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akitku — he doesn't know why
Published: 2014-04-17 15:00:37 +0000 UTC; Views: 2929; Favourites: 130; Downloads: 0
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Description
My Hospitaller character Sebastian at the start of his journey which will take him from France, through Italy, Crete, Rhodes, Acre to North Africa (if all goes well that is).I had a lot of trouble with the outfit - considering the story takes place in 1244, should he be working a full monk's cappa or a surcoat? The change from the cappa (which obviously must have been quite uncomfortable) to the surcoat was granted, if I read correctly, some time in the 1240's but I would actually need a specific year rather than a decade. And he should be wearing an arming cap I guess...But I prefer drawing hair!
Title comes from the Fleet Foxes song.
By the way, please, please check out the amazing painting of Sebastian that the incredibly talented barbarasobczynska made for me:
Actually check out her whole gallery, you will be astounded, I guarantee it!
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Watercolour and a bit of white ink
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Comments: 65
A very beautiful work!! I love the white grass. It gives the picture a magic touch!! Very beautiful also the light watercolors
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Thank you so much for the kind words! 
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Wow! Beautiful work! Love verything about it, and the spirit wolves in the background!
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Thanks so much! I really enjoyed doing the spirit wolves, glad to hear you like them!
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You don't know how I love that background! It is simple but it is the core of the mysterious atmosphere that leads the Sebastian journey! *_*
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I'm so glad to hear that, thank you so much dear! 
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A very beautiful -and absolutely not monotone - portrait
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Thank you so much dear! I'm very happy you think so!
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I'm glad you think so, I was worried it's too monotone.
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Thank you very much dear! 
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I like this style
His outfit seems perfectly ok to me
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Thank you very much!
Well, it's not perfect - artistic license and all that - but it was just the basic design with reference to a very specific time period that I was wondering about.
Anyway, very glad you liked it!
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I adore the colors and the softness of the picture. Only just now am I realizing the ghostly wolves in the background; absolutely eerie and beautiful!
Wonderful job ~ !
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Thank you very much! I was worried the colours are all too dull and that the whole thing is a bit too...muted...if that's the right word. So I'm really happy that you like them!
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Well, hello there, handsome Hospitaller... I found your arming cap just lying there in the ferns.
It might sound strange but i find the rings under his eyes very sexy. Very sexy indeed.
On a more serious note - the progress you're making with transparent creatures is clearly visible. The wolves look just perfect!
If i may offer a word of advice - the flat colouring you chose for the horse makes it look a bit unreal in comparison to Sebastian's carefully-shaded body. Keeping the same degree of shading on objects that are close to one another (in this case knight and horse) might make a better impression.
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Haha, thanks so much! Yeah, I think he's probably one of the handsomest Hospitallers in his commandery! 
You're completely right about the horse - the truth is....I was lazy! 
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This is a great piece!
I like the mysterious atmosphere and the guy's thin face. Oh, and these white plants in the foreground and fireflies in the background - very impressive!
By the way, I'm just wondering... what will he do in the North Africa? I mean, your ideas are so intriguing, so I'd like to learn more about this character!
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Oh my I'm so flattered that you're curious about the story! 
Ok, so very briefly (I don’t want to bore you with a longer story ).
Sebastian is a Hospitaller, but also a vampire. Before he travels to the Holy Land he visits his family home to say goodbye and finds out that his older half-brother, Simon (a mortal), has disappeared. He tries to find out what happened to him and discovers that for many years now a group of vampires has organized the shipment of children from Europe to North Africa for some occult purpose. The famous “Children’s Crusade” seems to have been organized by them. Since then, every year, shipments of children take place between Africa and Europe. Simon, Sebastian’s half-brother, has gotten involved with a group of outlaws in Ifriqiya who raid slave caravans and free the slaves. Sebastian manages to convince his commander to petition the Grand Master to send a couple of knights (mostly vampires) to North Africa to try to stop these shipments. But this they will only be able to do when they reach Acre where the Grand Master resides and whose permission they require before setting out.
