Drawing meme #7.. well sort of.

[hrymfaxe]

Way back when I announced this meme, I promised shimotsuki a drawble.. I have been terribly lax about getting it done, and I'm really sorry about that! And I wish I could say I had done it now, but alas. However, I come bearing a different gift, because as I sat down yesterday to start the drawble she asked for, I suddenly remembered a scene from one of her fics that I have always wanted to do, and then the muse carried me away.




From shimotsuki's fic All Will be in Order, chapter 1, The Perfect Flat:
Remus picked up the teabag that balanced damply on the edge of his plate and dropped it back into his teacup. As he poured more hot water from the kettle, he watched it swirl around the teabag and turn an anaemic brown. The second cup was never quite as good.

I hope you like it, shimotsuki. Thank you for sharing your writings with us!

Comments

[reddawn07.livejournal.com]

That is lovely. Not having read the whole story, just the excerpt you posted, I think you captured it quite well. And you have a wonderful illustrative quality to your painting.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad my painting is in keeping with the words. And I love illustrations so I certainly take that as a compliment!

[reddawn07.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, that's definitely a compliment. Illustrating someone else's words and ideas is probably the hardest artistic feat and you did a great job.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you so much! I'm so happy you think so.

[whitewave16.livejournal.com]

Awww... poor Lupin. I like his facial expression. The general appearance of his room is so "single and male". ;-)

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, yes it certainly is a bachelor flat - and even a cheap one! Thank you for looking.

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

That's perfectly in keeping with the fic - you've captured the sparseness and simplicity of his home and his pile of books. His suggestion really suggests someone both ruefully thinking the second cup is never as good, and yet wondering how many more cups he can get out of it... :(

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It was exactly the description of the apartment and having to settle for a second cup (or more indeed), that made me want to illustrate this one. I'm glad his expression is telling you the story. Thanks for stopping by!

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you knew 'suggestion' meant expression! Can I blame that distracting Sean Bean icon for brain failure?!

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Sean Bean has a lot to answer for!

[whitewave16.livejournal.com]

I didn't much like Sean in LOTR, but I positively drooled when I saw his "Sharpe" pictures.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

*sings* Isn't he looooovely? Isn't he won.der.ful. LOL

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Oh, my goodness. I finally had a chance to check my f-list today, and look at what I found!

This is just amazing. For one thing, it's exactly what I had in mind for Remus's flat, with the stark stone walls and the small high windows, and the morning light that only sort of brightens the gloom. (Even the color of the light is exactly how I had imagined it.) You've put in so many details from the story, too, like the stack of books, the Daily Prophet there on the table, and the broom. And you've nailed Remus feeling regretful about reusing the teabag, lol.

It's also such a lovely drawing/painting. I love the different tones and shading, especially in Remus's jumper and in the walls, and the contrast between the defined outlines and the soft blended colors looks fantastic.

Thank you so, so much for this -- it is something to treasure. And this is the first time anyone has ever illustrated a scene from one of my stories! I have a giant grin on my face right now.

(Would it be okay if I posted a link to this post from the "Order" chapter?)

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Oh yay! I'm glad you like it! And especially that it is as you imagined. I stuck in as many details as I could think of, but still tried to keep his flat as bare as it was in the story (and also neat!) I had fun trying out my watercolours for this one.

Which is also why I appreciate your words about the tones and the shading. As you might have guessed, I worked the most on the walls and on Remus' jumper. And I love ink and watercolour drawings - the two media really go well together.

You are welcome! I can't believe how long it has taken me to do something for you - and you have been very kind and patient about it. You know how much I love "All will be in order" - it is very deserving of an illustration.

Of course you can post a link. Or you can copy the image into the story if you like, as long as you leave a note somewhere with credit. (like in author's notes or something like that). I'm so happy you like it, and that it fits with your own image!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Of course you can post a link. Or you can copy the image into the story if you like, as long as you leave a note somewhere with credit.

Oh, that would be amazing! Thank you so much for the kind permission -- as soon as I get a chance to play around with LJ coding, I'll add it in to Ch 1 as an illustration. (With proper credit, absolutely; I have a small audience, but they should all find out about your wonderful art!)

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

That is no problem at all! I'm just so pleased you like it. Do you need me to send you a copy or will you just copy it from here?

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was able to copy it from here.

But I should probably make sure this is okay with you: because I only have a "basic" LJ account, I have to host my images on Photobucket and link them in my posts -- would that be okay to do? Here's how I've set up the illustration in the chapter at the moment: like this. If you don't like having the image on Photobucket, I will take it down right away.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

That is fine, don't worry about it! I'm so happy it fits in your story.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

So now that I have space for more userpics... ;) Would you mind if I made an icon from your painting, to use for my "Order" posts? Of course I would credit you.

Hope you're doing okay! Haven't seen you around much these days ... but then, I haven't been around very much either, heh.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Of course you can make a userpic from it, that would be awesome! :D Especially as you are hinting at more Order posts, which absolutely floats my boat.

I'm doing well. December is a busy month and I don't have as much free time as I usually do, so I try to use it on the meta-project. ;) How about you? Is work letting up soon?

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) I first tried one that showed more of the wonderful details of the room, like the stack of books, but I think it was too small to be understandable in icon-size, so in the end I went for a close-up detail.

Ooh, very glad to hear you're working on your Meta project. I hope that's going well!

I've just finished my last "real" week of work before the holidays, so yes, things should start getting a lot less hectic. I'm looking forward to some relaxation.

ETA: I really want to finish chapter 4 of Order over the holidays, but there's the small matter of a Meta fic to write first, so I'm not sure if the Order chapter will get done too. Soon, though! (And it makes me very happy to hear you're looking forward to it. :) )

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Oh nice! :D Yeah, it is sometimes hard to get everything into a 100x100 icon and still make it viewable. But this looks really good.

