Two Slytherin Ladies
Monday, 17 April 2006 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
siguneYesterday as I was working on page 14 of the comic I suddenly felt the urge to prove to myself that I can still draw pretty women. I used to draw nothing else, but since the whole Snape thing started I have been drawing plenty of ugly men instead. Before I knew it, I ended up with Narcissa Malfoy, and added Pansy Parkinson for good measure.
It has taken me some time to realise that one of the greatest gifts HBP brought me by way of story is the character of Narcissa Malfoy. I can’t help it: I like her, and I find her relation with Snape intriguing. Ever since Septimia De Quincey disappeared from the Snape backstory, she took her young husband Rabastan with her, and I needed someone else to fulfil his part in my WIP Art of Darkness. Well, here she is: Narcissa Malfoy.
It is really funny how closely drawing and storytelling are connected for me; I experienced it again while doing this portrait of Narcissa. I found I really got to know her, just thinking about her looks and the way she wears her hair and such; things about her person that were hazy suddenly started to take a solid form. She has become interesting to me both story- and picturewise – maybe there is a one-shot here somewhere, and I should like to picture her alongside Snape as well. – Actually I do have a picture of Narcissa and Snape, based on “Spinner’s End”, but it’s for the Snape the HBP fest and so I can’t post it yet.
One thing I have decided (and that strikes me as important) is that I definitely won’t go for décolleté!Narcissa. Don’t ask me why, but she really doesn’t strike me as the type, though this is the way I have mostly seen her done in fanfic. I have found a model for her that I think much more useful: for those of you who watch Desperate Housewives, I’m thinking more in the direction of a witch version of Bree Van de Kamp – beautiful and sexy, but in a dignified, expensive, classy sort of way, and a devoted wife and mother, with all the positive and negative traits of someone who is socially and financially privileged. I don’t think Narcissa is as sharp-tongued as Bree, and I’m certainly not going to copy her or anything – it’s just the type that strikes me as right. Any relation with Snape has to be seen in its light as well. I picture her as his dream woman, in an intangible, ideal sort of way.
Narcissa equals perfect breeding. She doesn’t wear showy things and doesn’t need to draw attention to her bosom in order to be beautiful and remarkable. I tried out a simple dress with a square collar; I’ll have to think about the witch version of Chanel ;).
Oh, and I remembered Harry's observation in GoF that Narcissa looked as if she smelled something unpleasant - that's what the mouth is all about.
Another picture I have long wanted to do is of Pansy Parkinson – a full-length portrait vaguely inspired by Whistler’s Miss Cecily Alexander. I have done several sketches, but none ever looked right. Yesterday I finally drew one that seems to be going in the right direction; I hope I’ll get there in the end.
Below is a close-up of Pansy’s profile as I want it in the portrait, and another Narcissa – I like her! :)
Edit: I just took the Leaky Cauldron quiz - boy, do I really *want* to know the answers to those questions?! Anyway, this is what I got:
It has taken me some time to realise that one of the greatest gifts HBP brought me by way of story is the character of Narcissa Malfoy. I can’t help it: I like her, and I find her relation with Snape intriguing. Ever since Septimia De Quincey disappeared from the Snape backstory, she took her young husband Rabastan with her, and I needed someone else to fulfil his part in my WIP Art of Darkness. Well, here she is: Narcissa Malfoy.
It is really funny how closely drawing and storytelling are connected for me; I experienced it again while doing this portrait of Narcissa. I found I really got to know her, just thinking about her looks and the way she wears her hair and such; things about her person that were hazy suddenly started to take a solid form. She has become interesting to me both story- and picturewise – maybe there is a one-shot here somewhere, and I should like to picture her alongside Snape as well. – Actually I do have a picture of Narcissa and Snape, based on “Spinner’s End”, but it’s for the Snape the HBP fest and so I can’t post it yet.
One thing I have decided (and that strikes me as important) is that I definitely won’t go for décolleté!Narcissa. Don’t ask me why, but she really doesn’t strike me as the type, though this is the way I have mostly seen her done in fanfic. I have found a model for her that I think much more useful: for those of you who watch Desperate Housewives, I’m thinking more in the direction of a witch version of Bree Van de Kamp – beautiful and sexy, but in a dignified, expensive, classy sort of way, and a devoted wife and mother, with all the positive and negative traits of someone who is socially and financially privileged. I don’t think Narcissa is as sharp-tongued as Bree, and I’m certainly not going to copy her or anything – it’s just the type that strikes me as right. Any relation with Snape has to be seen in its light as well. I picture her as his dream woman, in an intangible, ideal sort of way.
Narcissa equals perfect breeding. She doesn’t wear showy things and doesn’t need to draw attention to her bosom in order to be beautiful and remarkable. I tried out a simple dress with a square collar; I’ll have to think about the witch version of Chanel ;).
Oh, and I remembered Harry's observation in GoF that Narcissa looked as if she smelled something unpleasant - that's what the mouth is all about.
Another picture I have long wanted to do is of Pansy Parkinson – a full-length portrait vaguely inspired by Whistler’s Miss Cecily Alexander. I have done several sketches, but none ever looked right. Yesterday I finally drew one that seems to be going in the right direction; I hope I’ll get there in the end.
Below is a close-up of Pansy’s profile as I want it in the portrait, and another Narcissa – I like her! :)
Edit: I just took the Leaky Cauldron quiz - boy, do I really *want* to know the answers to those questions?! Anyway, this is what I got:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: Thursday, 20 April 2006 03:35 pm (UTC)(and I got a D for Dreadful in that test >< )