By the way, the character from the previous picture, Vento , was one of the European vampires involved in the slave trade; he needed a fresh supply of souls for his experiments, but he doesn’t actually like killing people himself, so instead he struck a bargain with the traders – he would help them in organising the “cargo” and then he would be rewarded with the souls of the ones who die on the way. After Sebastian spares his life he becomes his informant. Of course, they are not going to put a stop to slavery across the Mediterranean. That would be an impossible task! But at least they can perhaps stop this specific group...However as of now the story is stuck in southern Italy as the Hospitallers's ship has been damaged in a storm.
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Thank you for such a detailed reply!
So you are writing a book, if I'm not mistaken? The plot looks quite exciting - a dark cult, slave trade, medieval atmosphere... and I like your characters too. Your idea about the Children's Crusade is very clever - I've always knew that there must be something mysterious about it!
Well, there's one thing that I don't quite understand - I mean, how can a Hospitaller be a vampire at the same time. He has to wear a cloak with a cross, to take part in Christian sacraments, doesn't he? And what about the Grand Master - is he aware that some of his knights are a little bit... unusual?
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This is gorgeous
I love the colour scheme so much, it's so ethereal - especially the blues in the forest and the white plants in the foreground.
The overall mood is this mix of calming and ghostly and mysterious. Amazing work!
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I'm so glad you like the colour scheme! I love working in blue but it is usually reserved for my winter pictures. I'm happy it woked here. Thanks!
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he looks so amazing, really you did a great work! love this!
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Very happy to hear you say so! Thank you very much dear.
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Thank you so much dear! I really hope it will be!
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Yay!! Looking forward to it!
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Oh, great job with this one. Reminds me of the woods out back of us, with the ghostly bracken which hasn't started to grow yet. Sebastian has just the right expression of alert disquiet, observed by the two ghostly wolves- there, you have the trick with the transparent white, well done! As for the arming cap, I would have thought he might leave it off to lead the horse through the woods at night...
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Thank you! For the wolves I tried to do what you recommended with the white and I have to say I'm very pleased with the results - maybe it is not perfect but much closer to what I wanted than my previous spirits. Thank you so much for the advice, it really helped!
And yes, that could be a good explanation. I think he's the type to fiddle with caps, hats and the like, and then promptly lose them.
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Glad to hear it. I used to wonder why they bothered to put the little tube of chinese white in all the aquarelle boxes, but as time went on I found all kinds of uses for it.
I have to say, you manage to invest your characters with quite complex personalities as a rule- it seems to come out in the paintings.
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Świetne wyszło tło, do tego z tymi świetlikami. Kompozycja też mi się podoba.
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Bardzo sie siesze ze tak sadzisz - kompozycja to jedna z najtrudniejszych rzeczy dla mnie. Zawsze podziwiam jak w Twoich rysunkach radzisz sobie z przestrzenia!
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Well here's a handsome fellow! I love how well you've drawn the horse and I really like the white ferns and the ghostly foxes in the background- your pieces are always so beautifully detailed and I love the night-time atmosphere in this picture- it's very enchanting!
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I'm so glad you like him, thank you! 
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I'm admiring how you taking care of historical authenticity... , and I love this forest, diagram, but so magic, createing an atmosphere.
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I'm so glad to hear that, thank you! Because there is so much fantasy elements in my work I realize that they don't seem historically authentic at all. But I do actually take care to make the clothes of my characters, for the most part, be historically appropriate. What I want this to be is a more or less accurate medieval world with numerous and far-reaching supernatural elements (plus of course including certain value and attitude changes - warrior women - ).
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The wolves here look very nice, more ephemeral than most your other 'ghostly' creatures. Also, I agree with others that plants are very well drawn here and the whole colour pattern is cool - the shading of Sebastian's face is great as well. Most of your 'blue' paintings represent winter ans snow while this seem to take place is some warmer season, I like this because the blue in this context contributes to more magical or 'unworldly' atmosphere of the scene - well done!
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