#it feels like a different enough drawing experience from the sketching stage that it doesn’t end up feeling super redundant | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tosikoarts · 4 years

Text

SFW Alphabet | Vasily

You can check tosikowrites tag for more as well as you can send character suggestion for SFW alphabet. Warning: there’s a lot under the cut.

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Caught in Japan mute and technically deaf, since people speaking Russian are a quite rare finding in Hokkaido, Vasily is limited in his expression of affection. Obviously, first thing that comes to mind is communication though his amazing drawings but they are static and, therefore, lacking small details that are so important in dialogue. So he pays much more attention to non-verbal part of communication (probably unknowingly) to win a person.

He tries to sit by their side, not opposing but not siding, just right to attract attention. When “talking” to them, Vasily’s eyes become hundred times more expressive: he raises eyebrows in shock, frowns to show misunderstanding or anger, bulges eyes in surprise, squints eyes in disbelief. He has no idea what they are saying unless they draw responses as well. In all other cases Vasily trusts his guts, their general looks, and tone of the voice.

Speaking of drawings. We all can agree Vasily secretly draws them and hides pictures everywhere. He always keeps one, the best one in his opinion, close to the heart. Sugimoto found one of portraits and Vasily waved his arms so hard that he almost took off, but Saichi just smiled and promised to take his secret to the grave. Vasily will definitely show his creations to them when the time comes.

Physical affection. It is so hard. He needs a lot of clues to avoid awkward situations. No hugs, no big skin-to-skin contact unless he is at least 50% sure in their consent. Such low percentage because how much can you tell in situation like his? Vasily loves to be close to them and gets overly excited when they initiate holding hands even if it’s only for a few seconds.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

He is such an unpredictable friend to be honest. You never know what to expect. Today he disappears into thin air just to fall on your head tomorrow with a weird-looking kettle. It’s a new shiny samovar! Now you can drink real tea!

Vasily will follow you anywhere. Just call him, and you will have the best travel companion in the whole world. During the trip, he collects various trinkets and wraps them into his sketches. He drags you to the most crowded places where all fun takes place. Let’s skip the fact that “fun” is not always safe.

Before Vasily met Ogata, he loved to sing in a company. His bass-baritone was a gem of any gatherings and worked on girls like a charm. Now Vasya can’t say a word but you can catch him humming unfamiliar melodies from time to time. If his friend joins in singing, Vasily will clap hands in admiration.

The best around to get drunk with. His self-control is commendable since Vasily knows exact amount of alcohol he can take. He is in charge of bringing everybody back to camp if they decide to take a walk and slapping their hands when they reach for another glass. Not a mother type. His control extends only to drinking.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Classical big spoon and won’t let them be one if they are smaller than him. Vasily likes to cuddle but short cuddling annoys the hell out of him so his ideal cuddle session has to last at least half of hour without any interruptions. He also likes when partner lies on his chest. This position gives Vasya chance to slowly rub their back, ruffle their hair or play with it.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

He… never thought about it? Despite widespread Slavic tradition of having large family and house in which sound of children’s stomping never dies down, Vasily never discussed settling down or getting married with anyone. It is not like he is not capable of living sedentary way of life, it just wasn’t relevant. Vasily needs someone to push him towards changing his lifestyle if they want to settle down in a future.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Unlike the others, Vasily can’t explain himself and simply say “well, it won’t work out, let’s stay friends”. So he gives up trying. There are only two options:

In first Vasily slowly distances himself from them, growing abyss gets increasingly noticeable every next day. In the beginning, he ignores them loudly calling his name in the woods. Then he stops to turn around to their voice, he looks away just not to look them right in the eyes. The more assertive person is, the more they resist his cold treatment, the harsher Vasily becomes.

In second Vasily abruptly leaves country and goes back to Russian Empire. No notice. Nothing. The only reminder of his existence is a trail of shallow footprints in the snow and one or two drawing he did not manage to burn.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Once again, he haven’t thought about it at all. If his loved one brought up a marriage, Vasily would need to have a mental sit down. There is a ton of responsibilities hidden under the marriage concept, it makes ephemeral bond between two dryly official, but Vasily, will marry them if it will make them happier. He is ready to pop a question after two years, and only after another person shows their interest in it.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Stoic and collected in a professional sense but sincere and rough-ly gentle in everyday life. Turgenev, a Russian novelist, wrote that a real Russian has a heart of a child, and Vasily surely falls into this category: behind the image of a cold-blooded sniper hides a personality prone to vivid sensual experiences. He holds loved one like the most precious thing in the world and cares for them deeply.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Loves hugs with all his heart. After long time apart Vasily will squeeze them in a bear hug, leaving their legs hanging freely in the air. During the day Vasily likes to randomly come up from behind and place hands on their waist or thighs, while resting his chin on their shoulder or head. If his partner is teeny-tiny he can’t resist the urge to place them between his legs, their back to his chest, and press them closer, hiding them in his big ass coat.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

After good interpreter magically appears on the horizon? In any case, if he tries to do it without someone who understands Russian, you’ll get funny pantomime accompanied by sighs in different keys. He will write “Я люблю тебя” under another portrait just to get upset that nobody understands him.

It depends not on the time spent together but on events that they lived through, so it may take from one month to few years. By the time Vasily feels like saying “I love you” they probably realize it by his amorous behavior.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Patient jealous type. But before we get to it, let’s say few people will take a risk and flirt with a partner of such a mysterious stranger. He carries a riffle, which means he shoots living creatures. Nobody wants to get shot, okay. One can hit on his partner and pray nobody points to it. When it happens, Vasily takes a silent stand behind his loved one and just stares at love rival until they go away. If it doesn’t help, Vasya may flip and take person to the ground with one hard blow. He keeps poker face the whole time.

His partner is flirting with someone? Gets touchy and lovey-dovey? After long monitoring and accepting an unpleasant fact, Vasily bounces back and forth between the stages of denial and anger. Next days he shoos them away with a hand gesture and tortures himself, overthinking if it really was what he thought it was. Puppy eyes and gentle pats are usually enough to calm him down.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

In the beginning Vasily dodges kisses like Neo does bullets. Very unobtrusively all attempts to kiss him come to naught, he rises hand in stop sign or turns around, tightening bashlyk in hurry. Not that he doesn’t want to, he is just afraid. No, not that they will gasp in fright or find scars on his cheeks ugly. He is afraid of pain. Thought of someone touching his face sends unpleasant tingle down to the jaw. Given the physiological position of the tongue and teeth, you can imagine what that bullet… well, better not.

Later Vasily relaxes enough to let them kiss him in the forehead. In return he nuzzles in their hair or neck or anywhere they allow to. As long as they are satisfied with such a surrogate, he is chill and forgets about his deformation.

One day Vasily surrenders to their wishes and lets them unwrap bashlyk like a birthday present. He closes eyes in praying for gentle touch. After realizing the light touch on the lips does not cause pain Vasya develops much more positive attitude towards kissing. Now he kisses them himself, hooray. On the nose, one the cheeks, on the lips. No tongue tho. He prefers to do it in private, far from prying eyes.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

For some vague reason kids seem to really like him? They love his silence and smiling eyes (Tyra Banks is proud of you, sweetie) just as much as his willingness to play with them. Vasily sees no problem to run around enjoying games that have Russian equivalent: kakurenbo/hide and seek similar to “прятки” and janken/rock paper scissors is identical to “камень, ножницы, бумага”. Moreover Vasily’s physical states are impressive: he throws kids in the air and catches them like it’s nothing, spins them around until he gets dizzy, etc. Feels more comfortable to play with little kids and toddlers than teenagers.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Immediately after waking up, Vasily gets up and thoroughly stretches. Usually his partner is still asleep so he has some time to do some housework. In summer and spring, Vasya grabs a scythe and mows overgrown weeds near the house, in fall he cuts firewood for the next season, and in winter you can catch him by the window, looking at endless white fields where he doesn’t have anything to do! After morning routine is over, he greats now woken up partner with a temple kiss and together they decide what to cook for breakfast.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Likes to enjoy privacy of his home. After the list of useful (and not so useful) things has been done, Vasily wants to bury his face in the partner’s neck and relax. He is all about tea party with fresh baked buttered buns, inept massage, cuddling with fingers intertwined. If night out occurs, it is a casual walk around the city/village with a purpose of catching hot news and exchanging niceties.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Vasily has his soul wide open and is ready to tell his partner about the past, family, friends, traditions, and many-many other things, but does he really have an opportunity? During the journey, Vasya tries to get around the inability to speak by drawing and pointing to somehow related items but it rarely makes any sense. In general, he does not dump everything at once so he can back to topic and start conversation from where they left it.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

He has a good understanding that cool head is a main tool in problem solving. You can annoy Vasily as much as you like, he will just shrug his shoulders and shake his head because there’s no point in responding aggressively. In the event of a serious incident (category includes betrayal, treason, encroachment on something important to him) Vasily will hold strong emotions back anyway. It is not that he doesn’t want to tear wrongdoer to pieces, no. He will do it, directing all the destructive power of hatred into action itself.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Great memory, especially visual memory that helps him to find way back to camp or hotel without asking for anyone’s help. Vasily’s watchfulness plays a big role in interaction with others, especially with loved one. Did their gaze linger on a certain stuff? Was it flower? Weapon? Some sort of food? What was their facial expression? He picks up whether they press received present to the chest or try to hide it as soon as possible. Vasily may surprise loved one with a gift that they were staring in the shop but didn’t buy even after few months pass.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

The time is far past midnight. Heavy clouds cover the sky over the river valley, and the only source of light are anvil crawlers, sprawled between bare branches of oaks and beeches. Vasily is wide awake. Rolling thunder has nothing to do with it. He is too concentrated on a person quietly snuffling on his chest. They are so close. He is so happy. He feels… important? Special? Lucky? When they wanted snuggle up to someone in seek of protection, they went to Vasily. Not to Sugimoto whose yell fills people with a primal fear. Not to Shiraishi whose dumb jokes can distract from looming threat. To him. Vasily keeps wondering how his loud heartbeat didn’t wake them up. He can’t wait for a morning to plant a dozen kisses on their cute sleepy face.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

It completely depends on another person’s self-defense skills. If they can take care of themselves, Vasily won’t worry much. They are not a child to have someone watching their every step. If they are less skilled, then he will keep an eye on them. One dirty look is enough for Vasily to become alert and sneak closer to the partner. He will try to avoid a direct confrontation but if it is impossible Vasily will aim for a head.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

The very presence of Vasily in another country is an endless trying so he is used to give his best. Most of Vasya's time is spent on picking social clues and particular interaction qualities between Japanese people, comparison with those in his own culture, and application of synthesized results in his own relationship. For example, if there’s a chance Vasily would buy them the sweetest marshmallow from famous Abrikosov confectionery concern, but following Japanese tradition he would… well, he’ll stick to Russian presents until he spends enough time in Japan. Doesn’t care about anniversaries so do not expect extra effort.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

It can be difficult for a serious person to be with Vasily because of his childish behavior. Yes, it's fun to fool around with the person from outside that is in such a sad position that he has no other choice but to laugh. Only at some point will it seem stupid and unreasonable.

Still, in the Slavic countries, a man has always been considered the leader of the relationship and his opinion was put above all others. Sometimes Vasily tries to change his partner and impose his vision of the world on them. He doesn't look like an strictly uncompromising individual but Vasily may have a little bit of this in him.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Comfort and warmth are the main criteria for Vasily when choosing clothes. In addition, face protection is important to him as well because a good soldier knows how to cover his weaknesses and leave opponents without any benefits. Vasily values his sideburns and takes a good care of them himself. In addition, he is aware his blue eyes are hypnotic secret weapon of Russian Empire and they are another thing he really likes in own appearance.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Crossing the border illegally, he didn’t expect to make friends in the first place, leave alone jumping into romantic relationship. Ending up cuffed instead of having a little fun as a side mission in spontaneous sniper hunt surely leaves him attached. Attachment leads to hurt. If they decide to end the relationship Vasily’s feelings are crushed. You can catch the moment of realization: his shoulders drop and eyebrows rise in surprise as he takes step back. That’s okay. Vasily doesn’t hold grudges. His behavior remains positive despite being hurt.

If they were killed, Vasily will cross the whole damn country to find the culprit. He will search every corner, turn every stone to make them pay. Only then Vasily will allow himself to mourn properly, pray for them. After returning back home, he will light a candle in their memory during each church visit.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Vasily is far from “innocent” persona people try to picture him. His disability and unfamiliar environment gave him a great disguise but Vasily is sniper, he is deadly. Given his size and physique, Vasya, probably, can suffocate person with single hand, and squeaky sound of leather gloves friction sends goosebumps down his spine.

Corporal punishment was allowed up until 1904 both in army and navy of Russian Empire. I can see Vasily as someone who got into minor troubles but was disliked by his mentors so he got a bit of whipping, flogging, maybe, even running the gauntlet. His back is covered in merely visible thin white and pink lines.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Controlling partner is a big no-no. There are people that tolerate their loved one directing everything, gently pushing towards favored decisions, but Vasily isn’t one of them. It irritates him to the point where Vasya crosses his hands on the chest and throws a mum fit.

Vasily is a smart man, Vasily knows that good things take time. That’s why he can’t imagine himself with an impatient person by his side. In addition, you’ll need patience to deal with his forced silence that prevents intelligible communication.

Pretence. Mostly because Vasily can’t get why would you fake something? It doesn’t make you successful person, it just make you a liar.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

Doesn’t care where to sleep while it’s still dark. As soon as the first sunbeam hits his face, Vasily quickly jumps on his feet and gets to work. Same goes for any other light source like candle, lamp, torch. Prefers to doze with rifle by his side so that in the case of danger he could easily protect himself and others. Also Vasily sleeps exclusively on his back to minimize face contact with hard surfaces.

The thought of his homeland makes Vasily's heart ache, mostly because he misses sleeping on the Russian stove (remember “печка”?). There’s nothing even close to the heat it radiates. He just wants to curl on the stove and eat fresh kalaches.

Sleep quality is inversely proportional to the presence of dreams. It is easy to understand that Vasily had one: his face expresses complete detachment, and in his eyes you can see immeasurable sadness.

#golden kamuy #vasily #golden kamuy headcanon #golden kamuy imagine #tosikowrites

130 notes · View notes

wherearemyglassesbro · 5 years

Note

I’m thinking of starting a blog soon! So uh- if you can answer, if the axis and allies were to go to a fine arts school, what would they do/major in? Thank you! Keep up the good work!

Hell yeah!!! Welcome to the club, bucko!

China: Yao would be a piano master! He takes multiple classes for piano and flute! And he plays the harp too but his heart will always belong to the piano. He takes public speaking classes cause he isn’t the best at it and he learns Chinese instruments with his mom at home :) the way he performs always leaves people in awe, his expressions and the way he plays makes the whole experience magical!! His teachers adore him!

