Chapter Break Filler

[thegreyarea]

Róisín, I'm happy that everything worked! And what a solid classic knowledge! I have a very vague idea of hearing about Pliny, but after your comment I searched and... what a fascinating character and story! I also discovered (thanks, Wikipedia) that there's a crater on the moon named after him. It seems fair that thousands of years after his death he is, in some way, watching the world he loved.

Jitter, your "Home" is amazing, sad, and happy. You surely made many shed a tear or two (myself included), but that's a part of the game...

Midwestmutt, thanks! I could not forget you in the list! (BTW I just remembered that I did forgot Elleth Sorry...)

Vulpes, It's fantastic that I almost got it right, but to be honest it could be ants or bees, but it had to be short, because there wasn't much space... I'm glad that you noticed the winged spy...

Alkia, Thank you! We are so lucky to have you, and others like you*, that arrived recently on our community to bring so much energy and light!
* Butterscotchbread, Keep Looking, Gaelle, Mari...

Jitter (again! but I'm going by order... ), I love your observations! I'm sure that you will soon have enough haikus for such a publication, and if you look close enough you will notice that it's a bilingual edition (FIN+ENG) so each haiku will make two (you could have one language on the right pages, and one on the left). Translating them would probably be quite a challenge, tough. And it's great to know that you enjoyed the book titles.

As for the characters, I didn't intend to draw hair on Onni's legs and arms, probably just some loose lines... But I did intend to draw Lalli's muscles , and to make everyone wear different, albeit comfortable, clothes. Lalli and Emil's are supposed to match (can you imagine why?), and I do want to have those shirts! Maybe I will print them in some print-on-demand place one day... Anyway I'm looking forward for Minna's references. Must be fascinating stuff.

And yes, Onni's probably snoring (a little) but also having a good time in the dreamworld, where Ensi is happy for her boys (she's so small that it's hard to see well without zooming, tough).

The drawing part was my "How hard can it be" moment. I was confident that I knew all the theory on how to do it. And I was right. The problem was the practice...
But in the end everything worked, and I'm happy with the result, albeit knowing there are numberless errors and faults on it. However that also happens in my projects, so I'm quite used to that feeling.
Speaking of that, I wanted to make the room a bit contemporary on purpose, so the furniture looked new and not salvaged. (Nothing against reusing furniture, but old looking sofas, combined with the wooden walls and ceiling, may be read as if they were somewhere in the silent world. It could be, but Home goes well with Security, so...). The recliner is basically a rendition of my preferred chair, the Eames Loung chair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eames_Lounge_Chair), just because I love the design. (I'm still to earn enough money to buy one, tough. The thing is quite expensive)

And since you talked about location, I must admit that i didn't thought much on that, but your suggestions seem good. I'd choose Östersund, to put it a bit closer to Finland when the Hotakainens want to visit their forests.

[GaelleDragons]

Jitter, this is so cute and sad at the same time! Great idea to give a "voice" to Kitty, she deserves more attention! x3

Grey, wow, knowing it was your first time drawing humans in so long makes your drawing even more impressive!! And now that you mention it, I can see the architect way of drawing in the perspective and the furniture (drawing interiors, that's something I'll have to get better at, because for now I'm avoiding it like the plague!). And by architect way of drawing I mean: really well drawn!
And I feel your pain trying to draw with an Intuos for the first time. Again, I can only admire how clean your linework is (it took me months to get a proper smooth line with my first drawing tablet!). It's true screen tablets are really good, but in my opinion you can draw just as well on a tablet with no screen. It just takes a bit more time to get used to it... also it's less expensive and more practical (I use my old small Intuos when I'm travelling and my Cintiq at home, and both work pretty well for me ^^).

LilG, thank you! The drawing process took a bit more than 2-3 hours though. I don't know for certain, but it was more around 5-6 hours split between 2-3 days ^^"

And thank you to everyone who said nice things about my drawing! Every comment makes me eee, just so you know. 

[JoB]

Thank you for including me in the library! I’m quite pleasantly surprised to have found myself on one of the books, considering that I haven’t really contributed with all that much in terms of artwork

Seconded ... or actually, more like eighthed.
(... what does it say about me that I'm feeling a bit extra tickled to have been depicted as one of the closed books!? )

Reynir pointing out that Tuuri is cheating behind her back... because she’s completely transparent (she’ll have to get used to that from now on).
[...] Reynir also cheating behind his back by using his braid end as a third hand (I suppose his hair really does have a life of its own).

