Chapter Break Filler

[Keep Looking]

Gaelle, I absolutely love your artwork! I have to admit, I saw this on your instagram story when you shared a glimpse of it there a while ago, and I got unreasonably excited.

(Also, Grey, your drawing may have ended up being my laptop wallpaper, heh)

[Jitter]

LilG, about the katana: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21430231

[Róisín]

Gaelle, that is such a beautiful Reynir! And his dog too!

[Mariiii]

Grey your work is truly amazing ! I love all of the little details : I can see that Emil managed to finish the rubik's cube and I love the flying fishes and the swimming seagulls in Lalli and Onni's dream ! Also, the photos of the prologue characters on the wall and Kitty being on her prefered spot to sleep are sweet details too. And I saw my name on the bookshelves, thank you so much (I love the title haha) !

Gaelle your drawing is beautiful ! I love your art style !

[thegreyarea]

Hello friends! Thank you all very much for the wonderful comments on my piece. I'm very very VERY happy that you liked it.

First, let me try to put the links here to ease the access to everybody (click in the link - if it works - or copy and paste the link in your address bar):

The large size image (5000 px) wide is here: https://i.postimg.cc/PfQHbnm7/home-large.jpg (this should be large enough for printing up to A4)

The bookshelf is here: https://i.postimg.cc/c4DNj7kM/home-book-shelf.jpg

The real size image (10000 px wide, 33Mb) is on my dropbox, here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yfu1zgz8c9p2ep9/home%20-%20real%20size.jpg?dl=0

As I said to Keep Looking, this was quite an experience, way outside my comfort zone. It's been almost 30 years since I really draw people, back at university initial years. I'm ar architect, and I'm used to draw, but not faces, hair or hands (aaaargh! Gaelle, you're so right!). I usually draw buildings, inside and outside, but not as a final presentation (that is usually done in 3D), and people are silhouettes to give scale to the rest. Anyway I decided to take the risk. My daughter lend me her Intuos drawing tablet and I had to learn how to draw without looking to my hand, but to the screen (I promised myself that when I'm comfortable with money I'll buy a Cintiq, like Minna's, where you can draw directly on the screen). There were moments when I wanted to drop it and write a story, but I'm very stubborn sometimes, and I ended loving the experience and learning a lot.
The bookshelf was supposed to be just a scenery element, because a proper home, to me, must have books, but then I noticed that I could write the names of the books and that crazy idea led to including you, my friends. Because if home is where the heart is* then my home is not only my beloved family but also the people to whom I interact and care, which means you in our little and nice community. I wished to put more Minnions in the shelf, but I had to stop at some time, surely forgetting some that should be there, sorry.
* strange, and fantastic, how we can relate with the thought of a roman citizen from 100 generations before, isn't it?

That said, answers:
Róisín, I'm very glad that you liked it. And I'm proud that you noticed Lynn in the background! And of course you can print it as much as you want!

Grade E cat, thank you! I'm happy that you noticed Lalli's sparkles! Must be the shampoo...

Gaelle, any praise coming from such a wonderful artist as yourself makes me jump out of happiness! (BTW yours piece is amazing. I wish one day I could draw like that!). And I also love that you noticed all those details, and I want those shirts for myself!

Jitter, I'm delighted that you like it, and I hope that the links above solve your problem in seeing it properly. I'll be waiting the extra comments...

LilG, I saw with great satisfaction that you noticed a lot of things, including Tuuri's transparency being a problem for her... I hope that she found some good ectoplasmic stores on clothing, and sweets! And yes, Väinö seems to be watching with interest this nice reunion, and I didn't mean Ensi (yes, it's her) to be bothered, but happy to see her boys sharing a good moment. And Jitter already post the link to my story that explains why there's a (very special) Katana on the wall.

Keep Looking, I'm proud that you find it worth of becoming your wallpaper! Thank you so much for all this!

Mari, thanks! And you noticed the portraits! (the best designs on the picture, of course...)

[Purple Wyrm]

Grey, that picture is amazing! I'm honoured to be included on the bookshelf, and with a raven no less!

Also a beautiful picture Gaelle!

LilG, does your bathroom have an extractor fan? If so spraying in the bathroom should be fine. Otherwise you might be better off heading outside (I also live in an apartment and ended up building a spray box that sits on top of the stove and connects to the kitchen fan - but that's probably a bit hardcore

Soap and water should work fine, just make sure you've washed all the soap off before you let the sprues dry!

[Róisín]

Thank you Grey, this continues to be amazing! And I can see so many more details! Husband will be glad he can print it out. And as a person who cannot draw at all, I can only be amazed at your drawing.

And yeah, I still enjoy the work of both Plinys. Always felt sorry for the fate of the Elder. After all his adventures, what a way to die. And with Pliny the Younger, his nephew, watching on from the ship. Still, I can see him accepting any danger in the name of making his natural history observations......

[thegreyarea]

Important: Click in the "download original image" on Postimage, or it will give you a lower resolution version. https://postimg.cc/t7J8yfvd

Wrym, thank you very much! And, of course you must be there!

[LilG]

Wyrm, It has a ventilation fan, so it should overall be fine.

[Jitter]

Here's some more Home. It's a bit sad in the beginning but has happy ending so don't worry!