Russia: Ivan is a dancer, watch out man cause he’ll crush your head with his thighs. He’s super tall and strong so he gets the male lead most of the time for ballet performances put on by the school! Cause he lifts his partner so easily and just...glides around that stage! Ivan looks great in sequins and cakey stage makeup :) and he takes very good care of himself, he’s got a *self care* routine that every other dancer at the school is jealous of. He doesn’t talk much cause he doesn’t see the need when he can just express himself through dance! Ivan can do the splits...He enjoys dropping into the splits at home or in the hall at school to freak out his friends and sisters

America: Alfred wants to be a comedian so he’s taking a bunch of theater, public speaking and improv classes! When he’s on stage, he owns it! And he can do a handful of accents! Al’s great at comedic storytelling and takes a LOT of inspiration from Jerry Seinfeld and John Mulaney. He watches their shows/performances and makes notes on them! He’s done multiple assignments on them too so at this point, Al’s teachers know as much about Jerry and John as Al does...RIP

England: Artie wanted to be a musician and came to this performing arts school to learn different instruments like guitar or drums but when he grew out of his punk phase in 10th grade, he realized he wanted to be a writer! So he’s taking theater classes and advanced English/poetry classes to learn as much as he can before being spat back out into the real world to fend for himself. He writes a lot of love poems and then burns them in his fireplace at home cause he believes they’re not good enough. Alfred did a comedy sketch about him once, mocking his accent, and Art threatened to beat him up behind Denny’s at 2am

Canada: Mattie wants to SCULPT!!! Let’s hear if for art bois!!! People expect him to be funny like Al cause they’re twins but Matt just wants to listen to Tessa Violet and sculpt pretty ladies out of wood...That’s all he wants to do :( he takes painting classes and a lot of business related classes cause if he’s gonna sell his art, he wants to know how money works cause it ain’t like anyone else is gonna teach him! He also enjoys widdling and will widdle things out of soap if you ask nicely and buy him a cookie from the lunchroom! His favorite thing to make outta soap are boots “cause you don’t expect soap to be shapes like shoes!”...Nerd

France: Francis has hopped from thing to thing many times! He came to the school for ballet, and continues to take ballet classes, but he found out how much he loved to paint after messing around during tech week for the school’s Big Spring Production as he helped paint the backdrops. So he’s conflicted. He’s been dancing since he was young but he’s found something else he loves! Oh how sad! Fran’s a big drama queen but he’s got such a diverse circle of friends: the writers, actors, dancers, art kids, he knows tons of people and is always out and about! If he sees you crying in the dressing room he’ll run over and hug you! But if you’re his dancing partner he can be very picky “Ugh, NON, stop sickling your foot it looks atrocious!”

S.Italy: Oooooooh boy, Lovino to be a photographer for big brands like GUCCI or Louis Vuitton! But you gotta start at the bottom and work your way up! Lovi is extremely short tempered when he has to work with people his own age and has made his brother cry many times by yelling and nagging. “NO! Look at the CAMERA not ME! You idiot now look! You moved and now he shot’s blurry, nice job!” But despite that, you’ll still find him crying as he edits photos cause he waited until the last possible movement to turn everything in and now he’s gotta cram! But then his perfectionist side kicks in and then he cries even MORE cause ‘I don’t have enough time to make the picture perfect but it needs to look perfect! But I don’t have enough time-‘

N.Italy: Feli wants to be a PAINTER and not just any painter, a realist painter. He loves taking Lovi’s pictures to paint! He goes around and will take pictures of students, with their permission, and will paint them super realistically! He’s painted Ivan and Yao many times cause they’re his buddies and he appreciates them so much!! He’s been to every show their school has put on and he’s always there to cheer others on at art shows, even if he didn’t submit anything to that show. He and Matt work together in the studio sometimes! Matt will let him paint a sculpture or Feli will paint Matt whike he’s working. Feli talks and talks while Mattie listens without a complaint :)

Prussia: Gil is a band boy, he plays the saxophone, clarinet and flute. He’s got a big ol’ lung capacity! He loves music and uses it as a coping mechanism. When he’s having Albino Aches, he plays music to get through it, when he’s frustrated with his peers he plays the sax dramatically and if he’s feeling like a gremlin, he’ll play All Star on the flute to annoy Francis during practice. “Gil! Get out of here!” *vigorous flute sounds*. Gil plays in the pit for shows so even though you don’t see him much, he’s loud and he’s there! He and Yao DONT get along cause Yao is very very serious about music while Gil is just good at it and enjoys it. He doesn’t plan on making a career out of it but he’s having a great time while he’s playing!

Germany: Lud is in an advanced choir and has such a beautiful singing voice UGH DUDE! He gets super embarassed when you compliment him or when Gilbert’s yelling ‘THATS MY BABY BROTHER!! WOOO!!!!’ From the crowd. He’s a freshman there but he auditioned for a hiiiigh up choir and easily got in! He takes great care of his voice, no unnecessary yelling and definetly no smoking. He chides others in his choir for doing so but hey, at the end of the day, Lud knows he’ll just take their places when they ruin their voices! Lud wants to make a career out of singing cause he just...Loves it so much. He worries so much about being in a real serious choir one day :0 His worst fear is that he’ll fail every auditom he goes to! His dad assures him that that won’t happen...And he trusts his dad...So he’ll power through it and sing his kil’ heart out

Japan: Kiku and a few friends want to make their own manga one day! That’s the goal! But for now, they’re all settling for advanced drawing classes and painting classes. They don’t exactly have manga courses at school so they practice that on their own time. They’ve made a bunch of friends through their art program though! And since Kiku speaks English, Japanese and Chinese, he tutors other students who wish to learn those languages! That way he gets money to buy fancy copics :) he doesn’t work for the big showcases or anything like that, he prefers to keep to himself, but his teachers put his art in school art shows constantly!

Long postttttt thanks for reading :) yeeeehaw!

70 notes · View notes

designsfromtime · 5 years

Text

Imitation is NOT the Sincerest Form of Flattery:

When I first started out designing custom couture costumes, there was a brief moment of temptation to imitate those I viewed as “successful.” Thankfully, my integrity guided me to find my own artistic expression. But, I get it. You see an artist’s work all over the internet and hear about how busy their commission calendar is and you covet their success.

In the desire to reach another’s “presumptuous” pinnacle and enjoy a FULL commission schedule, it’s tempting to copy from them. But patience, practice, and perseverance are the necessary companions of success in this business, and success isn’t necessarily reflected by dollar signs.

This post is motivated by a recent incident involving a client that contacted me about a commission, but it’s much more far reaching than that. In this instance, he had three pictures of men’s 16th Century noble costumes that he presented me. This is a usual and customary step in my consultation process, as it gives me an idea where their tastes lie, and guides me in sketching out a concept I feel encapsulates their favorite features. As I worked to draw out more information from this client, to include his preference in color and textiles, he was rather vague. He’d referenced one of my original designs in his original message when he contacted me, then supplied me with three pictures - but wasn’t specific about the overall design points he liked; other than to state when I offered him samples of historical styles that he did NOT want “poufy” pants. Translation: short paned slops. He wanted royal blue, and had picked out a brocade from my Pinterest board.

Feeling confident that I was heading in the right direction - based on his expressed likes and dislikes - I sketched out my concept using my “historically accurate” model I have developed in the cut of my clothing, and worked up a design board complete with samples of the fabric in the colors he requested. After expending many, MANY hours (once again) in consultation that spanned a couple of weeks, he replied back with one of the pictures he had sent me previously, describing in detail what he liked about it, and asked me - in no uncertain terms - if I would “copy” that ensemble. Copy? As in reproduce the exact garment? - with the exception of different textiles of course.

My reply? I politely informed him that I felt it was unethical to copy another artist’s designs. I offered him something of my own design collection, but stated that ethically I wasn’t willing to copy another artist - even though I would be using different textiles. Call me crazy, but that’s just not something I will do! Not even at the risk of losing a commission - which I did!!

Look, when you approach a designer - who has already established themselves and has developed their own design “aesthetic,” to be shown a garment that isn’t yours, or isn’t remotely historically accurate, and ask them to “copy” it, feels like a slap in the face. You obviously thought enough of that designer’s work to contact them? - Right? What’s more disconcerting is that the dude canceled the project because I refused to plagiarize another’s work! Okay, so is it pride on my part? - or Ego that they want you to replicate someone else’s work rather than yours? Yeah, I suppose my reaction could be labeled thus. But what drives me in these situations is my integrity. The garment is all over Pinterest. It’s nice work. The cut isn’t historical, but it’s recognizable, ya’ll!

But more than anything this situation begs the question: “Why contact an artist whose style and quality of work is already established and then request they copy someone else’s work? This situation hearkens me back to my “Nicole” experience and my advice about not accepting a commission simply for the money. Sometimes fate steps in and works it out for you - as in this situation. But other times you will need to be perceptive enough to know the warning signs and exit stage left.

So, if I haven’t already established my position, let me clarify:

I WILL NOT copy another designer’s work. Period. End of discussion.

Draw inspiration from? Yes. Copy it exactly? Absolutely NOT!

I will put my own spin to it, but I’m not going to replicate it. I feel as an artist copying another’s work is a cop out! In essence, what you’re saying is that “I don’t have my own vision, or the confidence to create my own aesthetic, so I want to ride on the coattails of someone else’s hard work and investment of time.” You gotta do the work, ya’ll. Pay your dues, so to speak. As the artist who’s being copied, it’s infuriating, and it’s just WRONG.

In all sincerity, I am happy if my work is so well received that someone would like to draw inspiration from it, but I would be highly upset if someone were to purchase the same embroidery patterns and replicate my work - and sell it! I’ve actually had a similar situation occur with someone I have a long-standing working relationship with and who I respect as an artist in their own right.They replicated one of my skirt and forepart designs to market their embroidery patterns rather than just seeking my permission to use pictures of mine. Thankfully, they took the high road and honored my request to take down the picture of my “jocked style.”- And I am SO appreciative of that! I’ve had other experiences that did NOT end so amicably. In that particular instance, I had loaned my prototype for an Elizabethan headdresses inspired by “The Tudors” to a fellow guild member. I have the copyrights to my pattern. I had scoured the internet for a pattern, but after several years decided to just draft my own. I worked on it on and off for two damn years before finally perfecting my pattern. I had, at one time, considered selling my patterns, but decided against it. This “person” took my prototype home with the intention of wearing it to an upcoming event, but then showed up wearing a COPY of my headdress! When I saw the pictures, I freaked!! I contacted her in a snit and asked her what the hell she thought she was doing copying my pattern and informed her that it was copyrighted. She replied that she liked my headdress so much she wanted one. My translation: I didn’t want to pay for one of yours, so I stole your pattern. What was I supposed to do? - Act a fool and rip it off her head and stomp on it? I chose to let it go with the stern warning that if I suddenly saw replicas of my work floating around she and I would be meeting in person in less than amicable terms.

It’s bad enough that artists have to deal with unscrupulous hacks overseas who steal pictures of our work and use it to dupe naive customers into a sale - - Only for that customer to receive a hideously styled and cheaply made knock off that doesn’t look remotely similar. What sucks is that YOUR work, in that situation, is now forever connected to a scam!

To artists or costumers seeking to parlay their passion into a small business, I have this to say: BE ORIGINAL people! Develop your own aesthetic, rather than mimic someone else’s work. It’s what will set you apart from the thousands of costumers out there who have the same goal. With the exception of COSPLAY don’t copy another’s work!!

You gotta find your niche and market it.

My business model has been to scour the internet and find items that no one else is offering, or offer something similar in an elevated version. Look, historical clothes are similar in their cut and pattern, so it takes some creativity and inspiration to find a unique spin to these typical garments - especially if you’re using commercial patterns. There is only so much one can do using textiles and trims, as so much of what you see out there is similar. However, I built my business model on quality construction and customer service. It isn’t my fellow costumers out here in the real world from which I draw my inspiration, but rather extant garments and those in the theater and film industry who actually get it right!

From the beginning, as I honed my abilities, I strove to create pieces that matched the quality of those seen by professionals in the film industry and by pieces owned by museums..I create my own textiles using historically based embroidery, in an effort to create my own aesthetic. Because so many costumers are using the same patterns and accessing the same vendors for textiles, there will be similarities you see out there. But to intentionally copy another artist’s work sticks in my craw. Maybe my work ethic is indicative of my generation, I don’t know. But I will stand by my ethics in this regard and sleep better knowing that if nothing else, I’m original.

#historical costume #historical fashion #Costume

38 notes · View notes

thesanguinerose · 4 years

Text

Week One Apprentice April Asks

I wanted to post the remaining asks for my boys, so here you go!

Questions already answered are linked. Also RIP to mobile users. I’m so sorry.

For Rory:

1. The Basics. What is your character’s name? How old are they? How tall are they? Skin color? Eye color? Hair color? Gender identification?

Riordan “Rory” Enda Tanner is 26 years old at the start of the game. He was born April 11 (Aries), and is trans (he/him only, please). He does identify as gay, though he has been known to have some wiggle room - rare as said wiggle room is. He stands at a towering 5’2” (though he wears heeled boots 99% of the time so really everyone sees him at….5’5”), is incredibly pale and rosy and freckled, has green eyes, and brown hair that’s usually pulled back into a ponytail or braid. Sometimes he leaves it down, though, and it is close to waist length. He likes to wear silver earrings (cuffed up to his cartilage), and his colors are Navy, Cream, and Silver. He made his own binder by developing a modified stay, though his build is slight enough that he doesn’t require it all the time. His general outfit is a white undershirt, with the sleeves rolled up, his modified stay, a navy vest/jerkin, and brown trousers and boots. Fairly simple and standard. Doesn’t garner much attention. He also cannot see very well and has circular spectacles. However, due to his clumsiness, Rory keeps them on a chain in case they fall from his face. Which they do. Frequently. (Further outfit info can be provided on request for pre-death/masquerade/etc purposes if interested!)

2. Love Interest. Who does your character love? What attracted them to that particular LI?

Answered here

3. Familiar. Does your character have a familiar? How did they meet?

Answered here

4. Hobbies. What kinds of things does your character like to do for fun?

He likes to sew. One of his passions is designing and sewing together outfits or finding fun ways to design practical clothing items. He makes all of his own clothing and post-game experiments with many different kinds and colors of fabrics. He also enjoys writing - mostly journal entries as he doesn’t want to forget any other aspect of his life from now on. Also enjoys horseback riding and general tomfoolery!

5. Hidden talents. Is there something neat that your character can do? Tie a cherry stem into a knot with their tongue? Say any word backwards perfectly?

SFW - He’s a very good dancer, though usually just when others aren’t looking. He is also a fan of sleight of hand tricks, using magic or just by being slippery.

…..he has some NSFW ones, but those are available upon request ^_^

6. Magical talents. Is there a specific type of magic that your character excels at? Any magic they aren’t so great at? Or do they actually shy away from magic altogether?

Rory has some natural talent and some learned. Naturally, he is adept with fire based magic, and prophetic divination, most of which is involuntary. He is also prone to emotional outbursts that result in items being broken/people being hurt. Learned, he excelled at alchemy, illusion, and magical theory. He likes the balance and physicality of alchemy, versus the creativity and freedom of illusion, and how they play into one another. Most of his learned magic was lost, but Asra retaught him a bit of it :)

7. Interaction. How does your character typically interact with people?

Answered here

8. Romance. What is something that your character and their LI love to do together? How do they show affection?

With Julian, they like to go on adventures. The more places they can go, the better. They are also both very good at surprising each other with events, gifts, vacations. Sometimes, just the simple things like making breakfast in the morning, or a comforting hug after a bad day. Rory primarily shows his affection with words and actions - he is very much a fan of telling people that he loves them and why, and wants to hug and touch as much as he can. He requires the same, though usually the words are the important part, especially as his insecurities show up. He just needs reassurance that he is loved, and he is glad to provide the same as is needed.

9. Travel. Does your character like to travel outside of Vesuvia? How often? For how long? What kinds of things do they do away from home?

Now he does. He was raised on a farm in a small village about a week’s travel southwest of Vesuvia. He ran away from home at 18, stayed briefly with his aunt in Vesuvia, went to school in Prakra for magic, then returned to Vesuvia to help his aunt with her shop. Up until his death, however, he stayed within the general city limits. Once he is brought back, he stays at home up through end-game. At that point, he and Julian travel all over the world, for months at a time, especially once they get Julian his own ship. They regularly travel to Nevivon and galavant across Prakra, but always return home to Vesuvia. Every trip means a new place that Rory hasn’t seen, and if Julian hasn’t been there, either, all the better!

10. WTF. Has anything just…weird ever happened to your character? Something that made them stop and go “What just happened?!”

Answered here

11. Crime. Has your character ever been arrested? If so, what did they do? Have they ever helped stop a crime?

He’s never been caught ;) See Question 10 for stopping crimes, though that hardly counts, doesn’t it?

12. Secrets. What is a secret that your character has? Are they in line for the throne in a far off land? Was there this one time at band camp…? Are they secretly involved in an assassin’s guild?

Answered here

13. Overcompensation. Is there something that your character just HAS to do better than anyone else? Or are they just that dang good without trying? If they see someone else showing off, what is their kneejerk reaction?

