To Art, Or Not To Art?

[CaptainChaotica]

(I couldn't think of a good title...maybe I'll come up with something better later.  : P)  Anyway.  GREETINGS, everyone!  I've been thinking about posting some of my non-Klei-related art here in the Off Topic forum for some time now, and now--at the urgings of three people, including a freaking _dev_ (!) I will start with my Discworld fanart.  (From the "Book Club" thread.) 

(If you don't know what Discworld is, look it up at your local library and rejoice, for it is awesome.  But be prepared to lose a few years of your life...also don't be alarmed if you start liking Death as your favourite character.  : P)

So...let's start at...well, the beginning!  Rincewind and Twoflower (and the Luggage, of course), from "The Colour of Magic".

 

Pardon my having drawn this on lined paper; it's one of the bad habits I have.  Often when I feel like drawing something by hand (instead of on the computer) it's the paper I have most readily available.  Heh.

More to come!

...Notorious

[ResettePlayer]

The answer is always to art. Nice to see you start posting!

[minespatch]

Somehow I recognized the man in yellow as Two-flower. Though I only found out about him being Oriental-like until later through tv tropes. You got Rincewind's meekishness down pretty well.

[CaptainChaotica]

Green and yellow, actually...I'm kinda sad that this particular picture is at such a low resolution.  But, if you can read the date at the bottom, you'll understand that it's from SEVERAL COMPUTERS AGO.  : P  I do still have the original picture around here somewhere and think I can find it...what I _don't_ have anymore is a working scanner.  Ah well.

Anyway yeah, Twoflower's being basically the Discworld equivalent of Asian-descent becomes more clear only in a way later book, "Interesting Times".  But you kinda get it in the first book...well...his taking pictures of everything everywhere is a BIT kinda a lot "Japanese Tourist".  Heh. 

At least I drew him more accurately than the "Colour of Magic" TV miniseries, which had SAM FREAKING GAMGEE playing him!  Aka Sean Astin. What?  No.  Just no.  I know you want to use somebody who was in the popular Middle Earth movies to capitalize off of that, but that's at the level of _did you even READ the book you're adapting_, bro?! XD

Aaanyway.  Next up in chronological order (of the books), we have:

Mort and Ysabell from "Mort".  Spoiler:  The teenagers of opposite genders that start off absolutely hating each other and insulting each other all the time end up getting married.    Awww.

You can't read it here, but I put the Death "family" (?) motto, "Non Timetis Messor", in the corner, which means roughly "Don't fear the reaper."  Heh.

...Notorious

[ResettePlayer]

Whoa, 2001? Yeah, that was a long time ago. You're makin' me feel like a child 'round here.

Do you have anything more recent? I'm all for digging through the archives (unfortunately I found nothing in mine), but I'm also interested to see the difference 17 years can make. Take your time, though--there's no need to upload everything at once.

[minespatch]

I really prefer the Hogfather adaptation to be honest(but Christopher Lee adds a plus in Colour of Magic).

Kind of a shame the animation company behind Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music never did a Mort adaptation. Your drawing looks pretty close to what they probably would've looked like.

[CaptainChaotica]

And that's pretty much what I was going for, because I've seen both of those and I love them.    Actually as I recall I think there was a brief flashback of them in Susan's memories in "Soul Music", and this might be a my-art-style interpretation of that?  I'm not sure, but I vaguely remember that.  Now I gotta look it back up again.  They're also the same company behind Count Duckula and Dangermouse, aaaaand, David Jason, who voiced both of those characters, was Rincewind in the live-action "Colour of Magic" (and also very wrong casting for it physically--although he could do the personality part just fine).  It ALL CIRCLES BACK AROUND.  XD  (Christopher Lee also plays the voice of Death, who is JUST DOING HIS JOB...in the second Discworld _game_, and to me he's kinda the canon voice for that character.)

And you're right, the "Hogfather" one is pretty much far and away the best of the live-action interpretations.  Weirdly enough that was my brother's first proper introduction to that universe--I heard about it coming on BBC America (this is back when we had satellite still) ahead of time and we watched it all together right ON Christmas.  My brother was making fun of it a bit, 'cos he has to...it's in the Little Brother Code...but soon after that he looked up his first Discworld book. 

