#byerly

[clove-pinks]

An eerie portrait of a man by Jacob Byerly (1807-1883), made about 1855. Although the daguerreotype has degraded, the impressive tye can still be seen.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[unbizzarre]

Byerly Vorrutyer visiting Ivan’s apartment’s

I adore these two character’s interactions 🤭

Creation notes:

- finished the linework and got really worried I’d fuck it up when I painted it so I made a photocopy and painted that instead of the original copy which was drawn on watercolor paper… unfortunately printer paper is not the greatest paint absorber so apologies for the lumpiness.

- also idk I messed up drawing byerly’s outfit. The shirts details are pretty but a little off from what I was going for and somehow during painting the pants now look like harem pants. (Outfit was supposed to be an attempt at a barrayaran folk-style suit/vest with a cut blending early 1800s suit silhouettes with open sleeve folk shirts. It didn’t quite work out.)

Here’s linework and a bonus doodle of instant groats:

Examples of the Greek folk bolero’s I was going for :

Similar shaped jackets exist in Albanian / Bosnian / ottoman folk styles

[who-do-i-know-this-man-s3]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

*Adrift, not Adult

[mouseinamushroomhouse]

VS character doodles

[thirdwifeofriversong]

“Unhand Lady Vorpatril!” is such an amazing line/moment— one of the few times when it’s completely clear that miles and ivan are related, however much ivan tries not to be like miles

[very-grownup]

Sorry to every other dude in Story of Kunning Palace, but the best male character is easily the false Xue Dingfei who in a single scene called his step-mother a whore, bitchslapped his half-brother, bit a gift from the emperor to see if it was real gold, and shoved a rack of spears on his father.

[vorkosigankinkmeme]

Sometime during A Civil Campaign Ekaterin decides that her mourning is clearly not acting as enough of a deterrent to marriage-hungry men, and asks Byerly (who she judges to be a. not really interested, b. up for some recreational lying, and c. not compelling in her any complex feelings she doesn't want to look at yet) to play at "covertly" courting her. Miles/Ekaterin endgame, with lots of Ekaterin&Byerly friendship. Optional Ivan/Byerly or Byerly/Ekaterin/Miles

thanks! always good to have more By. I've crossposted the prompt to ao3 as well.

[qwanderer]

By Vorrutyer is such a character tho

Like

Especially in contrast to Miles, from Ivan's perspective, because it's like, well yeah, if I have a cousin who just goes and gets into the most outlandish insane trouble and then shrugs it off as another day working for ImpSec, well, yeah, that's just how Miles is, but if my... old friend has a cousin who does the same, what the fuck? What the fuck, Byerly?

It kinda underscores how wild the whole concept is if you aren't already used to it.

[clonerightsagenda]

As soon as I finish Hollow Boy I'm shifting back to my Vorkosigan liveblog (I am juggling 4 liveblogs rn and I just picked up Station 11 at the library, this is getting out of hand) but I read the jacket copy and uh

Ivan is no more able to turn aside from aiding a damsel in distress than he could resist trying to rescue a kitten from a tree

given what happened with the kittens this statement does not fill me with optimism

[clove-pinks]

Portrait of a Seated Man with Large Bow Tie, about 1852–1855. Daguerreotype by Jacob Byerly (American, 1807–1883).

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[unbizzarre]

Byerly Vorrutyer Character Designs

BYERLY VORRUTYER of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga

Tried to go for a rapidly-aging prettyboy with the gothic heavy lidded eyes (idk how to describe the eyes I’m talking about) and a face that reads as male while having something slightly feminine about it. A face that smiles often but is composed, cool. Slightly wavy black hair that is either shortish, chin length, or slightly shorter than shoulder length (I haven’t decided yet 😅)

Designing faces is not my strong suit so I am working backwards from a few references I like. Will probably simplify artstyle, slightly lengthen hair and mix with a dash of Professor Venom from OK KO (for that little bit of haggard twink energy) to creat the final design.

