HP Beholder 2012

[donnaimmaculata]

The HP Beholder reveals are up. This year, I did Art.



I've never done art before. Whilst drawing for the Beholder, I did idly wonder why I never have done art before, and then it hit me: When I first joined fandom, my fannish tastes were very much slash-oriented. And while I enjoy writing slash, I don't particularly like drawing men. It's funny, I've never really realised it before: drawing women is so much more enjoyable than drawing men. And so I guess it never occurred to me to create fanart to begin with. As I was branching out in my fannish interests and started to focus on rare pairings, I somehow never thought of drawing them, because by that time I saw myself as a writer

And then I decided to create art for the HP Beholder, and I enjoyed it so much, I will have to take up drawing again.

For now, here are Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle.

Title: "Triptych: Seduction - Vows - Conception"
Recipient: Albalark
Artist: Donna Immaculata
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Merope Gaunt/Tom Riddle
Medium: Pencil, crayon, watercolours and charcoal on paper; collage
Warnings: None
Summary: Merope takes matters into her own hands.
Notes: Albalark had said she liked hopeful endings. This is as hopeful as it gets for Merope, I feel.










I always knew that I would try to make it look period-appropriate. My initial idea was to create a surrealistic collage in the style of Max Ernst's Une Semaine de Bonté, but it was surprisingly difficult to find good backgrounds. Eventually I decided to use slightly kitschy art nouveau motifs as frames and create a collage against textured, coloured backgrounds. I was dead-set on collage to make the characters look disconnected - from each other and from the world around them. Also, I could try out different backgrounds and frames without having to draw the characters from scratch every time.

Merope in the Seduction piece was the first character I drew. I spent an insane amount of time on her and still have preliminary sketches lying around. Poor Tom, I fear, never got as much attention as she did. In the first picture, I still managed to put reasonable effort into creating some details, such as his posture and the cigarette, but you can see how I can't be bothered with male characters: in the second pic, he is a grey block, and in the third one, he his mostly hidden behind Merope.

Despite the fact that Tom looks stiff and unnatural in the Vows piece, I am reasonably pleased with it, because by that time he isn't himself anymore. He is an object that Merope uses. They never interact, not once, not even when they're physically close.

So. This, in short, is the rationale behind the pictures. Oh, I should probably add that drawing and water colours are the only techniques I am familiar with. I wouldn't know how to create art digitally if my life depended on it.

Comments

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

Those are really gorgeous. <3

I've never done art because I truly suck both at drawing and at leaving reasonable comments, but I think you've done a great job. The backgrounds are really awesome too.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I can only draw using primary school techniques, i.e. pencil and crayons. And I use photo references in most cases. I do enjoy drawing women in pretty clothes, though - which is why I spent a lot of time on the folds of Merope's dresses!

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

Della used to like having pictures drawn on her lunch bags--though by 'drawn' I kind of more mean 'traced'--so I got okay at lions for a while there.

Did you draw all of the flowers yourself?

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

though by 'drawn' I kind of more mean 'traced'

That's how you learn how to draw, I guess!

I did. It's fantastic occupational therapy.

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose there's something to be said for muscle memory. :) I still have no eye for it, though.

That is awesome. I didn't quite know what to say to compliment them, but they looked very nice and also looked like they took ages to do. Even to me that sounds like the lamest compliment ever, but I did say, "Wow."

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you! They did take ages, but it's such an utterly relaxing pastime. You just sit there and stupidly draw and colour in pretty flowers. I guess that's why ladies used to do embroidery!

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

Very possibly! I spent the night at a friend's place here on Friday, and crocheted while we watched TV and chatted. I finished off one scarf, and nearly used up an entire ball of yarn on another. It was surprisingly relaxing. :)

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

That does sound very relaxing indeed. I'm hopeless at needlework of any kind. I tried to learn knitting as a kid, but I never managed as much as a scarf.

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

I learned knitting from mum as a kid, but got bored after making half a sock. Exactly why I decided to start on socks is entirely beyond me, but there you have it. I learned crochet on the internet recently, and have now made three and a half scarves. :) It helps to have a realistic goal.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

It helps to have a realistic goal.

Indeed!

My mum is a fantastic knitter. I've always had hand-knitted jumpers, and she's made a couple of amazing dresses, too. I still have a full-length dress she made when I was 19. Unfortunately, full-length woollen dresses tend to be rather hot, so I rarely wear it.

[missingkeys.livejournal.com]

Ooer, that's pretty awesome. I vaguely considered crocheting a dress--there are a few patterns--but then I thought better of the idea. a) it'd probably be too hot even in the middle of winter, and b) it'd probably take me approximately a billion years to finish. Not at realistic goal, heh.

[lyras.livejournal.com]

That is really weird - I could swear I'd seen this during the fest, but apparently not! I was very intrigued to see that you'd done art when I looked at the masterlist yesterday. :)

The colours are beautiful, and I love all the period details, especially the way Tom is holding that cigarette in the first one.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I did Art, because I couldn't be bothered to write fic ;-)

Well, you have been very busy lately, haven't you? I had the impression you didn't comment - let alone rec - as much as you usually do during Beholder. I don't have such a good excuse as you, and I still managed to fail to read two-third of the stories!

The cigarette drove me insane, because I couldn't get the fingers right. In the end, I settled for a vague grey blur.