#el fauno
[ h ] ere are some cosplay comparisons !
~
Characters in order from left to right:
Inquisitor Lithoniel Lavellan, Rabbit, Nightcrawler, Taako, Azazel, The Faun, Mollymauk
Okay so this drawing a million years old but there’s a PRETTY NEAT STORY ATTACHED TO IT
So I drew this last spring-ish. It was the first time I’d ever dabbled in detailed realism, and I was pretty proud of it. So I, in my naivety/slight high from success, had the brilliant idea to put it on twitter. Getting even more carried away with myself, I had the follow up idea, ‘hey, maybe I should tweet it to the fabulous Doug Jones. If he sees it, awesome! If not, no harm done’.
A few days later I receive the following ping:
AAANNNDDD CUE THE ROCKET SHIP THAT BLASTED ME OVER THE MOON
Receiving such lavish praise from 'El Fauno’/Mr. Jones himself was an incredibly surreal and humbling experience, one that I’ll certainly never forget or take for granted.
But THAT’S NOT THE END OF THE STORY: things went from SUPER AWESOME to LIMB FLAILING AWESOME a few months later when I found out that the magnanimous Mr. Jones was making an appearance at a con not too far away.
My first thought was 'naaaah, probably shouldn’t, too last minute,’ (as I’d heard about the con the day of). But, well, I did anyway.
I was able to get a decent resolution print done in short order before heading up to the con. I wandered around for a little while before making my way to Mr. Jones’s booth, which is always a lovely experience in and of itself (I’d actually met Mr. Jones a few years previous at another con, and being able to meet and chat with him is always an absolute delight. I can say with fairly resolute certainty that he’s one of the kindest, friendliest, humblest actors/professionals in con attendance, and without a doubt, if you ever get the chance to visit with him at a con in your area, any extra effort it might take to do so will be more than worth it.)
So I approach the booth, a little nervous, because you know, art and self-confidence and the frailty of the human ego and all, and we say hi and he asks my name etc., then I begin to pull out the drawing asking 'I hoped you could sign some fan art for me?’
What I WAS expecting: 'Oh this is really nice, you’re really good!’
What I was NOT expecting: For him to look up from the print in utter incredulity and ask “I’ve seen this before–recently! Are you the artist?”
ahaaaaa he recognized it aosiekdjgkjhslwekjr
He was incredibly enthusiastic and kept lavishing all these generous compliments, saying how much it looked like a photograph and that it was even better than certain works of the other venders at the con (!!!) He then went on to tell me the behind the scenes story of how he couldn’t see through the Faun headpiece fabrication during that scene (the eyehole was actually in the Faun’s nose, but the visibility of it was pretty dismal) and accidentally kept poking Ivana Barquero/Ofelia in the eye. xD
I still have this framed and hanging in my room 8) It’s a terrific encouragement whenever I’m feeling down-and-out. I was in kinda a warm, fuzzy, surreal haze throughout the whole encounter, and I was probably super awkward and hard to talk to because my brain was frazzled with giddiness (yeah, I’m one of those…), but I do remember Mr. Jones being immeasurably gracious and patient and generous with me, and at one point he asked if I had any more art he could see. I was disappointed in myself because, at the time, I really didn’t. I mean I had dumb doodles and personal pieces I’d lost interest in, but nothing of a similar caliber as the PL drawing, because at the time, it was my first ever/only attempt at such detailed realism.
Well, a year and a half later, I finally have time to do more arty things, (also I found my stylus after 7ish months without it -_- ) and anyway THAT’S THE STORY
TL;DR: Doug Jones an incredible human being and actor whose monsters/creatures/and-or otherwise will always have a special place in my heart