Good for you finishing work - we aren't busy either at all, so I'm thinking about taking half a day off here and there.

How is meta going? Do you have an idea? It's going fairly well with my project, and a lot of experimentation is going on again. :D I love my watercolours.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Meta, hee. I have most of an idea -- various scenes that I want to include in the story. But I feel like I don't yet have the overarching idea to tie them together. I usually don't like to start actually writing until I have that overall structure in mind, but it's getting late enough that I probably should start writing some of the specific scenes and hope the rest of it sorts itself out!

Yay for experimentation. I can't wait to see what you come up with. :)

[sspring92.livejournal.com]

Just lovely. I can really feel the sparseness of the room as it relates to his current situation. But even trying to eek out that last bit of flavor out of the tea bag, he is still surrounded by books. Don't you want to just hug him1

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Remus is infinitely huggable! I loved the image that shimotsuki drew with her words and couldn't help trying to paint it.

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

Very nice work. Really like the picture.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much Oshun! I have tried to be more bold with the colours, and I think it worked.

[duck-or-rabbit.livejournal.com]

So, yeah. I love this to bits. The books may be my favorite but I think the entire scene is technically well executed and expressive.

Remus' roll neck sweater is wonderful too; looks a little dated, might be circ 1980. And of all the Remus artists, you rank among the best at mussed hair. And considering all the streaming manes you make for your muses, I'm glad short coifs are inspiring for you too.

I see resemblances between this and that other thing you mentioned to me, but this is also very much your own. The affects on the stone walls are fabulous. They look like they've absorbed light, water, moisture, whatever - definitely looks like a ground level flat.

I hope that you continue to be inspired by other fic scenes.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so happy you noted the books especially because I am ridiculously pleased with how they turned out. Every time I had used a colour for something else they got a layer of it as well - I was trying to create cohesion in the image, staying within a fairly limited palette. I'm also thrilled that you think the effects on the walls are realistic for a stone-walled basement. I quite enjoyed experimenting with different colour-mixes.

I'm learning short hair - it is much more difficult than long flowing manes! I'm glad you think it works. Now maybe I should practice facial hair? I hear rumours of someone trying to grow a moustache... LOL

Keep writing and I will keep drawing. *hugs*

[duck-or-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Oh, my, the moustache, lol. What a moron.

This winter when the weather holds ljers captive, you and I should do this meme as a team and see if there are requests for drawbles with a drabble. I can pretend to know Tolkien (LotR - passable).

Cohesion, coherency, consistency and continuity are amongst my favorite words.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Oh we totally should! And we could offer Sandman as well! *wants to see you write sandman fanfic, so if no one asks then I will LOL* I really like this meme, because of how you get to stretch your creative muscles.

Moustache-man is a moron, but somehow we like him anyway. The joke must be on us...

Speaking of favourite words - did you see Mr Neil's post today where he talks about "prevaricate"? I love that word. And why am I not surprised that he can spend hours reading about old trials. Now we will have to look for when something from there makes it into one of his stories..

[duck-or-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Could you just imagine Morpheus' solemn dialouge? lol He's so crusty.

I did see Mr Neil's post and I was moved to comment. Prevaricate is very fancy, and personally placed it in the equivocate family because think it's overwrought as lie. And I'm sure he spends time studying whale bits, too.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

*am so tempted to send him the pictures of whale bits, just in case he hasn't thought of it himself...* And also I must go see your comment.

I can imagine Morpheus' dialogue, yes. Not a paragon of social ability, is the Lord of Dreams.. Didn't you write a small snippet as Delirium on one of Lauren's posts? You challenged her worryingly well, I seem to remember..

[duck-or-rabbit.livejournal.com]

lol, yes I was moved to write Delirium dialogue.

We know he does know a thing or two about death erections. What was that high class word in American Gods that stumped us? You recited the passage with it to me when you were seated on the green sofa.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Delirium rules! I recently found out that one of my flisters is also a fan of Sandman, and she has an icon of Delirium (from the same painting as this icon) and the text on her icon says: Delirium, who was once Delight. Made me want to do fanart..

Would that be priapism? LOL The green couch has witnessed much in its short life...

[duck-or-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Delight's transformation to Delirium is that perfect amixture of sorrow and gratitude that she changed into such a charming goof.

Would it be anything other than a priapism? ;)

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

The origin of the word priapism still makes me laugh:

The name comes from the Greek god Priapus, referring to the myth that he was punished by the other gods for attempting to rape a goddess, by being given a huge, but useless, set of wooden genitals.

Those Greek gods knew how to punish people! LOL

[duck-or-rabbit.livejournal.com]

And Greek is the language of modern science which I think is interesting as it depends on words that have origins in mythology.

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

I never considered that but you are right, that is interesting! Hmmm.. When I was studying Political Science in Lyon the professors were always drawing threads back to Greek mythology and history as examples. My knowledge of those ancient times were found sorely lacking...

[duck-or-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Let's hope just that Professor Lyon gave Plato's Republic wide berth. May I suggest you watch an uninterrupted version of Clash of the Titans to catch yourself up?

Edit: Let out the word hope and it's etymology is unknown to me.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, he's so not looking forward to his 2nd cup of tea. Look at those details!

[hrymfaxe.livejournal.com]

Being a true Englishman he would much rather have tea prepared on leaves in a small preheated teapot, I'm sure. But being English, he will just have to settle for tea in the form available, because there is no going without. LOL

Thank you so much for stopping by. I love putting details into drawings, it makes them come more alive. I'm happy you like them.

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Oh I love your details, I am always on the lookout for them. And technique! One of my fav pieces made by you is Nerdanel. :)