Lanterns in the Sky

Day 38: Last few day's project finally done. :) I found out recently that those floating lanterns featured in Tangled are actually real. Well, maybe without that purple sun on the side...and there's no missing princess....or magic hair....but still! They exist!

It turns out that there's this big festival celebration in Thailand where they release tons of these things into the night. I found some photos of the festivities on shutterstock that are really stunning. I'll put one up below, but I didn't strictly copy any one cloud of lanterns. Just used them for inspiration really. :)

I think it turned out pretty well. I was uncertain about adding more colors into the sky because I was so taken with just the plain blue, but I think I made the right choice.

...I also may have been thinking about what Van Gogh said in Doctor Who about the sky being all different colors.....

n_n; Oh well. I like it. It turned out well. I want to make a bigger version (this is just a sketchbook sized one). I'll have to look at the remains of my Bristol pad, but I know it's bigger than a normal sheet of paper...I think that'll have enough room though for a good balance between up close, detailed lanterns, and background speck-lanterns.

I'm thinking about turning this into a pendent too. You know, like one you wear. It think it'd look cute smaller. And with any luck I might be able to sell a few and raise money for the ongoing Botcon quest.

That and if it's smaller maybe I won't see all those early mistakes glaring so sharply at me... ^,,^

It would also give me the excuse to add glitter! xP

 A reference/source-like/inspiration thing...

For Those That Feel Hopeless....

...For those that feel hopeless...

...

He is so tired. Day by day, hour by hour, the ring grows heavier. She knows each step he takes brings her closer to her deathbed and so she fills his heart with a sorrow so heavy that it now drags him down to the broken ground. His heart aches in his chest from the weight of it and his voice rasps quietly against the shattered white stones as he realizes something.

"I can't do this, Sam."

Across from him, also taking shelter from the Winged Nazgul amid  the white stones, Sam looks up. He knows what Frodo means.

"I know." He tells him, sounding as if he might finally break down and cry. "It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here."

Only there is no use wishing they were somewhere else now, he realizes, and crying will help even less than wishing.

"But we are." He says in a stronger voice. "It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?"

Frodo has been wondering the same thing and he hopes that Sam has an answer, because he cannot see the way out anymore. All that remains now is the weight of the ring where she rests, deceptively small, against his chest. He cannot even remember the Shire anymore...

But Sam doesn't know any of this, for which Frodo is glad. Otherwise, he may have stopped speaking right there, with that question hanging between them like an axe.

"But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow." Sam tells him in voice filled with hope. "Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

Frodo's not sure if he believes his friend, but he has to know the answer. He has to hear what they're supposed to be holding onto. He had a feeling he knew what it was before, but now he cannot remember what it is...

It is all he can do to speak and even then his voice is weary and threadbare.

"What are we holding onto, Sam?"

Sam doesn't tell him right away. Instead he leans over and grabs Frodo under his arm and helps pull him back up to his feet. He steadies him when Frodo threatens to fall with the weight of the ring and he does not let go of his shoulder as he answers, blue eyes very bright.

"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.”

...

E. Aster Bunnymund's Warren

Day 26 - So the day that was supposed to be the day after Christmas isn't too soon to post something Easter related is it? ;3

As you may or may not have been able to tell from the title, this is the home of one E. Aster Bunnymund. But you probably know him better as the Easter Bunny. :3 He just made his newest debut in Rise of the Guardians, but it turns out that a series of books came out first (I don't know why I'm surprised since pretty much everything is based off of books nowadays. I'm not complaining exactly, just wondering why I'm surprised.)

Muddling Through Cover - Unfiished

Day 9 - I took some photos today, but I didn't like them. So instead I went and found this. It's an unfinished painting of mine that I'm using as a cover to a fanfiction of mine called Muddling Through. (Found Here if you're interested) I've worked on it some more since I took this photo, but I haven't had a chance to update it yet. The young woman is named Aria and yes, I know she still looks a little off, even though it took me forever just to get her looking this...human... n_n;

She's listening to Judy Garland's version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Which, incidentally, is the first recorded version of that song ever made. She sang it for her movie Meet Me In Saint Louie. I like it best because the last few lines of the song are different from the version you hear most of the time. It ends:

"Someday soon, we all will be together. If the fates allow. Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow. So have yourself a merry little Christmas now."

Hence the title of my story. :) Anyway, that's my favorite rendition. I like the detail the full size of the photo has so I'm going to post that next to save on room. :)

Merry Preemptive Christmas! :3

A Tale as Old as Time

So Beauty and the Beast returned to the big screen last Friday and as part of my little sister's Christmas present, she and I went to see it. Belle is her very favorite Disney Princess you see and I painted a pretty little picture for her. I want to post some photos of it, but I'm too weary to go take pictures of it right now. That, and I don't know where the camera is...

