What if Viv, from a previous post, got possessed by the fae-dragon she made a pact with? I gave her a forehead eye because it fits a dream and abstract-concept-based character like her. So would her new, messy hairstyle. I also included concepts for the main fae-dragon body in the upper right corner. I like the concept of only the middle forehead eye having a pupil, and that the new Vivian doesn’t use her old eyes. Even though she keeps old Vivian’s professional wardrobe. I added a possible disguise for her in the bottom left corner. I have no clue how the guild would react to this. Probably badly.
After Breakfast—Must find Kazhen and discuss matters of Markoren with him. (Is Markoren intentionally evading me, or is he forgetting? Should I discuss Markoren with him over breakfast? But what if Markoren is within hearing distance?)
9 o’clock—Complete morning duties.
11 o’clock—Daily walk in the garden.
Luncheon with Ambassador today. Must remember to remain silent and not fidget this time. Kiryan and one of the Tokavskans have started looking at me strangely. If I act normal and remember Tomon is my priority, I will not make myself the fool again. (Am I the fool? Markoren will say something to me if he sees me writing this. He thinks I cannot keep track of things because I do not have brains, but he is not the one who can write. Oh, to have been the first son in my family.) And I will ensure Tomon is well taken care of and his needs are met. The Tokavskan servants insist I not help, but I worry that by not attending to Tomon personally during luncheon I am not being an adequate attendant. (I never would have met Tomon if my father had left me a decent sum in his will. I will do what I must to please Tomon because I rely on him to stay afloat. I should have respected our family servant more when I was younger. She did far more for us than I in my youth imagined.)
After Luncheon—I am to accompany Tomon to his meetings. I must remember Tokavskan procedure and stay still. I will not fidget excessively this time. Kazhen understands me and says I do my job well, and he says being in a new land requires some getting used to. (He and I became attendants at the same time, but I know Tomon favors him.) I wish I could remember all the procedures as easily as he, but I am so absentminded I must write down this schedule.
Tidy My Quarters. I must do this today. I will do it today because I will not have time tomorrow. My section is so messy that Kiryan and even Kazhen are annoyed with me. There is no Tokavskan procedure that dictates how you keep your things. The servants expect us to tidy our own spaces. One of them said something about the state of my quarters the other day, but I do not understand enough Zheren to know what it was.
Be Nicer to Markoren. After all, maybe he despises me because of how I am.
I’ve split these lyrics into two posts, the part 2 will be out next week! The lyrics I used are from the song “Obsession” by The Cairos. The full verse is: “For no reason at all/ I moved through all I could/ unsuspected at all/ I spied but found no haunt/ well it’s just as complex as I thought/ and I’m so unsatisfied” I interpreted this song as an ambitious person trying to understand what it is they’re actually chasing, and what the point of their obsession is. Visualizing this verse, I wanted to show the character climbing higher and higher in a forest for seemingly no reason. They just believe it’s what they should be doing. They decide to watch others as they make their way through the same forest. In comparison, their path looks easier. In the next part I’ll be showing that the other path is just as complex as the climb, with no reason behind their trek either. The last line will show the character’s confusion with all that’s going on, unable to see the end of any of it, “and I’m so unsatisfied.”
The 10 of cups – family Death – closure, change The 7 of cups – “illusionary fears,” revelation
There he comes / the hunter / come to butcher / my flock / one down / two / three / all family gone to bleed / That hunter / he comes / mounted / on a horse skinned of its / skin / there’s no skin / and soon the skin of my flock / will rot / six feet under dirt / The skulled hunter / his skulled mount / they’re both so much like / our skulled flock / How many more birds / should be shot with stones / until we turn the stones / Seasons go / some birds don’t go / beyond their youth / This is the phantom / crow / that haunts me / its bad omens / burden me / like the weight of my fallen flock.
Welcome back to another post! Today is all about faux calligraphy, so let’s start by explaining what that even is.
Faux calligraphy got its name by, as you might have guessed, being a sort of “fake” form of calligraphy. Where traditional calligraphy uses a brush pen to get those thin upstrokes and thin downstrokes, faux calligraphy allows you to get the same technique with a regular old pen (or, really, any sort of pencil, marker, etc that creates a standard line).
In this example, the top version is regular calligraphy with a brush pen, while the bottom version is faux calligraphy using a marker with a bullet tip.
So how does this work? It’s actually pretty simple, which is why a lot of people, especially beginners, prefer it over traditional calligraphy. A lot of beginners also use it as a gateway into traditional calligraphy, because it uses the same principles without requiring the technique involved in using a brush pen.
To start, you can just write whatever word/letter/phrase you have in mind. This can be in cursive, or in print, whatever you prefer! The next step is the key: you need to identify all the downstrokes. In the example below, I showed where the downstrokes are on the cursive letter “a”, but if you want a more comprehensive guide, I have a few other blog posts about handlettering basics that should help you out! Once you identify where all the downstrokes are, you simply make those lines thicker, whether by drawing an outline and filling it in like I did, or by just adding a few extra lines around it.
Find the downstrokes, outline them, and fill them in 🙂Here’s a little alphabet guide to help if you’re struggling with the downstrokes, too
Once you’ve got the basics down, this another style where there are a lot of fun variations to play around with. I included some of my favorites below, to show that you can do this with cursive or print, vary the thickness of the downstrokes, bring in color, etc. With the “lazy” and “hard” styles, the lazy one is just what you’ve been doing already (it isn’t lazy, it’s just easier than the hard version). The “hard” version is where you kind of map the downstrokes out in your mind ahead of time so that the lines don’t intersect and downstrokes remain solid white. This takes some practice to get the spacing right, which is why I called it the hard version, but it’s definitely not impossible and can be really fun to practice!
I hope you enjoy trying out a new style, or at least learning about it, and for all the umich students out there, have a great spring break!