Also seconded - though I have to say that, if I were actually in the storyverse, with its well-known primary source of weird body modifications, I'ld much rather look the other way as Tuuri cheats me than play with the guy with the prehensile braid ... !

The Rubik’s cube is finally complete, hurray! Though by whom, we may never know... (my bets are on Kitty randomly playing with it and solving it by accident)

My headcanon is that ARtD's swan visited them, OCDed about the Cube as she usually does only about her files, spent an ungodly amount of time-stretching magic to get it solved before its owners mortality kicking in, and put another spell on it to prevent anyone un-solving it ever again.

It probably surprises no-one who knows me that the yet-undiscovered details I can drag into discussion are technological ones ... like Mikkel wearing a wrist watch that looks a lot more Y0-ish than the expedition gear, and the home having radiators with thermostats ... (I don't think we have ever seen a (working) heating in the comic that wasn't some sort of open fireplace, have we?)

[thegreyarea]

Hi (again) friends.
Gaelle, thanks for the sympathy! It was really hard at the beginning, and for unknown reasons some lines in some directions were very difficult to draw, were others went easily... But I managed (after more than a few moments when I considered backtracking an doing it all by hand, tough). Drawing furniture is fun, believe me. It's a matter of practice and using the old Renaissance perspective rules. I really enjoy doing it, and sometimes I do create furniture for my projects or for my house. The really amazing part is that you can create a piece, find a carpenter and have it materialized in the Real World in a few weeks, while buildings take months or years. So it's very satisfying.

JoB, I'm glad that you enjoyed it! You undoubtedly deserved your book in the shelf You will surely understand that I couldn't put them all open, but I assure you that Mikkel is a great admirer of the many technological tips that make it one of the most sought-after books in Y90 (according to the Reykjavik's Book Annual Review from Y91).
Reynir's prehensile braid may be frightening, particularly for those afraid of snakes (or tentacles) but, luckily, is entirely powered by his magical abilities. As you can see it's very useful to hold cards (and opening doors when his hands are full).
I don't know anything about the cube, however. It just forced itself into the drawing as page 260 was published...

Now, technological details! yes, Mikkel is wearing a fancy wrist watch. It's a nice (and very expensive) mechanical one, built in 1960 and owned by his grand-grand-grandfather, that shared the same name*. it's been passed on in the family, generation after generation, and our Mikkel left it in Bornholm before embarking in the first adventure, afraid that it might get lost in their struggles on the Silent World.
* That is me shamelessly entangling this drawing with one of my stories, the second part of "A beginning"
As for the heating, you are right. but the fact that we never saw it does not means that it doesn't exist. As with the modern furniture, I wanted to depict a very comfortable home for our beloved team. Considering the cold climate, it's reasonable to expect that, in the more secure parts of the Known World, the ancient technics for heating were still in use. The renowned "Book of JoB" contains, I've been told, several insights on how purely mechanical thermostats work (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermostatic_radiator_valve)

But speaking of a fireplace, this comfy room also has one, but it's on the fourth wall, conveniently removed so we could see our team. I have a drawing with the distribution below.


Here we can see the fireplace location, the entrance door (entering through the windows is unpractical) and two extra things: the second part of the bookshelf, were are the books with all the minnions that I couldn't put in the drawing (believe me!) and the distribution of the characters, that was made pretty much by my subconscious but, on a second look, shows that they form a circle, with their relative positions influenced by their relations in the comic and in my head, so:
Tuuri is next to Mikkel (I'm sure they would be very good friends, sharing a common curiosity over many things)
Mikkel is next to Sigrun (I'm a shipper)
Sigrun is next to Emil (brothers-in-arms)
Emil is next to Lalli (I'm a shipper)
Lalli is next to Onni (cousins-in-magic)
Onni is next to Reynir (I'm a shipper)
Reynir is next to Tuuri (I'm sure they would be very good friends, sharing a common curiosity over how to cheat in games)

[Vulpes]

Grey, I like the drawing even better with all the background information and the floor plan - agh, I love me a good floor plan! And all of us Minnions looking through the fourth wall... . Your architecture expertise is showing. The circle of characters is a really interesting touch. You put so much thought into this!

