The Sleeper's Den

Gawain: The Darkest Hour p. 102

2022-03-17T19:52:58Z

Gentle reader,

Here I am again with a new page of my wildly popular comic, The Darkest Hour. Universally acclaimed on Twitter (1 like), Facebook (2 likes), Tumblr (8 likes) and Instagram (7 likes), this epic, crafted with much sweat, tears, but even more love is bound to assure me a careless old age living off the profits.

...I realised that the last time I posted here, I was on page 86, so - that's a few pages ago! I'll just link you back to The Darkest Hour p. 87 in case you were waiting for that - and which just happens to be baby Arthur being born!

Page 102, incidentally, used to be page 85. The comic has expanded quite a bit in the redrawing, but I hope I'm done now and can just continue to the end with the pages as they were planned.

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sigune @ 2018-12-26T01:34:00

2022-03-12T00:36:22Z

Greetings of the season from Gorlois and Ygraine

Hello hello! No, I haven't been around for ages, but yes, I am still alive! Also, everyone who in the past few years has offered their name and address for my Christmas card list may be expecting a Christmas card — though, mind you, the cards will be horribly late again. They went in the mail on 23 December, meaning they only started their journey towards you on 24 December -_-. Once again, I am terribly sorry.

So, you may ask, are we getting 2012's Christmas card, then? Well, no. The thing is, this year's Christmas card is also my

hoggywartyxmas entry, so I can't post it here until the reveals are up... (I'm also participating in snapecase again this year, so you are welcome to keep an eye on that if you want to see more of my Snape stuff :D...)

BUT I have another excellent reason for digging up this oldie with Gorlois and Ygraine again. I've completely forgotten to mention it hereabouts, but ... my webcomic site is live and the comic is currently being posted on it! New pages go up on Thursdays. The address is gawaincomic.com and the first page is here. I've just now added a thingy where you can get to the next page by clicking on the current one - I hope that's useful... At this moment, 7 pages are up, so you'll read through that rather quickly, but you, know, if you're interested in my Arthurian comic, keep an eye on that space :-).

All my Gawain comic stuff on LJ was hosted on Photobucket, so unfortunately I lost everything and all links were broken when Photobucket decided to cease its hosting services. My Wordpress site will now be the home of the remastered version. Wish me luck! (I'll need it because I'm not a web wizard...)

Anyway - happy holidays to you! I'll be back with Hoggywarty recs and stuff ;-)...

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The Darkest Hour Cover

2022-03-12T00:31:38Z

The Darkest Hour cover

Designed three years ago, finally inked and coloured (...well...): my Darkest Hour cover.

I'm going to have to cut The Darkest Hour in 4 in order to fit it in these 'informal' comics. Oh my goodness — I was so happy to have one good cover, now I'll have to figure out four! :D

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sigune @ 2018-05-20T01:13:00

2022-03-12T00:15:38Z

Hello! I have been a bit quiet because of stuff, but also because I am nearing the end of my fourth year of evening art school, and I am working hard to finish my project. That project is 30 pages of redrawn Gawain comic - that is to say: it’s the first 30 pages of The Darkest Hour, the story of Ygraine and Uther (full length: about 130 pages).

The idea has always been to publish the comic as a webcomic on its own site - that is still what I intend to do. But for my end-of-year project, I’m going to have a few copies of the first part printed. In order to have an idea of how many copies I’d need, thought I’d ask around who would like to own one.

The minimum number of copies is 25. I generally assume that not a lot of people are interested in my stuff, but suppose there are 30 all over the world and I have only 25 copies, well, I’d feel a bit bad about that. So - please let me know if you would like a copy (here, or send me an e-mail to gawaincomic at gmail).

You would get: a 36 page booklet with 30 pages of comic and a few sketch pages. The comic is drawn in black, white and grey. A6 (postcard-sized and cute!) or A5 (…bigger?) - I haven’t decided yet; soft cover. It’s a really informal little affair, no ISBN-number or anything.

I’d ask of you: the print cost + shipping. The printing would cost a maximum of 4€ per comic (£3.5 or $4.5). Shipping will depend on where you are, but will certainly cost more than the comic itself :/.

Interested? Please let me know!

