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| It's for a little bit of text for a HP fanart I'm doing. You remember how in my previous entry I was looking for a piece of HP fanart I remember seeing, that was drawings of HP magical creatures, but faking to be excerpts from an old book about magical creatures from the HP universe? Anyway, I still haven't found that again, but I've decided to do my own version of this, because I like drawing monsters and think it would be cool, and the underlying concept is general enough that I don't think it would be perceived as copying someone else's idea if I did another version.
I've decided to go not for a medieval bestiary, but a later style of the time when there were fledgling natural sciences and the first real encyclopedias like Diderot's with plates of observed plants and animals, a more 18th century feel. The necessary style is quite a challenge for me, mostly because I really never draw in b/w ink with lots of crosshatching which is pretty much non-optional if I want it to look even remotely reminiscent of copperplate engraving. So I spent much of today trying to get used to crosshatching, but then again, I guess artistic challenges are good even if you fall on your face, it's not like you can improve without trying. So I'm not too worried about that, even though the end result probably will not look authentic, there will be b/w pictures of magical beasts at least.
However there is another problem, and that is the text. I guess I could do just illustration plate pages on their own, but I'd rather have a little bit of text beneath. My idea was to just change the small basic information texts from "Fantastic Beast & Where to Find Them" into a more old fashioned style and remove or change the concepts cropping up that would be anachronistic for the 18th century, e.g. mentions of allergies, but I have really no clue what style and words were common in the 18th century, much less 18th century English.
Thus I wanted to ask whether there would be anyone willing collaborate with me in this, and to edit a couple of these texts to transform them into something that could be from the 18th century. Or write different ones that would work as something from an 18th century work, I'm not picky. Based on the length of the entries in FB I'm thinking that the final page layout would be the illustration plate with the bit of text beneath because the typical text there is under 100 words, but if someone wanted to write longer 18th century style articles on magical beasts, I can also imagine posting this as a true fanart/fanfic collaboration, though I'd probably still only format the first bit of text in the art itself, and then we'd post the whole as actual text along with it or something, because I think longer texts formatted as graphics are not reader friendly.
The drawing I'm currently working on is the Bowtruckle, and I might do more if this one goes well, though I haven't decided which ones, and am open to suggestions.
So, does anyone want to help create excerpts from a 18th century reference work on magical beasts? | |
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| At least I'm fairly sure that I didn't just imagine its existence. It was drawings of HP magical creatures, but done in a style of an old bestiary, i.e. the art was faking to be excerpts from an old book about magical creatures from the HP universe. The art looked like old vintage prints and there might have been bits of text too, though I'm not sure about that. At first I suspected it might have been one of ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gnatkip's pieces, but I haven't found it there, so that doesn't seem to be the case. Does anyone know which fanart I'm taking about? For all I know there could be several with this premise, as it seems a really obvious thing to do, and in that case I'd like to see any variations on this theme too, but mainly I want to look at the cool fake-bestiary again that I seem to remember... And if I somehow hallucinated this and it doesn't exist, why on earth not?? Really there should exist HP bestiaries with vintage pictures. This is what happens if you don't tag compulsively, you never find things again. I really should start again to tag all art I look at, just like I do with fic. Also, and this is a totally random topic shift, I got a tiny tomato plant yesterday. Not that I have a garden or anything, but I thought that maybe I could attempt to grow one in a largish flower pot in my kitchen, which is really sunny and there is a good spot for it near the window where it isn't in the way. I suspect that even with the large pot I choose to put it in it probably won't grow as well or as large as it would in a garden, but I thought it'd be nice to see something grow, and I'm not really a flower person. I mean, if it does lead to some fresh tomatoes that would be great, but it wouldn't be a big loss of an investment if it turned out that tomatoes really need an actual garden with real beds, after all it was only 60 cents for the plant, plus the 80 cent for the bamboo stick I also got with the optimistic anticipation that it might grow successfully and I'd have to bind it to something, like all the tomato plants I've seen in gardens are. I guess I'll see how it goes soon enough. | |