I....am nerding out WAY too hard right now wow the amount of off-to-the-side fan stuff I have and know about...ANYway.  So.

Next up is I guess "Wyrd Sisters".  I haven't drawn something for _every_ book, or every character I like, and for some I've done mulitple.  So...

Two different versions of Magrat, one of my favourite characters...first, purely my own interpretation:

(I used to actually own a vest kinda like that lol.  AND some of the jewelry.   Actually it wouldn't be too hard for me to slap together a costume kinda like this out of what's in the house right now.  It's that kind of house.)

...and based off of the "Wyrd Sisters" cartoon, with some embellishments:

I think the colours turned out better on this one, honestly.

And "The Fool".  There's an odd story attached to this one...

...although the story isn't tied to when I was drawing it, or why I did x y and z artistically speaking...no, it came _afterwards_.  I forget where, but I submitted this on a general-artwork site (not DeviantArt, I forget its name) and didn't think anything more of it...unTIL, months later, this lady e-mailed me out of the blue.  She said she was the admin/creator of a site dedicated to pagan-style artwork and poetry, and they had a project going on where site members could submit things relating to the different Tarot card characters/items.  And she wanted _my picture_ for the Fool card!

I said yes, obviously.  I mean, nobody (except close friends and family) ever noticed my art back then and I was super flattered.  (I still am, whenever somebody comes up to me completely unbidden and says "Dude I love your stuff!"  Like, if I get a _request_ from a group or gallery on DeviantArt to add one of my pictures, for example.  It makes my day.)  I never did see the finished project, but it sounds like a neat idea and I hope it turned out cool.

  I think the picture itself turned out nice--the colourful outfit contrasting with the shadows on the bare stone wall...his expression and the fact that he's a jester...I almost named this one "The Tears of a Clown" but stopped myself in time.  : P

Aaand, not specific to the book/cartoon "Wyrd Sisters" specifically, but...

My interpretation of what Granny (Esme) Weatherwax and Nanny (Gytha) Ogg might've looked like when they were younger.  Heh.  (It IS actually said somewhere that Granny had long super-straight platinum blonde hair...Nanny being a redhead I dunno, but it suits her.)

And yes, of course Nanny is singing that damnable song about that oh-so-lucky hedgehog! 

...Notorious

[ResettePlayer]

This is making me nostalgic. And your ramblings aren't unwelcome.

[minespatch]

There's a lot to unpack with all the details you add to your pieces. Keep posting them, you've done a lot of effort to bring Discworld alive.

On 10/27/2018 at 4:15 AM, CaptainChaotica said:

And "The Fool".  There's an odd story attached to this one...

My favorite of the pieces. You added some nice values with the lighting. With some more shading on the figure, it'd add more to your drawing but I like what you've done.

[CaptainChaotica]

Awww.  Well good thing you're okay with rambling 'cos I tend to do that whenever I'm on a subject I truly like.  Especially if I haven't talked about it in a while.    I've got Discworld stuff on the level of obscurity such as the _soundtrack album_ for the "Soul Music" cartoon miniseries.  (Because the music itself is ACTUALLY GOOD, for one thing!)  I've got the Discworld GURPS role-playing books.  I even made up a character!  (Actually I always do that when reading through a new role-playing book; it helps me get a handle on how the rules work and the overall..._feel_, if I figure out a way I'd want to interact with/represent myself in the new world.)  Somewhere around here I've got a beautiful map of Ankh-Morpork I recieved as a "Hogswatch" present that I haven't put up because I don't have the wall space.  Etc.

Anyway...next up is:

Lavaeolus, aka "Depressed Ancient-Greek Type Rincewind". From the book "Eric".  I remember cracking up at the whole parody of the "Helen of Troy" debacle in that book and how the general was disgraced because he kept _too many_ of his soldiers ALIVE; that's not _glorious_!  And his name basically means "Washer of Winds", so...

(Also reminds me of that one bit from an old Doctor Who serial--also took place in Ancient Greece, and there's this part where a guy has to go to the city walls and "call out" someone he's supposed to have a duel with.  Except this guy has a BRAIN, so he very quietly kind of...whisper-shouts--you know what I mean, where you do a "yell" tone of voice but without any actual volume?--the guy's name a few times and then goes "WELP he didn't show up I guess that means we'll have to duel some other time OH WELL" and runs off.  XD  Oh, mygod, I just died laughing.  It was the most Discworldy thing pre-Discworld (by DECADES!) I'd ever seen.)    