Answered here

14. Fight Club. Is your character a good fighter? What kind of skills do they have?

Answered here

15. The Arts. Is your character a creative type? What kinds of things can they create? Can they act? Street perform?

He can sketch! Not well, and not people, but he likes to sketch out landscapes and plants. Professional Doodler ;) He also does stage magic and sleight of hand for fun, and has been known to do some work down at the community theater. He can sing, but he’s a better dancer, preferring to let his body do the talking for him. Wishes he could play an instrument, but for everyone’s sake...best not to let him near one!

16. Goofy. Is your character a clown? Do they like to make people laugh?

Answered here

17. Language. Is your character multilingual? How many languages do they speak? Do they have an accent? Is it sexy? Is it silly? Do they have a multilingual lisp?

Answered here

18. Embarrassment. What is something really embarrassing that your character has done/said?

Honestly, when he first went to Prakra, he was a bit of a bumpkin. So just his overall reactions to being in a metropolis, plus his shy demeanor, led him to act in some embarrassing ways around people he wanted to befriend. In game, Rory is notoriously clumsy, not quite used to his limbs, like a young colt. He laughs off his embarrassment, now, at least!

19. Memory. Has your character gotten any of their memory back? If so, what? Did it change them?

Not properly. When he became strong enough, Asra gave Rory back his old journal, which documented Rory’s life from the ages of 16 to 22, when he died. Rory can’t read it for too long or, yes, the headaches start. So instead of getting his memories back, he just sort of re-reads what his life was from the point of view of someone that he...quite simply doesn’t relate to anymore. But it’s good for him to know, he thinks. To see what he was like, and to avoid making similar mistakes. It does inspire him to make his own journal, and to keep track of his days so he never loses another moment again.

20. Family. Talk about your character’s family. Who were they?

Answered here

For Riley

1. The Basics. What is your character’s name? How old are they? How tall are they? Skin color? Eye color? Hair color? Gender identification?

Riley Aeron Tanner is 24 years old at the start of the game. He’s a Virgo, born September 17th, and is cis, using he/him pronouns. Highkey a bisexual disaster who doesn’t quite know what to do with all the feelings he has, and also pretty oblivious to people liking him! He’s 6’2” and built like a brick shithouse, warm skin-toned, easy to tan, but still very clearly pale. He has brown eyes and dark brown hair, which he tries to keep short, but he’s not very good at cutting it, so it sometimes hits near chin length. He can be found wearing very practical clothing that makes it easy to move as he does a lot of stocking/lifting/errand running for the shop, as well as odd jobs around town. Also very earthy in his tones - lots of greens and browns and oranges! He’s also not incredibly hairy, but he does have a fair amount of body hair - including a full beard, which he tries to keep neatly trimmed. Unlike his brother, he can see without glasses, so any accessories would be practical - a bag, tools, and the like.

2. Love Interest. Who does your character love? What attracted them to that particular LI?

Answered here

3. Familiar. Does your character have a familiar? How did they meet?

Answered here

4. Hobbies. What kinds of things does your character like to do for fun?

He likes to play the lute, go for walks outside the city, and people watch. He’s definitely a people person and his favorite is going into the marketplace and just complimenting people on their wares, or drawing the animals he sees running around. And just being an all around good guy...Those are hobbies, right?

5. Hidden talents. Is there something neat that your character can do? Tie a cherry stem into a knot with their tongue? Say any word backwards perfectly?

Answered here

6. Magical talents. Is there a specific type of magic that your character excels at? Any magic they aren’t so great at? Or do they actually shy away from magic altogether?

Honestly, Riley isn’t good at magic at all. He’s never shown an affinity for it, and it’s never been that big a deal to him. In his canon, Rory dies when Riley is 15, and so he pursues magic as a way to honor him, even if it’s hard. He gains an affinity for Green Magic and enjoys tarot, but he still isn’t particularly good at either of them. After he is brought back, of course, this changes, and his magical powers develop very quickly.

7. Interaction. How does your character typically interact with people?

He. Loves. People. He’s like a big puppy - loud and excited, kind and helpful, constantly the life of the party. He tries to help people in need whenever he can, and if he ends a conversation with the other person grinning, then he has succeeded! Generally well liked, but not smug or rude about it. He’s just a good dude!

8. Romance. What is something that your character and their LI love to do together? How do they show affection?

With Portia, they like to go on adventures together either in real life, or in their books. He likes it when she reads to him, and he likes to read to her. He likes to surprise her with events and little shows of physical affection - neck kisses, spinning her around, humming into her ear, massages after a long day. He likes to doodle her - though he is so upset that he can’t catch her likeness in his stick figures, not properly. Riley also serenades her - out in public or in the privacy of their home - doesn’t matter!

9. Travel. Does your character like to travel outside of Vesuvia? How often? For how long? What kinds of things do they do away from home?

He doesn’t travel very often. He’s stayed in Vesuvia since he moved there at 15, so I guess you could say he’s a bit of a homebody. He will travel occasionally, especially if Portia wants to, and is open to adventure, but it doesn’t occur to him to leave unless someone else suggests it.

10. WTF. Has anything just…weird ever happened to your character? Something that made them stop and go “What just happened?!”

Answered here

11. Crime. Has your character ever been arrested? If so, what did they do? Have they ever helped stop a crime?

Riley is generally pretty lawful good, though in both Rory and Riley’s canons, he does take up with a small militia to fight some of Lucio’s men. I suppose that was a crime, though I would argue the validity of that claim. He’s stopped a robbery or two in the past, but he generally tries to stay out of trouble.

12. Secrets. What is a secret that your character has? Are they in line for the throne in a far off land? Was there this one time at band camp…? Are they secretly involved in an assassin’s guild?

Answered here

14. Fight Club. Is your character a good fighter? What kind of skills do they have?

Yes. He can punch, he can throw, he can swordfight - He’s just very good at fighting. In canon, he is a practiced fighter, and in most AUs, he has done boxing or wrestling in addition to weightlifting. Boy can Fight!

15. The Arts. Is your character a creative type? What kinds of things can they create? Can they act? Street perform?

Answered here

16. Goofy. Is your character a clown? Do they like to make people laugh?

Answered here

17. Language. Is your character multilingual? How many languages do they speak? Do they have an accent? Is it sexy? Is it silly? Do they have a multilingual lisp?

Answered here

18. Embarrassment. What is something really embarrassing that your character has done/said?

Asra tried to tell Riley he loved him once before Riley’s death, and Riley just said, “Oh, wow, buddy! I love you too!” because he didn’t realize what Asra meant. Once he did realize, it was deeply embarrassing for both of them and Riley felt really bad about it.

19. Memory. Has your character gotten any of their memory back? If so, what? Did it change them?

He hasn’t. But maybe it’s better to forget, y’know? He can move forward instead of looking back on what he lost.

20. Family. Talk about your character’s family. Who were they?

See Rory’s answer for most of this. The only difference is the dynamic. Riley was raised as the “perfect” child in contrast to the abuse Rory faced, and so developed a weird complex around being “perfect”. He was spoiled, though did not want to be, and was uncomfortable with it. He also looked up to his older brother like he was made of everything good in this world - Riley wanted so much to be like Rory.

#apprenticeapril #long post #rory redacted #riley redacted #i'm so sorry this is so long #and the formatting probably got messed up #al;skjflajd #the arcana game #uhhhh #have fun with these

2 notes · View notes

ofsinnersandsaints · 5 years

Photo

only us

rating: E word count: 9197 AO3

Fjord was sitting in a back corner when Beau came over to sit beside him. She gave him an uncomfortably direct stare and bluntly asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Why does something have to be wrong?”

“Because you’re over here while everyone else is over there,” she gestured with her tankard to the rest of the Mighty Nein who were huddled around the front of the stage where mostly half naked men and women were dancing to what was objectively some very sexy music.

He thought of half a dozen lies and evasions, but he was too tired follow through with any of them. It had been a long ass week. “What can I say, Beau? This isn’t exactly my scene.”

“I can hang out here with you and we can get wasted,” she offered.

The side of Fjord’s lips lifted, “Nah, that’s fine. I know you’d rather be at the stage than back here with me.”

“I do want to be at the stage,” she admitted, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder and looking at him intently. “But you’re my friend, and if you want me to sacrifice a really great night with a really hot and limber chic, then I’ll do that for you.”

“I really don’t.”

“Awesome, I’ll send Jester over.”

Fjord tried to stop Beau, but she was too wily and slipped out of his grasp. “No, you don’t have to-She’s having her fun, leave her be.”

Beau ignored him and walked back up towards the stage, winding through more than a dozen tables filled will people. Fjord groaned as Beau whispered something to Jester, pointed at him, and then took Jester’s seat when she got up to make her way towards him.

“I told her not to do that,” Fjord assured Jester when she got close enough for her to hear.

“Oh, it’s okay. This gives me a chance to draw some of this,” she pulled out her journal from her backpack and the pen she used for sketching. “Besides, Beau says I’m a terrible wing man.”

He could understand that, “Sometimes when you talk someone up, it sounds like you’re hitting on them.”

“Maybe sometimes I am,” she said offhand as she flipped through the book to an empty page and began drawing figures, adding little details to their costumes. Fjord stared at her, a little thrown by her offhand comment. He’d always thought she was being nice all those times she’d complimented him…was there a chance she had been hitting on him all those times she’d talked him up? “Why are you back here?”

Fjord shifted back in his chair, looking away from Jester to the images she was forming with her fingers; it always amazed him how much talent she had. “I think this, uh, performance is meant for a different audience.”

“Like Beau?”

“Yeah, maybe Caleb.” Fjord looked up and over at the group. “Probably not Cad, but I think he just loves every new experience. He might not have any idea this entire thing is a choreographed seduction.”

“You’re not seduced?” Jester asked, looking up from her drawing.

“No, Jester, I’m not.” He watched the dancers for a moment and could understand what was supposed to be happening, and by the looks of the other audience members, what was happening for some. But for him? “It doesn’t work like that for me.”

She put her pen down and angled her body to face his. It was one of the things he adored about her, her complete willingness to give someone the entirety of her attention. More than once it had caught him by surprise, the intensity of it and the thrill of being-however temporarily-the center of her universe. “What doesn’t?”

“Uh,” he hadn’t really meant to admit that, but he felt so awkward here and Jester was someone he’d always felt comfortable with, and he wanted to keep her attention on him for just a little while longer. “You know how Beau is with women?”

“Like, how every time she meets someone who is hot she immediately wants to jump her?”

“Yeah, I’ve never gotten that feeling. I’ve never seen someone, man or woman, and immediately wanted them. So when I see something like this,” he waved at the stage, “I think it’s a cool dance, but it does nothing for me and I honestly don’t get the appeal.”

Jester studied him for a moment and he started feel awkward, maybe a little broken, and tried to make himself smaller. “I was always a little weird that way.”

“That’s not weird, Fjord.” She scooched her chair over to him, the wood making a terrible screeching sound beneath them. “Not everyone is built the same way.”

“Not according to my crew mates,” he told her and the hardness in his voice wasn’t directed at her. “Do you remember a few months back, I think it was around Hupperduke? I mentioned I’d only ever been with one person?”

“I remember,” Jester assured him.

“Well, that, uh, interaction hadn’t been my idea.”

“Your shipmates?” she guessed and there was no scorn or sarcasm on her face or in her voice. Just open compassion and interest, and it was that, more than anything physical, which made him want her the way he did.

Fjord eventually nodded and took another pull from his tankard. “They thought it would help, kind of a ‘you don’t know what you’re missing’ sort of thing, but it didn’t work the way I think it was supposed to because nothing changed for me.”

Jester was quiet for a moment before asking carefully, “Did you enjoy it?”

He thought about it seriously, because she’d asked earnestly. “It was all right? Like it wasn’t bad, but honestly, I didn’t get anything more out of it then I would have gotten on my own.”

His eyes widened, realizing what he’d said, but Jester was more comfortable about those sorts of things than he was and didn’t bat an eye. “I can understand that. I mean, I’ve never had sex but I’ve gotten myself off plenty of times and it was great. I wonder why they were so invested in your sex life, it seems like a weird thing for your friends to focus on.”

He shrugged, “I think it was because they didn’t understand it and neither did I. And you know, orcs have a reputation and the fact I was half orc without any of the rampant sexual craving was a curiosity. Then we’d get into port, go out for drinks, and they’d talk about how badly they needed a woman, if they were inclined that way. And I never had the need? Not like they seemed to anyway, and the way they talked about women…”

“Were they being jerks?” she asked, as if she was prepared to defend every woman on the planet from lascivious sailors.

“On occasion,” he allowed. “But mostly just talking about how sexy this woman was, how hot that one was, and I didn’t get it. Sure, they were beautiful but I didn’t feel that pull and they thought it was just a lack of opportunity? Lack of knowledge? That once I’d had sex it would click for me and I’d be the same as them. For a long time I didn’t understand what they were talking about.”

“Sexual attraction,” she filled in, propping her chin on her hand. “Never?”

“Uh,” Fjord shifted in the chair, picked up his drink and set it down again without drinking it. “The closest was for this lady I know. I thought she was pretty when I first met her, but I didn’t start to feel that sexual pull ‘til we’d known each other for a while.”

Jester scrunched up her nose, an instinctive reaction she quickly smoothed out. “Avantika.”

He stared at her for a while, not sure how she hadn’t realized his meaning. “No, not Avantika.”

She rolled her eyes, her posture relaxing again. “Then why’d you sleep with her?”

“Didn’t know how to say no?” he answered, but she didn’t look convinced. Fjord rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension between them before resting his arms on the table. “I thought maybe if I tried again it’d be different, because this time we shared something.”

“U’Kotoa?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not the kind of thing that matters, Fjord.”

“I kno-“

“I mean, I wouldn’t jump a guy just because they followed the Traveler.”

He wasn’t mad at the interruption, sometimes the words couldn’t stay in her mouth. “I’ll remember that the next time we meet another follow of the water snake god. ‘Don’t have sex with them just because we’re tethered to the same being.’”

Jester nodded her approval and then leaned towards him. “So sex with Avantika wasn’t good, huh?”

Fjord snorted at her tone, “You don’t have to sound so smug about it.”

She smiled and they sat together, watching the craziness go on in the tavern as the dancing wrapped up. Beau went up to the tallest woman, a sturdy looking female who seemed exactly Beau’s type, and even from this distance Fjord could tell his friend was desperately hitting on the dancer.

He wished her all the luck.

“Who was it?” she asked after a few minutes had passed. He looked over at the question, raised an eyebrow because he didn’t know what she was asking about. “The woman you felt all sexy about, I mean.”

“Oh,” he looked away, focusing on his friends: Nott was stealing something from one of the dancers and Caleb was so buried in his book the room could explode and he wouldn’t notice. Gathering up his limited amount of courage he answered, “It’s you.”

When she didn’t say anything, which was so un-Jester-like, he started to feel a heavy sinking feeling in his gut. After counting to five he slowly turned his head to see Jester staring at him, her big eyes blinking at him slowly. “Me?”

“Yeah, Jester. You.”

She turned her head, her eyes not really focusing on anything and he let her work through whatever thoughts she had. Across the room someone screamed with excitement.

He probably could have timed this better.

“Oh. Well, same.”

“Yeah?” there was too much noise, he couldn’t be sure he’d heard her right.

“Yeah, Fjord,” she shrugged with one of her shoulders. “The only difference is your attraction took some time, and mine was pretty much immediate.”

Fjord shifted on his chair so he was facing her, their knees bumping against each other. “Immediate?”

“I saw you,” she said it like a confession. “Before we met.”

“I saw you, too. You were drawing a dick on the ship next to mine.”

Her grin was victorious. “That was the day I saw you too, when I was sneaking towards the ship. You were up on the deck ordering people around. You were very sweaty, and very hot.”

“Well, it was the middle of summer.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” He shrugged off the compliment, not sure what to do with it and picked up his drink. “Do you enjoy kissing?”

He sputtered into his drink, ninety percent sure she’d waited until he’d taken a swing to ask, just so she’d get a reaction. “Geeze, Jester.”

“It’s a fair question. If sex is boring, we could try making out. You’re the only person I’ve ever kissed so I wouldn’t know if you were bad at it.”