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| Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard & Steampunk!Puddlejumper Media used: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint Rating/warnings: G Notes/comments: I did this for the prompt "Victorian steampunk AU" for the SGA fanart fest ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) paintedspires. Admittedly mechanical pterodactyls aren't the most efficient way for a flying machine, Steampunk or otherwise, and not a very likely or even possible path technology would take from an SF standpoint, but this way was much cooler visually than merely changing the puddlejumpers with pipes or gauges or whatever. I mean, they more or less look like flying lunch boxes. Not really realistic technology, but this is Stargate after all, and I'm pretty sure John would think that mechanical, flying dinosaurs were cool. The original is 30x40cm, so unfortunately I had to scan it in two parts, and you can see a slight line where I merged, because I fail at digital manipulation and didn't know how to make the two parts fit completely seamless. Preview:  ( The image and a higher resolution detail are behind the cut. ) | |
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| Fandom: DCU (Green Arrow) Characters/Pairings: Roy Harper (back when he was Speedy) Media used: Wacom tablet in GIMP Rating/warnings: PG, I guess, for drug use Notes/comments: This took me a really long time, and I don't just mean that I first had the idea for this in 2006. I have no idea what I am doing wrong that digital coloring takes me so long, isn't it supposed to be efficient? I suppose it's one of the pitfalls of being self-taught. Anyway, it's Roy during the famous heroin addict story line. As always, feedback is very welcome. Preview:  ( the image and high resolution details are behind the cut ) | |
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| Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis / His Dark Materials Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, the team's dæmons Nioke, Keho, Tykallita, and Imara Media used: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint, a little bit colored pencils Rating/warnings: G, none Notes/comments: This is an illustration for Trinityofone's SGA/HDM story Dæmonology, John and Teyla and their respective dæmons are sparring with each other, while Ronon's and Rodney's dæmons watch (these two themselves are somehow offscreen). The story itself is McKay/Sheppard slash, but the picture is very much gen. The faint, yet still annoying line in the middle where the colors don't quite match is there because the paper of the original is of a larger format than my scanner, so I had to scan it in two parts, and didn't manage to make them fit perfectly. astridv helped me fix some perspective and relative size and positioning problems in an earlier pencils sketch of this. The illustration is much better for it. Any remaining problems however are my fault. Preview: 
( the image and high resolution details are behind the cut ) | |
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| I'm not sure whether there's even any interest, because the painting itself got less comments than usual for my fanart posts, so I guess there will be ever fewer interested in the unfinished inbetween stages. But I already made the photographs after all, so I decided to go ahead with the art process post. ( very image heavy ) | |
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| Fandom: Harry Potter Characters/Pairings: Severus Snape/Kingsley Shacklebolt Rating/warnings: PG? (sexual kissing, but no nudity) Media used: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint, a tiny bit of white conté chalk Notes: This took a ridiculously long time to color (bricks! how I hate them...um, moving on now *g*), but it's finally finished. It's this Snape/Shacklebolt scene in the alley from Beth's In From the Cold: "Severus loosened his grip on Kingsley's shoulders and slid his hands down Kingsley's arms. He stopped when he reached the ends of Kingsley's sleeves, encircled Kingsley's strong-boned wrists with his fingers, then pulled Kingsley's arms up over his head. Severus transferred his hold of Kingsley's right wrist so that both of Kingsley's hands were pinned against the brick wall by one of his own, then Severus slowly lowered his other hand until it came to rest on the top of Kingsley's head.
Severus ghosted his long, sensitive fingers over Kingsley's scalp, surprised by each tiny bump and dip in what seemed perfectly smooth from a distance. He slid his hand down along the side of Kingsley's head, and he could feel Kingsley lean into his palm while Severus traced along the edge of Kingsley's ear with his thumb, clicking his thumbnail softly against the small silver hoop that hung from the lobe. Severus leaned in and took the earring in his mouth, turning the hoop slowly with his tongue." Preview:  ( the illustration and a larger detail are behind the cut ) | |
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| Fandom: Harry Potter Characters/Pairings: Severus Snape/Kingsley Shacklebolt Rating/warnings: PG? (sexual kissing, but no nudity) Media used: only pencil so far Notes: I've already illustrated the epilogue of this story a while back, but always wanted to draw this Snape/Shacklebolt scene in the alley. Now, with barely two years delay, I got around to it. The relevant bit from Beth's In From the Cold is: "Severus loosened his grip on Kingsley's shoulders and slid his hands down Kingsley's arms. He stopped when he reached the ends of Kingsley's sleeves, encircled Kingsley's strong-boned wrists with his fingers, then pulled Kingsley's arms up over his head. Severus transferred his hold of Kingsley's right wrist so that both of Kingsley's hands were pinned against the brick wall by one of his own, then Severus slowly lowered his other hand until it came to rest on the top of Kingsley's head.
