Jet Korro (returns)

Jet’s had his ears lowered! 

  

 Ok so although we’ve met him twice before and had not one but two stabs at sketching his portrait we realised we’ve never sat down to interview Jet, what better opportunity then than his arrival at the studio to show off his freshly chopped locks?

Still standing at 6ft 7in tall and a little eccentric in his behaviour Jet is an amiable 19year old with an acute addiction to video games. Therefore to begin with whenever we asked Jet a question it took him a good five minutes or more to process and respond since his eyes were glued his hand-held device. Then when he did manage to wrench his attention away from the screen, his answers didn’t make any sense seeing as he had only heard a portion of what we asked. 

Thankfully convincing him to put the game away wasn’t too tricky, however without the distraction in hand he opened up like a grimoire and began spouting way more information than necessary. In the space of sixty seconds we learnt that Jet is an adventurer of sorts, he can’t swim, his favourite colour is black, he has minor OCD for symmetry, has a dire fondness for cats and cat related things, suffers from light sensitivity and low blood pressure that causes dizzy spells and black-outs, has fantastic flexibility and night-vision, loves his shades, and the one we found most peculiar and amusing is that the very tall Jet is apparently afraid of heights.

He also seemed to enjoy sharing even the most intimate details of his private life in detail as though flamboyantly parading around in his underwear. Jet explains this as compulsive honesty. He relays that he gets over-excited when meeting someone new and that he can’t help but overload them with pointless details and stories. Immediately after which he decided it was important to tell us that until recently his favourite food was eggs on toast but that he has just adapted his diet to a purely noodle and bread regime.

Fair to say then that Jet rambles a lot and not just in the country. He rarely gets straight to the point and seems to have a knack for finding the most convoluted way to tell his story.  His outlook on life the universe and everything is in his own words, ‘things are what they appear to be until they no longer appear to be what they are.’ An observant character who notices details others might miss at first glance he does tend to over-complicate matters. Thus Jet has adopted a method of decision-making that involves dithering and procrastinating until the presented choice is made for him. 

Jet’s biggest bugbear in life is the need to sleep. He wishes he never had to slumber but informs us matter-of-factly that he understands naps are necessary to move on in life. When asked to explain we realise that Jet seems to think that it’s normal to wake in a different room, town or even country to the one he fell asleep in. He calls it ‘sleepeportation.’ Which we discovered is a term he invented roughly 30 seconds prior to uttering it, that translates to, ‘sleep teleportation.’ To elaborate he decides to regale us with an anecdote about how he once thought he woke up underneath a dragon but after a fit of blind panic realised that a gecko had just fallen asleep on his face.

He states that he likes to help others when he can and will often put himself out to do so. However from witnessing the extent of his game addiction we can’t imagine him going out of his way very often. He shows us the pixelated names of his closest friends on his screen and then mentions that he’d quite like to be a dragon tamer or a cat breeder, or a cat, or failing that he’s quite good at ‘stick twirling.’

We jokingly suggest he sticks to the latter only to discover that, as it happens, Jet really is quite nifty with a Bo staff. He explains how he started staff fighting as a young child after he found he was fascinated by playing with sticks. He taught himself many new ways to bruise his forehead via twirling and twisting the bamboo canes in his garden before his grandfather took note and mentored him in the art. Jet says he doesn’t miss much of the quiet life back home with his folks but that he does miss regular mealtimes. Quite the antisocial, social butterfly he’s never lonely as he tends to get on well with others and makes friends easily. Besides as he jests, he’s always got himself to talk to and his gaming station.

There were a few brief moments where Jet appeared to show glimmers of high intellect and we wondered if he simply chooses to play the fool. Then he would say something nonsensical just to remind us what a tall, ditzy blonde he can be, making us conclude that the air up there must be as thin as he is.

Happy Valentine's!

So here’s the card I made for my beloved this Valentines in lieu of his surprising me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers ^^ (and waaay too much chocolate – woot!)

We never normally celebrate so it was nice to this year :)

Ann Cyncaid

Interviewing vampires usually unnerves us not only because they have the potential to kill and/or alter us to be like them but also because it means that the session has to take place at night and we really like our sleep. Having previously met Ann Cyncaid we were more afraid of dozing off during another painfully awkward interview than for our lives. 