References:

Wardrobe:

Materials: silk, velvet, ruffles lace, detailed embroidery, military piping, sheer cloth, fur — echoes of beautiful luxurious handmade traditional artisan clothing- but all a little to gaudy and cheaply produced - the barrayaran aristocrat version of fast fashion. Androgynous and galactic styles occasionally thrown in to add to mystique

-SHIRTS: silk shirts // shirts with poofy or frilly sleeves // patterned shirts // sheer shirts // velvet shirts // shirts that are tucked in the pants but so unbuttoned the entire chest exposed

- SUITS: velvet suits that absolutely reek of cologne // sleezy yet sharp barreyaran style black suits you might smoke a cigar or play pool in // pastel suit for daytime garden parties

WARDROBE ACCENTS

- bigass fur coat - maybe even almost a midieval king robe

- several offensively knock off fast fashionmilitary style jackets

- luxuriously patterned bathrobe

- see through shawl / wrap / night robe thing

- some gaudy galactic style outfits

- a few sexy or frilly dresses to piss off the family

- a few a casual / slightly more subdued blend of komarran, barrayaran and practical galactic clothing he only really wears at home (stuff he wears when he’s not preforming for an audience). maybe some sentimental pieces. What’s hidden beneath the camouflage.

- some bling: rings and earrings. A few broaches and cuff links probably not that many necklaces

EDIT: here are some reference collages I put together! Note that these references aren’t the exact items that he would have in his closet but rather there are aspects to each piece that I would want to incorporate into his design. Maybe it’s the cut of a sleeve, the silhouette of a coat, the way a robe drapes, the embroidery pattern on some fabric, or the general partied-too-hard vibes of a particular photo of a model.

Bastardized military jackets:

Neglige options / heavier nightfrobe options:

Bigass fur coat:

Shirts (please ignore the long blue scarf in the central image like wtf is that- the rest of the suit is nice tho):

Party vibes:

A lot of these aspects would then be mixed with my own head cannon for the rules/cuts of barreyaran mens clothing (I went to a library and spent a stupid insane amount of time looking through books with midieval, 1800s and 1900s men’s fashions and France, Russia, and Greece- + additional books of traditional folk clothings and textile patterns + several other books of historic military uniforms…. The process and choices were so long that I had to give up and just stop thinking about any sort of vorkosigan related character design for a couple months cuz my head hurt. - I will probably make another post at some point with more annotated collages and possibly some of my own drawings synthesizing the concepts, but uh not right now because I need a nap just thinking about trying to organize it all.)

If you’d like to see a little more of vorkosigan universe costume imaginings here’s my Pinterest board on it (kinda) https://pin.it/2rOoHsq it’s a extremely disorganized and from early hyperfixation days so none of my fashion history research stuff is there (cuz that was all physical book stuff) but uh, you can look at it if you want.

P.S.

If you have any feedback or critiques on the design so far, or ideas for how you think By should look, let me know! I love hearing other people’s interpretations 😊.

Photos of faces you think look like By, pictures of outfits that feel Byerly-ish, or direct quotes from the books about his demeanor or appearance are also welcome!

@starfishlikestoread it’s been approximately a thousand years but I’m finally getting around to that Byerly fanart! Hope you enjoy 😅

[trellwords]

unless you play it good and right — 38,000 words, Ivan Vorpatril/Byerly Vorrutyer, post-CVA mutual pining fake dating ft. undercover ImpSec mission at a seaside casino resort.

“Um.” Ivan colored under By’s gaze. He was pretty sure that behind the dark glasses By was staring at him like he’d grown a second head. “It’s just—I usually bring girls here.”

In which there are an undercover surveillance job, an old enemy, and Byerly Vorrutyer’s broken heart.

[switchbladeclub]

[thirdwifeofriversong]

if someone told me, last summer when i was reading shards of honor, that a VORRUTYER would be one of my favorite characters, i would’ve laughed in their face… but that was before i met dono