(no subject)

[littleblackbow]

Happy Birthday Snape!

Hooray for Snape. And to celebrate, I've orchestrated my own birthday bash for him!!!

Title(s): Birthday Bash pictures 1-8
Artist: littleblackbow
Media: Watercolor, pen and ink, pencil
Warnings: None
Rating: G to PG
Character: Severus Snape!
Artist notes: These are all previously unscanned images. Some were just sketches in my sketchbook that never made it any further, some are portraits I made specifically for his birthday! I have one more to finish, and I'll post that later. I just wanted to get these up in time for his birthday!!





(To go with my KK fic for lesyeuxverts)






Portrait of Snape, Age 7


Portrait of Snape, Age 11


Portrait of Snape, Age 17

Comments

[odogoddess.insanejournal.com]

Aw... *huggles Sev tightly*

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

yeah, he certainly needs some huggles, doesn't he?

*rustles hair of mini-sevvie*

[thesewarmstars.insanejournal.com]

Oh, wow! So much wonderful, all in one post. I especially like the first one, and how it looks like he just woke up or something. And the fourth one, that haughty sneer! And the fifth one, oh! and that third one! Yeah... they're pretty much all great. I love how your Snape so often seems to have his head done, looking up only reluctantly.

[thesewarmstars.insanejournal.com]

down, head down.

[zephre.insanejournal.com]

ah, these are beautiful. so much lush emotion in them, and the progression from child to man is lovely.

I'm really enamored of the sketch fourth from the top, though, with that sweeping robe and worm's eye view. :D

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

thanks! Yeah, that one turned out much better than I had originally thought it would. I'm so glad it's dynamic like that. I have a hard time with mixing up the angles.

[accioslash.insanejournal.com]

Oh, each time I pick a favorite, I find something else I like in another drawing. These are all fantastic. Fabulous work, hon.

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, my little severus isn't as young as yours, but I've got one little kiddie version in there. ^_^

I wanted to do something special for his birthday since he was so good to me this past year.

[ria_awesome.insanejournal.com]

You really do do an excellent Snape!

The eyes in every single one of these pictures are just wonderful - they convey so much.

xxx

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

And the funny thing is they're just black dots. But that can really be expressive, I guess.

^_^

[celandineb.insanejournal.com]

Lovely! I especially like the sequence of school pictures. *g*

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

I did those today. I wanted to have something new as a kind of age progression for him!

^_^

Thanks

[reallyginnyf.insanejournal.com]

The second drawing is my favorite, because I'm a complete H/C whore. The caressing hand on his face? LOVE.

The fourth one with that haughty sneer and the sweeping robes is fantastic.

And Snape at age 17; I need to cuddle him. Right now. :-D

Beautiful as always.

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

I know... the poor boy and his horrible school experience. *snuggles teenager snape*

I'm so glad you like it. ^_^

[snegurochka_lee.insanejournal.com]

OH, these are all great!!! I love kid!Snape, and the first one is so fantastic. You have his look just perfect!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Snape is so clear in my mind as to what he looks like and his expressions. Other characters aren't so much, and I change them up a bit. But Snape and Sirius are always the same in my mind.

[alisanne.insanejournal.com]

Awww! *cuddles my favorite Slytherin*
These are wonderful, darling!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Thank you, hon! I'm so glad you like them.

And yeah, IckleSevvie is just too adorable and cuddleable for words!

[geri_chan.insanejournal.com]

All of these are really lovely, but I especially love the portrait of the 7-year-old Snape. He's already looking distrustful at such a young age, and I just want to take him home and cuddle him. (In a non-creepy sort of way, of course! ^_^)

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Thank you!

Yeah, this is about what he looks like when he first sees Lily Evans in my mind.

He's not a very happy child, either. ;_;

[bethbethbeth.insanejournal.com]

Fantastic (especially the Snape at 11 portrait, which I think is just perfect). And btw...the link's been added now. :)

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

OOH YAY!!

I was confused for a while 'cause they weren't listed under the "art" section, then I scrolled down, and I was just sitting here flailing for a while in the OMGITSANEDITORSPICK! Kind of way.