I also did a picture of CONINA THE BARBARIAN...Hairdresser from the same book, but the proportions...oh, they're bad for even ME.  Bad for even how I drew back _then_.  Don't ask to see it until I have a chance to just redo the whole thing, 'cos...man.  It is embarrassing. 

...Notorious

[minespatch]

That's quite a lot of detail on his outfit! Impressive with the effort you put into this.

[CaptainChaotica]

Heh.  I had this series going on before this where I was drawing a male and a female in all different historical eras, sometimes using pictures from this cool series of books my mom had for reference.  I think I must've gotten my practice in drawing detailed armour and such from there.  : P  (Let's see...do I have any of those scanned?  It's really too bad I didn't continue the series and do more time periods/styles...)

Okay good, I do have a few already in my art folder!  (Maybe not all, but something.)  Here's my Roman Centurion Dude picture:

I COULD cut off that date at the bottom and re-edit the picture before uploading it, but I am as old as I am.  To quote Dr. McCoy, "What's so damn troublesome about not havin' died?!"  I also apparently drew/finished this on exactly my birthday.  XD

(and of course there's an aqueduct behind him as well.  heh.)

...Notorious

[minespatch]

Nice work on the aqueduct! You put effort into those bricks and arches.

[CaptainChaotica]

Okay!  More Discworld art...finally.  Maybe I can post more of my historical-costumes (like the Roman guy above) later on, too (if I can find the bloody things).  So, let's see, what's next...

So...I really need to do a PROPER picture of this character as she's one of my all-time favourites, but here is

a sketch of Angua of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, one of my favourite Discworld female characters.  (The fact that there are MULTIPLE favourites in that category tells you something.)  Yes, I know she doesn't ACTUALLY show any...traits...when it's...yaknow, not...that time of month? but I couldn't resist.  It's just such a cute look.  I drew this while bored off my skull at work on a small piece of scratch-paper, don't judge.  : P 

Actually a BUNCH of these and other pictures I drew while at work.  Including the second Magrat picture!  (Yes, I brought coloured pencils with me.)  It was a drudgery call-center job and we just wore mike-headsets while waiting for the auto-dialer to finally get an actual connection so we could bug people with market-research surveys, so, a lot of the time our hands were free.  I absolutely HATED these types of jobs (yes, plural, sigh) and have sworn to never do that kind of work again.  (Not only do I feel rotten being one of Those Obnoxious Cliches, but sometimes the people I called could be _cruel_ as...!  I myself always just say "Sorry I'm not interested. " THESE people...did not.  Did effing not.  "Unlike you, HE has a REAL job" is one I wish I didn't remember.  Let's just say crying in the bathroom during break time happened occasionally.) 

So how did I not go insane?  Drawing!  And you may wonder how the freak I got away with this welll...despite them _technically_ having really strict rules about not being distracted while working, the ACTUAL rule was that if you put whatever you were doing right away immediately as soon as a person came on the line, you were probably okay.  Aand...this is gonna sound conceited, but I think the fact that my supervisors (and fellow workers sitting near me) _liked_ my drawings helped.  I am absolutely sure the fact that I was (for there, anyway) a GOOD artist helped me skirt by trouble a _lot_.  These places are so strict and mean.  But I actually got requests a few times.  Sometimes FROM the supervisors. 

I also occasionally brought books with me to (very intermittently) read, and I--ACCIDENTALLY--ended up reccommending...guess what?  DISCWORLD!!  to at least two of my co-workers.  XD  I especially remember I was reading "The Lost Continent" one day, put it down open over my knee when a call came in, and then my _Australian_ supervisor lady who had just a couple days ago been one of us phone-slaves wandered by just then, picked it up, read the back of it, LAUGHED HER HEAD OFF and started reading on page one.  XD  And then another time someone picked up "Hogfather" off my desk, read like two sentences, laughed, and I saw her writing down "Discworld--Terry Pratchett" on a piece of scrap-paper.  No kidding.  I am an advertisement for things sometimes without even trying.  Remind me to tell you about the time I might've accidentally sold some Dreamcasts.   