Fjord stared at her, counting to five before he trusted himself enough to speak. “It’s not that sex is boring, it’s just that I don’t need it. I hate to keep using Beau as an example of normal-“

“Average,” Jester interrupted.

“Huh?”

“People can be average, but no one is normal.”

She said it with such certainty he believed her without really understanding what she was saying. “How do you figure?”

“Well, because I think normal people have two parents, and Caleb probably thinks normal people don’t kill their parents, and Nott thinks normal people don’t collect buttons,” she waved her hand as she rattled off her examples. “Normal is nothing but a word to summarize all the things you wish to be but can never become. Normal isn’t real. So maybe you’re not average, Fjord, but why would you want to be?”

He was stunned for a couple of seconds, trying to catch up with a view point that was drastically changing by the millisecond. So if normal wasn’t a thing, and he simply wasn’t average, that was a good thing, wasn’t it? Being different was better than being abnormal.

“You still with me?” Jester asking, her voice all friendly teasing as she poked his shoulder.

“Yeah, I just think you blew my mind, Jester.”

“Cool,” she grinned. “But I didn’t mean to interrupt you, you were saying something about Beau being average.”

“Most people I know crave sex-“

“I do.”

“You do?” he asked, distracted by the admission, by the images it conjured up in his mind.

“Yeah. I just masturbate and it eases it some, but sometimes you just really want the weight of another person on you. Even if you’ve never actually experienced it yourself.”

She was going to kill him before he ever got the chance to touch her. “Well, I don’t have that craving. I mean, the whole three times I’ve done it, it was an enjoyable enough way to pass the hour, but it was hardly something I couldn’t live without.”

“But,” and she leaned forward like she was about so ask a very private or very important question. “Do you like kissing?”

Fjord laughed and leaned forward, matching her serious voice with one of his own. “Yes, Jester, I like kissing.”

“Great,” her knees rammed into his as she stood up quickly. “Let’s go make out.”

Fjord grabbed her wrist, tugging a little so she turned back to face him. “You want to make out?”

Jester’s sigh was a little exasperated but he liked to think it was also a little fond. “Yes, Fjord, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

She pulled her arm, not enough to make Fjord let go, but rather to encourage him to come with her. “Then let’s go.”

Fjord stood up but didn’t let her drag him towards the door. “We should probably let the others know we’re leaving so they don’t think we’ve been kidnapped again.”

“Good point,” she closed her eyes and did a couple of movements with her fingers and a piece of copper, components of a spell he immediately recognized as Sending. “Hey Beau, it’s me-“ Fjord looked over to Beau to see her reaction. She was in the middle of flirting and jumped suddenly, looking around almost frantically. “I just wanted to let you know that Fjord and I are leaving, we’re going back to our room.”

Fjord watched Beau, saw her lips moved as she was looking around for Jester. Her eyes locked on them as she finished talking and Jester gave their friend a thumbs up. “Okay, let’s go.”

“What did she say?” Fjord asked as he let Jester push him towards the door.

“She wanted to know if she should stay with Caduceus and Yasha tonight.”

“And you gave her a thumbs up,” he clarified as they made their way through the crowd.

“Yep,” they stepped outside and the quiet was a welcome relief from the raucousness inside. “We don’t have to do anything besides make-out but it was very nice of Beau to make sure no one walks in. That would be weird.”

“Not the weirdest thing that’s ever happened in our group.”

“What’s weirder?”

“That time Molly walked into the room wearing a rug and then flashed us?”

Jester laughed, the sound bright and warm as they walked across the street towards the inn. “You’re right, that’s the weirdest thing. I can’t believe I forgot about that.”

“It was memorable,” Fjord grumbled good-naturedly. “You know, this wasn’t how I imagined this all happening.”

“Me neither,” she admitted, pushing the inn door open and waving at the woman at the desk on their way towards the steps. “In my mind, one of us dies.”

“Naturally.”

“It’s romantic,” Jester grinned at him over her shoulder. “In theory, one of us dies and then comes back to life and we realize that we don’t want to die without having had the chance to be together. Then there’s a big, dramatic kiss in the middle of a cavern surrounded by our friends who cheer for us.” She stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to face him, Fjord paused a few steps down so they were face to face. “But this works too.”

He had half a second to figure out what she was doing before she did it; Jester put her hands on either side of his face, leaned forward, and kissed him.

It took a moment for Fjord’s brain to catch up with his body. His hands were on her hips before he realized what he was doing, pulling her forward so she was a little off balance and leaning on him, her arms on his shoulders, wrists locked behind his neck.

The kiss was an easy, cool dip into a river. Nothing hurried or frantic as they found a rhythm between them. Fjord didn’t know how long they stood like that, testing the waters and learning each other, but eventually Jester’s fingers found their way into the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling just a little.

And something shifted inside of him, unlocked and slid open to release a feeling he hadn’t quite known lived within him.

Want.

Fjord moved up one step, then another, so he towered over Jester and the angle of the kiss changed. Her hands fell to his shoulders so he could feel her fingers digging into his muscle and holding on; he liked to think she was as wildly affected as he was.

“We should probably take this inside the room,” Jester suggested, plastered against him so he could feel the unsteadiness of her breathing.

“Right,” Fjord spoke in his own voice, the Vandren accent gone, because it felt wrong to have even that simple lie between them in the moment.

She smiled fondly up at him, “There you are, Fjord. I was wondering when you’d show up again.”

His own grin was a little crooked. “We have rooms 2, 3, and 6. Which one?”

“Six,” she decided instantly as she ran her hands down his arm, then linked her fingers with his. “I’d use another spell to tell Beau which room we’re in but I don’t have enough energy to do another one that powerful. Besides, I think she’ll figure out.”

Jester walked into the room and it was so familiar, this comradery, that it baffled Fjord a little. A kiss like that should change things, shouldn’t it? Instead it felt like any other night, but instead of going into a room with Cad, it was Jester.

“I’d honestly like to see her wrangle the rest of the group, ordering them into rooms,” he said as she took off her bag and cloak, throwing them haphazardly on the chair by the door.

With a laugh Jester sat down on the bed and began undoing her boots.

Fjord moved her little jacket to lay on the back of the chair and set the bag on the floor, settling on the seat with an ankle on his knee. They’d dropped all their weapons and stuff in one of the other rooms before they’d gone across the street for entertainment so both he and Jester were unarmed.

“I didn’t tell her why we were leaving,” she mused out loud. “So she might not get it.”

“Beau got it,” Fjord assured her. Beau was perceptive, more so than she let on, wasn’t that why she’d sent Jester over to him in the first place?

Jester dropped her boot and went to work on the other one. “Why are you over there?”

“Sometimes I just like watching you.”

She looked up and blinked at him, almost like he’d caught her off guard. “You’re being pretty smooth for someone who ignored my flirting for months.”

“I didn’t ignore it.”

Jester shook her head, amused. “Evade, then.”

“At first, it was because I didn’t think I worked right, you know? And I didn’t want to lead you on, or give you the wrong idea when I didn’t think it could go anywhere.”

“What was Avantika then?”

“In the kindest of terms, she was an experiment. I didn’t have to worry about hurting her feelings because I don’t think she had many outside of U’Kotoa, so in the end it didn’t really matter. I didn’t want to risk that kind of misstep with you.”

“And now?”

“Now? I’m so damn tired of pretending like I’m not half in love with you already.”

She gasped like the wind had been knocked out of her. “Fjord.”

“Again, not how I imagined this going, but I’m tired of waiting for the right time. Sometimes you just have to take the moment you’re given.”

Jester moved over a few inches on the bed, “Come here, Fjord.”

He got up slowly and made his way to the bed and sat down next to her. “Neither one of us had a gods-damned idea what we’re doing, Jester.”

“That’s true, but do you remember when we left Nicodranas? I’d never left the coast, and you hadn’t gone very far inland, so neither of us knew what we were doing, and you remember what we said?”

Fjord looked down at their hands, hers just a few inches from his, and linked his fingers with hers. “We said we’d figure it out together.”

She squeezed his hand once. “We’ll figure this out together, too. Also, I’ve read lots of books about sex, so that’ll help too.”

Fjord laughed, leaning forward to kiss her while her lips were still curved so he could taste the smile. Her hands went up and he could immediately feel her fingers in his hair once again, his own rested low on her back, near the curve of her hips.

The angle wasn’t right, it was just a little awkward the way their necks were twisted, but Jester pressed her tongue against his lips and the idea of changing positions dropped from his mind.

He surged against her, opening his mouth and running his tongue along hers to learn the taste. Fjord attempted to suck her lower lip, but forgot about his tusks and could feel the pressure of his teeth scraping along her skin. He pulled back suddenly, worried he’d hurt her. “Sorry, I’m not quite used to the tusks.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t cut me,” she assured him brightly. “And I’m not opposed to a little biting, we’ll have to try lots of things to figure out what we like and don’t like. And I’ll tell you if I don’t like something, and you can do the same, you know?”

“In that case, sitting like this is going to give me a crick in my neck.”

She giggled, “Good point. Do you have a better idea?”

Fjord looked around and when his eyes landed on the wall the bed was pressed against he had the niggle of a memory, “I do.” He swung his legs off the blanket and took off his boots before sliding back so he was pressed against the wall, legs stretched out in front of him.

Understanding what he was doing, Jester moved to where he was, swinging one leg over his so she was straddling him. “Better?” she asked as she settled, her weight on his legs. Any closer to his hips and she’d have been able to feel the beginning of an erection through his pants.

“Much better,” he put his hands on her knees, running them up her thighs beneath the skirt of her dress. “You know, when we were on the Mystake I thought about this more than once.”

She’d been fiddling with the hair at the back of his neck, but stopped and gave him a hard look. “If you mention Avantika, you should know I will kill you and wait until the very last possible moment to bring you back.”

Fjord smiled at the threat, almost believing her. He kept running his hands up her legs and wished she wasn’t wearing so many clothes. “I’m talking about after she was dead.”

“Oh, then keep going,” she said as she began undoing the buckles at his shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re wearing too many layers,” she informed him pertly as she pulled off his leather chest piece and dropped it on the ground next to the bed.

“So are you,” he pointed out but didn’t make a move to stop her.

She shrugged, barely repressing a smile as she worked at the buckles of the metal plates on his forearm. “I have my priorities, don’t distract me. You were saying about the Mystake?”

“I’d be laying in the captain’s bed,” he described, pressing kisses along her jaw and neck as he spoke, seeing if he could distract her from her self-appointed task. He tested those recently regrown tusks, scraping the edges against her neck and then soothing the spot with his tongue. When she arched her neck to the right to give him better access he could only conclude she enjoyed it. “And I’d picture you straddling me just like this-“

“What was I wearing in this daydream?” she interrupted, her eyes down as she unwound the red twine wrapped around the leathers on his forearm.

“Nothing,” he told her huskily when she started work on his left arm.

There was a small catch in her breath as her eyes flew up to meet his, her movements stilled with the metal on his forearm attached by one last buckle. It was a weird kind of power, knowing he could affect her like this with just his words.

Then again, talking had never been their weak point.

“I’m definitely wearing more than that now,” she acknowledged, her voice lower than he could ever remember hearing it. With a deep breath, she pushed off the last of his armor-and shit, if that wasn’t a metaphor for everything between them he didn’t know what was. “Tell me the rest of it.”

“Take off something first, we should at least be even.”

She pouted, but complied, taking off the leather cinch she wore around her waist and dropped it loudly on the floor beside his.

Distracted by the access to her body, Fjord reached up to touch her before continuing on with his little daydream. Her body was too wide for his hands to be able to span the width of her waist, but she was infinitely soft and cool beneath cotton and linen.

“Fjord,” she scolded, catching onto the fact that he’d gotten sidetracked.

He pulled his eyes away from the low neckline of her dress, but before he said anything he wrapped his fingers around the backs of her knee, pulling her closer to him so she was settled directly above his cock. Everything positioned right, but too many obstacles between them to make it good.

“I’d picture us just like this, with my hands on you.” He thought about how detailed he should be, how far down this line he should go, but she’d never turned away from any part of him and he very much doubted she’d do it now.

“We weren’t wearing anything, nothing separating us, so there wasn’t anything preventing me from burying my cock into your pussy.”

There was a quick inhale of breath from Jester, her thighs tightened around his in a kind of instinctive reaction. Fjord shifted his hands from her waist to her breasts, keeping his touch gentle until she reached up and covered his hand with hers, encouraging more.

He squeezed her tit, and when he released it he used his thumb to find her nipple, pebble hard beneath her clothes. Jester reached out to hold onto his shoulders, rocking against his growing erection.

This was desire, he realized with stark realization. The desperation beneath his skin, making his breathing unsteady and his hands shake. He wanted to tear the clothes off her body, get his mouth on her skin.

He wanted to taste her and make her scream.

“It wouldn’t be frantic,” he told her as he wrapped his fingers around the collar of her white chemise, a question in his eyes. She nodded once and he tugged it down to free her breasts, green skin covering blue. “We’d just rock slowly,” as an example he rolled his hip beneath her, pressing against her center again and again, “With the rolling of the ship.”

Jester was arched on top of him, her body moving quicker against his and he put his hands on her hips, intentionally slowing her down. “Did you come thinking about fucking me?”

“Yes.”

“I have too.”

The hum in his head turned to a roar, Fjord wrapped his arm around Jester’s waist and flipped them over so she was on her back, legs open and spread beneath him so he was tucked between the vee of her thighs.

When he kissed her, it was no longer languid and lovely, it was frantic and desperate and she responded in kind, tugging at his shirt and tunic. “Take this off, Fjord,” she demanded, her hands sliding beneath the fabric to drag her nails down his abs. “I want to touch you.”

He wasn’t about to deny her anything. Not right now, probably not ever.

Fjord moved to his knees, resting back on his ankles, so he could strip to the waist.

She was immediately reaching for him, sitting up so she could touch him before he’d even completely removed his clothing. “You’re beautiful, Fjord.”

Beautiful, she said. And it was the first time he really believed her.

Jester ran her hands over his chest and stomach, pressed a wet kiss to the skin above his navel, scraping her nails down his side as she did.

Fjord reached down, worried she was going to keep going down and he’d embarrass himself before he had the chance to get her off, and cupped the back of her head to bring her back up to him.

He’d been honest before, when he’d told Jester he liked kissing. Sex was something he’d always been a bit wary of, but kissing was something he’d always enjoyed. The friction of lips, the slickness of tongues, tasting someone. For him, for someone who had drowned, exchanging breaths was more intimate than anything a person could do.

Jester moved against him and Fjord pulled back to see her remove her arms from the sleeves of her top, the fabric dropping to her hips. “I just wanted to feel you against me,” she explained as if he needed a reason.

She wrapped her arms around his middle so he could feel her breasts against his chest, the entirety of his focus was centered on the contact. “Kiss me again,” and in any other circumstance he might have teased her about how much like an order it sounded, but now wasn’t the time.

Wet and dirty, he kissed her liked he’d fuck her, like he’d imagined half a dozen times over the past few months. Sure, sometimes had been gentle and warm, but there had been a time or two when he’d held himself in his hand and pictured it wild and reckless.

He was a reckless man.

“Fjord,” she breathed as he lowered his mouth, following the line of her neck to her collarbone and lower. “I know you said you were kind of whatever about sex, but I would really like it if you’d put your dick in me now.”

His laugh was muffled against her skin. “I think that’s something I can arrange.”

She put her hand on his chest, her eyes earnest and wide. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to, I just wanted to let you know I wanted to.”

He framed her face with his hands, dropping all the masks he’d ever held up to hide himself so she’d see only honesty in his eyes. “I want to, Jester. If nothing else, I want to know what it’s like to be with someone I can’t live without.”

“Fuck, Fjord. You’re really good at this.”

“Better than your damn romance books,” he asked, keeping his voice light so she knew he was only teasing.

“We’ll see how the rest of the night goes,” she joked back, grinning as she laid down on the bed.

Fjord rolled his eyes as grabbed her ankle, pulling off one sock then another. “Can we get rid of these?” he asked, tugging on the tights she always wore beneath her dress.