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Easter Eggs

2022-03-12T00:12:33Z

Eileen watches as Severus hunts for Easter eggs

This little painting was made specifically for everyone to whose kind comments I failed to reply in a timely manner in ... January. All through November, December and January, I worked very hard on a specific project at the office that took up most of my time and energy. But other people were busy too, and they replied to their fest comments. So it's me. I am unforgivably disorganised, and at the end of last year and the beginning of this one, it was worse than ever.

I didn't get round to replying, and as the weeks stretched into months, the situation became more and more embarrassing and ridiculous. But the matter never sat well with me — not least because of how much these comments mean to me. So I wanted to apologise with a small gift, on the next gift-giving occasion.

Please, dear reviewer, accept my sincere apology and this Easter egg. I hope you can forgive me for having been such a rubbish fest participant.

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I still have a Dreamwidth account...

2022-03-11T18:50:16Z

Of all the things happening in the world right now, a potential disappearance of LJ seems a discomfort rather than, you know, a really serious issue... But it's still a space that is and has been important to many of us. I just wanted to mention that I set up a Dreamwidth journal back in the day. It contains a back-up up until 2017 - so, that covers my most active period in Harry Potter fandom.

I'm trying to figure out if I can also import my 2018-2022 entries.

In any case: I'll be over there (sigune ) if the plus really gets pulled on poor dear LJ. I hope to find you there again!

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Christmas cards

2017-12-03T21:35:16Z

oooooh boy.

It's been almost a year since I last posted. Let's blame Tumblr and Instagram, where I have been hanging out most of the time (when I was hanging out at all)...

Anyway - I wouldn't want those of you who aren't following my accounts there to miss out on this year's Christmas cards. They will be mighty late, because I still have to draw, print and write them - but they *are* forthcoming.

Don't be shy, send me a pm or an e-mail (severelysigune at yahoo dot co dot uk) if you'd like a card. Doesn't matter that we haven't been in touch for a while.

Well, I'm off to draw now!

Love,

S.

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January 9 - Happy Birthday Severus! + How Not To Make Snape Comics

2017-01-09T22:59:19Z

Happy birthday, Severus Snape!

Because all my plans for birthday drawings have gone awry, on the occasion of Snape's birthday I'm going to dig up what used to be an old favourite and share my comic-making process. Does anyone remember "How Not To Draw Comics"? I did these entries where I documented the making of my first ever complete comic in 18 pages - which was, would you believe it, a Snape comic. I worked on it for years, mostly because I drew a page whenever I felt particularly inspired - which, seeing as we are talking about me, Little Miss No Idea, wasn't very often. My way of working was incredibly chaotic.

Ten years or so later, nothing much has changed.

The reveals for hoggywartyxmas are up, so I can now officially admit to having created Great Balls of Snow. (Being me, I'd actually put my NAME on the title card. I was so very tired at that point I didn't even realise I'd sent a SIGNED entry to an anonymous fest! D'oh!) I have to say, I had a ball working on this thing. It wore me out completely, but boy, was it ever so much fun. However, I felt very bad about it, because I missed two deadlines and was afraid therealsnape would start to think I was a total flake or something. No. I'm just chaotic and slow. (Not when I'm doing my job! Seriously. But when I'm making comics and stuff... Ack.)

Anyway -

Below the cut: lots and lots of images! Lots and lots of sketchy Snape! Developing ideas! Rubbish! If you're interested, and you haven't read the comic yet, I'd say, read it first. It's complete in 41 panels (not pages - just panels), here at Hoggywarty or on Tumblr if you like. And then come back for the Making-Of :).

( How Not To Draw Comics - Great Balls of Snow )

Well, that was the story of that comic. It eventually got done and TRS accepted it. And all was well ;).

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Hoggywarty recs! plus sketchies

2017-01-01T15:53:40Z

Hello hello, happy new year everybody!

I do wish my first post of the year could be one with new drawings, but the thing is, though I have been very productive in December, I don't have anything to show for it as everything is tied up in fests. I did a Big Thing for Hoggywarty and two pictures for Snapecase - in fact I have committed to do a third as a pinch-hit. I do have a few sketches to share (and again, lots more that I can't, because they concern my fest entries).

Hoggywarty Christmas is still at full swing over at hoggywartyxmas, so I have come bearings some recs; these are my favourites so far.