I've got to get the pencils and pens out and do some drawings - I really enjoy drawing interiors (without people... people are haaaard) and it's a great way to get the drawing skills back up to speed. I worked on a couple of farms one summer, and in my spare time did drawings, and ended up with a nice matched pair: Stu's stoves, and Bill's barns. Really enjoyed getting deep into perspective, lines, and relationships.

[LilG]

LilG, thank you! The drawing process took a bit more than 2-3 hours though. I don't know for certain, but it was more around 5-6 hours split between 2-3 days ^^"

Even still, my latest drawing (Lalli as Hotline Miami’s Jacket) and those before it took me about a day and a bit each in terms of hours (I’m a very, very slow drawer). And they’re not even close to the same level of quality that you and many others on the forum can make, so to me, anybody that can do that (or even simple sketches) in just 5 to 8 hours is a BEAST.

And don’t even get me started on those absolute gods on Deviantart’s front page, who can draw highly realistic paintings in merely 12 to 14 hours. I think I could only achieve that in my wettest of dreams (either that, or a century after I kick the bucket, in whatever second tier afterlife I end up).

[thegreyarea]

Grey, I like the drawing even better with all the background information and the floor plan - agh, I love me a good floor plan! And all of us Minnions looking through the fourth wall... . Your architecture expertise is showing. The circle of characters is a really interesting touch. You put so much thought into this!

I've got to get the pencils and pens out and do some drawings - I really enjoy drawing interiors (without people... people are haaaard) and it's a great way to get the drawing skills back up to speed. I worked on a couple of farms one summer, and in my spare time did drawings, and ended up with a nice matched pair: Stu's stoves, and Bill's barns. Really enjoyed getting deep into perspective, lines, and relationships.

Thanks Vulpes! If you enjoy drawing you should really get your stuff out of the drawer and on the paper. It's an amazing activity. It takes time, but IIRC you just finished the semester, so there's some free time, right? It may be harder to recall in the beginning, but it's totally worth the effort. And don't forget to share it with us!

LilG, I understand you so well! Some people draw at incredible speed with incredible quality. I try to comfort myself thinking that they are (more or less) professionals, but anyway...

[wavewright62]

I'm coming to the convo a bit late but still must SQUEEEE at these drawings and story. 
Grey, I too have appropriated the drawing for my wallpaper, thank you for that, and I am honoured to have warranted a book of my own.  I spent a bit of time trying to work out how you managed to skew the Prologue character portraits into their frames, but ofc as an architect that was probably the easy bit for you, as well as accomplishing all those bits of interior that would leave me a twitching mess on the (wonky) floor.  And yet, it's the *characters* (I was going to say 'humans' but that leaves out four) that make this room, with all of those details.  (Although I'm still puzzled by the idea that Onni has hair drawn on him - I took those lines to be delineating the shinbones?)
Well.
I also very much appreciate the view of Iceland, and Reynir's place in it, from Gaelle.  Well you should have an exhibition monograph of your own in thegreyarea's bookshelf.
And Jitter, awwww, smol Missekatt Kisu's POV.  Splendid.

I swear, you people, *sniff*
is good
bye

[Jitter]

Haha I love how you’ve drawn us in the schematic

I was also apparently kind of invested in Lalli’s recent birthday. I had a dream, where I was thinking that oh it’s so sad, no one seems to remember. But then mail go delivered (at the door, not the box) and there was a very fancy card and a gift certificate for him from the university (??). And after I signed for those (apparently Lalli’s postal address was ar our house) the postman provided a wad of birthday cards from hi: too! There were a total of 16 greetings. So I was happily thinking that oh Lalli will become glad when he gets these. And then I woke up.

I think the greetings were from you guys, because there were so many and they were very different cards so probably from all over the world!

[thegreyarea]

Grey, I too have appropriated the drawing for my wallpaper, thank you for that, and I am honoured to have warranted a book of my own.  I spent a bit of time trying to work out how you managed to skew the Prologue character portraits into their frames...
...Although I'm still puzzled by the idea that Onni has hair drawn on him - I took those lines to be delineating the shinbones?)