...Notorious

[DragonMage156]

On 10/25/2018 at 10:36 AM, CaptainChaotica said:

I couldn't think of a good title...

I have the same problem with my DS art thread. It seems to be forever cursed with a bad/uncreative title (same with ONI but I don't hate the latter ^^; )

On 10/25/2018 at 10:36 AM, CaptainChaotica said:

Pardon my having drawn this on lined paper; it's one of the bad habits I have. 

I tent to doodle a lot on lined paper. Anyone who doesn't like it can can kiss my butt!

As for your art. I didn't take too much time in reading it (not checking the forums for over 2 weeks and finally getting to this thread at 12:30 am can really take a toll on someone ^^; but those are my own faults I must face repercussions for) *ahem* anyway, from what I can gather, they're fanart of Discworld right? I've never played it but the your fanart for it looks nice. I have nothing much in particular to point out (Minespatch is better at that anyway ) but thought I'd atleast drop by instead of lurking like I usually do >u<

Keep up the good work

[CaptainChaotica]

PLAYED it?  Oh honey.  Sweet summer child. It's a _book_ series.  (Well technically it does have some game adaptations as well* but those aren't the original versions.)  You should check out the "Book Club" thread while you're at it, if you have time.  It's worth a read (ha ha).  But seriously it's really nice and refreshing to see somebody actually discussing BOOKS in a day and age where it seems every single review or whatever is _always_ of a game, movie or TV show.

Anyway, Discworld.  It's by the sadly late Terry Pratchett (mayherestinpeace--and incidentally, writing that phrase in that way is also a Discworld in-joke), and went for over 30 books, starting in 1983 and ending well into the 20-teens.  There's also side-serieses and such, but don't let that intimidate you.  Instead, think of how much AWESOMENESS you'll have to go through before there isn't anymore!  Because that's what Discworld is.  Awesome. 

Basically on the surface it's a comedy fantasy series...buuuutttt...underneath it has so much more than that, including colourful but actual-pathos characters, wry little bits of philosophy that actually kind of make sense if you think about them but delivered in quotable little snarky lines, creative and detailed worldbuilding, some continuity...and even some genuinely _sad_ bits among the comedy.  I admit, there's a few times it made me actually cry.

Put it this way:  I can think of very few other series that make me say, with all honesty, "I love Death.  Death is one of my favourite characters."  Another nobody-who-hasn'-read-them-would-understand favourite character is the Luggage, who is...well, basically imagine Chester's dad except less furry and it doesn't pant.  But it IS a moving chest on legs.    I've seen a Let's Players who were doing Don't Starve actually CALL Chester "The Luggage", a few times...

...Notorious

*There's two cartoony point-and-click adventure games with Rincewind as the main character, a 3D one with a new character but still in the proper Discworld universe, and a TEXT one for the ZX-Spectrum from the early '80s.  I've got all three of the point-and-click ones...but none of them will play anymore on 64-bit Windows systems. 

[ResettePlayer]

5 hours ago, CaptainChaotica said:

Discworld is.  Awesome.

this here is The Truth. heh

5 hours ago, CaptainChaotica said:

Chester "The Luggage"

I really want to believe that Chester was directly inspired by the Luggage. He's a chest with legs and bigger-on-the-inside storage space. Doesn't do the laundry from what I can tell though.

[CaptainChaotica]

Or horribly murder people who attack you (or just irritate him).  What good ARE you, Chester?  This is a survival game--get on the ball!

...Notorious

[minespatch]

I don't think I got to that point. Why does she have fangs?

[DragonMage156]

19 hours ago, CaptainChaotica said:

It's a book series.

Oops my bad. I'm not a book worm so it's understandable (though the "Disc" part of the name didn't help ^^; )

I might cheek it out at some point once I get some other stuff done (and if I remember) but free time doesn't come easy to me nowadays (but that could also be my lack of time management skills. Wow I have problems ^^;)

[CaptainChaotica]

Ahaha.  It's called DISCworld because in this fantasy universe, the world is round, yes...but also FLAT!    So, the world is shaped like an actual disc.  Because this is a "screw you, I do what I want" (imagine sassy voice and waving finger here) extremely magic world, being flat is a perfectly reasonable shape for a world to be, the tiny sun (and even tinier moon) goes around the edge and nobody thinks anything of that, waterfalls go off the edge all the time and yet they don't run out of water, all that good stuff.  It's held up by four ginourmous elephants, who are in turn standing on the back of an even more giant turtle, who is in turn "swimming"? through space completely uncaring about the fact that it's cold outside and there's no kind of atmosphere.