So here is a very lovely substitute.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun. I forgot how pretty that movie was. And we saw it in 3-D too so that was nice. I know there's really no difference between the 3-D and the original movie, but I think it's fun to see the princess movies on the big screen. It's so cool. :D

Still, even though I don't have pictures of my picture, I still have pictures...if you put that all together that equals a lot of pictures. Including the beginning which is, in my humble opinion, is a truly brilliant prologue. I mouthed that whole thing in the theater because I love it so much. And that guy's voice? Amazing! Oh, and it's actually Cogsworth... ;3

And the ever lovely rose...

"And for once it might be grand, to have someone...understand.

I want so much more than they've got planned..."

One of the best reprises in all of Disneydom.

Don't do it!

What part of don't do it do you not understand?!

She's in for soooo much trouble...

Or maybe not \/

And yes, that white border came with the picture.

Belle in all her beauty.

And here are some sketches that I found when I was looking at castles for an art project. I thought they were really cool.

It's really interesting to see how things translated from storyboard to silver screen.

I got this over at The Disney Princess blog on tumblr because I thought it was so funny. That part is awesome! Poor Beast. Maybe Lumiere isn't the best one to ask about hair because, well, he doesn't have any at the moment...

;) Hope you liked them. I've got some more stashed away somewhere. n_n They'll make it up here sometime. That and I have lots more from other Disney verses too. :D Love it!

n_n He he, later!

Rose

Castle in the Clouds

An attempt to recreate one of the most classic fairy tales, Cinderella, and the magic that enshrouds her. I hope you enjoy a taste of the just created beginning.

A Castle in the Clouds

            She used to have the most exquisite dreams.

            There was always a castle, and then something strange would happen, like a fairy appearing in a shower of magic dust, or one of the garden pumpkins turning into a shining carriage or the mice standing up on two feet and talking to her; and then after a lot of dancing, the dream would have a happy ending and she would wake up with the most beautiful feeling in the world. That she was beautifully loved.

            But nowadays it was only a dream.

            Now she woke up feeling tired and sore, every muscle in her body aching from the work her so called sisters put her through each and every day.

            “At least they didn’t make me snake the drain yesterday.” She thought dimly as she lay there in bed a moment.

            Then she sighed. “And that’s my very first thought of the day. Brilliant.”

            She dressed without sound, since of course there were no talking mice, much less anyone else she could talk to this early in the morning up in the attic. She stamped her feet to shake off the cold and promptly tripped over the broom she had dropped on the floor last night. She stumbled against the rickety bed frame, one hand clapping automatically over her mouth so she wouldn’t shriek and wake the house.

            But luck was with her today. She fell over onto what passed for her mattress without anything more than a muffled squeak. She lay there stiffly for a moment, waiting to see if her hawk of a step-mother had heard anything.

            But the house remained asleep.

            The girl relaxed against her bed, hand finally leaving her mouth as she took a deep breath. She shivered into the thin blankets, but as much as she just wanted to lay there and go back to sleep, she knew she couldn’t. She didn’t want to risk attracting her step-mother’s attention today of all days.

            So after a moment she pushed herself off the bed. It squeaked and creaked even from her thin weight and when she had found her feet again, there were imprints left in her cracked skin from the sharp bedsprings.

            Feeling weary and sore, she went over and opened the shutters, despite the chill outside, and leaned against the windowsill. For a long moment she looked out at the sleeping winter town spread out below her.

            Everything was white and silver. Snow rested on the rooftops. Doves rested under the eaves and gables of the little town’s houses. And off in the distance, sparkling as cleanly as the fresh fallen snow, stood the palace from her dreams.

            It rose, tall and inspiring, against the bright blue of the sky, stretching for what seemed like miles in silver grandeur. It was the most beautiful place in the capital city of Tremaine, and she rather thought that it was the probably the most beautiful thing in the world.

            “At least the palace is real.” She thought from where she leaned against the windowsill.

            Early morning mist blew off of the large fresh water lake that rested behind the palace, unseen. The mist swirled in front of the palace, obscuring it’s foundations and grounds, making it look like it was floating on top of a sea of clouds with nothing but sky underneath it.

            “Because that’s all it really is,” the girl whispered to the doves nesting under her own house’s eaves, “a castle in the clouds.”

            She knew she was mixing metaphors, but to her mind that didn’t really matter.

            Because all that mattered in the end was the broom lying at her feet.

            She sighed dejectedly. Her breath created a little puff of white in the chill morning air. Winter was coming to a close, but spring was slow in coming this year and it was still cold outside this early in the morning. With a little shiver, she turned away from the window. Resigned, she picked up the broom still on the floor and headed downstairs to start on her never ending chores.

            Behind her the window remained open, the palace resting in the far off clouds, coated in the silver mist of the morning.