The Inevitable Side-Effect
Sep. 16th, 2011 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinWe interrupt our regular programming of idealistic men dying needlessly in pursuit of their goals to bring you ... um ... idealistic men dying needlessly in pursuit of their goals in slightly more archaic costumes!
I've been working a lot this week. (A lot.) The coincidence of that with there being a thing on the radio that I quite like, and a number of meetings in which I do mostly listening, means that it spills into my sketchbook somewhat.
I feel a bit like I got a box for my birthday once that was beautiful in itself and filled with lovely and interesting things, the delights of which I have enjoyed thoroughly for many years in many different ways, but only just now I've found a little sub-compartment that I've overlooked and it turns out to be crammed with awesome.
And that awesome is named Combeferre.
Of course, it helps that he's played magnificently by one of the few voices I recognise, because Carl Prekopp has not only played 'Atch' Atkinson in the dramatisation of Worst Journey, but also every young male Pratchett lead in those radio plays. It also helps that Combeferre and I see eye to eye on the matter of quality urban tomatoes, and the difficulty in acquisition thereof. It also also really helps that the first time I saw the play actually onstage, that character made such a visual impression on me that I remembered which line of a certain song he sang so I could look up the lyrics when I got home and find out what his name was, and also based my design of Rufus Scrimgeour on him (aging him up a bit, obviously). When I expressed this to fairy_gany, she sent me the description of his personality from out of the actual book, and lo, he was even more awesome than even Mr Prekopp had led me to believe! I don't know if I'm quite ready for the book yet – I'm enjoying the radio play far too much right now and anyway my reading time is scant, and limited mostly to polar stuff – but it's nice to know that my magic box has a little trapdoor that opens into a MUCH BIGGER box with even more stuff in it.
Anyway. One of the things I especially like – and this is entirely down to Victor Hugo*, not Mr Prekopp or even the character himself – is that, at the most important time of his life, Combeferre has a cold. I don't know why this appeals to me so much, but I think it's genius! No one seems to remember colds when they go to write a story, either you're perfectly healthy or you've got a potentially life-threatening disease that can be used either for the plot or to drum up sympathy. But it's just a cold! I love it when the ordinary and forgettable is actually remembered and used, it makes whatever-it-is so much more relatable and real.
So the unrest in Paris is coming to a head, the ABC are making their great stand against the forces of tyranny or whatever, and Combeferre, who has apparently been looking forward to this and planning for some time, is congested and tired and his head's in a fog and he just really wants a decent tomato.
If you'd like a taste of what I'm talking about, Episode 18 is a good place to start.
... Just to prove I don't play favourites (I totally do), have some Grantaire and Marius. I'm not at all sold on Marius' design but I can always go back and play with it some more. Also: not a big fan of Tombow brush pens, too soft and crumbly, give me Staedtler any day.
I've been working a lot this week. (A lot.) The coincidence of that with there being a thing on the radio that I quite like, and a number of meetings in which I do mostly listening, means that it spills into my sketchbook somewhat.
I feel a bit like I got a box for my birthday once that was beautiful in itself and filled with lovely and interesting things, the delights of which I have enjoyed thoroughly for many years in many different ways, but only just now I've found a little sub-compartment that I've overlooked and it turns out to be crammed with awesome.
And that awesome is named Combeferre.
Of course, it helps that he's played magnificently by one of the few voices I recognise, because Carl Prekopp has not only played 'Atch' Atkinson in the dramatisation of Worst Journey, but also every young male Pratchett lead in those radio plays. It also helps that Combeferre and I see eye to eye on the matter of quality urban tomatoes, and the difficulty in acquisition thereof. It also also really helps that the first time I saw the play actually onstage, that character made such a visual impression on me that I remembered which line of a certain song he sang so I could look up the lyrics when I got home and find out what his name was, and also based my design of Rufus Scrimgeour on him (aging him up a bit, obviously). When I expressed this to fairy_gany, she sent me the description of his personality from out of the actual book, and lo, he was even more awesome than even Mr Prekopp had led me to believe! I don't know if I'm quite ready for the book yet – I'm enjoying the radio play far too much right now and anyway my reading time is scant, and limited mostly to polar stuff – but it's nice to know that my magic box has a little trapdoor that opens into a MUCH BIGGER box with even more stuff in it.Anyway. One of the things I especially like – and this is entirely down to Victor Hugo*, not Mr Prekopp or even the character himself – is that, at the most important time of his life, Combeferre has a cold. I don't know why this appeals to me so much, but I think it's genius! No one seems to remember colds when they go to write a story, either you're perfectly healthy or you've got a potentially life-threatening disease that can be used either for the plot or to drum up sympathy. But it's just a cold! I love it when the ordinary and forgettable is actually remembered and used, it makes whatever-it-is so much more relatable and real.
So the unrest in Paris is coming to a head, the ABC are making their great stand against the forces of tyranny or whatever, and Combeferre, who has apparently been looking forward to this and planning for some time, is congested and tired and his head's in a fog and he just really wants a decent tomato.
If you'd like a taste of what I'm talking about, Episode 18 is a good place to start.
... Just to prove I don't play favourites (I totally do), have some Grantaire and Marius. I'm not at all sold on Marius' design but I can always go back and play with it some more. Also: not a big fan of Tombow brush pens, too soft and crumbly, give me Staedtler any day.