Gravity is the same everywhere on the Disc (unlike that freaky-but-awesome VSauce video with the increasingly slanted buildings) but because the sun goes around the EDGE, climate tends to be dictated mostly by far out from the Disc's center you are.  In other words, the edge is a hot tropical region with, in some cases, VERY dark people, and the Hub is full of ice-covered dangerous mountains and Viking-esque types.   And a lot of jokey versions of Earth societies scattered around in between.

As you can see, this is a creative and well-realised world af, and _that's only the physical geology_!  Once we get into what the PEOPLE are doing, it gets WAY more fun.  (evil grin)  Interestingly, Terry Pratchett also wrote a book called "Strata" only a year before he started Discworld, which was an attempt at a _science-fiction_ version of a flat world!  (In this case, artificially created by advanced aliens as a "Why not?" experiment.)  He must've liked the idea, because...   (Strata is also kind of a STEALTH alternate-history, in a way that is mentioned casually in a throw-away line about like, a third of the way through the book.  Never seen any alternate-history story make the fact that it's alternate NOT a big deal before, so that was new...(if you want to know what the alternate history difference IS, click the spoiler.  If you want to read it for yourself someday then don't.  I'm not sure how available "Strata" is though, so it's up to you.))

Spoiler

So, "Strata" is in the future and mainly takes place on a kinda worn-down frontier space station, and then eventually on the artificial flat world itself, but, different as it all is because it's The Future, you're just assuming the whole time that it's a possible developed version of OUR world, going forward into The Future.

And then one of the main characters casually mentions something about the faces of Viking explorers on Mount Rushmore (!!), in a "Of course everybody knows that, that's history they teach you as a kid" kind of way.  Turns out that all this time this has been a world where Eric the Red and company stayed in the new world and colonised it way _before_ Columbus, and it's been a different America (and because of THAT, the different and earlier colonisation, everything _else_ would've been affected as well...) ALL THE FREAK ALONG.  But who cares, we've got this weird flat planet to explore and a bet to settle!  XD)

And then a whole lot of parodies of stuff from our own world (both serious history and pop-culture) get played out in...twisted form on the Disc, as well as original stories, and we learn about characters, get attached to them, eventually see societies change and even technology advance!...in their way...and it's HILAROUS and a good time is had by all. 

...Notorious

[CaptainChaotica]

12 hours ago, minespatch said:

I don't think I got to that point. Why does she have fangs?

(River Song voice)  "Spoilers, dahling!" 

But no seriously it's a spoiler.  She's introduced in "Men at Arms" and by her next appearance, "Feet of Clay", the main characters of the Night Watch are used to her...difference and talk about it casually.  ("Oh dear.  I hope she doesn't happen to anybody.")  Unfortunately my library DIDN'T have the former book so I read Feet of Clay first, and...WHOOPS.  So I try to preserve the surprise for others. 

Anyway, art, this is an art thread, right...

Oho, OKAY, looking at my bookshelf, the next Discworld book up that I've actually done art for is a doozy.  SOUL MUSIC!  It's in caps like that because it's always been one of my absolute favourites, in fact most of the time if you pin me down and _make_ me pick JUST ONE Discworld book I'll name that one, and once I found out about the cartoon miniseries version of it I was OBSESSED.  I even have the out-of-print soundtrack CD, ordered from an Australian website that isn't around anymore! (Not an _English_ website, interestingly.  Actually I think they might be the same site I got one of my Discworld computer games from--either "Missing, Presumed...?" or "Discworld Noir", I forget which.  Yes, the same computer games I can't play anymore now.) 

The fact that the music in the cartoon is ACTUALLY.  GOOD is mainly what influenced this purchase decision--they could've easily gone with "Oh, it's a cartoon, so it must automatically be for little kids because all cartoons are for kids, so we can dumb it down and not put in any effort"  NO, the makers of the "Soul Music" animated version not only took the story itself seriously and even included the dark and sad parts (I think the picture I did of Mort and Ysabell from earlier was inspired by this) and pretty much got the tone of the book down PAT, but whenever The Band With Rocks In was playing, they did _actual proper rock songs_ that legit sound like something you might hear on some "oldies" radio station. 