She continues to use the pseudonym Cyan in place of her real name, is currently 24years of age and is still a waif-like 5ft 2in tall. For the most part she remains a timid, introverted and sensitive character who is overly-cautious and highly introspective. Knowing that the kind and soft-hearted are easily trampled we try to be sympathetic by not yawning too often and feigning interest on the odd occasion where she speaks without prompt. Much of the following information is therefore subjective and gleaned from the sparse few questions she was able to answer.

In many ways Cyan is the embodiment of your atypical ‘vampire who doesn’t want to be,’ a pathetic half-starved wretch whose self-esteem went on hiatus and never returned. Perhaps a little less crushed under the destructive weight of depression than the first time we met, Cyan is still a miserable soul prone to tearful moments and emotional outbursts. Her bleak and ultimately negative outlook means we’d probably have had more fun interviewing a limpet. 

A social outcast by her own doing, she inadvertently makes situations such as this one more problematic than they are which is quite a feat considering her origins. Having a mind ravaged with guilt and dark thoughts, it is apparent that she often allows her fears and worries to consume her. Whilst we appreciate much of this anxiety is justified it does prove difficult to hold a conversation when the other party is continually looking over their shoulder and jumps at the slightest sound.

During the interview she nervously gnaws the corner of her mouth and constantly fiddles with the hematite band around her thumb. Being a lip-biter appears to have caused scarring and indicates it’s something she does frequently to the point where it repeatedly bleeds and heals otherwise no mark would remain. Her anxious habits are most distracting and when questioned about the origins of her ring she clams up as though we had asked what colour knickers she is wearing.

Although usually of a demure nature Cyan’s excruciating insecurity makes her liable to catastrophic thinking and the occasional bout of melodrama. Clearly uncomfortable in her own skin, she is very aware of personal space and dislikes being touched. To say she is hypersensitive would be an understatement, plus we never thought we’d meet anyone who could best our writers when it comes to ridiculously lavish over-exaggerations.

What is perhaps surprising about her lack of self-confidence is the fact that it is coupled with the sheerest determination we have thus far witnessed. Whilst on the one hand she spends a lot of time lost, confused and blubbing like a baby, on the other she dropkicks every challenge life throws at her so squarely in the jaw she may as well be made of metal. It’s enough to make one’s head spin, but therein lies the nature of her depression; she simply cannot recognise her own successes. To do so would be like admitting that it’s ok to keep breathing, which would in turn mean that it’s ok to be Cyan and a vampire, which she intrinsically ‘knows’ to be incorrect and won’t be told otherwise.

Thus Cyan only feels justified when berating herself and believes she deserves to be punished. She mentally tortures herself for every little mistake and scrutinises every part of her being whilst glossing over all the faults of others, even other vampires. Most of her woe is self-inflicted and likely existed before she was sired; being vampiric is simply another convenient excuse for self-flagellation. Yet for all her melancholy she has a fierce will to live and strong sense of moral grounding, she will readily fight for her beliefs and those she cares about.

It strikes us that Cyan could probably use a sharp wakeup call followed by a big motherly hug, however by the end of the interview her eyes were a hunger-ravaged yellow so don’t judge us for not volunteering, ok?

Ake Odomko

Now we’ve met Ake briefly before when interviewing Omo, but never had the opportunity to sit down and talk to her one on one, particularly as in the previous session we were more concerned with containing her husband and stopping our employees from exploding out of every available exit like exasperated pellets from a malfunctioning shotgun. 

We were grateful then that she didn’t bring Omo along to this meeting, seeing as we are already short-staffed and the sight of terrified workers fleeing the studio is proving rather detrimental to our recruitment campaign.

Not nearly as threatening in looks as her partner, Ake Odomko is still a rare sight to behold. Standing 5ft 11in tall and at 27 years old, she is a slim but shapely woman with excellent posture, a graceful poise and wisdom beyond her years.  

Knowing her to be a snake anthropomorph (related to the Pope’s pit viper) and the fact she is partner to the overly-aggressive Omo, we had expected she would be a hard and brash woman, possibly with a short temper. Instead Ake proves to be very placid, relaxed and genuinely in simpatico with her surroundings. Her warm and gentle personality came as a welcome change to the many fire and brimstone, moody teenage, psychopathic, serial killing non-sequitur individuals we interviewed in 2012 (Cursed Luk!).

Ake certainly has an aura of tranquillity and speaks in a surprisingly deep and rounded voice. She is beyond patient, a good listener and a calm mediator, truly the yin to Omo’s yang. A guru to her beliefs, she practices and teaches meditation and healing. 