Home

The Home is very cold. I’m scared. There is wet cold blackness everywhere. Sisters and brothers are cold, and quiet. Too quiet. Mother has been gone for a long time and I’m cold and hungry and sad. More wet cold is coming in! Mother, help!

Oh no, a giant approaches! Bigger than Mother, dangerous! Will it eat me? It’s reaching for us! It takes all sisters and brothers out of Home. It’s coming for me! It will eat me! Mother, where are you!

The giant takes me in its paws and carries me away from Home! I smell Mother nearby but no help, it takes me and runs. I’m hungry and cold, I can’t keep my eyes open. Mother!

I wake up covered in white. I’m warm and I smell food! And Mother! Mother is nearby! No, Mother’s smell wanes… she’s not here anymore. I’m alone again. With the giant. The giant gives me food. I’m too sad and tired to eat. The giants leave, but I’m too small and too sick to escape. This is the end, Mother can’t come for me.

I wake up, soft and warm. I smell the best thing ever! The giant is here, but it hasn’t hurt me. It makes friendly noises. It’s giving me the delicious pink food! It has small teeth and no claws. I eat a bit and feel better. Then I sleep. Mother, I don’t know where you went! I think I may have been saved.

I wake up in my new warm Home. The giants are near. They all speak gently, and pat me and give me treats. Missekat and Kisa are the best. The Angry Kisu hisses, but I like new Home. Mother, if only you could be here with me. This is a good and nice Home.

Arts:
http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=363
http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=584

ps Wyrm the page index has been invaluable!

[midwestmutt]

Wow, Grey. And thanks.

[Róisín]

A tear for Kitty! So very sweet and sad.

[Vulpes]

AAaaaaahhh!!!!

Turn my back for a few hours and all this goodness appears. Wow, grey, that is amazing - and thank-you, thank-you for including me on the bookshelf. You even got the right insect order - Hymenoptera - although my main area of interest is bees, not ants, not that it matters, I'm still gobsmacked.

And the details - I laughed aloud when I noticed the gull peering in the window. I can totally see Onni as a falling-asleep-in-a-recliner kind of guy. And the prologue characters on the wall... brilliant.

Gaelle, I love your art style, that is a lovely image of Reynir and his home.

And Jitter, I'm sorry I couldn't properly enjoy your vignette, I got something in my eyes, they teared up something awful.

This whole thread is amazing, thanks again Keep Looking for organizing it, I've enjoyed everybody's contributions.

[Alkia]

Wow, Grey, I wasn’t expecting that at all, but it’s SUCH a lovely surprise!!!!! For not having drawn people in 30 years you did a fantastic job! There’s so many details to look at, everyone else has already mentioned ones I didn’t catch in my first look (although I’m noticing how Mikkel is reading Roisin’s book of plants, and the little family portraits on the wall behind them . And thank you so much for including me on the bookshelf!!! Aah!!

Gaelle, the light and the clouds and the colors of the grass— it’s such a beautiful scene!

Jitter, yet again you amaze me with your ability to create so much in such a small amount of words! A sad but comforting story

[Jitter]

Thank you all! I didn't want to ignore the most important member of the team!

Grey, where do I start? Many of the observations have luckily already been made by the others. I recognised Lynn immediately, but only in the full size (well, the 12 MB) picture I noticed the Eldritch Runes on her. In the bookshelf... surely the entire series isn't just my haikus? Four volumes of great haikus is an intimidating task! Even if the pages are quite lightly filled as it tends to be in Haiku books (speaking of which, I seem to have misplaced the one I bought before I have read it!) Many of the book titles are very clever, especially I liked Looking for Rachel, Across the Dungeon by RanVor, The Book of Job, Wyrm's * Love (and) *Craft, and The Tate Exposition for Gaelle!

The characters... so much to love! How Mikkel has hair on his legs and arms, but the boys don't (I'm not sure about Onni? There is a little something but very little? Is he just so blonde that it doesn't really show?), and Reynir's freckles! Lalli's crop top allowing us (and Emil) adore  his stomach muscles. The way the clothes are different for everybody, you have clearly given it some thought. I have to say Lalli and Onni's pants look comfier than Mikkel and Rey's almost-leggings And I love Reynir's shirt! Mikkel's is great too, and the traditional type trims on everyone's.

Speaking of clothes BTW, Minna promised to make a reference sheet on the team's current clothing with the real-tradition pieces she used for inspiration! Here I like the way you have taken elements from the heavily traditional influenced clothing we have seen on the crew and used some elements in the more contemporary homely clothes. I'm sure especially in Sweden and Denmark also the 2010's aesthetics would have some influence on clothing and other style things, even if the nations turning to their old gods have also looked deeper in to the aesthetics of their historic traditions.

On facial expressions, Onni is snoring right? It's lovely to see Lalli smile, and Sig and Mik all sweety pies. First I thought Ensi was staring in somewhat threatening way (what movie poster is that from?) but the close-up shows her gentle expression better.

All in all it's hard to believe you haven't drawn people for decades! Although I guess the architectural drawing does show, especially the recliner Onni is sitting in and the sofas are a lot more contemporary than traditional

Needless to say, but I say nevertheless: I love it!

The ancestor portraits I recognised immediately, probably because I've been poring over the Prologue and especially the Family Tree lately. It's a nice touch! Where is their home located btw, Östersund? There's too much forest to be Iceland and too much mountains to be Finland or Denmark. Norway around Aurland or Sweden would seem likeliest.