So Bracing (PG-13, 9225 words), by Anonymous, is the tale of how Tom, landlord of the Leaky Cauldron, uses his wisdom and extensive experience as a barman to fix the lives of the Hogwarts Headmistress and a fellow barman in Skegness. Delightful, beautifully crafted, clever and wise. Don't miss the conversation with the mirror.

Friends, Teachers, Countrymen (R, 3700 words), by Anonymous, is the achingly perfect tale of Severus Snape's staff Christmas party during his year as Headmaster. It is very Snape (the worst and the best of him), therefore it made me cry.

Hiring Defense Against the Dark Arts Teachers and Other Unforgivable Acts (PG, 3630 words) by Anonymous. I may be a bit biased here because this is my gift, based on a prompt that I'd wanted to read for a long time :D. We finally get to see what went on behind closed doors, when a new DADA teacher must be found. The story is delightfully understated, with a perfect Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall, and an ending that - well, I shouldn't give that away.

Love Hides in Familiar Faces (G, 4300 words), by Anonymous, is a beautifully-crafted fairytale in which Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, Severus Snape and Horace Slughorn receive a helping ... hand ... from an unexpected party. Lovely and heart-warming.

Exploding Crackers (G) is, very simply, an exquisite (animated!) Christmas picture by an artist whose anonymity I must uphold even though I'd know them anywhere :P. Enjoy!

Finally, have some Snapes on a train...

[The children, from left to right, are Morgana (6), Magnus (10), Alexander (15) and Alba (19)]

...and Snape in a cardie. (Don't ask.)

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2016-12-24T13:13:25Z

My very best wishes to all of you out there! May your Christmas/seasonal holiday of choice be properly merry, and may the new year bring you beauty and friendship and, you know, good stuff!

♥

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Christmas cards

2016-11-20T10:56:04Z

OK, so Photobucket is being infuriating again and not allowing me to upload (or log in, for that matter) :( :( :(. I wanted to show you some teaser sketches I did for this year's Chistmas card, but... no such luck. They are here on Tumblr, if you would like to have a gander. It's an Arthurian card, despite my rather Snapeish output recently - it will feature Gawain, Bedwyr, Cai and Arthur :).

Anyway.

The Christmas card is just about ready (there are some minor tweaks to be done), so this year it could actually arrive on time! It has a more complex image than usual, and I have coloured it digitally - that's a first. I was really worried about having to make a different version with watercolour because I don't trust my digital colouring skills, but it hasn't been necessary. The result doesn't look like any of my other stuff, but I am quite pleased with it :).

As has been my custom for a few years now, I'm going to have the card printed. There will be some 30 or 40, and every year I have enough stock left - so if you would like to receive a card, please don't be shy and send me your address. You are in no way under any obligation to send me a card in return; I'm just doing this for fun.

So, what to do? Just send me your address by e-mail (severelysigune at yahoo dot co dot uk) or by pm on my Dreamwidth, Livejournal, Tumblr or Deviantart accounts.

That's it for now. I need to work on those Snapesy fest entries :P.

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Oh yes, I also drew this

2016-11-20T10:26:43Z

Beardless Snape and Brynhild. I have to say, I feel slightly ashamed for persisting with the dreaded Snape/OFC, even in my more mature years, but seriously, Snape and Brynhild do belong together in my head and I really can't think of any more comforting scenario. Probably because my imagination is very limited.

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Catching-up post

2016-11-20T10:22:34Z

Gosh. I completely forgot to share my last Inktobers... There was a reason - like, I have been working rather hard on my Christmas card :p. Which is done now. I'll make a separate post for it and, you know, ask who wants one. But here are my very Potter Inktobers. Harry and Dumbledore were Tumblr requests.

(This is so me - I started drawing rather randomly on the page and so the broomstick didn't fit on anymore. *sigh* Some friends have been urging me to become a semi-professional artist, but I think you can see why I am not really convinced myself :p.)

(Dumbles deserves a better picture. But at least I gave him nice hair.)

(This is actually A4 size, so it took me more time to finish than is practical for an Inktober. But I had such fun with it. Bearded Snape has become quite dear to me. You can tell how relaxed he is by the fact that you can see BITS OF SKIN. Originally there wasn't an undershirt, but I was shocked at quite how exposed he looked, so I drew it on. I mean, there are points of relaxation that he just won't cross :p...

My two fest entries aren't done yet. Because I want too much. I'm working on them.

