#AND ON BASKERVILLE TOO!

[laski-and-sage]

Alucard: Why do you do this to me again?

TJ, putting more stickers on him: I'm bored and we're family. Shut up or I'll put a littly pony on your mouth

Anderson, entering the room: What is-

Alucard: RUN!

*two minutes later*

TJ: I LOVE this rainbow on your nose, Alex!

[szynkaaa]

it's not like they live on a mountain with other monkey citizens running around

Or also known as Oz trying to flirt (??) but it backfires on her.

set after BMW when Oz is living on Mount Huaguo, hence the hanfu and the neater hairdo

I think I'm also slowly getting the hang of drawing Sun Wukong without having to look at 81 reference images

[cogneartive]

GO MY ZIEKLINGS

[eggubato]

divorce so romantic it almost ended the world

[noonewilleverknowistealkneecaps]

Older Baskerville sketches ✍️

[clearwingedmaven]

As voted by the people, I'm offering my analysis on the Hound of the Baskervilles.

Firstly, and getting this out of the way, I adore the Hound of the Baskervilles. My chosen area of focus in my Master's Program was Gothic Literature, and this novel hits all of my favorite aspects of the field.

But there's more to it that I've noticed.

Chiefly among them being that most of the novel focuses on Watson, rather than Sherlock Holmes. While yes, it may have been a product of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle being bitter that he was forced to bring Holmes back, for this novel in particular, I think it's brilliant.

It operates under the premise that this Hound, this creature, is a Fairy Tale come to life and stalks the moor to bring death to all of those of the Baskerville family. In this sense, Watson, as he normally is a vehicle for the audience, is also a purveyor of a Legend come to life.

Watson, even if Sherlock Holmes is never quite Gothic, never quite horror, becomes a Gothic protagonist the more he lives in Dartmoor and learns about the family. But he's an evolution of a Gothic protagonist, too.

By the 1890s, the Decadence movement primarily took up the reins of Gothic Literature, creating what we know as fin-de-siecle, or the turn of the century. Many protagonists of this age fell to sin, corruption, and hedonism, such as the case of Dorian Gray.

(I find it fitting to use Dorian Gray, as Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle met over a meal that lead to the creation of both A Study in Scarlet and the Picture of Dorian Gray.)

But Watson? He remains steadfast in his nature. He never falls to the era defining corruption and sin, and, even evolves in his deductive reasoning when he finally finds and reunites with Holmes towards the end of the novel.

Even still, he still is, a Gothic protagonist, alongside Sir Henry. They navigate the Baskerville home on the Moor, a crumbling, haunted place, ripe with ancestral sin.

That is what defined the time, even if Watson never falls to sin and corruption. Decadence and fin-de-siecle were defined by all things falling to sin, decay, and rot. What was once glamorous and majestic of the preceding Aesthetic movement had rotted away, underneath.

And, given that Holmes and Watson reunite towards the end of the novel, they yet again defy the era's expectation of Gothic Literature. Their presence is hope, a light in the corruption that drags at the Baskerville family name. While by definition, perhaps a deus ex machina, it works brilliantly.

After all, who else could you go to, when there's a beast of legend killing your family?

As for the Hound itself. It alone is one of the greatest images of late Gothic horror I know. A coal black hound, muzzle shrouded in flame and phosphorous and snapping at your heels... it indeed installs primal, Gothic terror. It makes you ask, what's real? What's not? Can I even trust my reality anymore?

And it's also something that Holmes, for all of his brain and power of the mind, does not know. It invokes a sense of delicious, morbid terror, that while amazed, our detective is just as in the dark as we are before the Hound is killed. And it again, creates another layer of vulnerability that we don't normally get to see.

Lastly, the Hound is also fantastic in invoking the Black Dog Fairy Tales of Europe and beyond. A lot of cultures have a tale, from the Cu-Sith of the Celts, to the Black Dogs roaming England. It strikes fear, because it is used as one of the bases for what we form logic around, as Fairy Tales and folklore so often do for children throughout history.

Perhaps Stapleton knew about this, and preyed upon it on purpose? It's fascinating to think about.

All in all, this is why I adore this novel. Gothic Literature, character evolution, and Fairy Tales...? It's brilliant.

[sanhatipal]

"Who killed poor Alice?"

An illustration of Alice's defiance and hatred and conviction all culminating in the event that unfurled before Jack's eyes on that fateful day, 100yrs in the past

I did this as an experimental technique,more under the cut!!

I used to do the multi layer oil pastel scraping technique a lot as a kid,but only for fun,I never considered using it for a serious illustration. But a few years ago,I saw Mochijun use it for a VnC illustration: the one with Louis surrounded by stakes. And since then, I've wanted to try it,but didn't have a subject I wanted,so I pushed it to the back of my mind. Well.... inspiration struck recently,and I wanted to draw Alice this way..the composition was suddenly clear as day in my mind. So I started,the sketch as usual,and inked and coloured Alice with watercolour,as usual. Nothing remarkable here,I almost always use a lightbox for inking, so far it's the same (ignore the extra eyes)

Then...I busted out my old oil pastels. These are 12-14yrs old, haven't been touched at least 11 yrs or more,I have no idea.

Now, instead of removing the sketch from the back,I left it,and with the help of the light box,added in colours according to the sketch

The next step may or may not be done,but I didn't want to risk getting any ink into the paper,so I used a candle to rub the shit out of the oil pastel areas,and removed the sketch

Once I was satisfied that nothing would get past the wax layer, I used ink mixed with acrylic matte medium to cover it up. The medium is important,else it won't stick to the wax at all

Once dried, I rubbed graphite to the the back of the sketch and pressed it on with a ball stylus(a ballpoint pen or back of toothpick can be used) to press on the pattern onto the background

After that, it's just a matter of scraping and scratching with a scalpel until I was satisfied

Finally I sprayed it with some varnish,to protect the ink layer from peeling off(but scanned before that, because varnish scans weird),and adding some final highlights and lines here and there.

So...am I happy? Yes! It's almost exactly as I envisioned! I do feel like I overcomplicated it,I could absolutely achieve this with just paint and ink,no scratching. But hey,I had fun,and I'm happy with how it turned out!!

[queeriboh]

unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe

blond.

[daipeanutsaiban]

The Lord of the House is fourteen years old.

[prommytheus]

lady b’s first hint that maybe something was wrong with her husband

[furbs-and-prayers]

pandora hearts if they had tattoos (many ideas supplied by my conversation with the lovely @eggubato <3)

[arthur-barma]

[szynkaaa]

oh no, consequences of my own action

sometimes the Destined One is terrified of the things his travel companion says. Not that he understands half of the things.

[existingtm]

1. Pandora Hearts, Retrace XCI: Juror 2. The Case Study of Vanitas, Mémoire 38: Naenia — She Who Harbors Death (Part One)

We love a good MochiJun parallel

[eggubato]

thinking about the divorced loser again

[noodles-and-tea]

Got these last month and do you still like Sherlock?

I kid you not I’m literally watching it right now.