Art/Fic: The Cursed Wood
bottom_draco has posted the reveal of the fairytale fest. My submission is The Cursed Wood (link goes to the comm).
I'd like to give my most sincere thanks to my wonderful betas, jamie2109 and calanthe_fics. Thank you so much for helping me out with the words and to give the story its life. Without your help I wouldn't have felt confident enough to put out the story. And thank you raitala, calanthe_fics, themostepotente, and jtsbbsps-dk for rec-cing The Cursed Wood. Knowing that you liked my little story well enough to recommend it in your journal really makes all the Sundays I spent at my desk worthwhile.
It felt strangely reminiscing seeing my art posted and receiving comments, after having disappeared from fandom for a while. Sometimes I wish I were more energetic and could work on art before/after work during workdays, but it seems that I lack the willpower. Now I hardly read any hd fic, and even though I check out art, most of the time I skip the multi-paneled ones. It's sad but true that RL can take away things you once enjoyed so much. I regret that I have not participated as much as I should, especially when people taking the time to write me comments and me not doing it at all, but creating art has somehow become a very consuming task, and getting myself emotionally involved in good stories of my otp is sometimes too tiring. I only hope someday I could be involved like I used to.
The Cursed Wood is intended to be a fairytale for adult. I've pondered about different possibilities, but ended up having Draco make the most responsible decision - by breaking the curse, he gets his social status, his father's approval, and wet dreams that he gets to dream every night, without consequences. Which I think is for the best, and is sometimes what we are all expected to do, although doing so might just be another curse, self-imposed, I donno. Or maybe it's not too bad an idea to do what makes us happiest and not what's best, and maybe people would accept and the world wouldn't care.
Or maybe I'm repressed and should seek professional help. ;-) Often times what I draw does reflect what's currently in my mind, although I truly wish it weren't true. *is scared* Anyhow, that's the premise of The Cursed Wood - i.e. me seeking professional help. *grins*
As for the art, I think I have kind of given up and did a mediocre job towards the end. I didn't draw them in order, so the ones lacking effort were those in the middle, from naked!Harry in bed to the almost-kiss scene. I would have reworked that almost-kiss scene (and the Draco being eaten scene, and also the very last one) if my enthusiasm hadn't gone vacationing.
I did rework the ramshackle pic, though. It was pointed out to me by my wonderful beta (thank you Cal ♥) that the original didn't fit the scene. So here's the original, for your viewing pleasure.
Enough babbling. Here's the story in pdf format. Enjoy!
Title: The Cursed Wood
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Summary: Draco was lost in the Cursed Wood.
Rating: R
The Cursed Wood (pdf file, 9.5MB) Please save it to your harddrive if you'd like to see it again later, as I might have to take off the download link later if there isn't enough bandwidth. Don't think there'll be too many hits though, so I guess it'll probably be okay. :-) Or I might offer the zipped file instead. We'll see.
I'd like to give my most sincere thanks to my wonderful betas, jamie2109 and calanthe_fics. Thank you so much for helping me out with the words and to give the story its life. Without your help I wouldn't have felt confident enough to put out the story. And thank you raitala, calanthe_fics, themostepotente, and jtsbbsps-dk for rec-cing The Cursed Wood. Knowing that you liked my little story well enough to recommend it in your journal really makes all the Sundays I spent at my desk worthwhile.
It felt strangely reminiscing seeing my art posted and receiving comments, after having disappeared from fandom for a while. Sometimes I wish I were more energetic and could work on art before/after work during workdays, but it seems that I lack the willpower. Now I hardly read any hd fic, and even though I check out art, most of the time I skip the multi-paneled ones. It's sad but true that RL can take away things you once enjoyed so much. I regret that I have not participated as much as I should, especially when people taking the time to write me comments and me not doing it at all, but creating art has somehow become a very consuming task, and getting myself emotionally involved in good stories of my otp is sometimes too tiring. I only hope someday I could be involved like I used to.
The Cursed Wood is intended to be a fairytale for adult. I've pondered about different possibilities, but ended up having Draco make the most responsible decision - by breaking the curse, he gets his social status, his father's approval, and wet dreams that he gets to dream every night, without consequences. Which I think is for the best, and is sometimes what we are all expected to do, although doing so might just be another curse, self-imposed, I donno. Or maybe it's not too bad an idea to do what makes us happiest and not what's best, and maybe people would accept and the world wouldn't care.
Or maybe I'm repressed and should seek professional help. ;-) Often times what I draw does reflect what's currently in my mind, although I truly wish it weren't true. *is scared* Anyhow, that's the premise of The Cursed Wood - i.e. me seeking professional help. *grins*
As for the art, I think I have kind of given up and did a mediocre job towards the end. I didn't draw them in order, so the ones lacking effort were those in the middle, from naked!Harry in bed to the almost-kiss scene. I would have reworked that almost-kiss scene (and the Draco being eaten scene, and also the very last one) if my enthusiasm hadn't gone vacationing.
I did rework the ramshackle pic, though. It was pointed out to me by my wonderful beta (thank you Cal ♥) that the original didn't fit the scene. So here's the original, for your viewing pleasure.
Enough babbling. Here's the story in pdf format. Enjoy!
Title: The Cursed Wood
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Summary: Draco was lost in the Cursed Wood.
Rating: R
The Cursed Wood (pdf file, 9.5MB) Please save it to your harddrive if you'd like to see it again later, as I might have to take off the download link later if there isn't enough bandwidth. Don't think there'll be too many hits though, so I guess it'll probably be okay. :-) Or I might offer the zipped file instead. We'll see.