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Inktober 2016: day 15

2016-10-15T17:02:29Z

Last one for today, I promise :). On my Tumblr account, I offered to do prompts for Inktober, and here is the first, for cabepfir. She requested a character from Oscar Wilde. I came up with one she probably wouldn't have imagined, but there you go.

You don't really read Wilde for his characters, do you. Most of the time they are vehicles for particular ideas; they aren't really people of flesh and blood. Arguably the most complex of Wilde's characters is Herod in Salomé. Hence: my favourite.

I rather think he steals Herodias's eyeliner.

It bugs me that in the Richard Strauss opera, Herod is turned into a comical character. He isn't comical. If you make him comical, you haven't understood him. No really. You leave my Herod alone.

:P

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So, those Inktobers :P - Gawain edition

2016-10-15T16:49:28Z

I drew this Morgause with little Mordred on Day 5, but was really unhappy with her.

I don't know what it is - Morgause is just difficult? :/

Fortunately on Day 12 I managed a really cute young Gawain. I felt a bit foolish for wanting to draw him playing the flute, because it's tricky to get the hands right - I needed reference for that. But I'm really pleased with the result.

Finally, because my Morgause picture convinced me that I'm useless at drawing women, I attempted a Morgana on Day 14. Morgana nearly always works for me, which is just great. I love Morgana :).

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So, those Inktobers :P - Snape edition

2016-10-15T16:35:35Z

Well here are some Snapes (+ one Brynhild) that I drew for Inktober. Those are days 9, 11 and 13.

...They're not as nice as Day 4, but I'm not finding it easy to come up with something good every day XD. Little Snape portraits are my drawing equivalent of comfort food, so as I try to keep up with Inktober, now and then I take recourse to these simple things.

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Inktober but no Inktober

2016-10-14T16:34:45Z

Okay, this is blech: I wanted to post my Inktobers (9-13) - there are Snapes amongst them - but Photobucket seems to be down. Poo.

Well, I'll take this opportunity to remind you that sign-ups for snapecase are still open. Come on, you know you want to! It's SNAPE!

snapecase: Celebrating Severus Snape throughout his ages!

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Inktober 2016: days 3 & 4

2016-10-04T21:01:45Z

FIRST! I've received really nice and thoughtful comments to my pictures, and I haven't got round to answering them yet. But I will! I'll reply as soon as I can. Sorry for the delay!

Second: Inktober continues.

I'm still keeping up! Yes, it's only day 4, but I don't think I've actually managed 4 Inktober drawings in a row before ;)...

The Day 3 picture was really drawn on 3 October, but I didn't have the time to scan and post it, seeing as I spent all day at work and all night in class. It was drawn in about 10 minutes because I simply didn't have more time but I didn't want to abandon the "one picture a day" thing after only two days :p. Day 4 took about an hour, between 9 and 10 pm, minus the concept which I'd figured out during the day.

I am rather pleased with this one, and not just because it has my beardy post-DH Snape in it ;).

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The Coat

2016-10-02T21:22:27Z

Can't explain why, but this one is kinda dear to me.

I have trouble believing that Tobias Snape ever called his son by that outlandish name of Severus. So in my headcanon he refers to Severus as "young 'un" - which I like very much because it happens to sound almost exactly like "jongen", which is the Dutch word for boy.

On a side note, while it seems quite clear to me that Severus was a neglected child, I don't think his parents are entirely to blame for his strange getup. It looks too much like a child's attempt to dress in a wizard's robes and cape.

I have vivid memories of playing Sheriff of Nottingham in a tunic made of an old tablecloth, a cape made of an old curtain, a number of my mother’s vividly-coloured silk scarves and a pair of white suede boots that were several sizes too large. In my head I looked great in them, but my mum was invariably mortified when she discovered I’d actually left the house dressed like that. It was only the expression on my mother's face that ever made me realise that I didn't quite look the way I imagined I did.

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Inktober 2016: day 2

2016-10-02T20:54:08Z

I spent too much time redrawing Bagheera and Shere Khan today, so I only have two figures on offer :/. Tomorrow I have class, so Day 3 will probably see a quick sketch...

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Inktober 2016: day 1

2016-10-01T21:57:01Z

Combining my class assignment with Inktober, because inky (and I'm behind with class work :p). Here are Mowgli, Baloo and Bagheera reimagined as humans in a Wild West context. We could choose the context we wanted, and, I dunno, I felt like drawing 19th-century cowboy stuff.

