Motetus

Here are the things I made for this year's Sutcliff Swap - I was super productive this time and managed two extra treats alongside my main assignment. And there are so many great stories! I am trying to pace myself and only read one or two a day, and this year I'm going to remember to leave comments for all of them instead of being a lazy selfish little shit.

I received an amazing story from riventhorn all about one of my favourite minor characters who might get only a couple of pages in the story but is such an intriguing and awesome character, and I've wanted to read more about her ever since I read the book. And my gift fic is so brilliant! Aunt Honoria is such a sharp, shrewd character in this story, blunt and direct, but still with a lot of kindness and fondness for her friends. And there's even a little cameo by tiny!Flavius, which is an adorable scene.

A Siren Call by riventhorn (The Silver Branch, Gen, rated G)

My gift art for opalmatrix was a handful of illustrations from the final chapter of Dawn Wind. When I found out which fandoms I could draw for, I knew without a doubt this scene where Owain finds Regina after 11 years apart was the one I wanted to illustrate. It's such a quiet, understated moment - they don't rush into each others arms or anything - but it's so full of feeling and emotion.

I had a hard time with this and had to scrap the first few attempts, but eventually I hit upon on the idea of using a pencil-like brush and liked the effect (ALL the details in the backgrounds were done with that brush, not blocked in with a larger one), but ow, that really hurt my hand for days afterwards. I also tried to capture the emotion of the scene and not fuss too much about getting all the background details correct, mostly because I'm lazy, but things like the lion fountain and the three steps are all from the book. Also, Regina's dress - only right at the end of drawing did I discover that russet does not mean red. Oops.

The Garden of Kyndylan's Palace (also on AO3)



( I am still here for you to find me )

For treats, I drew two quick sketches, one of Aunt Honoria from The Silver Branch for bunn, and one of Cunorix from Frontier Wolf for isiscolo. They were a great deal of fun, and seeing as I'll probably have to sit next year's Swap out due to it being the Year of the Thesis, I might do a few more like these as treats instead.

( Aunt Honoria and Cunorix )

A very, very late bit of art (very hastily coloured when I realised how close Sutcliff Swap was!) for riventhorn's Sutcliff Companion's Comment Fest: The Shining Company's Luned and Gelert, looking windswept and wistful (well, maybe Gelert just looks like he wants a biscuit), all on their own after Prosper and Conn have left to... uhh... I actually can't remember? Someone borrowed my book a long time ago and still hasn't returned it, which also explains the very boring title as I have nothing to steal phrases from. Ah well. Doggie!



( Luned and Gelert )

Here is a shitload of art! As promised, all the drawings I made for the holiday card requests. I hope everyone's card reached them and that you liked them as much as I enjoyed drawing them, because I had a lot of fun with them - I think I may well try taking prompts again, because it certainly beats having to use my own imagination. :P



Warning(/enticement?): one or two are NSFW and one is particularly explicit.

( Lawless, Star Wars, Bronson, Due South, Rome, adorable animals, The Eagle, Frontier Wolf, Inception, and The Borgias )

Okay, off to spend this day properly: ignore all the small children around me and wallow in Yuletide. Yuuuuletide! Oooh, is that Hannibal Barca/Scipio Africanus fic I spot?

Art for the first round of the ninth_eagle fanmedia challenge! This is bookverse Marcus art, and if there is anything I've learnt from this, it's that I'm an idiot for not drawing more book!Marcus and thus avoiding all the temper tantrums I've thrown in the past two years over Channing Tatum's frustratingly thumb-like face and his squinty little eyes.

I started off intending to make this just an illustration of Marcus in his oculist disguise after being inspired by the oculist's seal prompt, but then I came across some lovely Roman funerary paintings and had to see if I could mimic that style (not that Marcus is supposed to be dead! He just wanted a reminder of how awesome he looked in his Phrygian cap and beard!). There's also a little bit of the BBC miniseries Marcus (who is adorable) in this, but I wanted to avoid fussing too much about likenesses (as I always do!) and focus more on the style of those Roman paintings.





( “Can I cure the eye sickness?—I am Demetrius of Alexandria. *The* Demetrius of Alexandria.” )

First piece for the Eagle Reverse Bang! This is bookverse Uncle Aquila (though I've kept Uncle Aquila looking like Donald Sutherland, because Donald Sutherland is very pretty) remembering a happy moment between his young self and his Painted Tribesman Boyfriend, inspired by his line in the book “I have sworn the blood brotherhood with a painted tribesman up beyond where Hadrian’s Wall stands now...”

Fittingly, the person who originally gave me this idea many months ago ended up being the one writing the accompanying fic. isiscolo, thank you so much for writing the story I have been craving for ages, and for being such an awesome person to work with. I might not have read it yet (I like surprises!), but I have no doubt it'll be utterly fantastic.

Blood Brother by isiscolo (Uncle Aquila and OMC, rated G)

Thanks go to demon_rum and goblin_dae for all their help beating this into shape, and isiscolo for the title!



( "I do not need anything to remind me," said Aquila, though his fingers curved possessively around the dagger. "I will remember this forever." )

Now Sutcliff Swap authors and artists have been revealed, here's what I did - yes yes, like it wasn't blatantly obvious which one was mine! I drew The Shining Company fanart of Prosper/Conn/Luned for carmarthen - completely fluffy, G-rated OT3 with Gelert the failhound looking very perplexed about why the silly humans have their hands all over each other and not petting him.



( The Three Of Us Together )

Hi!

If you're an artist, then pretty much anything depicting the characters below would make me incredibly happy (anything rated from G to R is fine - I'm not so keen on NC-17-rated art), and illustrations from the books or from the suggestions below would be great, but if you have other ideas, that is fine too! Stuff I like to see in art: landscapes! Historical clothing! Trees and other greenery! Horses and dogs! These are optional though, so don't feel you have to include them if you'd rather not.

As for fic, so long as everyone is in character, I don't mind what you write! I'm fine with ratings all the way from G to NC-17, and slash, gen or het is all good, as are things like character death or unhappy endings (though if you want to write fluff, that's great too!). I've listed some ideas below, but do feel free to adapt or ignore them as you wish.

Frontier Wolf: Alexios/Cunorix - I am perfectly happy with anything from depressingly canon-compliant one-sided Alexios pining, to something happier set in the first half of the book.

The Shining Company: Luned/Prosper/Conn - post-book reunion of the OT3, after Prosper has returned from Constantinople? I loved Cynan too, so if you want to work him into the story somehow that would be brilliant.

The Lantern Bearers: Flavia - I'd love to read a story about what happens to her after she's kidnapped, and how she goes from that to deciding to stay behind with her child and husband instead of escaping with Aquila.

The Silver Branch: Aunt Honoria - Backstory or character study? Aunt Honoria was awesome, and I'd love to read more about her.

Anyway, I am sure I will love anything that has these characters in it, and I'm so looking forward to seeing what you come up with! :)