“Please,” she lifted up her hips so Fjord could reach beneath the skirt and tug at the waistband, pulling it down so she was more than half naked with her torso bare and her dress hiked up to her waist.

Fjord couldn’t help but touch her, the pads of his fingers tracing up her legs to the center of her pleasure, and the closer he got to her pussy the tenser she became. “You doing okay, Jester?”

“Yes,” she pulled him down to her, kissing him roughly, scraping her incisors against his lip then running her tongue over it the same way he had done to her neck earlier. Together, he thought fondly even as he adjusted his erection in his pants, they’d figure it out together.

Jester ran her hands down his back, her fingers bumping along the length of his spine and then dipping beneath the waistband to his ass. He could feel the heat and the wetness of her against dick, through the single layer of his pants.

He wanted to rush, to be frantic and little unrestrained, but what if it was only ever like this once? What if this was the one chance he got to feel like this? He didn’t want to waste it, to throw it away, he wanted to savor everything.

And he wanted to make sure it was good for Jester. She deserved the best and she wanted him, so he’d be the one to give it to her.

He kissed his way down her neck, trying to find and remember all the places which had made her moan and whimper, squirm beneath him. “Fjord,” she murmured, her nails digging into his shoulders.

Over and over he rocked into her, his lips covered the blueberry dark nipple as he drove her up and further but he knew enough to know she’d need more than that to get off.

“I don’t-“ he stumbled over his words, so knocked sideways by her and what they were doing together. “I don’t know what to do. What you like.”

“Watch,” she whispered, her voice a low breath. “I’ll show you.”

Fjord leaned back again on his heel, stunned by what Jester was saying.

He watched her shift on the bed, reaching between her legs to finger herself.

“Fuck, Jester.”

“You can touch yourself too, Fjord.”

She teased herself, fingers brushing along the lips of her vagina, dipping into the wetness that had pooled in her slit, briefly touching her clit before moving on. “Will you play with your tits?”

Jester looked up at him through heavy lidded eyes, “Only if you touch yourself too.”

Fjord fumbled with the laces of his pants, pulling at them until he’d freed his cock, rock hard and leaking precum. He licked the palm of his hand and used it to lubricate himself, tightening his fist as he watched Jester cover one of her breasts with her hands, squeezing hard as she moved her hips against her hands.

He observed how she touched herself, and in the back of his mind it was like watching Vandren pull on the rigging, he learned by watching.

She pressed hard on her clit, her fingers twisting and playing her nipples and still she watched him, desire burning bright in her eyes. “Are you going to fuck me now, Captain?”

Here nearly came right then, held himself back by the skin of his teeth.

“You’re going to kill me,” he bit out before he kissed her hard, tongue pushing into her mouth as his hand covered her breast, doing what she had done; squeezing hard, pinching her nipples until she whimpered against his mouth.

“Too much?” he asked, forcing himself to string more than one thought together.

“I should have said this earlier,” she managed to say. “Rock is the stop word. Either one of us can say it if we need to stop or take a break or if things go too far. If I don’t say ‘rock’ assume I’m enjoying it as much as you are.”

She looked down, almost bashful. “You are enjoying yourself, aren’t you?”

He took her hand from her clit where she was still fondling herself, he could feel the slickness of her on her fingers and then on his hand as he wrapped her hand around his penis so she could feel exactly how hard he was, how much he was enjoying it. “Gods, yes, Jester.”

He took himself in hand and lined his cock up to her pussy and moved slowly, hissing a breath as she surrounded him. “Tell me if I need to stop, or go slower.”

She moved beneath him, getting more comfortable he thought, until she spoke. “I’m not fragile, you don’t have to be gentle with me.”

“I thought it hurt the first time?”

“Not always, not if you’re with someone who knows what they’re doing.”

He was only an inch inside of her but the fact they were able to have any kind of conversation when all he wanted to do was pound into her was astounding. “I think we’ve both established I don’t have any idea what I’m doing.”

“I guess you didn’t finger me so you didn’t feel how wet I was,” she raised her left hand and touched her fingers to his lips and instinctively he opened his mouth and sucked, tasting the slickness still on the pads of her finger. “Trust me, Fjord, you know what you’re doing.”

“Captain,” he corrected her before he could talk himself out of it. “If we’re being honest about what works and what doesn’t, I nearly came when you called me Captain.”

“And I like hearing you talk,” she told him, her smile a little wicked as she added, “Captain.”

“Gods,” he muttered, sliding himself the rest of the way inside her. He was still worried he would hurt her, but the sound she made wasn’t one of pain, but of pleasure and her muscles clenched around him. “You feel so damn good around me, Jester.”

“So good,” she gritted out, her hands clenched around the blankets. “Will you touch me?” she asked as she fumbled for his hand, guiding his fingers to her clit. “Right here, while you thrust.”

Fjord put one hand on the wall above Jester’s head, kept his other hand where it was as he slowly slid out of her, pressing against the nub as he did. Then he slammed back into her, pulling out one slow inch at a time.

“Faster,” she begged, trying to find more friction, more speed. “Please.”

He thought about saying no, about drawing out the pleasure and the torture, but he didn’t think he’d be able to last much longer. He stopped touching her long enough to grab her ankles, hooking first one leg and then another around his waist. “I don’t want to fuck you into the wall, so hang on.”

When he started moving again, it was with all the wild, unrestrained passion he’d ever felt.

Jester covered her breasts with her hands, covering them completely and kneading them beneath her palms, occasionally tugging at the nipples. Like a craving he couldn’t shake, Fjord needed to taste her; batting away one of her hands he covered the dark blue nipple with his mouth, careful with his tusks, and licked the hard bud before sucking it into his mouth.

“Captain,” she moaned as she tugged on his hair, a tick he was beginning to realize was her version of encouragement. “My captain,” she mumbled under her breath as she climaxed beneath him.

It took every bit of control he had not to come immediately as her pussy pulsed around him. “Fuck. I’m going to make you come again, Jester.”

“Well, I’m not going to stop you, so feel free to try.”

He reached underneath Jester and raised her up so her hips lifted off the bed, changing the angle and drove into her again and again. Fjord watched with satisfaction as Jester searched for purchase, grabbing first at the blankets and then his torso.

“You still with me, darling?” he asked, trying to sound charming through gritted teeth.

“Just barely,” she answered, raising her hips to meet his pelvis. “You’re fucking my brains out, Captain.”

“Touch yourself.”

There was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she dug her nails a little deeper into his back. “I thought you were going to make me come again. Now I have to help?”

Fjord let out a soft sound of amusement, shaking his head. “Fair enough.��

He moved quicker and harder, moving her hips a little higher to keep her off balance and clinging to him. He liked being her anchor, being the center of the storm they’d both dived into.

“You feel better than anything else I’ve felt,” he told her, slowing down so she could hear him. “Hot and tight around my cock.”

“Gods, Fjord.”

He stopped completely, “What did you call me?”

“Captain,” she corrected, trying to move against him but the angle he kept her at made it almost impossible for her to get any kind of leverage.

Fjord made a hobby of toying with her clit, barely there touches against the bundle of nerves. Almost, but never quite touching. “You’re so wet for me, I bet the people in the next room can hear how wet you are.”

He slid out and in again for emphasis, her muscles fluttering against his cock.

“Hear that, darling? How did you keep Beau from hearing when you fucked yourself? Or did you have to wait until she left the room, do it quick and dirty to get a little relief?”

Jester didn’t answer the question, but he hadn’t really expected her to. If he was doing this right, she would barely be able to form a thought, much less a response. She bit her lip and he wished he knew of a spell that would let her scream, let her be as loud as she wanted, and kept the rest of the world from hearing.

He wanted to hear her shout his name when she came.

“Did you think about me going down on you?” he asked casually, adding a little bit of pressure to her clit as he started pumping again. Jester tried to get him to go faster, tried to press her pelvis into his hand to increase the pressure but he’d gotten to a place of total control.

He could keep this up forever, just to keep her close.

“When you touched yourself did you imagine it was hands, my tongue? I’ve thought about it,” he admitted as he started moving faster, keeping the rhythm of his hand and his dick separate, never quite giving her relief. “I’ve thought about tasting every part of you, of you begging, desperate for me. Are you desperate for me, Jester?”

She nodded.

“Say it,” and this time it sounded like he was the one begging but fuck it, he didn’t care. He needed to hear it.

“Yes,” she managed, her breath coming out in a rush. “I’m desperate for you.”

“Me too,” he all but whispered. “I’m desperate for you, too.”

He let go of that control, pounded into her and he’d worry he’d hurt her but she said she’d tell him to stop if he crossed a line and he trusted her to know her own limits.

He’d reached his.

In and out, slick and easy, the wet friction a kind of blessing.

“Come for me, darling,” he crooned, pressing hard on her clit and slid deeper into her than he could ever remember being. Surrounded and drowning. “Come, and I’ll follow you.”

She stiffened in his arm, her body arching like she’d been touched by lightning, mouth open in quiet scream.

Fjord was not silent, he grunted as he drove into her, the orc blood he was always wary of boiled in his veins but he didn’t fear it. He’d never hurt her, couldn’t hurt her, and it took only a few more thrusts for him to fall of the same cliff.

He cursed a few gods as he emptied into her, his nails creating a permanent mark in the wall.

Collapsing on top of her, it took him a solid two minutes before he was close enough to his right mind to be able to form words.

“Okay,” Fjord said, his mouth near her ear as he rested his head on the mattress. “I think might understand now what the fuss is all about.”

Beneath him, Jester laughed.

In the morning, Fjord woke to Jester pressed against his back.

Her arms weren’t wrapped around him, but that was mostly because Jester slept in a small ball, curled in on herself. Currently, one of her elbows was pressing into his back.

“Jester.”

“Hm?” she asked, still half asleep.

“You mind moving your elbow? You’re going to give me bruise.”

“Then we’re even,” she mumbled, and he could feel her breath on his shoulder.

Turning over he looked at her, she was wearing a nightgown thing she wore whenever they stayed at an inn. “I bruised you?”

She smiled into his eyes, hands now tucked under her cheek. “On my hips. I don’t know if they’re visible but I can feel them.”

“Sorry.”

Jester shrugged the shoulder she wasn’t resting on. “I don’t mind, it’s a nice reminder. You’ve got a few of your own.”

“A few what?”

“Reminders,” she explained, poking his side.

Fjord moved the blanket and saw there were in a fact a few marks in his skin from Jester’s nails. Not particularly deep, but visible to anyone who knew where to look. “Will you look at that.”

“Any regrets?”

“No,” he answered immediately.

“Has your view on sex changed?”

“Well, I got more of that than I ever would have on my own,” he answered carefully.

She smiled, “It’s okay if it’s not something you want to do regularly. It can be a nice thing we do for special reasons.”

“I just didn’t know it could be like that,” he explained. “Nothing I’ve experienced has ever come anywhere close.”

“If I wasn’t so comfortable and I’d give you a high five because we both deserve it.”

Fjord laughed, “We’ll figure it out. How are you?”

She looked briefly confused, “I’m fine. Why?”

“You’re checking in with me, so I’m checking in with you,” he informed her dryly. “You’ve been reading romancing novels for half the trip and I’m a bumbling sailor who doesn’t entirely know what he’s doing.”

Jester gave him an unamused look, rolling her eyes. “You have to stop doing that Fjord.”

“Doing what?”

“Talking yourself down.”

He knew it was a knee jerk response, and not the healthiest, but it was one of his oldest habits and it would take a long time to break. “Sorry, I’ll work on that.”

She didn’t look like she believed him but she gratefully let it go, though he imagined it was a conversation they’d have again later. “But to answer your question, I realize romance novels are not exactly reality. I wasn’t expecting that. But it was really, really good, Fjord. Like cinnamon pastries from Nicodranas good.”

Fjord snorted. “Anyone else might be confused and bewildered by that statement, Jester, but I’m going to take it for the compliment it is.”

“Good.”

He thought about kissing her, she was so soft and warm-the warmest Jester ever got anyway-but before he got a chance to follow through on the thought there was a loud, indignant banging on their door.

“Hey, assholes! Are you awake?”

Jester broke out in giggles, meanwhile Fjord mentally shifted, using Vandren’s accent to yell at the grumpy voice on the other side of the door. “Piss off, Beau.”

“We’re going downstairs to eat, are you lovebirds going to join us?”

“We’ll been down in a minute, Beau,” Jester called with more friendliness than Fjord felt at the moment. “Thank you!”

Fjord heard something like a grumble before he heard retreating steps, louder than was strictly necessary. “We probably should head down.”

“We worked up an appetite last night,” she added sagely, a smile in her eyes as she looked at him. “Do you ever get horny?”

“On occasion.”

“Well, if you ever get in the mood to do this again, I’m game.”

He thought about the selflessness of the offer, because she could have asked a different way that made him feel obliged or guilty, but instead she offered herself and her time and her affection whenever he was interested. “Same, Jester.”

“Really?”

“Look, I might not have the same kind of sweet tooth as you, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to eat a pastry when it’s put in front of me.”

She grinned and wiggled a little in amusement. “Are you going to eat me, Fjord?”

He tried for nonchalant as he shifted on the bed to look up at the ceiling, but he was probably blushing at least a little. “It’s on the list and we didn’t get to it last night.”

“Are we making lists of stuff we want to do?” she sounded excited and he couldn’t help but smile. “Because I’ve kind of had a mental one going, but I can write it down so we can check stuff off as we do it.”

He grabbed her wrist when she sat up because he thought she was going to rummage around for pen and paper to immediately make the list. “We should probably get dressed and head down now. The list can wait.”

“Okay,” she turned to look at him, a rare hint of hesitation in her eyes. “Are we a thing now, Fjord?”

“Yeah, Jester. We’re a thing.”

“Good,” she leaned forward and kissed him, quick and friendly. “Can you get my leather? I think it’s on your side of the bed with the rest of your armor.”

Fjord got up and fixed the pants he’d slept in and then started sorting through the clothes, tossing Jester’s things towards her, and they kept up a string of conversation as they got dressed and headed towards the stairs.

He stopped before descending, Jester nearly running into him. “What? Is something wrong?”

“A lot of shit has gone down in my life,” he explained, staring at the steps. “The day I met Vandren, I didn’t realize how my life was going to change. The day the ship went down was just like any other. Most of the time, in the moment, you don’t realize your life is taking a turn until years later. It’s weird to know.”

“Know what?” she asked softly.

“To know the exact moment, the exact place, your life changed for the better.”

She looked confused until Fjord moved down a few steps so he was standing in the same place he’d been last night when she’d kissed him. When she realized what he was saying, her face softened, and she once again put her hands on his face. There was a host of lavender starlight in her eyes. “I didn’t say this last night, but I want you to know, me too.”

“Me too, what?”

“You said you were tired of pretending you weren’t half in love with me. Me too.”

“The tired part, or the half in love part?”

“The half in love part,” she answered with a smirk. “I never pretended I wasn’t in love with you, Fjord. In fact, if you ask the rest of the group, I think they’d say I was pretty obvious about it.”

He rested his hands on her hips, the touch not yet familiar, but comfortable just the same. “It was kind of hard to believe.”

She shrugged, completely unconcerned. “I’m not worried, I’ll convince you sooner or later,” she wagged her eyebrows. “I’m very charming.”

Fjord chuckled, grabbing one of her hands, “I look forward to it. Come on, I’m starving.”

Together they walked down to the small dining hall, a tiny room tucked into the side of the building exclusive to the inn’s residents. The Mighty Nein was taking up half the space.

Caleb didn’t look up from his books, and Nott was too busy eating to notice anything.

But Caduceus, Yasha, and Beau all looked up at their entrance, three sets of eyes looking down at his and Jester’s held hands. Beau was the only one who reacted, she looked them up and down, and Fjord had the distinct feeling she was checking to make they were both okay.

With a nod, as if acknowledging something to herself, she moved her chair so Fjord and Jester could squeeze in at the table. “Is that a piece of Fjord’s armor?” Beau asked when Jester sat next to her. “Is it part of his armor if it’s just random rope that doesn’t serve a purpose?”

“Hey Beau, what the fuck is the purpose of the ribbon tied around your staff?”