Tomorrow: more Bagheera, and Shere Khan. Maybe Kaa, if I get round to that (it would be over-zealous, 'cause the assignment said 'four characters').

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The Smock

2016-09-25T19:34:48Z

It's funny - I used to be really annoyed with the whole Snape-and-Lily thing. I still feel that the whole 'ugly, unpopular boy loses pretty, popular girl to handsome, popular boy who is of course his arch enemy' plot is a big old cliché. But I think that, x years later, I get the dynamic between Severus and Lily better. I don't think Lily was the friend that Severus thought her to be, and I don't buy JKR's comment that 'she could have been interested in him romantically if he hadn't been into Dark Arts'. I think Lily and Severus got on like a house on fire *before Hogwarts*. They clung to each other because they were the only magical children around. For Severus, Lily remains 'the One and Only', but Lily's focus is much less narrow.

That said, I'm having fun imagining them together as children, also because I think Lily must have seen a Severus that nobody else ever saw.

(This is from the notebook I keep for the Snapefic of Doom.)

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Snape, and then some Snape

2016-09-24T18:39:57Z

Oooh, what an exciting time to be back in fandom! Having signed up for hoggywartyxmas, I saw that snapecase is making a return too! Squee! I wish the sign-ups were open already! *dances*

snapecase: Celebrating Severus Snape throughout his ages!

Meanwhile, have a piccy. As you can see, no pencils were harmed in the making of this, because it was drawn directly with ballpoint pen in my notebook, hence the wonky chair. I hope to post some stuff from art school to show how I have been getting on - you'll see we haven't been doing perspective yet ;).

This is where I am with my imagining Snape's life after the Battle of Hogwarts. He has spent 20 years visiting all known (and some unknown) wizarding schools and has been studying magic intensively. Now he is ready to carry out his masterplan of founding a wizarding university. Desmond Avery has been using his network to raise funds, and Brynhild has been concentrating on drawing up the statutes and looking into the legal and organisational side of things.

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I'm sort of back - with stuff

2016-09-04T22:10:44Z

Hello!

Yes, I still exist! And I'm back!

There is good news and bad. The good news is, I have come carrying sketches. The bad news is, they are fan art. Or maybe that is good news to some?

Here is what happened: I read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and I went to the Harry Potter Exhibition that was on show in Brussels this summer, and - well, I'm in full-steam Potterhead mode again :/. I want to draw Snape! (Okay, basically I never stopped drawing Snape, he's just too much fun - but still! I want to draw more Snape!) I even want to write Snape again! I am seriously thinking of picking up my Epic Snapefic of Doom again.

I'm just over halfway in Prisoner of Azkaban, because yes, I need a serious canon refresh if I'm to write HP fic once more. I'm pleasantly surprised by how entertaining I find the books again; I do hope it lasts all the way until the end... My disappointment with Deathly Hallows was fairly monumental. But there are indications that I may have matured in my fandom: I am even getting to terms with Snape not being a Yorkshireman :P.

Anyway, for those who want to know what my Snape looks like these days: have a few outtakes from my sketchbook. First some old stuff...

This is the first elaborate Snape picture I have drawn in a while:

This was well before my reading Cursed Child. I don't know, I just had to draw Snape with a cup of tea and cherry blossoms... Below are a few studies I did for the same picture. ( There is more, and recent stuff too! )

In other news, I passed my exam a few months ago, and I'm back at art school for my third year. It looks like it's going to be ... intense? I'm getting to continue work on my comic, so there will be more of that soon :).

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Season's Greetings!

2015-12-23T20:41:21Z

Have a wonderful Christmas, or whatever you celebrate around this time of the year!

The cards will be ... late :P. I have only just collected them from the printer's this afternoon. As you can see, the drawing got away from me a bit, and too late I remembered why I usually do a simple design for Christmas. Oh and to make matters worse, my computer had another bout of Windows 10 Sickness - it's only because a wonderful colleague let me scan the picture at his home during a lunch break that I got it to the printer in time to get the prints before their holiday closure! True, if I had finished the picture earlier, none of this would have happened, but - you know me. They will be New Year cards this time round...

Thank you for being so kind and wonderful and patient with me. Your support makes me happier than you can possibly know. *hugs*

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