Thanks, Wave!
The character skewing is actually quite easy if you know magic!
...but it's the kind of magic that you get when you use something like Photoshop, Corel Photo Paint, Gimp (IIRC) or Clip Studio Paint (that I used), because all those come with a function called "distort" or similar that gives you small squares (markers) on the corners of the selected area, and you just have to click on those markers and drag them to where you want. Thus it's easy to distort a rectangular pic to fit on the frame previously draw. See? Magic!
Yes, those lines were supposed to be his shinbones. Maybe I should have been more consistent, because Onni and Reynir have them, but Mikkel doesn't...
And I am honoured that you are using my drawing as wallpaper!

Haha I love how you’ve drawn us in the schematic

I was also apparently kind of invested in Lalli’s recent birthday. I had a dream, where I was thinking that oh it’s so sad, no one seems to remember. But then mail go delivered (at the door, not the box) and there was a very fancy card and a gift certificate for him from the university (??). And after I signed for those (apparently Lalli’s postal address was ar our house) the postman provided a wad of birthday cards from hi: too! There were a total of 16 greetings. So I was happily thinking that oh Lalli will become glad when he gets these. And then I woke up.

I think the greetings were from you guys, because there were so many and they were very different cards so probably from all over the world!

So you liked my Minnions! I like them too! And yes, one of those dreamcards was sent by me three days ago on dreamworld postal services. Lalli put your dreamaddress in his dreamprofile, it seems. He didn't want anyone else wandering into his dreamspace like Reynir did. Don't worry, he will probably show up in some dream, very soon, to collect his cards. Give him a hug for me, and also tell him to smile a little more. Emil will be very happy if he does.
(And I have to go to sleep, it's 2:30 in the morning... see you tomorrow )

[scottishnottish]

Wow amazing artworks! thegreyarea I love the composition and all the detail! (and I'm honored to be featured on their shelf!) It's a very cozy scene.

And lovely work GaelleDragons! I can really feel the breeze and the warmth of the sun in it.

[Keep Looking]

Chapter Break Filler

.._.._..

Prompt 19: Safe

.._.._..

For today's prompt of Safe, Gwenno brings us a peek into what Reynir might be doing while he's staying home and safe from the virus.

Spoiler: show

Just like Reynir, we are told that we should stay home to stay safe. That doesn't meant that you can't have some fun, however! This started off somewhat orderly, but deteriorated to silliness very quickly!


Many people start off their lockdown with the urge to get cleaning, and Reynir is no different





Baking is also a good way to pass the time, and luckily Reynir has some excellent cookbooks to choose from





Reynir found this amazing webcomic about a crew of weirdos in the silent world! Looks very scary and dangerous. Maybe he should stay at home for now...?


(I give permission for those with better editing skills than my own to put whatever amusing things they like on that screen  )


Time to learn some new skills methinks!




and maybe those palm trees aren't quite as far away as I first thought?




There really is far too much to watch these days...




Maybe it's time to do some painting?




At last, I have uncovered Emil's secret to gorgeous hair!




The company is still a little blaaand here though





The safest place is, of course, next to the cats (believe it or not, there's actually two cats in this picture. The other one is black and almost never shows up on camera though)




After a tiring day it is important to sit down and relax




although be careful not to overindulge!




It deteriorates from here....






Why yes, I am a Tangled fan, why do you ask?




(You can access all the pictures here too if going through them on forum format is a bit of a chore): https://imgur.com/a/C2RRjDQ

Thanks very much to Gwenno for today's contribution, and if any of you are inspired by this prompt, feel free to share what you've made!

Also, how do you put more spoilers inside of a spoiler? It never seems to work for me, it just ends up breaking the first spoiler.

[Róisín]

Gwenno, those are delightful! Is that the Reynir outfit you made back in the early days of the Forum, the one you were wearing in that photo by the sea? Nice idea.
And I meant to ask, did you propagate that little potted Dracaena?

[Grade E cat]

I honestly started suspecting you had a thing for Tangled the second I saw the one in which he makes a mural to pass time.

[wavewright62]

Marvelous! Reynir always felt like he was on lockdown before, but now Gwenno brings that to life!

Side note, yes, you can put spoilers within spoilers - I do it for the Advent calendar all the time.  The trick is to nest the beginning and end spoilers properly:
[spoolera]
Content
[spoolerb]
moar content
[/spoolerb]
[/spoolera]