And then...the music _goes forward in time_!  As in, the styles evolve through the real-life decades but in a Discworldian kidn of way.  You know like that one Red Hot Chili Peppers video?  Like that, except less silly, and written way earlier.  And then the soundtrack version has the FULL songs, which are regular radio length.  If you're a massive pop-music history nerd like me (and I AM.  I mean a _lot_.)  then the combination of that + humour + strong character, female + doomed cute main male character + FREAKING DISCWORLD...we're talking absolutely perfect me-bait. There's a reason "Soul Music" is possibly my favourite Discworld book.

SO, having introduced for way too long the band that needs NO introduction...

Imp y Celyn ("Buddy"), at the crossroads in the beginning of the book.  In the actual scene there's NO contest, he just automatically heads straight for Ankh-Morpork, but the fact that if he hadn't, _so much would have gone differently_...is probably what made me draw this.  Even though I can see the flaws in it now (and Imp's face is WAY more anime than I intended) this is still one of my favourite of my own pictures ever.  It's atmospheric and rainy and grey and pretty and I love it.

Yes, I did this in Paint.   Windows freaking 98 Paint at that!  XD  No actual "layers", I just drew the main landscape, drew Buddy seperately, coloured in the landscape, made ONE raindrop, copied it, copied the two, copied the four...etc. until I had a large swath of them all together, made the background transparent, pasted the rain-batches on top of the picture as much as I wanted and THEN put Buddy, also with a transparent background, on top.  So yeah, these things do take actual work.  If I had done this today I definitely would've put some raindrops over _him_ as well to make him look more like he's actually IN the weather, but I didn't think about that at the time.  (Did you notice there weren't any raindrops over him before I pointed it out?  Hee.)

Susan Sto-Helit!  Death's granddaughter (yes really...ish) badass babysitter extraordinaire and epic DEADPAN SNARKER.  Yes, the awesome main chick from the TV version of "Hogfather" if you've seen that.  She's one of my _and everybody else's_ favourite Discworld characters as well, and this is where she's first introduced and we learn about her weird backstory.  So, ANOTHER reason Soul Music is one of my faves.  I think the black velvet dress's shading came out especially...velvety on this one.  This was around the time I was JUST learning that how I shaded a piece of clothing could, in some cases, _make it look like different fabrics_!  Gasp!  No seriously--I found out you can do WAY more than it seems like at first by just carefully dragging the Paint colour-selector around.  You can even make things look transparent!  It's awesome.

(A cropped version of just the head part of this may or may not be my YouTube account avatar, because the first thing I wanted to comment on was a Discworld-related video and I couldn't think of anything.    Also, I'm ALWAYS allowed to use my _own_ artwork without asking permission, so hey!  So, yes, if you see a YouTube comment somewhere with a little Susan-face off to the side...that's me.  Incidentally the name I use there is my Discworld GURPS character's name.  I NEVER give out my _real_ real name on the 'net unless there's a practical reason to. I just use fake names that sound plausible. :))

Aaand, "Buddy" (the joke is that his real name, Imp y Celyn, _actually translates from Welsh_ as "Bud of the Holly". XD) once he becomes a Music With Rocks In sensation.  I really regret saving this one in .jpg format because it dithered the colours a bit.  Oh, well.  The hands are a bit off but I think I got my idea of what his face looks like and the crazy swirling dangerous chaos that is the music down pretty well.

As you can see from these pictures, this is when I brought Disc-art into the digital age!  Kicking and screaming.  Although, going from the date on the last picture, that was made BEFORE I saw or knew about the cartoon miniseries version, so it was not inspired by that at all.  (Actually I think the earlier one was based off the book version too...the pre-rockstar version of Imp wore completely different clothes in the cartoon.)  The early date also probably explains the .jpg-ness; I wasn't aware of how awesomely the .png format preserves things yet.  This was also early-days of my drawing in Paint, so I wasn't as competent with it yet in general.  (shrug)

(Wow, sorry about ALL that text.  You want ramblings, you get ramblings!  XD   A large part of my Discworld art is tied into how and why I became a fan of the series and what was going on with me at the time, so...

