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Published: 2017-11-12 18:50:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 623; Favourites: 8; Downloads: 0
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~ Reflection ~Hakon is kind enough to make Aidan a gift: a fine green woolen tunic which doesn't fit him any longer. His charming ladies, Eira and Brita, help Aidan dress up.
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Here is yet another scene in the series of illustrations from my novel Sons of Disobedience!
Brita (left) and Eira (right) are Hakon's lovers. When Aidan first sees them with Hakon at a feast, this is how he describes them: "They weren't elegant or lady-like, but they had the radiance and vitality of country-women combined with the consciousness of their fairness and allure, vulgar but sensual in their straightforward words and gestures and low-cut shirts under their dresses that underlined their curves." They are cheerful and hard-working, kind women who enjoy helping people in need, very much like Hakon himself. They used to have a reputation for being "easy women" (again you can see the similarities between them and Hakon ^^), but now people respect them for their business success and because of their relationship with Hakon. There is some rivalry between them, but they are generally all right with their relationship arrangement and get along well. Hakon struggles to show his affection for them both equally but doesn't always manage to, as Brita feels he favours Eira.
They are talented weavers and seamstresses who manage and work in Hakon's business. They weave tapestries, clothing, sheets, sails (as well as the banners so lovely represented here), often using fine materials brought by Hakon and his men from abroad, and trade them all over the northern half of Norway. The Norse loom looks like this. Hakon is also known for introducing men to * ahem * ladies in his employment, as Aidan will find out later on in this scene xDHakon has four children with them, Sigurð, Regin and Asa, and another that Eira is pregnant with.
Media: coloured pencils and ink pens
Other illustrated scenes from Sons of Disobedience:
1. Midnight interrogation (Aidan at the monastery)
2. Spoils of War (Yngvar and Hakon, after the raid on the monastery)
3. A Feast with Friends (Rannveig, Asvald and Gertha)
4. The Bonds (Aidan and a fellow slave, Mara)
5. The Bee-Keeper (Aidan and Lars' first meeting)
6. A Mathematical Problem (Aidan explaining mathematics to Hakon)
7. Winter Nights (Rannveig and Yngvar)
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Girls and guys, I need some honest feedback. What technique should I use for drawing scenes like these (multiple full-body characters): coloured pencils with ink/graphite outline (like I did here) or plain ink pens ? I have serious doubts about my ability to pull off such scenes in coloured pencils, whereas the ink ones look better for some reason. I'm pleased with my coloured pencil portraits, but when I have to do full-bodies and darker colours it just looks bad... What do you think?
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Comments: 23
I love his reaction to his reflection 
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Thank you very much for checking this out and for the feedback as well! Hmm the texture is one of the advantages indeed, but maybe I need to smooth it a bit. I'll think about it.
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I did not immediately notice the question. I like how it's done here, I do not see something that would prevent me. But if you want to change something, maybe take a smoother paper? It will give more clarity to the graphics.
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That's a good point, I hadn't thought about using a smoother paper for coloured pencils (especially since the drawing is small, A5 format, and the texture of the paper might make it look unpolished). Thank you for the feedback!
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It's nice to see Aidan be able to see himself and like the reflection he sees! He has more confidence now and the green does suit him very well. Lol, what will happen next in the scene now that Aidan has already been introduced by Hakon to these two women?
Since Hakon is not married to these two women, btw, that means the four children are bastards, right? Do they have fewer inheritance rights as a result?
As for feedback, I do agree that ink is better for these kind of scenes. You may think this is not very good compared to your coloured pencil portraits because the shading here is a bit rough, and that makes it hard to see the characters and appreciate the different textures. When you're doing the portraits, however, you don't have to do as much detail, so maybe that's why your portraits look better than your "full scenes" like you have here.
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Thanks so much for the awesome comment AND for giving me the idea about the mirror reflection -- I hadn't put as much emphasis on this moment before we had that conversation! 
Next, Hakon tells Aidan to choose a girl (excluding his girlfriends) but Aidan freaks out and Eira and Brita convince Hakon to wait until Aidan feels comfortable with the idea (which happens NEVER 
That's a very good point! They are acknowledged by the father and fostered by him, so I think that would make them entitled to everything his legitimate child would be (illegitimate acknowledged children receive two-thirds of inheritance, but since he raises them I think he can give them as much as he wants). In case of his death, he could also state in his "will" what he wants them to receive (usually such legal contracts were declared --spoken-- before a number witnesses and henceforth considered valid).
You're very right, that must be it! I'll make them in ink only next time, it's also easier and it takes less time, I think. Seems I haven't found a way to show my characters in colour other than simple portraits, but oh well... xD Thanks a lot!
