ART: "World Cup Mascot, Or Concealment and Disguise" by i_AutumnHeart

[i_autumnheart]

To: stmargarets

Title: World Cup Mascot, Or Concealment and Disguise
Author/Artist: i_autumnheart
Pairing: Harry/Ginny, Ron, Gwenog Jones
Rating: G
Media: Coloured pencil on paper
Summary: When Ginny becomes the target of mad quidditch fans (fans of the opposing team, that is), Harry needs to find a way past Gwenog's security if he's going to be able to properly

Comments

[stmargarets]

Squee! Oh, art for me???? I'm so excited! Thank you SO much. And I love the little story with the Falcon's intrigue since they know Ginny is such an awesome player. And of course Gwenog is too stubborn to let Harry protect Ginny - so he has to go about it in his own way . . . LOVE the sign on the locker room - that just sums up Gwenog's style in my mind

[i_autumnheart]

Yay - I'm glad you liked it.

Ginny has been very visible as a new Harpy, both for her undeniable skill, and because she's the only one of the Heros of Hogwarts that is regularly in the public eye. The media and fan attention have done great things for her team, but mad opposition fans making her a target are a definite drawback.

My take on Gwenog was hugely inspired by your own portrayal of her in A time to remember; she's more than a bit monofocused, and absolutely dedicated to her team. Her appearance is partly from the chocolate frog card, and partly from assuming that anyone who has played beater for that long has to have a fairly powerful build.

I'm afraid Ginny is a wee bit territorial about her cat. And vice versa. They've been together for a while by now, and have an agreement about no long separations or secrets kept from each other :)

[ladysugarquill]

I love it! This is a great idea.

I love totally-not-Harry's expression at the end, both dare-to-come-clser and "I pwnz u".

I love your coloring style, it has a lot of strenght. My colors always look washed out ^^u

[i_autumnheart]

Thanks - it was a story that had to be drawn once I though of it.

I once had a cat that used to look at people like this - very 'this one is mine' and 'don't even thing about trying' all at once. The more dramatic colouring on Ginny's cat only heightens the effect.

I've done more painting than sketching in the last few years, so this particular colouring style is mostly me attempting to paint with pencils... sometimes it works, sometimes not! You need to use at least three different shades for the base colour, shadows and highlights, so you can use all the colours at full intensity. The robes in these sketches actually use four colours, with the deepest shadows as an underlayer in the complementary colour. So the red robes have shading done in brownish-green with red over the top, and the the green ones are shaded in reddish-brown with green over the top. It tends to work a little better in paint where you can control the transparency, but I'm quite pleased with how these ones came out :)

[irislock]

Terrific! I love this story line and the idea of Harry being Ginny's cat. I agree with everything stmargarets said. I especially like your portrayal of Gwenog. Nicely done!

[i_autumnheart]

Thanks - I'm glad you liked it (but no spreading the secret around!)

I figure that Gwenog has to be a pretty formidable woman in all respects to have been a beater and captain for so long. She's just a teeny bit inflexible whenit comes to anything that isn't quidditch...

[lyras]

How lovely to see your art again! This is great; there are things I love in each panel: how immediate the action feels in the first one, Gwenog in the second, and that cat's oh, so green eyes in the third. Plus the smug expressions on both Ginny's and the cat's faces. :)

I always have a really hard time picturing robes as something wizards would actually wear (they sound so impractical!), but you did a great job with them here. I like Harry & Ron's jeans under robes look.

[i_autumnheart]

Thanks - this was a fun set of pictires to draw.

I agree that full-length robes would be seriously annoying as everyday wear - I can't walk up stairs in a long skirt without tripping, so the idea of trying to fight in them is just silly. Long coats, though...I've had a thing for that since seeing the Matrix when it first came out, so I figured something along those likes would work :)

[grandma_kate]

Brilliant! The pictures do tell the story elegantly. The last one is my absolute favorite.

[i_autumnheart]

Thanks - that last picture was the seed for the whole story (such as it is). I had an image of Ginny holding a cat, and needed a reason for it that involved quidditch!