The Creation of Clan von Handbaggen

[Poppy Fields]

A few months ago I received the most surprising - and flattering! - message from HellInAHandbag, she of the zombie lady awesomeness.
After seeing my Poppy Fields sketches, HIAH decided she needed an original piece of art from moi. From moi!
I feel the following sums up how I reacted quite nicely: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!o_O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We discussed back and forth what I could do and settled on an ink drawing, subject matter to be decided by me. MUAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! Silly girl. That's the artistic equivalent of writing a blank cheque :D
And so it began...

Apparently I was in a very Beardsley frame-of-mind when I started sketching out ideas.

The first character to show herself was the taller of the centre standing girls. Her creation was all about the hair; hair so gigantic it needed an outside support structure. Lots of black black black and tiny details. Good lord how I love my technical pens with their precision points! For some reason or another, her legs turned out to be hoofed. Hmm. I guess she's a mixed-breed. The look on her face was a wonderful combination of spoiled and bored and it came to me that she was an older daughter (14?) of a family of some breeding. Well if that was the case, she needed a family!

So the younger sister was born - sullen little thing that she is. There's definitely a hint of lurking evil there too... or maybe not evil, but definitely cruelty (she has dead birds in her hair, after all). Her personality is obviously more uptight, so she was given clothes and hair to match, and a little pet to carry around and fuss over. Any similarity to a certain socialite family at this point is entirely co-incidental ;)

I was going to stop there, but - as happens so often - by this time the drawing had taken on a life of its own and I was no longer in charge of what would and wouldn't take up residence on the paper. Still staying with the defining characteristics of large hair and part-creature, the two oldest sisters (seated) were next. The oldest of the group is on the right; I put her in her early 20's. The sister on the left - part sphinx and the most otherworldly of the girls - is roughly 17. While the oldest is quite shy and quiet and somewhat overpowered by the youngest girls, the sphinx sister holds her own and doesn't put up with their nonsense.

At this stage I wanted to add an Art Nouveau-style background to frame the group and incorporate metallic pens for some shine. I also had an idea to lightly sketch the family residence in the background. I played around with a few layouts in Photoshop, but nothing was working. Then I realised that in order to make the family portrait complete, I needed to include the parents.
The father would have to be a stag, reminiscent of the old horned gods; bringing dark power to the mix. From the physical characteristics of her daughters, the mother would have wings and - of course - hair! I left them as simple outlines, treatment TBD later. When it came time to ink the parents, I didn't want them to be as bold as the central figures, but they needed to be solid nonetheless. I took a chance and started stippling. Magic! I'm sooooo pleased with how they turned out.

Finally, I pieced together the background. It came out a little steampunk, which I quite like; suits the overall mood of the drawing. I was finally able to use my metallic pens yay! Which soon turned to "MOTHERFUCKINGSONOFABITCHWHOREGOATFUCKER!!!!" when the gold pen spooged all over the pristine ink lines. And wouldn't you know it, it's watercolour paper. Off-white watercolour paper. I tried erasing with a cement ink eraser, which the paper did not like at all. I tried taking a sharp scalpel and scraping the top layer of the paper off. Nope, that doesn't work. Don't make me... please don't make me... pleeeeease, nooooooo... White-Out. On off-white paper. You. B****.
I cringe, but the worst spots are somewhat "gone".

HIAH received her drawing the day after I got my zombie lady and there is much love and happy clapping of hands all round.
I feel like I should send her another piece as a "thank you"! No one has ever done me the honour of requesting a special piece created for them and them alone and I really needed the "excuse" to create something completely free from any expectations or limitations. It's been years since I last worked with the ink pens** and it was good to pick them up again and even discover a very effective technique I really enjoy. The whole experience has even given me the little push necessary to indulge my recent "must paint" urges and I have acquired a starter kit of acrylics (24 colours) and a small portable watercolour set (on sale w00t!). Not sure when and how I'm going to use them, but they're there for when the feeling strikes.

Thank you, "Helena"!!! I hope your drawing makes you as happy as you hoped it would, every time you look at it.

** So let me tell you what happens when you store ink pens without cleaning them for 5 years. It's fairly simple: you spend 3 hours bent over a sink rinsing and re-rinsing and swooshing and swirling and flicking inky chunks out of pen parts and 0.25 nibs as you silently curse yourself and swear you'll never. do it. again.
But you will, because you're just that SMRT.

[Poppy Fields]

Oh my GOD! Little rotter! Well, you can assure him that I am very happy with my crappy trade piece ;P (Does he know about the Dark Lady who eats kiddies that sass their parents and say mean things about their art? 'Cos I can get some kids to phone him if you like!)

[Hell In A Handbag]

You should see it in person! It's too gorgeous for words. My youngest stepson said- "Why would she TRADE that for what you did?!" Out of the mouths of babes, eh? or Kids say the darndest s***. ;)

[Poppy Fields]

Oh dear, SFPJ, is it that obvious??? I must admit, I've been hitting the Orient a little hard of late. I didn't realise it could lead to slavery! But wait, slavery of me, or slavery to me? Because I'm not completely averse to the second option. I even have a couple of candidates picked out... ha ha ha!

Thanks, Desirée! If you ever do want something for yourself, you know where to find me :) That particular piece is a one-of, but there's plenty of strangeness left swirling and churning in the forbidden recesses of my mind. I should upload some of my non-pinup stuff...

[Desirée {PL Team}]

Seriously, Poppy. That is incredible. I absolutely LOOOOVE it!
GREAT, GREAT job - to you AND HIAH! :D

[Desirée {PL Team}]

THAT F'ING ROCKSSSSS!!!!!!!!! I NEED one!

[WhoaMama!]

...wow!..

[Poppy Fields]

LMAO! I'm sure we can arrange something that will work, Delyssia. Long-distance relationships are difficult, but if we both work really hard at it... ;D

Thank you, as always, Daddy C for you enthusiastic (and highly absorbent?) cheering! It's been such an amazing experience, the feedback and support I've found here at PL. I shed a happy tear.

[Edson Carlos]

Words cannot describe how incredibly amazing that is Poppy! AMAZING AMAZING WOW WOW SHAMWOW!!! ! !

[Delyssia LaBelle {Madam}]

i love you poppy fields, mary me.