

See you for a redraw in a year or two.

P/s: While I was drawing and rendering the background, I loved how it turned out. Here's some that you can use. And a Ben and Holly flat colour because I love you 🥰(please don't repost it, ok?)

Nope, just this one 💚 I'm very new to the fandom so I haven't really had the chance to explore/ get introduced to existing bahlk aus or fanfics made by the small but fairly active community here on Tumblr. However, as a kid who watched the show many years ago, I've always been very interested in personality switch aus(Holly's gritty and hardworking while Ben's super chill and laidback), reverse aus(where Holly's an elf and Ben's a fairy but their personalities are unchanged) and genderbent aus (Self explanatory) I would love to read fics of those categories or maybe even write them in the future if I have the opportunity.

ok lol

also a rough little comic

I really like this idea because I feel like Holly as a character is very similar to that of Ariel from The Little Mermaid, as in she's a princess who's fascinated by elf culture and technology and learns about it through a boy she's lowkey obsessed with haha. But yeah she always seemed to be the kind of person who's very curious and outgoing and who isn't afraid of going outside of her comfort zone despite living a luxurious comfy life, also just like Ariel people often misinterpret her as being a spoiled damsel in distress who's sole interest is a boy when really she is so much more than that and has great potential as a character.

I'm sorry this turned into a vent about how much I love Holly and how underrated she is kjdhzhfgzegfyezgzygfe, I've had a lot of fun drawing and trying to figure out their designs though so thank you<3

And holly doodles

My opinion:

Ben is usually calm, laid-back and chill and often the only brain cell left in dangerous situations. He is a good observer (in the woodpecker episode when he taught the chicks to fly by mimicking the flying poses despite not knowing how to do it himself), pretty handy and good at fixing things (like all the elves do) and a bit ambitious and a good animal tamer (I’m not sure is it the right term to use, but the successfully ride Speedy the Snail (one of the hardest to be tamed.) and forgives quickly (the elf games). But he can be a teaser (in the elf joke episode, with no ill intent), lose his temper quickly and occasionally dismiss fairies' abilities (such as magic and flying, but he learned from it and never did it as often). And talking about the “Ben’s birthday party” episode, he just asked Holly about his birthday card and either she remembered his birthday (I know the writers used that for plot purposes (reminding Holly to make Ben’s birthday card to get the episode going) but I feel that’s a bit insensitive from Ben’s side, so I would make it his flaw. And he's a bit of a power illusionist (in Superheroes when he cosplayed into Elfman, but his friends just called him Elfboy which is very humourous though)

Holly is outgoing, girly and sometimes pretty bossy. She has a kind personality and is naturally curious about everything (especially elf culture, like she always asks Ben what he’s learning at school or go to his school to experience herself). If she loved someone (familiarly, platonically or possibly romantically), she would be attached to them very much (eg: Nanny Plum, King Thistle, Ben, etc). And in my opinion, she’s one of the smartest fairies in the series (she nearly guessed Barnaby’s fairy disguise (she asked him “Have we ever met you before?” - simple to us the audience but considering how dumb the fairies are, this deserve applause). She compliments other people a lot (especially Ben). However, she is often overconfident of her own abilities (eg: her magical skills and the possibility of it going wrong), sometimes looking down on elven customs (but like Ben she fixed that quickly and may be one of the few fairies in BAHLK treat elves with respect (the other are the fairy kids and Mrs Fig)). She can be cruel with her magic when she’s angry (the elf joke day episode), and has a really scary death glare (the wand factory to Strawberry and to the Wise Wand 3000 in the new wand episodes).

I think both of them are optimistic, love adventure and cared deeply and concern for each other when one of them is in trouble, and treat each other as equals despite of class and race divisions (also deserve another applause)

Regarding to romantic shipping (when they are teens/ adults), they would fit into the “Childhood friends to lovers”, “Interspecies romance” and “Forbidden love” tropes ( considering the class and race difference, segregation and we never see a hybrid or a proper elf and fairy romance in the series )

=> Dynamic: (In the series) Very platonic and sibling-like (Ben and Holly treat each other like siblings that they never had since Ben is an only child and Daisy and Poppy are fucking hell spawns)

I loved that episode where Holly forgot Ben’s birthday it was so cute. I put zero effort into the 2nd image btw but the you get the idea.

Anyways I think they will get married