Ake likes to speak at length of the benefits of inner harmony and balance; she preaches that the attainment of a sound body, mind and soul should be the pinnacle goal of all living things. She tells us that the triad of body, mind and soul should function as equal parts of the whole self, and in turn the whole self should function as an equal part to nature and the surrounding world, or as she serenely clangs, ‘all is one and one is all, many pieces and none at all.’

Her species are primarily nocturnal but in lieu of her love for Omo and teaching she often switches her waking hours to suit the situation; or as she likes to put it, ‘as nature asks Ake will answer.’ We guess her statement is meant to be prolific but can’t help childishly tittering at the fact it sounds more like she has an incontinence problem. Thankfully she smiles and brushes off our amusement.

Infuriatingly Ake always speak in third person. Whether this is an ophidian trait or something to do with being a priestess is unclear. Either way it’s rather grating to be presented with a convoluted string of speech that forces us to sit and untangle it before we have a clue what she is on about.

For example when asked why she never references herself in first person her response is, ‘Ake only uses the name she was given. It is not Ake’s place to take personal possession, even in identity it is improper for Ake to stake claim in selfish words such as I or mine because Ake is but one part of a greater whole in which there is no singular me, only us, as all living things are one and the same, as we are one and the same.’

We’ll give you a minute to read that back three of four times before you presumably conclude that Ake sounds like a stark-raving hippy that ingested too many fairy rings in an attempt to reach enlightenment.

This likely doesn’t sit well with fellow followers of Evyn as Ake is a devout believer of his teachings second only to her own religion. Although she is less the peace and love kind of free-spirit you might imagine and more of a centred warrior-priestess. She can certainly handle herself in combat and appears to have no problem in keeping bestial Omo in check. 

We suppose if he gets too out of hand she can always pump him full of neurotoxic venom, however it is more Ake’s style to induce calm in her enemies and provide healing should they need it. She considers physical violence as rarely necessary but carries a 6ft maple staff which is bound in vines and crowned by a large shard of pink Danburite for just such occasions. (We like to think she secretly also carries it because it gives off that bohemian-chic meets mysterious-priestess-of-the-wild kind of vibe - you know the one.)

In conclusion, we admit we can imagine sitting and meditating around Ake’s leafy shrine with a nice cup of jasmine tea, the kind of reclusive holiday one goes on to feel better about the fact that they actually couldn’t care less about nature. Yet, in all honesty, as pleasant as Ake is, our employees concur that it wouldn’t take long for her halcyon attitude to get on their nerves and that’s only if she refrained from speaking as we are already sick of hearing her name every time she opens her mouth.

First post 2013

So how’s 2013 finding everyone? 

It’s been a bit of a slow and sluggish start for me, hiding indoors from the ever-growing mounds of snow that are already as tall as I am.

Ok so I’ve been slacking somewhat in not blogging anything for 2013 yet, I will admit I actually haven’t drawn a thing since the start of the year, yikes!

I had planned to start creating more scenes with multiple characters this year, more complex work true but ultimately more rewarding to work on and look at when complete. However, writing inspiration took hold and thus as a firm believer in striking whilst the iron is hot I’ve instead invested my time in frantically scribbling it all down. 

Lucky for you blog followers then that I outlined and finished several portraits way back in December, so yes, a new portrait will be posted soon, or as soon as I get my nose out of all this writing and research I’ve buried myself under.   

Hurrah!

Merry Xmas ^^

Ho Ho Hmm...

I'm not great at festive things but here's a group shot anyways.

 Cheers!

 We're wondering who took this photo as the only person obviously missing from this group is Ezra's blind sister Arian...also we're pretty sure there was a competition for the most camp elf costume here, Jet naturally wins although Alyx has it a close second.

  

 Also, also, I'm totally not bitter that I wasn't invited.

Totally.

************************

Sooo...badly captured from left to right/foreground to background to foreground are: 

Lenya, Amber and Petra dressed as angels, Argo and Charrock behind a centre-stage Panda and the ever-tall Hvidsten, then Ezra and Alyx above Jet - Si'Ra is somehow entangled with the tree at the top right and Cyan's hair skims the right-hand foreground. 

Which leaves only one thing left to say and that is 

 'Pass the turkey would you?'

Merry Xmas!! :D

Happy Birthday Jethro! :D

Here's the image my beloved requested for his 24th birthday, one of Lire and Keir (because their names rhyme of course - why else?!) We think it turned out rather nicely so hope you enjoy. 

'Anything You Can Do.'