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I see, so there's pretty much no difference since Hakon made it that way. What would, technically, be the difference if he decided to marry both of his girlfriends? Would it change anything? It was allowed to have more than one wife in pagan Scandianvia, right?
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I don't think they could have more than one wife. Adam von Bremen (11th c. German chronicler) is the only one who actually mentions that they could have more than one wife in pagan times, but his writing is generally pretty subjective (suggesting how terrible the Norse were before the conversion, mentioning that they were very depraved along with some far-fetched things like having temples made of gold). So considering that I haven't come across a saga that mentions about a man having two wives (if I remember well, I only read about someone who had a wife in a foreign land and then left that country for good and married again in Norway, without divorcing), he might refer to the fact that they could have a wife and concubines/ mistresses whose existence the wife accepts, in which case they don't have the same status as the wife (and nor do their children). Hakon says at one point that he doesn't marry only one of his girlfriends because he "can't choose between them and loves both equally", which would mean making the other a concubine (a lesser status that would offend her).
Btw I'm thinking Hakon was married once in his youth but it went bad (maybe it was an arranged marriage and it ended in fights between the families) and he doesn't see the point of another marriage of convenience since he's pleased with his life as it is at this point. And his girlfriends are afraid that he'd marry anyway if he meets a woman who has rank/wealth and whom he likes. I never mentioned this in the novel, but maybe I should in order to explain better why he isn't married (since I don't think it's realistic for a man in his thirties to not have been married, and I already have Yngvar in this situation who is... well... Yngvar xD).
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I see, that makes sense, that not every wife would have the same status! This is why it's pretty hard to find two 'wives' at the same time.
That's an interesting point. It does make sense that he was married at least once, since he's already the age he is and being actually never married in that timeline is very rare. So, btw, besides Hakon who's been explained now, Yngvar, and...Lars, everyone else gets married, right? Lars technically can't get married since he is strictly homosexual (unlike Helgi, as you said), and he's attached to Helgi, and though they respected gay relationships back then, I doubt they could marry each other a straight couple could.
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I'll have to think about this aspect more, it would even make a nice plot for a short story with him ^^
Yea, the others get married, including Helgi and maybe even Lars, though not to each another of course. Helgi gets married because of the pressures by his family and other men in his entourage (and because he likes the girl his family set him up with, which he wouldn't admit to Lars but Lars understands that and it's driving him crazy) so maybe even Lars out of spite and to make Helgi jealous (because he is less influenced by peer pressure otherwise, so only jealousy could make him get married, which is also not very fortunate for his future wife xD)
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I see, so even Lars manages to get married despite having no interest in women and being so attached to Helgi! Curious what kind of girl Lars would end up married to. Is it someone he manages to find through someone else's suggestion?
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I think he does, or at least he makes that decision (even if something comes up), but just to show that people (healthy, fairly well-off and respectable) didn't really consider the option of never getting married. I think he wouldn't care, just as long as she comes from an all right family, and he'd probably never care to meet her before their wedding day xD He'd probably just talk to some guy he knows "man, you have a daughter, right? what if she married me?" right when Helgi is there to hear. Gosh, I think he's the most jealous of my characters xD
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Does this mean Lars and Helgi will not be as close to one another in the future? Will Lars be so jealous that this could actually happen?
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I think they just fall out a while, but they will get over it because they do pretty much everything the same (they didn't live together anyway except when they were on some journey, which still happens, so it's not ultimately that important whom each of them goes home to). Their relationship would still change, of course, but maybe not as much as Lars worries it would.
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I see, I guess their children would be know the other man very well, too?
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Yes, definitely. Their wives would probably know about their relationship though, which may cause problems in time. It gets out at one point that they are together (during Sons of Disobedience), so the girls' families can find out if they ask enough people, and might use that later on to cause a scandal if they wanted to.
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I see, I guess at the same time, they might not really care since the girls may not really be that attached to them and see marriage as more of a family alliance or duty, so it's not like Lars, who would get jealous.
I hope this is not too weird of a question, but would Lars have some difficulty consummating his marriage with his wife, since he is not sexually into women at all? I guess he'd just close his eyes and think of something else?
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That's true, they wouldn't be jealous. They might only bring that up if they got into an argument.
I imagine they would only do it when they want to make a baby, so perhaps only on their wedding night or if he really hasn't done it in a loong time xD On his wedding night he is reluctant to do it and gets really drunk because he's pissed off at the whole situation, but once they go to bed I suppose his sexual preferences don't matter anymore because the body reacts in anticipation, so there shouldn't be a problem (though his attitude would still be like "let's just get this over with").
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I guess his wife would have an affair, finding his attitude pretty sour xD And he wouldn't care and probably would be glad she's having an affair and stop bothering him because of that.
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