Art for rabidsamfan: Illustrations for "Moustery"

[methylviolet10b]

Title: Illustrations for "Moustery"
Recipient: rabidsamfan
Artist: omelton
Rating: G
Medium: Pen & ink, watercolors
Characters: John Watson, Sherlock Holmes, David Q. Dawson, Basil of Baker Street
Crossover: The Great Mouse Detective

Comments

[tweedisgood.livejournal.com]

Astonishing! The details, the framing, the contrast between humans and mice (the silhouetted violinists, gorgeous).

What a huge amount of talent, work and attention to the source story this represents, brava anon!

[stardust-made.livejournal.com]

What beautiful work! I love the attention to detail, the colours, the stunning individuality of all mice and men!:) My two favourite panels are the opening one and the one with lounging Holmes and laughing Watson. Both Holmes's and Watson's personalities are coming across so fluently in all the drawings.♥

[impulsereader.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, where to start? The silhouettes which appear on the cover and then are echoed in the last frame - squee! I love the visual of Watson noticing evidence of the mice throughout the story though Holmes remains oblivious, it really underscores that point of the story so nicely. The framing is simple and gorgeous. I especially love the little Basil investigating right under their noses and Dawson on the letter scrap - such a great portrait of little him!

This made my morning, it's fabulous. Thank you!

[swissmarg]

Each one of these is brilliant, but to have an entire set like this - wow! They are all so unique, I especially love the clothing and the facial expressions in each one.

[dreamtimegirl.livejournal.com]

Wow, these look amazing!!

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

OMG!

Oh! Oh! Oh! OH! OOOOOOH!

*the sound you hear is me spinning with delight*

These are amazing and when I am not at work I will come back and swoon some more, but I wanted you to know I'd seen them, and I am dancing.

[garonne.livejournal.com]

These are gorgeous, and so very cute.

I just about to say that my favourite was the one with the two Watsons face to face, when I suddenly noticed that there was even more to the image than that! Now I like it even more. The idea is brilliant, the colours are rich, the execution is excellent -- love it!

[fabelschwester.livejournal.com]

Gosh, this must have been so much work! It totally paid off though, these are brilliant! <3 I love everybody's faces and clothing, and how you changed from close up to full view from panel to panel. So beautiful!

[hardboiledbaby]

What a fabulous series of illustrations! Beautiful work, Anon, thank you!

[methylviolet10b]

These are utterly delightful! I love your use of color in the colored ones, the range of shading in the black and white ones - and in all of them, the marvelous attention to detail. Fantastic work!

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

These are all marvelous - but I burst out laughing when I recognized the Darlings' nursery (handprints on the ceiling, Nana wearing her cap) and realised that the experts had been called in to investigate the children's disappearance! Also adored the scene of Watson showing the tiny mousey lantern to the little girl.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Migraine last night, which prevented proper swooning, but I am back to swoon again.

First, the cover. I adore the details in this. The tiny lantern! The newspaper with the matchstick! The shadows that are more than shadows! The bitters! The glasses resting on a palm! But most of all the expressions on Watson and Dawson as they face off.

Watson in Peshawar... oh, my gosh, how did you manage to get even the weight of the tiny little stretcher to show in the way that the mice-bearers are balanced against it? And the lighting! *swoon*...

Ahem. Recovering now.

Watson in conference with a five year old! Glee! The grownups are all over there being grownup while the serious conversation is happening a bit lower. Oh, so very well done.

The Darlings! Peter Pan in the picture on the wall! Nana, with her cap! HANDPRINTS!!!! Holmes isn't even looking in the right direction!

And Basil investigating the ash while Watson tries to hide behind the newspaper. I was at work, so I couldn't laugh nearly as loud and as long as I wanted to, but that's brilliant. Especially in the air of confusion with "no, I don't think I want to know" from Holmes.

Dawson on the manuscript. Oh, my dear, when all is revealed may I beg you to use this one for an icon? Because I didn't know my life was incomplete without it. He's such a proper mouse!

And of course the back page, with 221 Baker Street in all its glory, its residents passing the weary hours of the night with music.

*happy sigh*

Thank you so much. I am so going to print these all out for my wall.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

These are truly excellent in every way possible!

[timetiger.livejournal.com]

These are fantastic and delight me in so many ways.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

The level of detail and attention to character is amazing in these! I can't believe how much work you've put in! Just terrific.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

These are wonderful. I do very much like Dawson on the manuscript and the silhouettes.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Yup. Still swooning. It makes me happy just to come to this page and see if anyone else has said nice things.

*swooooon*

[innie_darling]

These are absolutely fantastic!

[vernets.livejournal.com]

All those tiny details!! You have a great eye for composition. I really like how your mice aren't just the film (or books) designs, but very much your own. The Dawson at the end is wonderful, and that final illustration is ever so lovely.

[med_cat]

Beautiful illustrations for a charming story! :)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Absolutely incredibly detailed art, just amazing and so perfect for the story. Wonderful!

[autumnatmidnite.livejournal.com]

OMG this is GLORIOUS!!! The detail is just incredible - I especially love the fact that Mr. You See But You Do Not Observe is oblivious to Basil :D I need to go read this fic now...

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I had a tricky time of it figuring out how small the mice had to be in relation to the human characters while still making them big enough for details like posture and expression to be seen (and then I saw some Maurice Sendak illustrations where he played fast and loose with character sizes and figured I could emulate him).