“Don’t be mean,” Beau quipped back, “Some of us had a good time last night, and some of us got turned down by hot dancers and had to listen to Caduceus snore.”

“I always kind of liked it,” Fjord commented, draping his arm along the back of Jester’s chair.

“Great, then you can go back to sleeping in his room,” she challenged, crossing her arms with a knowing smirk.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“I hate you,” she announced before getting up with her plate and going towards the breakfast buffet set up at the far end of the room.

“You know, I never had a sister, but I imagine she’s what it would be like. I don’t hate it,” Fjord mused out loud. “Did you cut off a piece of my rope?”

“Yes,” she answered as he grabbed her arm and looked at the small piece of red around her fingerless gloves.

“Without asking?” his voice an overdramatized scold.

Jester narrowed her eyes at him, “If Beau hadn’t pointed it out would have you even noticed?”

“You know what, I’m hungry,” he picked up his plate, and immediately Jester picked up hers and held it out to him with an expectant look. With a exaggerated grumble he took her plate and headed towards the food.

He wasn’t about to deny her anything.

#fjorester #critical role #fjorester fic #fjord #jester lavorre

64 notes · View notes

love-takes-work · 6 years

Text

Steven Universe: Art and Origins (Outline & Review)

Steven Universe: Art and Origins is not just an art book--it's also a collection of early material, a reveal of many initial concepts, and an amazing experience to sort through.

Finally getting around to importing my review to Tumblr. I wrote this on the release day.

In my review I'll give you a description of the structure and overview, while also collecting notable information for fans. Obviously just about everything is "notable" with a book of this magnitude, so this may get long, but I'll try to include anecdotes that have some unique insight or perspective on the main source material--with as little of "OMG this was the original idea for this!" as possible.

This is illustrated with some low-quality pictures of the book and it gets super long, so I have to cut. But please read. :)

The overview:

After a foreword from Rebecca Sugar and an introduction from Genndy Tartakovsky, we get:

Part 1: Origins. This contains some narratives about Rebecca Sugar's early life as an artist--inspiration, family, college projects--all illustrated, of course, with childhood photos and early art. Rebecca mentions having wanted to bury her femininity for a while, but coming back to draw female forms and include dancing after she learned to sort through her issues using art.

Her college education and connections with other artists are discussed--some in interview format, some in narrative--and there is some background regarding her time on Adventure Time. The story moves on to talking about developing the pilot and what went into her character and plot ideas. Character design is discussed in depth, with Rebecca giving initial sketches to a design team and developing the characters' initial pilot look.

Some really slick promo art is shared--posters, sketches, great concepts that were designed to bring in new viewers and make them curious about the show. The pilot succeeded in getting the green light to develop it into a TV series.

Part 2 discusses the show's Green Light and Development. Rebecca and some of the other crew, in interview format, talk about getting the team together and allowing for both nailed-down character essentials and flexibility for the writers to explore and collaborate. Developing the setting was also a big part of the to-do list; coming up with Beach City itself, its businesses, its residents, and also the creatures the Gems would fight.

Some cute stories are shared about the early Crewniverse hanging out at a cabin and talking about the show all the time, hashing it out. There are some great, loose character model sheets for early versions of Greg, Connie, Sadie and Lars, and the four main characters.

Part 3 is about Character Design. They discuss how the pilot got released and fans grew attached to what they initially looked like, only to be "outraged" by the changes, making tons of assumptions about who was controlling the process.

Rebecca shares some thoughts on her development process and her philosophy on letting different artists draw the characters differently while gripping onto specifics she set. Main, palette, and distance models are discussed, with some technical details of what different artists do on the team and how they handle props or special poses.

There are many sheets of how to draw the Gems on model (with pointers on what NOT to do), and then there are some Homeworld Gem ideas that didn't get used, and finally, some sketches and concept art for Lapis Lazuli, Peridot, Jasper, and Bismuth.

Part 4 is on Writing and Storyboarding. More Crewniverse interviews provide insight into the process, including how much is revised from the early days and how collaborative everything is. Some specific episodes, like "Ocean Gem," "Monster Buddies," and "Island Adventure" are put into perspective with how they were written by the group.

There's heavy discussion of how the process works and why processes that work on other shows wouldn't work here, and what "rules" are firm and what's just a suggestion, and what's changed as the show's plot became more complex and important. Steven still having access to the "side" stories, the ones that involve Beach City humans and non-world-shaking stakes, is still very important to the story that the original Crew wants to tell. Cute images from the Crew's thumbnail storyboards, Gem designing, and technology designing workshops are shared too.

There's some good continued discussion of concepts in Part 4, especially about fusion and relationships and the larger message the show is sending. How do you tell a story and why? There are many answers to that, and sometimes it's about fun and sometimes it's about a message and sometimes it's about wanting to make an episode about something you've never seen a cartoon do before--something specific to you that other people can suddenly see represented.

One of my favorite parts of it is when they discuss Steven discovering the Gems' weaknesses over time and having that NOT make him think less of them--more like he admires them for being strong enough to shoulder the burdens he didn't know they were carrying before. Storyboarder Lamar Abrams talks about the importance of growing up not just being about becoming bitter, and I really like that.

Part 5 is on Sound and Vision. There's some history of how they found the voice actors for the major roles, and some of the actors give perspectives on their relationship and experience on the show.

Aivi and Surasshu, as the composers, discuss their process as well, with some anecdotes and discussions of why musical palettes work better for characters instead of assigning them themes. Places and objects have their own sounds too.

Part 6 covers Background Design and Painting. Steven Sugar takes the stage and explains general background thoughts as well as specifics for certain settings. His focus on detail is really fascinating to read about--it's really him who nails down the locations in Beach City and where an outlet is in a house on the wall.

The directors and other Crewniverse folks discuss the use of color and background items in the show, and how they use it to create mood or feel changeable enough to be real.

Part 7 discusses Animation and Post, with a spotlight on the work they do in Korea at animation studios Sunmin and Rough Draft. The process is described--how and when the material is transformed from animatics to animated cartoons.

Nick DeMayo discusses timing and adding the sound effects and whatnot. There's also some design instruction that's provided to the animators in Korea.

Some special highlighted drawings and pieces, like the "C.L.O.D.S." zine or some keys for Ruby and Sapphire, are included.

Even the bumpers and end tag animations are discussed here. And of course they had to mention a couple very special episodes, such as when Takafumi Hori from Studio Trigger came in to do "Mindful Education," or when they did the musical episode, "Mr. Greg."

And Part 8 is called "Onward." The intention of the section is unclear at first based on the title of the chapter, but you can quickly see they're discussing the forward-thinking message the show has--how its representation of its creators' experiences has also struck a chord with people who wanted and NEEDED its diversity.

Zuke says a very wise thing when they state that they want the show to provide "insight . . . not a solution." That's one thing this show does well; it spotlights problems and situations and feelings, but only shows you how those things can be dealt with, not necessarily how they SHOULD, in all cases, be dealt with.

Representation matters, and seeing evidence that you are a part of this world when you're from a marginalized or underrepresented group is valuable in a way that you can only know if you DON'T have it.

The show's writers also weigh in on good vs. evil and how it's too black and white; that we needed a show with nuance, and has a message of love and tolerance. Kat Morris acknowledges that there are more important things than making a feelsy and entertaining piece of media, but as she says, the point is to let people see themselves in something and be challenged.

And the creators are able to see at conventions and online that people are responding emotionally, viscerally, to their work. It puts a lot of pressure on an artist to do it right, but in the words of Dogcopter, "Just be true to yourself and people will appreciate your honesty."

The book closes with some photos of the Crew and a few more pages of art. And it kinda leaves you with a squishy feeling. :D

Notable:

1. I was relieved to see Rebecca state it plainly in the foreword: the items you see from the development phases of this show are not to be taken as canon or as "real" insights into how you should interpret it now. She specifically mentioned that she does not consider the Gems "girls" or "goddesses," and that was particularly important to me.

Throughout, you're supposed to see the contributed bits and in-development pieces in the context of what they were: early drafts, embryonic. We all become different from what we were even though we grew from it and may have roots in it still, but that doesn't mean you can point at the seed and say its flower is meant to be understood surrounded by dirt.

2. The original designs for the Gems fluctuated a lot, and in a couple cases even names flopped around. An early name for Garnet was "Onyx," and if you've seen the pilot, you know Pearl got her signature nose later and Garnet's hair took a while to become the splendid square afro. Amethyst seems to have changed the least.

Themes were given to them initially (like Amethyst being "flora and fauna," which you can sort of see in her pilot intro with her lying on big cats). You can still see some of the original intentions in how the ideas manifested, but the first ideas do not gel particularly well with what the show became.

This is particularly interesting because non-creatives commonly think creative people simply receive inspiration and birth their creations into the world wholesale. Inspiration exists, but it's much more common to take an inspired idea and REALLY WORK ON IT. This book's origins section does a great job showing how that works.

3. Some early sketched-out ideas for episodes seem very far from what would fit into the show now (such as an idea for an episode where Pearl is obsessed with the pizza guy??), but one seems to be the roots of "Bubble Buddies," which implies that Steven's original crush was "Priyanka" instead of Connie. (That's now Connie's mother's name.)

4. The pilot's title was "The Time Thing."

5. Initial notes for Garnet say she should have the coolest shoes of the three, that she's commanding and outer-spacey and also weird, and that she's inspired by Grace Jones, boy Michael Jackson, and Estelle in "I Can Be a Freak."

Initial notes for Amethyst insist on the "fanny pack" pouch and suggest her clothes are cut, her hair is in chunks, and she should have an animal theme with a wild texture.

Initial notes for Pearl indicate a desire to have her opposite Amethyst in her formal way of dressing and needing to have an outfit that would allow her to be hung upside down, possibly with a pearl stone theme for baubles in her hair. (Rebecca indicated she needed the most help with Pearl.)

6. Early versions of the show included the idea that the Gems might be trying to hide being Gems in public, and that they kept magic away from Steven for the most part instead of encouraging him to use it.

A "lost" episode about Steven summoning his shield (later incorporated into the episode "Gem Glow") had him saving Greg with it and dreaming about his mother, and having Pearl drive a crappy old car (later incorporated into "Last One Out of Beach City"). Rebecca and Ian reveal that the dream Steven had in it was used a little in "Rose's Room," and that a song called "The Meatball Sub Song" was involved which could have contributed to the show getting picked up despite that we never got to hear it. (Imagine that, Steven singing about food!)

7. There's a note in the early character design section that says "the girls can all turn into Steven" with an accompanying illustration of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl shapeshifted as him.

Cute, because we actually got to see them do this in the episode "Keep Beach City Weird" with the exception of Pearl.

8. Rebecca Sugar shares an anecdote about thinking there was a "best" way to draw that was objectively correct (influenced by some art-school stuff), and through that she arrived at the idea that Pearl was a cone, Amethyst was a sphere, and Garnet was a cube, because all of those things say something about who they are (pointedness, fluidness, stability).

She evolved from that idea to a more flexibile idea of how drawing works for different artists, but that was part of what helped her nail the characters down. Steven, eventually, was fixed to having a heart-shaped face.

9. The Tiger Millionaire and Purple Puma flyer shown in the episode "Tiger Millionaire," presented as something Steven drew, was actually drawn by Lily DeMayo (daughter of Nick DeMayo, animation director) when she was seven.

10. Guides are made for the Crew to use featuring reminders on drawing the characters. It's kind of adorable to see common drawing errors or misconceptions or inconsistent details discussed in a how-to format for the people who actually work there.

11. A timeline exists for the show and it encompasses TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS of Gem and human history. It was too spoilery to be in the book, but there is a LOT of lore that is laid down, and this tool mentioned in Part 4 established that this document is referenced often to make events make sense in the timeline.

12. It's been established before, but Amethyst's origin in Earth's Prime Kindergarten was not initially known as part of her character when she was invented, and that was discussed in Part 4 of this book--how the writing retreats the Crew takes to discuss the story sometimes result in huge revelations like this. "Oh, that makes sense, that's why we wrote her like that" is one of those things I recognize as a writer--you know a character has a certain vibe, but you don't know what explains it. You just trust that something does. And eventually, sometimes you find out what it is and it all makes sense. Interesting to know they did this with Amethyst.

13. "Lars and Sadie make out even though they're not together" was the basic idea for making "Island Adventure." And the original idea for "Onion Friend" had a "Grandma Shallot" character.

The writers sometimes play writing games to brainstorm, and those were shared. Some ideas for a story which was later used in "Future Boy Zoltron," covering Mr. Smiley's romance/comedy partnership with an old flame, were shared with more emphasis on the characters being lovers.

Garnet's part in the story was more explicit too, with her giving people future predictions that are not at all nice or gently delivered, and they have to shut down the business in the wake of Garnet's badassery. Weird.

Other ideas were used but not as they're presented, like one where Greg learns about fusion from the Gems (but witnessed the fusion of Pearl and Amethyst, not Pearl and Rose), and a complicated one where cross-Gem fusion is a new idea in a flashback and Rose wants Garnet to fuse with her to teach her about it but she's too unsure of her own fusion relationship as such to risk it. The idea was that Pearl would be jealous and Pearl, Rose, and Garnet would actually fuse in the episode. This has not been done in the show.

14. Rebecca Sugar apparently just pops up with concepts she wants the writers to work in. Like "I want Steven to be in a mushroom forest" (which hasn't happened yet) or "I want Steven to have cats on his fingers" (which, obviously, happened early on). Rebecca gets little concepts that are sort of dreamlike, and they figure out which episode they can put them in. Working those things in sometimes seems like as much of a priority as getting plot elements in!

15. I like that they dish a bit about the fan reaction to Garnet's Fusion status. They thought they were being a little too obvious to not get caught, but Ian said the fans figured it out and then got bored of the idea and decided it must be even more complicated than that. People were apparently worried that Garnet would be replaced by her component Gems in the story if she were to unfuse, but obviously since Ruby and Sapphire want to be together, that doesn't happen.

16. Kat Morris's "rules" as discussed in Part 4 are "Garnet never asks questions" and "the story has to stay in Steven's perspective." I love how strict they are about Garnet not asking questions (except in the episode "The Answer," though there have been a couple ~technical~ questions from her; she usually just finds a way to ask a question with a statement, like "tell me what you saw").

17. A great quote from Zuke on the incidentally queer content of the Gems' relationships and gender: "Personally, I'm happy to not have to think, 'I'm writing a character based on my queer experiences.' That would be so hard! I'm just writing from my perspective, and I happen to be queer. I think that's what makes the show feel natural when it comes to that. It's a fine line between defining something so that people are aware it exists, which is so important, but also letting it breathe, so it's not forever contained in a box labeled 'queer media.'"

18. In Part 5, Michaela Dietz relates her experiences as an adoptee to relate to what Amethyst deals with as an "adoptee" into the Crystal Gem family without knowing where she really came from or what it means to be a part of that. She's said this before in some other interviews and panels, so it's not new in general, but it's probably new in print. Deedee Magno Hall, who plays Pearl, obviously relates to Pearl's maternal nature.

19. Tom Scharpling and Charlyne Yi were voice actors that Rebecca specifically had in mind for her characters (Greg and Ruby respectively). Rebecca's illustrated letter to Charlyne explaining Ruby and Sapphire's relationship and Ruby's role on the show is really adorable.

20. Music nerds like me will very much appreciate the photographed notes on music motifs--the Diamonds each have a solfège syllable and a chord (White is F#M7/Sol, Yellow is BM7/Fa, Blue is EM7/Fa, and Pink is AM7/Mi), and Steven's powers and modes are coded with instruments and styles.

21. Some world maps provide new possible insights. Greenland in our world is Blueland in theirs. South America is called Pangea. Aqua Mexico is labeled about where Mexico is in our world. India is the Indian Islands. There's an Australia and a New Australia. A big sea in the middle of Asia is called the Tunguska Sea. Rose's Fountain is in Spain or Portugal; the Sky Spire and Strawberry Battlefield are in Norway; the Shooting Star Shrine is in the middle of the drastically different Asian continent; the Galaxy Warp is in the Tunguska Sea; the Lunar Sea Spire is off the coast of Canada; Mask Island is in the Atlantic near Beach City; the Comm Relay is in the Western United States.

