altocello: (words)
So here it is, the masterpost for the art I made for the 2011 Merlin RPF Big Bang story “I only wish that I could hear you whisper down” by [livejournal.com profile] freakgeeknation. If you didn’t get here by reading the fic, please be warned that the art contains spoilers for the fic! And then go read it HERE! :D


Artist’s notes: There are so many people to thank for helping me make this, and make it better. And so, thanks to my writer [livejournal.com profile] freakgeeknation, my fantastic betas, [livejournal.com profile] waltzing_mice and [livejournal.com profile] reni_m, the #gsdmerlin folks (you know who you are!). Also [livejournal.com profile] yavannauk, who takes the most amazing candid shots of our lovely cast, the blog “A Pair of Weirdos” on tumblr, and @AliceMerlin on twitter for taking this photo. And [livejournal.com profile] reni_m again for staring at it with me. I hope I didn’t miss anyone, and please forgive me if I did; you still have my gratitude!

Official Disclaimer: These are non-profit fanworks; no harm intended, no money made.

And so! The art! This was drawn using woodless graphite pencils, a smudgy stick, and a grey gummy eraser. I then took a photo of the original and adjusted the contrast using gimp.


Title Page

A central inspiration was the song “Pictures of You” by The Cure, which plays a big part in the fic. I was really drawn to the idea of Bradley tearing all his photos of Colin to pieces in his grief, hence the torn scraps of the larger drawing. And so what was a fairly happy picture of the boys becomes a symbol of the grief overwhelming Bradley. I did not actually tear the original up, I just cut up the digital image using gimp and gave the pieces torn edges.

For those amused by the random coincidences of the universe, the only handwritten looking font option I had was, and I’m really not kidding, “Bradley Hand.”


”I Thought Of The Right Words”

I chose to illustrate this particular scene because it’s really the pivotal point; everything hinges on that one slice of time. The title is from “Pictures of You,”, with an important difference:

”If only I’d thought of the right words,
I could have held on to your heart.
If only I’d thought of the right words,
I wouldn’t be breaking apart,
All my pictures of you.”


If for some reason LJ is being weird about images, or if you just feel like it, you can also see these over on my deviantArt page.

And that’s it! Hopefully you enjoyed the fic, the art, and my notes!

Date: 2011-10-18 04:09 am (UTC)From: [identity profile] altocello.livejournal.com
You are kind to say so! It's all true, though. <3

I am glad to hear that my intent was clear without needing to resort to words, and that the art spoke for itself. After all, a good picture should be worth a thousand words, right? :D

I'm also glad to hear my notes were of interest! I am considering posting a walk-through of my process for creating the drawing, from thumbnail to finished piece, similar to the one I did for my paperlegends big bang pencil drawing.

I would have to argue that you have some talent in the artistic department, as I am mostly hopeless with a camera, but your photos are wonderful. You have an eye for beautiful composition and lighting; that's nothing to look down upon!

And you are so very welcome! I try very hard to put a lot of love and care into *everything*, and it's the sharing that's the really fun part. I especially enjoy seeing which particular elements of my artwork move people. Everyone sees something different, and that's the marvelous thing. So thank you for expressing what it was that caught *your* interest, because I am always fascinated in turn by that! <3

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altocello: (Default)
had a kind o' poetry to it

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