This is pretty much why, in school, I got such different descriptions from people who only saw me in different classes.  For, say, math(s), it was "Oh, (my real name, which incidentally is ALSO A LATER DISCWORLD CHARACTER'S NAME, WTF*)?  That shy little mouse?  She hardly says anything!" while somebody who knew me from something like Creative Writing would be like "Oh, that short chick who NEVER SHUTS UP?!"  Basically once you get me turned loose on something I really _like_, I am turned LOOSE.  )

...Notorious

*I am NOT even effing kidding.  Unfortunately I never got around to drawing a picture of that character (I still could, of course), but, yeah...she's very much a legit part of the Discworld cast.  I basically "WHAT?!" ed so hard I fell out of my chair when I got to that book.  XD  It's not a super-common or really British-y sounding name, so...

[CaptainChaotica]

Aaand, guess WHAT?  I've been digging through my "My Art" folder on my computer (because MAN is it a mess and needs some sorting) and I found some I completely forgot about.  You want hand-drawn stuff from "Soul Music", too?  You got it!

(What's that?  You don't want it?  Well too bad here it is anyway.  :P)

Drawn with a pen, so NO ERASING, (I'm not sure what the weird lines on the side are.  I think that was from a scanner glitch?) here we have Imp y Celyn in Llamedos, where it's ALWAYS raining, and I think I figured out what my deal is with this character.  Okay, so, way longer ago, when I was a kid, I read the Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander and fell in LOVE with them.  Specifically with the doofy-but-actually-brave bard character, Fflewddur Fflam.  (If you've seen "The Black Cauldron" Disney movie, he's NOTHING LIKE THAT--for one thing, they made him a cowardly old man with white hair...but in the books he's described as "a beanpole with a shock of bright yellow hair"!  I always imagined him in possibly his early 30s?)  Because I'm the creative dreamer type too, and he was funny, and...(Do I have pictures of Fflewddur that I drew, showing him in a more books-canon way? Yes I do!  Do I have them scanned?  I don't know!)

So, from Prydain, I became fascinated by Welsh culture, studied the language a little bit (I mean, come on!  It looks like freaking ELVISH or something!  How could an oldschool fantasy fan _not_?) and the Druids and the medieval times castles and weapons, etc. and also because I happen to have some Welsh heritage myself.  Actually I'm like ALL the British Isles; all the different groups that historically hate(d) each other.  English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh.  (And a TEENSY bit Cherokee.)  Basically whenever I see news stories from anywhere on the British Isles there'll always be SOMEbody in the background who looks like they could belong to my family.  : P

Sooo...flash forward years later and here's a Discworld character, in a series I already love, from a place that is OBVIOUSLY meant to be a parody of Wales, and he's got a harp and then _turns into a rock star_!  Only a funny parody British humour version of one?  Again, like, the friggin' "perfect storm" of factors, for me.

And here's the earlier version of Susan I decided I didn't like as much, but I guess her outfit _is_ appropriate for (technically) a Duchess:

 

Although, her hair IS gorgeous in this one, and I like the high vampire collar.  : P  The cross-hatching isn't too bad either. Another one done all in pen, so no erasing.  The main problem with this one, of course, is the proportions.  Which are STILL one of the banes of my drawing existence, even to this day (though I like to think I've gotten better)?  If you count the "heads" tall, she's obviously way too short. She looks like a beautiful, elegant royal little person.  Now, if she was actually of the Discworld Dwarf race that'd be FINE...but I'd also have to include her beard _or else_.  But no, Susan is...mostly human.

And, a sketch of the two main characters that I did while bored in class.  You'll find that a lot of my non-computer-drawn stuff is prefaced with the phrase "while bored in (blank)".  Heh.

Imp's face looks really weird here, shape-wise.  I don't know what I was thinking.  : P

...Notorious

[minespatch]

It seems like you've improved over the years. If you feel irked by the headshapes, it means you learned and avoided that for future projects.

[CaptainChaotica]

Heh.  I think I was annoyed by it at the TIME--hence the note.   I was reminding myself "Okay, so, the one part turned out stupid, but the other part is all right, so don't throw this one away/lose it."  : P

...Notorious