22. It was known from interviews that Shelby Rabara (voice of Peridot) is a dancer and provided the foot sounds and coaching to create the short tap number in the episode "Mr. Greg." But what's great is here, there's a visual reference included! Photos of Shelby doing the dance are lined up next to the drawings of Pearl and Steven in the "Mr. Greg" number doing the steps! She poses in dance moves with her husband for the Greg/Pearl dance for "Both of You" too.

23. There's a really cute story in the last section about Amber Cragg ascending from fan to Crewniverse member through posting Pearl art in response to the pilot and eventually getting contacted to take a board test. That is the kind of thing so many online artists dream of!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

#steven universe #steven universe reviews #steven universe art and origins #steven universe books #rebecca sugar #myblog

117 notes · View notes

doodlewash · 5 years

Text

My name is Carolyn Breen Morton, but I have gone by the nickname “Charlie” since about 4 years of age. I am 62 and a retired teacher from Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Art has always been part of my life, but like many artists, I felt at times that I lacked talent and imagination. My husband’s advice, “Draw every day and you will get where you want to go.” He was right.

I have followed the urban sketching movement for a few years and knew that this was the art form that interested me most. I started to sketch architecture a few years ago. My art is posted on Instagram and Pinterest and clearly shows my progression from very tight and controlled, to looser and more whimsical. I draw every day if possible and my motivation comes from several places.

I want to improve and consistently change my style. I love what I do but always feel that there is lots more inside of me. I want my family to see that anything can be accomplished, at any stage of life. I want to record life as I see it for my grandchildren.

My collection will be theirs one day and I have already started to teach them the value of artistic expression. This portable, passive, visual journaling is a wonderful skill to carry with you through life!

Favorite Art Supplies

I love Fabriano and Arches paper, 140 lb cold pressed, when I am working on detailed sketches. I will try out rough ideas on absolutely any paper that will hold paint, therefore my sketchbook collection is varied and formidable. I find that my style changes slightly, depending on the size of paper I use so I often cut it into different sizes for variety. My favourite size is 8” x 10”.

When I use a sketchbook, it is most often a Stillman and Birn Beta series. I find the paper to be good quality and it will hold up to lots of glazing and washes. It comes in an 8” x 10” format which is large enough yet portable.

I seldom plan anything with pencil as I find drawing in ink both challenging and exciting. If I make a mistake, I just work with it. I use a Lamy fountain pen with an extra fine nib and waterproof ink and also Sakura Pigma Micron pens in every size. Sakura’s calligraphy pens work wonderfully when shading large areas.

I am a bit of a paint junkie. Schmincke is my absolute favourite but I also use M. Graham and Daniel Smith.

My brushes are always synthetic (due to personal beliefs) and I love my Escoda round #6 and #12. Big brushes bring whimsy to a painting and I will often use nothing but a #12 round, even for the detail. I don’t worry about staying in the lines. I heard an artist once say, “Always use the biggest brush you can.” and that advice really works for me and my style.

Finally, I love to collect what I call props. I collect small die-cast British cars. I sketch a lot of British architecture and never feel that I have to be completely true to the scene.

I will sketch in one of my cars at exactly the angle I want. I also have a die-cast scooter and phone booth that come in handy as detail pieces. My props collection is growing as I am now looking for bicycles, dogs and mailboxes.

Some Tips That Really Helped Me

• Watch and read everything you can about the type of art that you want to produce. For me, the internet is rich with urban sketching classes, posts, groups and meetups.

• Try to avoid straight lines and it will bring whimsy and happiness into your sketches. Things a little crooked work wonderfully

• Draw what you love! I cannot lie… I love a good pub in England and have had lots of personal experiences in them so many of my sketches are pubs. Old architecture fascinates me so I draw lots of houses, shops, churches, and restaurants. Most places that I sketch I have visited, but certainly not all.

• Don’t worry about what your ‘style’ is. It will emerge all by itself. You take little things from other artists and make them your own. You have ideas in the middle of the night and can’t wait to incorporate them first thing in the morning. You start to look at the world in a whole new light and notice things that you really want to draw or add to an existing sketch.

• Forget the rules. Draw from photos, on location, or from imagination. It doesn’t matter. You will get very proficient in getting what is in your head onto the paper. Buy good supplies but don’t be afraid to sketch on a napkin in a coffee shop. In the end, just sit down and make some art and you will amaze yourself. It is in us all!

Prints will be available in the spring of 2020. Follow me on Instagram for further details.

Charlie (Carolyn) Breen Instagram Pinterest

GUEST ARTIST: "Happily Addicted To Daily Art" By Charlie (Carolyn) Breen - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolour #watercolor #usk My name is Carolyn Breen Morton, but I have gone by the nickname “Charlie” since about 4 years of age.

#WorldWatercolorGroup #canada #doodlewash #drawing #featured #illustration #painting #sketching #Urban Sketchers #Urban Sketching #watercolor #watercolour

1 note · View note

pensurfing · 5 years

Text

Tearing Down Other Illustrators Does Not Make You A Better Illustrator.

The title says it all. But you’d be surprised how many mutuals I have that just get a sick kick out of “giving critiques that destroy a person’s whole being” simply because “it happened to them”.

[[Jesus where to begin where to begin? Maybe disclaimers? Sure. At some point in the post, it will go from my calm, cool, collected tone to “I will cut a bitch’s throat”. If it hurts your feelings then that means the kitchen is too hot for you (probably because you do said nonsense) and now you gotta leave. Go sit, cool off, and then maybe try again. Probably when you’re a better person.]]

Let’s take it back to school:

In school, I failed at being a girl: mainly because I just failed to do ‘girl code’ things because I questioned it a LOT. Some girl code things make sense mind you, but not all of it. One of the girl codes that I questioned was “why are we being mean to the other girl if she didn’t DO anything and especially if she didn’t do anything to you?” Bam. The new target, me. It wasn’t anything I was ashamed about, I just don’t see the need of tearing someone down because they sit outside of your normal. Basically, the undertone of this experience is this: As a girl, if you made fun of other girls, it somehow magically made you prettier and more desired by your crush.” But you learn in grade school that this is not the case, and you especially learn in high school that this made you “a bitch”. Now fast forward a bit, looking back as an adult what were you supposed to learn from this? Girls pick on other girls usually when whatever little power they have is being challenged. Girls can also pick on other girls simply because they find the other girl pretty as well and this causes yet another inferiority complex. It will usually continue for a while simply because no one wants to question the ‘status quo’.

Why did I bring all of this into play?

As an illustrator, there is such a thing as a genuinely great critique. Great critique states things APPRECIATED about the piece; things that can be better about the piece; and solutions to the piece that the then illustrator can then either use as advice or just take it as the critique it is.

Then there’s just what I will call ‘straight bad-mouthing critique’. Nothing good to say about the piece, the person actually sits there and asks did the artist put eFfOrT into it. Tells them to just ‘draw more’. And some that just ‘rip the art to shreds’. Nothing good or positive. Said person will even go on to just insulting not only the piece but the artist and their character. How did we go from ‘the piece in question’ to just calling the artist a terrible person for attempting to draw a ‘insert whatever it was here’?

I do not give out the perfect critiques. Where someone will see ‘bad anatomy’ I’ll see ‘an attempt at foreshortening, and if they just...’ and I could go on. I see a bright color palette and warm tones in someone’s portfolio, someone else will see it as “you use to similar of colors and you need to get better at setting the mood with color in your pieces.” A difference of opinions is one thing, and it is up to the artist in question to decide which is more helpful. This is a different case and is USUALLY inspiring to create more variety to demonstrate your skills. What I no longer think I can tolerate is just words that do not fit into the situation or critique at hand.

I have examples:

I went to a portfolio review and had my artwork looked at by some professionals in the industry. (More professional than my...attempts... LOL! i’M a pRoFeSsIoNaL.) The main push for this was a couple ‘critiques’ that just weren’t helpful, useful, or even good.

I had five pieces presented to said ‘it’s a coin flip’ critiquers: Designs, Finished pieces, Sketches, WIPs, Roughs, I mean I gave em a LOAD to look at. I sent this to a couple groups where we bounce around ideas and I have left them all and have not regretted a single moment of it. Out of the three I sent them to, two straight up ignored them. (I’m used to my artwork being ignored by my peers at this point. I haven’t gotten any feedback whatsoever to where now I just assume they do not like my art style and just choose to not say anything because it’ll come out wrong.) One group only made the comment that not only rubbed the wrong way but in a way took down a community(?) “It looks furry erotica. Only they would like this.” ((Paraphrasing, but only slightly. The tone towards furries was something I was not ignoring.)) Do not use furies as some group to be looked down upon. And if they’ll like it then dammit I’m printing it. I’m an equal opportunity money grabber here babe.

“Hey Cait, her leg looks a bit short.” “Hey Cait, the colors here are awkward.” anything along these lines that actually were wrong with the piece could have helped.

I don’t draw NSFW stuff (I should at this point. It’ll be my step before becoming a stripper.) But no other comment besides that per se doesn’t help encourage or fix what could possibly be wrong. I’ve had a share of bad critiques, but this one was just useless. I stopped showing my pieces in WIPs and rough stages because I just genuinely didn’t get good feedback EVER. It came off as: Caitlin your ideas are slipping, they suck... Caitlin this is just another black girl, what’s your deal? Well damn sway, sorry my black ass drawing black ass art is bothering you. I almost was sick of it.

Now here is the portfolio review time by pros:

I go to it thinking “I’m just going to get my portfolio reviewed. No way am I good enough to stand in line for the job fair(s) going on.” So I got my reviews, the results? “Hey, I see you really enjoy backgrounds and telling stories with your finished pieces. Why don’t you draw more interiors so that way it cohesively harmonizes together better? It does great now, but you’d do pretty well adding more interiors.” “Wow, your linework is so crisp. Have you tried this technique? You have with recent pieces, great! Lets network.” “Your color choices are breathtaking. Here’s a tiny corner where your craftsmanship failed a bit, try buffing up this corner a bit.”

Good critiques, useful stuff! I was so pumped you know what I did? Went to the job fair half. My results? I have piles of individual business cards and personal. My professional network grew. (I guess I should log in and add things to Linkedin huh?) and I got a single big toe wet. (Not a foot in the door, not feet wet, just that one toe. But hey, ripples start waves. And as a surfer, you just gotta wait for the perfect wave ok?)

I hadn’t gotten a good critique since college. In college, I will commend my professor for teaching this: How to give a good critique. Did some of my colleagues forget how to do this step? Yes. Do some forget that it isn’t their piece of concept and you can’t make someone DO anything? You bet. But it’s just a shame how with mutuals it’s “Caitlin your art isn’t great and is too black.” versus the reviews and studios that gave me the thumbs up and said, “call me later, otherwise I’m calling you later.”

Now do I think there is a slow “status quo” complex going on in my mutuals because now I’m no longer the sucky drawer? Yes and that’s a new rant for a different post. Does tearing down my artwork help theirs get better? Hell nah fam. They don’t even practice what they preach.

I said all of this to say: I can’t stand people in ANY group of friends, art group, a community who does this. I can not. What do you benefit? Did your house get bigger? Is your butt bigger? Are you prettier? Is your artwork studio quality? Did a pile of money just land in your lap?

No. It never works that way.

I started this habit to test out my theory and only one friend has caught on; that one still has my respect. After getting a bs critique, I’ll always ask how a person is doing and they’ll go on about how their day-to-day isn’t as good as usual. The one friend that caught on and I quote: “Woah Cait, I’m sorry. I took my frustration on you, let me look at this on another day when I’m in a better mood.” And guess what? She did. Gave a USEFUL critique and we moved forward.

Sometimes if you're not in the mood to critique DO NOT DO IT.

I repeat:

If you are in a bitchy mood, do not destroy someone because your life sucks and you wanna take a massive shit on someone else. Doing so isn’t going to fix whatever is wrong in your world. It isn’t going to give you a large sum of money and isn’t going to make you a better illustrator. Do not take the phrase “tearing down the ‘competition’ so literally.

“Caitlin, are you sure you’re just bad at getting critique?”

Nah. I’m bad at taking BS critique and pointless comments anymore and said critiquers themselves are just upset that I’m no longer being a doormat for whatever is wrong in their life. Other illustrators feel the same way too.

“Caitlin, why do you look for critiques and get mad at people who don’t give good ones?”

Anyone in any field can acknowledge the fact that when you stare at something too long, you start to blur the object in question together. Is it finished, are there major flaws? A simple solution is just getting a fresh set of eyes to look it over. In any aspect of life: choices you made, something you’re prepping to cook, a document you’re writing, and guess what? A piece someone is drawing. It is a prosaic and even instinctual action to share and express ourselves with others for a response. Look at all the billionaires who invented social media.

We as a community need to start treating each other better. And when someone asks for a critique, follow these instructions that were on so many damn elementary school walls but cleARLY we need these put somewhere again.

Be better dolls. Be good and make good choices. This is the last text post I’m writing today.

TRD: There are some people who still don’t think before they speak and I see it too often in my own life too. So I’m saying something about it. A reminder for something you learned in grade school: Being mean to other girls won’t make you prettier just like tearing down other illustrators and their artwork won’t make you a better illustrator.

#art rant #rant #critique #art community #Illustration #pensurfing #personal rant don't mind me #hungry and irritated

2 notes · View notes

bludragongal · 6 years

Note

Hey I'm in the beginning stages of a graphical nice and just wanted to ask: Should I draw the whole thing as a greyscale piece, or all lineart, or should I complete each page and I go on? Basically, should I do the entire thing at "low quality" before I start finishing individual pages, or should I do each page one by one? ^^" sorry for the confusion ask

OKAY DUDE I GOT AN ANSWER FOR YOU THAT’S BOTH GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS: There ain’t no right answer to this question!!!!

Everyone’s process is very different because people are very different, and they’ve developed and finessed their process based on their experiences and what they found has worked well for them.

By which I mean, I can’t give you something that reads like “Aha! Well, here is a 10 step list of how I do things that works,” because what I do might not work as well for you. BUT! I can try to give you some things to be thinking about, that should hopefully help your confidence as you move forward, and I can tell you about what I do so you can have some ideas you can try out and potentially use as your starting process.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME: I do pages in batches - meaning, I will focus on 2-3 pages at once, spending 1-2 days sketching out all of them, then 1 day inking all of them. (I’m very fortunate to work with a Flatter & Colorist, who I pass the pages off to after that point.)

This works well for me because I work full time, and it is easy to fit into my schedule. I spend some nights during the work week busting out a rough sketch when I get home, I print all the pages I’ve managed to do during the week on Friday, and then spending a relaxing Saturday brainlessly inking them.

When I first started, I would only focus on one page at a time, which was far more time consuming, but it allows you to focus on fine tuning and perfecting your process and the technical aspects to your work that will eventually become second nature to you, which is the higher priority at this stage in your comic’s life cycle.

So right now, since you’re just starting out, I would recommend focusing on one page at a time until you feel comfortable with your workflow and process.

That being said, there is no accounting for how your brain will work, and what you will find creatively stimulating. There might be a day where you feel like working ahead to that ONE page you really want to draw, and you end up with 5 sketched/rough pages that all need to be inked, or, when you are working in batches, but all you want to do is spend time making this ONE page look REALLY awesome, and that’s all you get done. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FINE, AND A TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE WORKFLOW. Keeping your brain engaged and creatively fulfilled is the ultimate goal here, and it doesn’t really matter how that manifests. If you ever deviate from your established routine, you shouldn’t punish yourself for it - that’s just the way things turned out that day.

At the very least, you should set a clear goal for what you want to get done, with plenty of room and ambiguity to meet that goal, to account for this shifting mindset.

For example: “I want to make one page every week,” or “I want to make 2 pages this month,” or “I will sketch and ink one page over the week, and have it ready to flat over the weekend.” This will give structure to your mind but room to accomplish it in the way that feels best for you, and keeps you mentally happy and creatively fulfilled.