Yeah, the younger ones were so much fun to do. I think he would have been a cute kid, but only through the eyes of an adult. Other kids would have thought him to be kind of weird and ugly.

It's amazing how much influence our peers have on us. And a half-blood being sorted into Slytherin? With the name "Snape..." There's no way he could be happy and hopeful, no matter how hard he tried.

[the_bitter_word.insanejournal.com]

I love these, especially the age progression paintings. Bravo!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Thank you! Personally, I loved doing the progression of him from boy to adolescent. I have one more that belongs with those three, and it's him as an older man - I figure around the time he first comes to Hogwarts after he tells Voldemort about the prophecy and stuff.

[perverse_idyll.insanejournal.com]

I especially adore the last two. The painting of 11-year-old Severus is absolutely bloody perfect. He looks surly and distrustful and sad and neglected, and he's identifiably the childhood version of the adult Snape you've given us. I can also see his resemblance to Allie at the same age, although he's the tragic mirror to her irrepressible joy. Seventeen-year-old Severus looks to me more like he's in his late twenties. It's astonishing, considering the size of his nose and the condition of his hair, that the most noticeable things about him are his mouth and eyes. He looks so glum, even defeated, yet his eyes nonetheless shine with intelligence. You have a great gift for making him both homely and beautiful, and absolutely heartbreaking. I could stare at pictures of your Snape all day.

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

^_^ thank you so much!

It took me a while to figure it out, but after reading the books again (books 2,3,4), I realized that this was what Harry was really looking at. He might comment on the nose or mentally remark about that, but I think it's the eyes that peer into his soul that are really upsetting to him.

And his mouth I figure would always be set hard on that sort of frown. He's not a happy man, and he doesn't even know how to pretend to be one.

[venturous.insanejournal.com]

I love the first one, the inky, shiny hair is wonderful, as his his expression.

but 7yr old Sev just cracks me up!

Happy Birthday, Sev!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Hee! Kid!Snape was so much fun to do. I don't think I've ever drawn him this young before. It was almost easier to draw him now that I had Allie in my mind.

And I have one more yet to post that's included in that series. Well, maybe I'll do a couple more.

[dementordelta.insanejournal.com]

*tosses Harry-shaped confetti* What a fabulous way to celebrate Snape's birthday! I'm sure he would approve!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Harry-shaped confetti... heee.

Yeah, I think he would actually be mortified that people are drawing him so much today. Well, outwardly mortified. Inwardly he's probably very pleased.

Soooo... writing any fics at the moment?

[white_rat.insanejournal.com]

I'm usually a lurker, but your art has forced me to come out of hiding. I.LOVE.YOUR.SNAPE. (Well, I love your everyone, really, but this is Snape's day) Seriously. It's always such a treat to find your art decorating my friends' list. When you're done with all your other obligations, I'd certainly like to commission you. :D

On this post, I think my favorite is 11 year old Snape. He looks so much like Allie (except she radiates joy and light and he radiates sadness and neglect). I also like macho arms-across-his-chest Snape.

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Thanks for coming out of your lurker-hole! Comments inspire people to create more, it's true!!

Snape as a kid was just too much fun to draw. I wanted to do a series of portraits of him at these various turning points in his life - when he meets Lily Evans, when he starts at Hogwarts, After the Prank when he decides to go with the Death Eaters, and then there are at least two more - when he goes back to Dumbledore to tell him what he's done, and when he meets Harry Potter... possibly at the end of the last book.

And then (I don't know if you saw it), there's the image of him older with gray hair, like the one I did for bethbethbeth.

I'm going to look for one of those collage frames to put them all in. ^_^

[dacro.insanejournal.com]

Love them!
Happy birthday, Snape!
(mostly, I LOVE how you draw his hair! Awesome!)

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Hee! Thanks!

Snape-hair is getting a little messier the more I draw him. I think there would be those strands that are separated by the grease and just won't lie flat.

That's been my latest change to how I draw him. :P

Your Snape is love - as always!

[slashpine.insanejournal.com]

OMG OMG OMG! Your young Snape series especially. a;sdlfkjasd;lfkj!!!!

