Happy holidays, Rinnington!

[linnpuzzle.livejournal.com]

Recipient: rinnington!
Artist: nettle_mooneye
Title: Candlelight
Rating: G? WS, at any rate.
Pairing: Aziraphale & Crowley, or Aziraphale/Crowley, whichever you like better
Prompt: Crowley/Aziraphale, Crowley and Aziraphale friendship, Crowley gen, or Aziraphale gen; Christmas themed, fluff, vulnerable!Crowley or prissy!Aziraphale, tea or baked goods, historical fic or modern fic



Footnote: 'It should be noted that, shortly after this incident, in the spirit of Christmas, giving and all that, the car was miraculously repaired. The owner said it was as good as new.

Or perhaps even better.'

Comments

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

Aw, poor Crowley! These are gorgeous images; I especially like the inset sketches, they feel almost Victorian (except for the car, of course).

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I’m glad you like it! (Actually, that car is supposed to be like the ones they started manufacturing in 1898. I’m not sure I got it right, though.)

Thanks for commenting!

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Oooh!, lovely! Very Voctorian-Christmas-y!

And the central picture looks as cozy as the kitchen at Uncle Bilbo's place ....!

I love how there's more colour and focus within the gold frame. I love how the outer four pictures are monochrome pen-and-ink-ish pieces, while the colour draws the eye to the centre of the whole thing.

Gorgeous detail and texturing and lighting in the central picture -- the gathered snow on the leaded glass windows, the candles reflected there, the embroidery on the tablecloth, the faces! If you're not a professional artist, Secret Artist, you should seriously consider steering yourself in that direction!

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Hrm. *Victorian*, of course. 8P

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

It’s nice that you like it! And I’m glad that the cozyness gets across, since that‘s the feel I was aiming for.

I was actually considering colouring the sketches, but that would have taken a great deal of time, and I thought that they worked out quite well in monochrome, anyway. It’s good to hear that the colours work when it comes to guiding the eye. After staring at the picture for hours it becomes difficult to tell if something is off.

It makes me happy that the details are noticeable, even after all the resizing I had to do.

Thank you for your comment(s)!

[argyleheir.livejournal.com]

These images are beautifully evocative -- the black and white works so nicely with the central colors. I'm very much reminded of illustrations in Victorian novels.

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I’m glad you enjoy it! I had to look at some Victorian pictures for reference, and I guess some of the style seeped into the drawings. Luckily it’s not a bad thing.

Thanks for commenting!

[melandry.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I love the little inset street scenes. As others have been saying, very Victorian and full of holiday atmosphere!

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I liked drawing the street scenes, too, although the windows got a bit dull by the end of it. I’m glad you like it! Thank you for commenting!

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Thinking about this: this piece would make an absolutely wonderful print/poster, and I'd love to own one.

Does that thought make you eager or nervous, O Secret Artist? ;]

[sarahsan]

This...is pretty much amazing. The black and whites are so incredible, esp. the top-left, so deep in shadow and really rich. Just gorgeous, truly. And I'm TOTALLY with Blueeyedtigress--the middle looks JUST like a hobbit livingroom! Though that's possibly just because it's a circular inset, but it's a good thing in any case, so snug and comfy. ^_^ Poor dear Crowley...he just can't catch a break.

Gawd, the painting is just gorgeous. The wrinkles in Aziraphale's shirt...their hands...just beautiful.

I second Blueeyedtigress--we need prints!! ^_^

[sarahsan]

Whoops, sorry, didn't really mean to reply to you, dear...though I quote you twice, so I suppose that's why I did it...my bad. Please excuse. ^_^

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I’m happy that you like it! I tried to use pencils of different strengths (from 8B to 4H) to give the pictures more depth. And when it comes to Crowley, I was just trying to make him look vulnerable. And he did get some gingerbread and tea, too, although I’m not quite sure how well that can be discerned from the central image.

Thank you for your comment!

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

Nervous, but then, it doesn’t take much to make me nervous.

The series of pictures started out as an idea for a post card, actually. Then I wanted to add some things and realised that a post card was just way too small for everything to fit in. I think the idea of a poster did cross my mind at some point, although I never gave it that much thought.

But, since I don’t know all that much about prints and posters, and this is Rinnington’s gift, anyway, I think I’ll leave the matter lie for now. :)

[such_heights]

This is sosowonderful in every way, and I love the footnote!

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

Oh, you noticed the footnote! I was feeling a bit sorry for the car. I’m glad that you enjoyd the picture! Thanks for commenting!

[magicicada.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful. Crowley and Aziraphale both look fantastic. I really love the way you used the prompts, and the story it tells.

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I’m glad you like the picture! It’s also very nice to hear that the story comes across. Thanks for commenting!

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Ooh, pretty. I like the top left and the bottom right pics particularly. Lonely, but pretties...

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

Yes, those are the pictures that have most mood in them, I think. I’m happy that you like them. Thank you for your comment!

[rasetsunyo.livejournal.com]

This is so, so sweet and gorgeous! It's an amazing concept, and so well done. :D

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I’m glad you think so! Thanks for commenting!

[shadowvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

Wow! I have no idea how you have done this, but it's absolutely, breathtakingly gorgeous!!! I don't know what I like best, because I somehow like every tiny bit of it. It all looks real enough to touch, especially the snow. And you can almost smell tea and books in Aziraphale's cozy room... But I also love the pencilled pictures very much. The nostalgia they create. The background looks like a postcard, somehow, perhaps because of the gold frame, but it conveys the overall mood very nicely. I admire your how you did the houses and streets (and of course Crowley *g*).
I think you may just have resurected my dead and buried Christmas spirit.

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I’m glad you find it beautiful. And I tried to make the objects and things as real as I could. Sometimes, I could almost smell and feel them myself.

Yep, postcard-y was what I had in mind, too.

I’m happy that I could help your Christmas spirit. Christmas without it is not much fun.

Thanks for commenting!

[rinnington.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful, Secret Artist! The way you tied all of the drawings together was lovely and effective, as was the contrast between the sketches and the (gorgeous) color. The entire piece is just warm and lovely and fills me with happy Christmassy fuzzy thoughts, which is about as much as you could want in a gift. You're an amazing artist, and I feel incredibly lucky to recieve such a fantastic and beautiful gift. I feel as though I am running out of adjectives here. XD

And you've no idea how much it was killing me all day yesterday, when people kept telling me how beautiful my gift was and I couldn't get on to see it >EEE But I can't think of a better way to return from Paper Hell, so thank you!

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I’m so happy you enjoyed it! And your prompts were what made it Christmassy. I tried to get the theme in as much as possible. The Christmas tree is there for just that purpose.

It was fun to work on the image (although the windows and the books did get a bit tiresome to draw by the end of it, since there were so many of them). Thank you for your kind words! They mean much to me.

Oh, Paper Hell. *shudders* But you are through it now, right? Papers are not nice, especially not in the Christmas season.

[erinptah]

That is absolutely gorgeous. The artwork itself and the layout as a whole.

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I‘m glad you like it! Thank you for looking and commenting.

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's gorgeous. I love the balance of the coloured pics and those incredibly detailed pencil drawings. I especially love the wistful expression in the top left, and the huddled loneliness in the night at bottom right.

I'm deeply jealous of your talent.

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I‘m glad you like the pictures. I tried to pay special attention to details, since they do add a lot to a picture.

Thanks for commenting, and please don’t be jealous. :)

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

This is just spectacularly beautiful - the central painting, the landscape, captures the feel and the light of a clear, cold, still winter night so gorgeously I can just feel it...well, the weather IS like that here tonight, but this just brought it indoors. :)

And the balance and composition of the stories, and the sense of loneliness in the black-and-white drawings contrasted with the warmth and friendliness of the central one with the two of them...wow. Just wow. And Aziraphale looks adorably fussy. :D

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I like painting winter nights. They are something of a speciality of mine, when it comes to landscapes.

I’m glad you like the composition! It took me some time to figure out.

[briebribeez.livejournal.com]

I do like the sketches.

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

That makes me glad. Thank you!

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

This is, far and away, the best GO art I've ever seen. Stunning pencil work, stunning colour work, and characterisations of C/A that ring amazingly true. Bless you for doing this, whomever you are.

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your words! They mean a lot to me. But… um… don’t flatter me so. It makes me all confused. ;) And besides, your own pictures are spectacular, and there are other excellent artists in this fandom, too.

Thank you for looking and commenting!

[lady-oneiros.livejournal.com]

I am speechless. I love the sketchy insets--they set off the rest of the picture nicely and frame it well. My favorite part is the square--it's so quiet and peaceful...the perfect winter's night. And I am in love with the lights on the tree. Excellent job!

[secret-kracken.livejournal.com]

I’m happy that you like it. I wanted the square to work as background, to be kind of laid back. And I’m glad you like the lights!

Thanks for commenting!

[use-theforce-em.livejournal.com]

O.O

I....

O.O

I can't.... It's too... do you have any idea how instantaneously happy this made me? The complexity of it, the colors and the feeling of winter you get just by looking at it. The pencil drawings are very lonely, as people have said, and so wonderfully expressive. But the center pic; oh my God, my heart has melted. I can imagine this happening to them so easily, I can practically hear the dialogue in my head, and it's not easy to evoke that with me from one picture alone. The concern in Aziraphale's face as he fusses and forces tea on our poor shivering demon. Marvelous.

[reflectedeve.livejournal.com]

This is simply stunning. The composition itself is just lovely--I love the little circle insets best--and it does feel rather Victorian, too.

My favorite bit is probably the image to the upper right. While the piece as a whole has a rather quiet feel to it, that one is more dynamic, and makes me chuckle.

In general, I'm just impressed by your skill and attention to detail. The shapes of the buildings, the wooden paneling and design on the table in the first circle, the packages falling off the back of the car . . . fantastic! Bravo.

[refche.livejournal.com]

This is amazing! The scene is wonderfully evocative and the b/w art adds a perfect narrative of a sort that's just really creative and well-executed. Wonderful!

[caedesdeo.livejournal.com]

um, picture gone?