DO NOT be angry with yourself if you set a goal that you eventually realize you cannot meet. The goal of “I will finish 2 pages every week!!” might not be feasible for you right now. BUT, in attempting to meet this or a similar goal, be attentive to what you DO get done, and HOW you got it done, so that you can become familiar with your limitations and also what your brain needs to focus and what makes you productive. As you learn more about yourself, your work flow will become more and more efficient and you will work faster and more consistently.

As you learn, you should MOVE YOUR GOALPOSTS:-Your original goal may have been “I will finish a page every week!” but as each week goes by, you realize you can only get to to inks before your deadline passes you. Your new goal should be: “I will get one page inked every week!”-As you work towards this NEW goal, you will both be encouraged by your success, and also learn how to realistically balance your life with this project you have started. -Goals can also be something like “I want to get fast enough that I can ink 3 pages in 1 day if I decide to!” THESE goals are great, because they are short term, specific, and your mindset is already in the area of “I am going to figure this out” rather than “I need to do this or I’ve failed.” These goals might also turn out to be unattainable, but again, all you need to do is adjust your goalpost.

ULTIMATELY, THE KEY IS TO TREAT FAILURE AS A THING YOU LEARN FROM, NOT AS SOME SORT OF EVIDENCE TO YOUR INADEQUACY. You know, all those sayings about how failure isn’t falling off the horse, it’s choosing not to get up, or a man isn’t truly defeated until he gives up, that kind of thing. Sometimes you realize that you were never meant to ride a horse, you do better on a bicycle. That’s not failure either, it’s just learning.

All of it is just about learning! This is a long distance sport, and it’s going to teach you so much about yourself. You’re going to eventually know yourself so well that it will make you an unstoppable monster. But right now you’re just starting, which means you know very little, which is not a bad thing. If anything, it’s exciting! There are so many decisions you still get to make, all these choices you get to explore and have fun with. Eventually you’ll reach a point where YOU’LL be the one with the answers for someone who is at a loss themselves.

Good luck, and most importantly, HAVE FUN.

#how to comic

120 notes · View notes

firewolf826 · 6 years

Text

Check In

So... I got my new iPad less than I month ago, but it feels like ages. It has kind of been an emotional rollercoaster. I was so excited to have it for drawing, and well, after four days of using it, my drawing hand became very painful.

I’m no stranger to hand pain. I’m left-handed, but my right hand has been destroyed for years. It started in senior year of college when I went hard on school projects, vectoring with the (right-handed) mouse nonstop. Pain and clicking in thumb joint and wrist. I went years with that pain, and all my hobbies (sewing, knitting, gardening) and basic chores (typing, chopping food, cleaning, etc) hurt my hand. I wear braces, etc. I even eventually finally went to a hand doc and he told me I “had a loose joint” and there was nothing I could do. I wanted to punch him. Instead I went home crying.

I felt I could put up with the hand pain as long as it didn’t affect my art. I’ve never had a problem with intense pain from drawing ever in my life. I could draw for hours. Then, 4 days of using the iPad and I felt destroyed. This physical and mental road block sent me to buy literally anything I could on Amazon to help my hand. Now I’m tending to BOTH hands, and well, it’s kind of pathetic. This pain in my left hand demoralized me a bit. I want to work so hard on my comic and I feel like I fell flat on my face before really getting started.

Anyway, I’ve adjusted my workflow to improve the ergonomics (still need a standing desk situation, b/c drawing in my bed is... killing my back), been trying to be good about doing hand stretches, and am seeing a different (sister-approved) hand doc later this month. I’m trying to be proactive because I feel my right hand is a lost cause but I can recover my dominant hand and keep it from being completely destroyed. It’s just sad when something like this keeps you from something you love. I can’t even stop myself from drawing, though. For better or worse.

I have about 4 comic pages done and others in the works, a third or more of the first chapter thumbnailed. (And well, I have about 40% of the story full scripted and the entire thing planned out). I have to say, the pages are taking me way longer than anticipated. Some have taken 8 hours. Simpler ones are 6. That doesn’t include the thumbnailing stage which are fairly concrete sketches I’m bringing in, (I find I draw better on paper, plus I want to minimize my time on the iPad) which probably take an hour+ each on their own. AKA pages are taking a very long time. Whether or not they live up to my expectations or not is a different story, but.

The other night I went into a panic attack in the middle of the night. Hello, insomnia. I was already well aware that on even a fast pace, this comic will take 10 years to draw. Realizing that with a full-time job, I can’t reasonably commit to 3 pages/week...my brain always needs to figure out logistics. I’m very cart-before-the-horse, and well, it’s tiresome. 44 chapters total, let’s say average 35 pages each.That’s over 1500 pages. Yes, I’m insane, but that’s the plan. Right now, I think I can push myself to 10 pages/month. That will be 3 chapters (with breaks between for thumbnailing) a year, puts me in a good position for how I structured the story (every 3 chapters is an arc/mini-arc.) BUT. That’s legit 14 years of constantly nonstop work. FUck me. I want to go faster. There’s so much story to tell, I want to go faster.

Eventually, if things take off even remotely at all (aka with fan funding), I’d like to hire a color flatter (know one?) That way I could produce pages faster without completely destroying my health and sanity. Am I insane? I think I probably am.

Overall I feel very anxious. I don’t know if what I’m producing even lives up to my standard but I don’t want to be caught up in perfection (I’m a perfectionist but I very quickly learn to give things up when you need a finished product sooner than later. I can live with “good enough”). I’m hoping art-wise I will improve. That’s how it works, right? I don’t know what I’m doing with backgrounds and colors LOL.

I’m very anxious. I don’t know if anyone will care. What if they don’t? That will probably kill me. What if they do? I’m afraid. I’m afraid of someone trying to call me problematic for my storytelling. IDK why, but that’s a big fear of mine. Some of the topics and themes of the story aren’t very pretty, so. I’m very anxious.

Also, hahah, despite feeling like I have a pathway in life now, I’m still depressed. Imagine that. Still very empty inside. But my characters make me feel a little less lonely. Honestly, this story was built out of depression, so I guess we’ve come full circle. My deepest hope is that someone will grow attached to the characters that way I have. In retrospect, the MC shares a lot of my own experiences, hahah. He’s way more impulsive than me though. I hope people can relate to him, and the other characters, because it’s literally an extension of me, hahah.

I feel alone in this, but I’m working hard. I’m a Capricorn. We live for goals. I have a goal now. Something that makes my life feel meaningful. I hope along the line, someone will care, but all and all, I’m doing this for myself. It’s something I wanted to do since I was 10 years old. I’ve always been fruitlessly making failed comics in the background. This time is for real. Somehow this was the timeline I was supposed to be on to write this story. That’s as positive as I can be about my shitty life experiences, lol. Finally, now that I’m 30, I know the story I want to tell.

#long post #very long post #i'm sorry #webcomics #storytelling #i'm tired it's late #I have work tomorrow #pipe dream is to work full-time on my comic but that's very unlikely #I appreciate any kind of support that can be offered #I'm sorry I know I'm very selfish #I don't have time or energy for other people but still want support from others #i'm a bad person lol #goodnight

6 notes · View notes

elizadoolittlethings · 6 years

Photo

Mark Gatiss: ‘The League of Gentlemen was a premonition of Brexit’

After a turn on stage as George III, the co-founder of the League is returning to horror to recreate Dracula for TV. What he finds ‘frightening and debilitating’ now, though, is leaving the EU

by Arifa Akbar

Mark Gatiss is recalling an early memory, rocking back and forth on the sofa as he talks. It is an “extraordinarily vivid” moment from when he lived opposite a psychiatric hospital in County Durham. The institution was central to his childhood, a “colony” in which his mother and father worked, where he went to swim, to trampoline, to see films. Except, on this occasion, he was left on one of the wards with his brother to wait for his parents. “I must have been around five. There was a boy rocking on a bed. As I remember it, he had an empty eye socket. He had his thumb in it and he was just rocking – like this.”

Gatiss takes his thumb to his eye and rocks some more. It is a baroque vision, creepy enough to make you squeal, and befitting for one of the creators of the stage show and TV series The League of Gentlemen. As Gatiss says: “You can’t get more northern gothic, can you?”

It is clear he enjoys playing up the northern gothic. His Twitter tagline reads: “Actor. Writer. Strangler.” In person, there is no hint of gloom. He is sweet and sunny, an optimist by his own admission. Still, an unprosperous northern childhood and those years of observing mental illness – and the world’s responses to it – continue to serve him at the age of 52. He is currently in Nottingham, in rehearsals to play the titular lead in Alan Bennett’s 1991 play, The Madness of George III, at the Nottingham Playhouse. The play – which was adapted for a 1994 film, The Madness of King George, starring Helen Mirren and Nigel Hawthorne – dramatises the monarch’s mental illness.

“It was very interesting [to grow up opposite the hospital]. I have a lot experience to draw on for this play. And it’s interesting to think about mental health in the 18th century … It’s a challenge to chart the king in his ‘normal’ state, as it were, and then what happens to him. You have to make sure there’s a journey into his condition, so you have somewhere to go.”

Brexit is like slitting your own throat and going to bed saying: ‘I’ll see how I am in the morning’

Since the TV version of the League – which followed the tormented outcasts and oddballs of the fictional town of Royston Vasey – landed in 1999 and earned Gatiss and his co-stars a legion of fans, he has helped to create some of the most popular shows on TV. These include the revived Doctor Who (as a writer and an actor) and Sherlock, a reimagining of Sherlock Holmes as a 21st-century detective, which he co-created with Steven Moffat and in which he stars as Holmes’s brother, Mycroft. In between, he has worked on films and written books and plays. His stint in Nottingham follows a nationwide tour ofthe League, an Oscar-tipped film (The Favourite) and The Dead Room, a yet-to-be-aired Christmas ghost story starring Simon Callow, which he wrote and directed. After The Madness of George III, he will team up with Moffat again for a BBC/Netflix adaptation of the vampire classic Dracula. “I do work hard and I think that’s a good thing,” he says. “Work hard, be kind, that’s my motto.”

Filming for Dracula will start next year, but Gatiss does not plan to act in it. He will not be drawn on who will be cast as the vampire, but says he and Moffat thought carefully before deciding to set the series in its original period, the 19th century: “We said when we started Sherlock that we briefly got custodianship of the keys to Baker Street and we felt: ‘It’s our go.’ So, we wanted to have ‘our go’ at Dracula and with that we wanted to do all the treats – a big, spooky castle and the rest of it.”

Sherlock was set in the modern day for the opposite reason: “We felt it had become so swamped with Victoriana that people had lost sight of what it was – which is essentially a flat-share story of two unlikely friends, one of whom solves crimes. That was the really exciting thing, to just go back to basics.” While the series has been a runaway success, there have been criticisms: one Guardian article lamented that his Sherlock was morphing into James Bond; it vexed Gatiss so much that he sent the Guardian a rejoinder in rhyme, outlining the differences between his hero and Ian Fleming’s.

There have been other charges of “unfaithfulness” in Gatiss’s adaptations, but he is adamant about his right to play with an original story. “I feel very strongly about not just drearily reproducing the book. You are duty-bound to think: ‘Here’s an idea, why don’t we flip this round,’ especially if people know it well. It doesn’t spoil the original. No one burns the manuscript … the Tardis would never have left the junkyard in the 1960s if it wasn’t about change.”

And what greater change than a female doctor? The new series is the first with which Gatiss has not been involved since Doctor Who relaunched in 2005. How does he feel about Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor? “First, it’s lovely that I’m enjoying watching it on a Sunday night and not knowing anything about it. I have even tried to avoid the trailer for the next time. And I have said for a very long time that there should be female Doctors. As soon as you watch it, you say: ‘Of course, why not?’ All you need, ever, is for the right person to be playing the part. Jodie is instantly likable, funny, delightfully odd.”

If that is the case, can we – should we – stop at Doctor Who or extend a gender-blind, colour-blind policy to all period dramas? It depends how literal we want to be, Gatiss says, but he balks at the prospect of a female Bond. “Doctor Who is an alien with two hearts who lives in a dimensionally transcendental phone box and can periodically change his or her appearance. James Bond is a man. There’s no way out of that. It becomes a very reductive argument. If you want to create a really kickass new heroine or hero, then do something else.”

If you were to create a female Bond, he adds, would you then follow Fleming’s blueprint of making her a sexist lothario? “What is it about James Bond you want to change? Is it just the sex or is it everything else? In which case, you’ve got a different character anyway.”

Gatiss was not long out of studying theatre arts at Bretton Hall College in West Yorkshire when he co-wrote the League with Jeremy Dyson, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, whom he met there. It has been a long, loyal partnership, even though they went their separate ways – and thrived – before returning after 13 years to take the show back on the road. “We never fell out, we just stopped doing it,” Gatiss says. “We had been doing it virtually day in, day out for 11 years. So, we decided to do other stuff. The extraordinary thing about the tour was that it felt like no time had passed, which is what great friendships are about.”

The League began as a stage sketch show in 1994, when standup was more dominant in comedy. Gatiss and the others were enlisted to fill a slot at a fringe festival. “We did it for five nights and it went down really well. I remember a friend of mine saying: ‘You should do something with this.’” They did – and won the Perrier award at the Edinburgh fringe in 1997. “We did what made us laugh. All the things we loved ranged from proper horror to the horror of embarrassment; Alan Bennett, Victoria Wood, Mike Leigh. It was very much about our northern upbringings, too – we were identifying our own experiences of the world of the north. It was real anger and despair and oddness.”

Bennett turned out to be a huge fan of the League. “It’s how I came to meet Alan and it was just astonishing to think that he liked The League of Gentlemen. We have always said what a major influence he was for us. I remember so well the first thing I saw of his was a play called Our Winnie [from 1982]. I only watched it because Winnie was my mother’s name. It’s a half-hour drama where Elizabeth Spriggs takes her mentally disabled daughter to the crematorium on a Sunday. I just remember looking at it and thinking: ‘How does he know all this?’ It was just like my life! The way people spoke, the colloquialisms and the amazing sense of oppressive Sunday tedium.”

Two decades on, Royston Vasey’s turned-in world seems to resemble Britain more than it did when it was conceived, I suggest – the local shop for local people, the suspicion of the outsider taken to its freakish, inbred, comic extremity. “Yes, I look at it and think: ‘It’s a bit like a premonition,’” he says. “The idea that: ‘There’s nothing for you here, go away.’ That’s why we pushed it a bit in the specials last year. We were never satirical, but we found it irresistible and deliberately got [the character] Edward to say: ‘It’s time we took back control.’”

The tour took Gatiss to 47 venues around Britain. Did he sense a change, post-Brexit? “Yes. Some places are rust-belt Britain. They’ve been abandoned. I thought constantly of Disraeli and ‘two nations’ [“Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy”]. It made me think that some people must look at the events in Westminster as if they’re taking place on the moon. That’s why, when they were finally given the chance, they kicked back. And that’s why we’re in this fucking mess.”

It is not just the rising intolerance of the “immigrant” outsider that he fears, but also the erosion of other liberal, humanist values. As a gay man – he is married to the actor Ian Hallard – he has never felt personally threatened in London, where he lives, “but you go out of London and it’s very different. You go to certain parts of the country and you think: ‘I would modify my behaviour here.’”

The regions around his birthplace were the heartland for leave voters, but Gatiss is proud to have grown up in the north and in a working-class household: his father was the chief engineer at the psychiatric hospital and his mother was a carer and secretary. “I think my background did me an awful lot of good. There’s a very good line from Doctor Who: ‘Never lose sight of your horizons.’ There’s nothing wrong with coming from one place and moving to another place, but it’s good to know that and honour it. And also to acknowledge its flaws – it doesn’t have to be perfect.”

Brexit upsets him immensely. He speaks of it in irate exclamations and bloody analogies: “Brexit, to me, is like slitting your own throat and going to bed saying: ‘I’ll see how I am in the morning.’ I’m a sickeningly optimistic person and that’s what worries me about how depressed I am about it all. The temptation is to totally disengage because it’s so frightening and debilitating, but if you do that they’ve won.”

The Madness of George III is at Nottingham Playhouse until 24 November

#MG #mark gatiss #saturday interview #the guardian #the man behind the genius #all things MG

2 notes · View notes