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I spent longest on the cover picture because of the added complication of colors; I'm pleased you like how it turned out. The scene with Watson hiding his mirth at the mouse investigation was one of the reasons I wanted to do illustrations for rabidsamfan's story in the first place.

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Silhouettes are a cheap and easy way for me to add effect; I'm glad you like them here.
The theme of a (willfully?) oblivious Holmes was so strong in the story itself that I had great fun showing it as often as possible.
I'm happy I could brighten your day a bit, thank you!

[omelton.livejournal.com]

I couldn't decide on just one illustration - I actually had plans for a few more, but not enough time for those. I'm glad you liked the clothing; I always try for historical accuracy (the ladies' amount of bustle was changed after I had decided that picture would be set in 1882).
Thanks for commenting!

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I had fun drawing them!

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Even before your kind detailed comment below above, this made my day (apparently I like to make people dance).

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the detailed description of what you liked! I'm always interested in what exactly appeals to people in pictures that I draw mainly for my own pleasure.

The cover drawing was where I ended up including all the props I didn't have time to make separate illustrations for (there was to be a Watson in Portsmouth, kneeling in the street with his hastily grabbed tiny ale glasses, and I also wanted to draw a picture of the rescued mouse in a dhoti diligently working on a new set of clothes), so I'm pleased they're still identifiable.

The lighting was really supposed to be the most important part of the Peshawar picture - and the painting went surprisingly fast. The tininess of the mice was always tricky, though - how to properly show their uniforms?

I definitely wanted to show that Watson is an adult who takes children's opinions seriously (and I had fun casually researching children's clothing of the period).

Nana's cap was quite frustrating. I ended up reading the first chapter of "Peter and Wendy" for references to it, only to find that it's a later addition (either from the play or the Disney film)- in the end I settled for making Nana a Newfoundland, but giving her the Disney accessories.

A lot of ideas and background elements for all the pictures were cribbed from Arthur Rackham's illustrations for "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens", and since the Darling children's room as drawn by F.D. Bedford had an indistinct picture in a frame, I wanted to be meta and put a Rackham in it.
I'm a little sad I didn't include a scrap of Peter's shadow for Holmes to be investigating, though.

When I read you story, Watson cracking up at the inquisitive mouse detective gave me an immediate and strong mental image (as did so many scenes in "Moustery") and I decided I had to illustrate it.

You're absolutely welcome to use the Dawson picture or any other f these to make icons, I'd be flattered. I decided early on that I couldn't make the mice look Disney unless I made everyone else look Disney too, and I'm not capable of that. So I went for more classical anthropomorphic mice and adapted Dawson's wardrobe a bit to suit my tastes.

I'm so very glad you liked the illustrations, and should you ever want any for your other stories, I'd be happy to draw them.

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
I stuffed all I could into the cover picture, because I had planned on more illustrations than I had time for and then made the cover a catch-all for mouse-sized objects.
I'm glad the mice turned out cute - I'd never drawn mouse characters before.

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Making most of the illustrations black and white actually saved quite some time, but I struggled with the paper (damn stuff couldn't stand up to watercolors and kept warping). I'm so glad you like both faces and clothing, because that's what I like drawing best. The switch from close up to full view wasn't actively planned, so apparently my subconscious is better at layout that I am.

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you for commenting! They were fun to draw and I'm pleased they're fun to look at as well.

[omelton.livejournal.com]

I'm not particularly solid when it comes to coloring with traditional media (Photoshop filters are my friends), so I'm particularly glad you like the colors in the cover picture.
Thank you!

[omelton.livejournal.com]

I'm thrilled that the little lantern is recognizable - I was worried it was too small and blurry.
I ended up doing quite a bit of reading about Peter Pan, because I have no recollection at all of the Disney film, and in the end I opted for a mishmash of different canon references. Very pleased that the Darling children's room was identifiable!
Thank you.

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked them.

[omelton.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased that they are fun to look at, because I had such a good time drawing them. Thank you!

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I felt a bit bad after the last Holmesfest because I felt I should have done more, so I wanted to make up for it here (also, I couldn't decide on just one illustration for this story, and had to cut down on the number of pictures I had planned).

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Dawson was surprisingly easy to draw, considering I had no prior experience drawing mice (especially not dapper ones). Silhouettes are always fun (and easy) for me.
I'm glad you liked them!

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you; I aim to please!

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much! I'm never quite sure about my image composition, so I'm especially pleased it works here. I opted for basic anthropomorphic mice because I'm just no good at drawing Disney style (although I did try in fourth grade), and I tried to make them similar to my images of Holmes and Watson. Was very fun to draw Dawson as a dapper, fat mouse and get rid of his Disney sweater vest (not that I mind sweater vests, but it just didn't seem right for a gentlemouse of the 1880s on a stroll outside his apartment).

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad they do the story justice!

[omelton.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much. The story was so lovely, I wanted to make an effort to match it.

[omelton.livejournal.com]

It's really a lovely story - I'm just sad I couldn't do even more illustrations. I was envisioning a children's book style where every paragraph has a corresponding picture. It was hilarious to me to draw a Holmes who is haughtily looking in just the wrong direction all the time.
Thank you!

[med_cat]

They most certainly did; you certainly have a gift for art :)