Severus ghosted his long, sensitive fingers over Kingsley's scalp, surprised by each tiny bump and dip in what seemed perfectly smooth from a distance. He slid his hand down along the side of Kingsley's head, and he could feel Kingsley lean into his palm while Severus traced along the edge of Kingsley's ear with his thumb, clicking his thumbnail softly against the small silver hoop that hung from the lobe. Severus leaned in and took the earring in his mouth, turning the hoop slowly with his tongue." If anyone from newsletters or otherwise interested in linking should stumble upon this entry, I'd prefer it if only the finished version, which I'll hopefully post soonish, was advertised more widely, not these unfinished pencils. Preview:  ( pencils and a larger detail are behind the cut ) | |
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| Because some people find the production process interesting, I decided to do a sort of "making of" post. If you'd just like to see the finished fanart, go here. ( very image heavy ) | |
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| Fandom: Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik Characters/Pairings: Iskierka Media used: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint, a bit of white conté chalk Rating/warnings: G, none Notes/comments: The coloring didn't turn out quite like I intended, but it's not that bad considering that it's only the second time I colored anything with acrylic glazes. (gah, this is actually one of those "I'm new to this" apologist author's/artist's notes, isn't it? >.< ) Also for some reason my scanner not only produced a weird stripe artifact that I couldn't get rid of (it is not that intrusive, but still), it also reproduced the colors less bright than in the actual picture. *grumble* Preview: 
( the image and a detail of the head in a larger size are behind the cut ) | |
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| Fandom: Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik Characters/Pairings: Iskierka Media used: only pencil so far Rating/warnings: G, none Notes/comments: I seem to be on a dragon kick lately. But I like Iskierka. I hope she looks enough like a baby while still fitting the description that they look just like smaller versions of the big ones. But making the head long and lean like I normally do for dragons to make them look ferocious didn't work for me for a baby dragon. The hatching pose took a ridiculous amount of time to get right. Maybe I'll do a real process post once it is inked and colored, showing excerpts from all the steps that were like tooth pulling, like the dozen thumbnails and head design sketches, and failed attempts. OTOH that would be kind of embarrassing, now it looks like I sat down and just did a pencil drawing as a process step... Preview: 
( the pencils are behind the cut ) | |
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| Fandom: Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik Characters/Pairings: Temeraire Media used: pencil drawing, inked and colored with a Wacom tablet in GIMP Rating/warnings: G, none Notes/comments: This was done for the yuletart gift exchange for tylercat. I'd also like to thank brown_betty for helping me to come up with a motif, when my initial idea didn't work out, and for taking a look at the half-finished stages, spotting problems with the rocks and such. Preview: 
( the image and two high resolution details are behind the cut ) | |
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| My yuletart gift was just posted! Yay, art for me! It's a Nightwing and Arsenal drawing (gen, though you can interpret it with subtext too), so if you are into DC comics you should check it out, here. | |
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| I'm at home rather than at a party, mostly because I'm not much of a party person but it also has the advantage that I can soothe my rats through their first New Year's Eve explosions experience. So far they seem thoroughly unconcerned with all the loud noises and flashes outside, but then they usually are pretty good about distinguishing sounds outside that don't bother them and ones coming from the inside, that may pose a threat. Actually I'm wincing far more often than they at some of the sudden really loud fireworks. So I thought I'd occupy myself with listing the stuff I drew this past year. Overall I have posted even less art in 2007 than in 2006, especially full fledged artwork. However I managed to draw a bunch of drawbles and such on request, and also did some drawing exercises, though the latter not as regularly as I intended to. I guess my New Year's resolution will be to restart posting exercise suggestions to slothsdraw, and to actually do them regularly myself this time around, rather than just one or two in a haphazard fashion. Anyway, here's a chronological list of all things I've drawn this year: ( list of all fanart, drawbles, icon creature doodles, and exercises I drew and posted this year )So in conclusion, if I extend "drawing" to include all doodles, icon sketches and drawing exercises, no matter how quick or lame, I have drawn and posted something almost every month. If I only count "proper" artwork, my output was far less, but at least I tried a couple of new things, especially digitally, and I made an attempt to practice more regularly, even if my slackerdom caught up with me again quickly. | |
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| So, I've gathered my courage and sent in my sign-up for yuletart after all. I guess I'm finally going to join the holiday exchange related fandom-wide flailing, that I've avoided for so many years. | |
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| I posted more exercise sketches at ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif) slothsdraw, and the result of me practicing silhouettes is actually sort of fanart, because the jumping silhouette with the city background in that drawing was supposed to be Nightwing patrolling. Also, I'm actually surprised that I managed to do all five exercises I picked for the first week. | |
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| Fandom: DCU (Green Arrow) Characters: Connor Hawke (Green Arrow II) Media used: pencil drawing, inked and colored with a Wacom tablet in GIMP Rating/warnings: G, none Notes/comments: It was kind of hard to decide how to draw him, because there doesn't seem to be any real consensus on how "non-European" he looks. So let me know whether my version matches your mental image of him. Preview:  ( picture behind the cut, about 40k ) | |
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