fanart (kind of a WIP), Bowtruckle

[ratcreature]

Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairings: a bowtruckle
Media used: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, black tea, GIMP
Rating/warnings: G, none
Notes/comments: The drawing is finished, however I hope there'll be better text eventually that would make it seem more like an excerpt from an old book about magical creatures from the HP universe. For now I've just added some text labeling it like a plate in an encyclopedia would be, so you have to imagine the suitable text going with it. Its style is supposed to reminiscent of early encyclopedias, like Diderot's from the 18th century with copperplate engravings of observed plants and animals. My attempt at this isn't very convincing because this is the first time I've done a b/w picture in ink with crosshatching since I think 9th? grade when we learned the technique in school, but considering that it is not so bad. I may do more HP beasts in this style eventually as part of this imaginary book too, but I haven't decided which yet.

Preview:

Comments

[ileliberte.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is lovely! I really like all the ways you make it look so genuine, the shading, the fine lines of the bark, the texture of the paper, really nice. The only little niggling I have is with the text, it looks really crisp and new, especially given the state of the page and the color of the ink on the engraving. But all in all, really nice work :)

[ratcreature]

Yeah, the text is more a placeholder for now. I've added it digitally and not done anything to make it look "aged". I've had an offer from someone to tranform the bits of text from the "Fantastic Beasts" volume into something more time appropriate, but that's taking a bit and I was impatient to post the drawing itself (I'm not good with sitting on stuff *g*). I figure that when I have the real text I'll adjust its color a bit, and maybe fiddle a bit with it to make the page look more cohesive.

But I'm glad you like it otherwise.

ETA: I adjusted the color of the text a bit. It still pops out somewhat as crisper, but its color now matches the ink of the faux-engraving better I think.

[leochi.livejournal.com]

Wonderful work - it does look like a page out of an ancient book of the 17th century!

[ratcreature]

Thanks! I'm glad you like it.

[gnatkip.livejournal.com]

I love this SO MUCH. It is so much more awesome than I'd even imagined. It has personality! And also a nose! And hair! And the lines are gorgeous. And you used tea! ajsdklfjalfjdsa

[ratcreature]

I'm glad you like it! The crosshatching was quite challenging for me, because it's been so long since I used it last, but in the end the style was fun. I think I'll be doing more magical beasts and make this a series. I was thinking of maybe doing a runespoor or a diricawl next, though doing one of the more obscure ones might be fun also. I don't think I've ever seen fanart showing a dugbog, lobalug, murtlap or tebo for example. I mean, I'm sure they've been done somewhere in a fandom as large as HP, but I think it's still a niche compared to say drawings of basilisks or hippogriffs.

And your tea suggestion worked out really well to get an aged paper effect, though I cheated a bit in that I stained a paper different from the one I drew the bowtruckle on and merged in GIMP, because the paper with my inks in the end turned out to not have a large enough empty border to tape it down to prevent it from warping too much after soaking.

WRT the nose-- I think I'm incapable of drawing monsters without noses if I can possibly fit one onto them somehow. (I suspect the lack of noses is one of my major problems with manga styles and why I dislike them so, I imprinted on big-nosed cartoons early on *g*).

this is great

[ericember.livejournal.com]

I just went to the Renaissance Faire two weekends ago, you could have sold art like this for days! I dig it, looks like a baby Ent

http://www.thegluckmethod.com

Re: this is great

[ratcreature]

Thank you, I'm glad you like it.

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

This is fantasitc -- I love the drawing and the whole concept is fantastic.

A couple of suggestions to make it "bookier": When the page number is on the right, it is usually a right-hand page. Since all English language books start with page 1, all right-hand pages are odd-numbered. So the page number should be 53 or 55, not 54. Related to this, the inside margin where the page goes into the binding (the "gutter") is usually wider than than the outside margin (the "thumb"), so to make it look more like a page, it could be offset to the right a little. Lastly, the page number is usually considered part of the "running head," which sits above the content. So the plate number would be set on the line below that. You could add the title of the book or chapter to the running head, aligning it with the left margin on the same line as the page number.

Sometimes it's the tech stuff that helps take it to the next level of realism, and this deserves to go all the way.

[ratcreature]

I'm glad you like the drawing! And thanks for the suggestions, that's good points about the details. I shall edit it taking these into account. I thought about adding the title, but was lacking ideas what the book would have been called. I suck at creative texts. :/ Do you have any suggestions?

[amelia-eve.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, to make it antique sounding, maybe something like

Regarding the Identification and Classification of Magical Creatures

or

A Treatise Upon Nature and Magic

or

Cyclopaedia of Magical Creatures, Common and Rare

[ratcreature]

Thank you for the suggestions, I really like these, especially the last one.

[tunxeh.livejournal.com]

Oh, excellent. Kind of goofy looking, but I think that fits the subject. Here on a recommendation from gnatkip, btw.

[ratcreature]

Thanks! I'm glad you like it. From the description bowtruckles sounded quite harmless unless provoked, so I wanted to make it look like that.

[schnuggleme.livejournal.com]

(Here from gnatkip also.)

Wow! This looks straight out of a magical textbook (and it looks like it could start moving anytime, too). Nice.

[ratcreature]

Thank you, I'm glad you like it.

[nakedbee.livejournal.com]

Fantastic! You've captured the engraved style perfectly. I absolutely love the bowtruckle's expression and posture; he's utterly adorable. Awesome!

(found via gnatkip)

[ratcreature]

Thank you! I'm glad you like the expression. I wanted to show bowtruckles as badically good natured tree protectors.