"A Wish To Be Reunited, Come True" Illustration by Mutter_Butter · 4:36am June 29th
A Wish To Be Reunited, Come True
Illustration by Mutter_Butter
This illustration portrays a moment within the interconnecting Extra Chapter: To Love and Be Loved, of the story "A Kindled Change". It depicts the reunion that happened after Chrys was separated from Twilight by the cave as its mouth closed. The amount of time that had happened between these two events is undetermined, although it's safe to guess that it must've been months maybe even a year. It's only until Twilight ascends to the Princess of Friendship that she has the necessary magical power in order to open the slumbering cave once more, finally reuniting with the changeling she so dearly missed and vice-versa.
I hope those who follow me still recognize that name. It's a pretty important one concerning my history on this site, since without her, I likely wouldn't have stuck around. For those who don't, Mutters was the first artist I ever commissioned anything for my fanfictions here on this site. I can directly link my desire to keep writing to her, as without her, my enthusiasm and love for my stories would have stagnated and dropped off before I had the chance to continue past A Kindled Beginning. She is the reason why I feel so attached to that small little love bug, as her illustrations helped me immensely to get a good feel and image of her character. And my appreciation for art is in large part thanks to her.
It has been a long time now since I've had the pleasure to work with her. The last one we did was one of ol' Fimbulpur and Chrys nearly a year and a half ago. At that point, I began a small little collaborative project to get one piece of artwork done for each of the chapters in the original story for Chrys, A Kindled Change, each done by a different artist (with a few exceptions). And it goes without saying, it was always my intention to have Mutters illustrate for that story too. It just wouldn't have felt right to not have Mutters be a part of this project, as her art holds the most sentimental and nostalgic value to me.
Time and circumstances eventually pushed back my plans by a lot, and as I tried to focus my dwindling time on my other stories, continuing that collaborative project got left at the tail end of my priorities. I hate to admit it, but there was a period in time I was so stressed, I'd all but forgotten about it! Still, there's no way I could've actually forgotten. Perhaps its very egoistical and self-centered of me, but I revisit Chrys' story on occasion every few months. I still make slight corrections and adjustments each time, since I'm not a very good editor myself and a lot tends to slip my "fine" eye. Outside of that, I quite enjoy them since it reminds me of all the work and heart I placed into them. The same goes with a lot of my stories on this site. So I was occasionally reminded that I needed to include Mutters. This project of mine... Nay, A Kindled Change would not be officially complete without her handiwork!
The story technically still needs one more illustration to be feature complete. One chapter still remains. But if I never get around to finding someone for it and the last illustration never gets done, just know it doesn't matter. The story is now truly well and complete.
I might still go back and fix a few things though, maybe.
Back to the topic at hand, let's talk about the art! I said this earlier, but Mutter's art really is very quite nostalgic for me. I really did miss her work, and working with her too! Every iteration from sketch to completion, I could see all the careful adjustments and considerations she made, like the painstaking process of softening each shadow and line for all the things not in the center focus of the shot to make a depth of field effect. I know a lot of it was done by hand as there's vast differences between shadows in some iterations to the others, meaning she likely went back to redo them in certain parts.
Mutters has always had the expressions down pat, and I never had to change a thing after my initial instruction for them. Or any of the multitude of commissions I ever gave her. Which is saying something, since she still has the most commissioned I've asked someone for! Same thing for the poses, since I don't ever remember asking for readjustments in that regard either. In fact, she even did a slight tweak to my references so she could get the emotion of the moment better, and I couldn't have agreed to her change more! These two things might not sound like a big deal, but for me who has the spine of a jellyfish when it comes to telling an artist I'm not happy about something, it's especially helpful and wonderful for me when I don't feel I ever have to voice those thoughts. My utter trust in Mutters still remains, despite the length of time since our last work.
Finally, it was also Mutter's idea to add a small little detail in there in a very subtle way. Something that pertains to the story. Initially I wanted to go with something more outlandish, but elegant solution she came up with was far superior. If no one finds or understands it, that's fine. But the fact that it exists makes me happy. It's a detail only for searching eyes who love the story as much as I do. It's a pretty good filter. ^^.
Anyways, that's all from me for now. Until next time! Ciao.
Oh but before I go! Here's a small added bonus that Mutters made for me.
I can never get enough of my cute little girl, and it made me quite happy to receive it. Hopefully, you can share in that happiness too.
Love it!
If I were in your shoes, I'd definitely commissioned a lot too. Seeing something you wrote in art form must be a special inspirational feel
Keep being awesome.
Loved the story so far
I've been hoping to one day get artwork for my own stories commissioned, since beautiful artwork adds a ton to a tale! I'm glad you got to have so much of Chrys' tale illustrated, man. Now, it's hard to imagine her as anyone else but an adorable love bug.
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Thank you guys for the kind words! And you're definitely right Forca. It's quite magical. I hope to get good enough at drawing some day (practicing with the help of Dama) so that I can start making my own illustrations and maybe illustrations for my friends too, since I want for them to feel the same way I do. A while back I even bought a feature-rich drawing tablet, but it'll be a while before I'm confident in making something for someone.
Oh! I realized I left out the little extra portrait that Mutters made for me, so I added it to the tail end of this blog if you guys want to see it too.
Need to finish this story
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Honestly I've thought about how I could share this feeling of mine with my fellow writers and especially my friends. It's one thing to read about art, it's another to experience it firsthand! As you're one of my best friends here on Fimfiction GJ, you're one of the people I hope to help one day. I mentioned it in my other comment here on this blog post, but I've been practicing drawing! For a good while now, I bought a tablet in order to help me do so. I even bought an iPad at the behest of my artistic sister and in recommendation by Dama.
I'm definitely still not ready to gift anyone anything, but if I can get good enough to do so, I'd love to make stuff for ya. Heck I've even thought about throwing money at an artist to commission for my friends, but I realize most people aren't comfortable with that kind of financial charity.
Until such a time comes though, all I've got for you is a flimsy promise
Some would say I shouldn't split my artistic focus so much, especially when I'm still busy with my stories, but bah! No one said I can't do all the things in my head.
This is one of my favorite stories.