Re: Your Snape is love - as always!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

OMG yeah, I need to draw more young Snape. Seriously, I want someone to write a fic where Luna or Neville or someone like that finds a young Snape who's fallen through a time rift, and they raise him for a while!

[camillo1978.insanejournal.com]

What a lovely selection. I think the first one, and Snape aged 11 are my faves. In that, he really does look like he's arrived at Hogwarts, met the Marauders and realised that he's gone from the frying pan of home to the fire of school. Poor thing!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

That's Eight! Eight Great Snapes!! Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-!

(sorry, had to get that out of my system after seeing your icon)

Yeah, I don't think the initial school experience was good for him. Even if he was excited by the castle and the train and everything, he's been trained not to show his awe. And then being sorted into Slytherin? I don't think for a moment that they would have left him alone with the last name of "Snape." They knew he was half-blood, for sure!

And then there were the noisy Gryffindors. And Lily, his only friend, was sorted into a different house...

The whole thing would have been just one level of misery after another, the poor kid.

[severed_lies.insanejournal.com]

These are so lovely, but I especially adore 7 year old Severus and want to kidnap him!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

I think if you would have kidnapped him, he might have had a much better life. And a lot of things would have been different in the Potterverse - Perhaps even with Voldemort not being defeated the first time if there was nobody to tell him about the prophecy, he wouldn't have found the Potters, wouldn't have tried to kill Harry...

hmmm... the mind races to think of what might have been.

[julythirtyfirst.insanejournal.com]

OMG, SO MUCH LOVE! I especially love the last three, aaw, just a big hug for Severus of all ages! The watercolors are also amazing. I'm so jealous, I so suck using paintbrushes and... well, colors in general, but those are some pretty steady strokes. You've a good eye and hand! Beautiful work!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I have some more from that series that I have to finish/do, and post.

Watercolor is a lesson in patience. Layering on in light, light washes, waiting for the one layer to dry before starting in on the next. And honestly, the paper you use, the brushes you use, and the paint you use makes all the difference.

Good cotton paper is a must. The brushes I used for this are a squirrel brush (cost me about $20), and a Sable ($30), and the paints I use are tube watercolors that I never use straight out of the tube. Every one of them is mixed before I use it... I like Van Gogh, Senelier, and Windsor and Newton. Yeah, they're a little expensive, but they last a loooooong time.

[osmalic.insanejournal.com]

These are all gorgeous! I especially love how you really got his sullen expression over the years. His nose is amazingly done. Also, the sketch of Remus (is it Remus?) comforting Snape is simply wonderful. Ah, also, I love how you did the watercolors. Thank you for sharing! This is a great birthday for him!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

In that one, it's actually Teddy. It goes with my fic "A Journal Entry from Salem_Wolf_999".

^_^

I'm a big fan of h/c, too, so I tend to write a lot of it. Thanks! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!!

[irena_candy.insanejournal.com]

Very nice. I particularly like the 3/4-length sketch with his right hand on his left shoulder. There's a wonderful sense of immediacy about that.

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

I thought that was the way Harry would have seen him when he first arrived at Hogwarts. Snape looking down at him as if he was seeing young James again, and he looks so menacing.

Thanks for taking a look and commenting!!

[atdelphi.insanejournal.com]

These are all so wonderful - but I think I love little seven-year-old Snape the very best. :-D

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Ickle Snape is so cute and sad. After I finished, I was flailing about wanting to take him home and take care of him 'cause his parents wouldn't!

Well, I'm pretty sure his mum would, but with a da' like that, no way!

[la_dissonance.insanejournal.com]

I love ALL of these! GOD. I'm just overwhelmed by the onslaught of Snapely awesomeness here. I love the young!Snape portraits; they are full of adorable and made me squee inside, but I think the pencil one of him with his cloak swirling around him is my absolute favorite - it's so forbidding, and beautiful (even if it is only a few lines!), the angle works perfectly, and just... guh. So much love!!

[littleblackbow.insanejournal.com]

Well, I wanted to do something special for Snape's Birthday. I didn't get a slideshow video done, but I did get 8 new sketches and drawings posted, so I think that's good!

Something to celebrate, for sure!! ^_^

Thank you so much for taking a look and commenting. It really does help we who are artists keep going.