Fabre's Journal

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Floras 3, 200ATD

Hey me, did you know that I’m actually a really lucky person? Of course you did. Stop writing about yourself like you’re amazing. You don’t need to keep reminding yourself of the obvious.

But seriously, ever since I left Fordeth, I’ve only run into good fortune. Besides the whole starving thing and being totally alone, I’ve discovered something pretty amazing! In my boredom, I started experimenting with natural colors. By that, I mean I’ve been collecting pieces of things like grass and mud and bark. By rubbing them together or getting the pieces damp and applying them to the pages of my journal, I’m able to capture some of their essence.

Certain trees have charred wood, creating a near black base color. By blending that charcoal, I’m able to get different shades of grays! I can also blend the charcoal with things like grass or leaves – which make a green to yellow range of colors. The charcoal and vegetation make a murky green, almost brown, effect.

Also, there are many different types of dirt!!!! DIRT IS AMAZING!! I’ve found hues ranging from red to blue depending on the patches used. Of course, there are many variations of brown that resemble the shades of human skin tones. Also, when dirt is wet – which seems best applied to most red to blue variations – it dries with a faint resemblance of color. This creates a chalky texture as well as a bluish gray tonal color.

I’ve blended all of these practices by hand. I hope to make more mixes later on to perhaps apply this in a method my old mentor used to call – “painting”? As of now though, I think I’d need a good model to work with. Maybe I can find a puddle and experiment with testing this study on myself… But that’s rather boring.

Perhaps I’ll find someone on my journey to experiment on…

[Deleted]

Floras 4, 200ATD

Bless the days passing by that melt the snow from my path.

‘Bout damn time. I feel as though it has been ages since I last saw the light in its full glory. My stomach reminds me just how long it has been waiting for the fruit of the trees to grow and buds to bloom. There are plump berries with the color of a sunset among the trees. They are frozen, like cold snowflakes in my hands, but they will thaw soon enough.
Until then, I’ll stay hungry.


I am not one for meat, but that furry little beast, with its fat hindquarters and chubby cheeks, passing by is pretty tempting – Oh, and it’s gone.
Shit.

Those things are so fast and skilled on their little feet. How can they dart around like that when they're so fat?
Lucky bastards have probably been living good since the first blizzard. Maybe next year I should dig myself a hole and store all the necessities in it: food, paint, clay, jewels, men… and probably more food because I eat a lot of food –


My stomach just growled in disagreement at that. My noisy insides seem to be the only thing keeping me company these days. Maybe I’ll eat that frozen fruit now, even if it numbs the inside of my mouth. Perhaps it was wrong to escape Fordeth, but I couldn’t stay there.
It was boring.
I’ll be to the crossroads soon. I could go east, out of Cruinthe territory or south . . .
Either way, I hope I find something a little less dull than this lonely road.

[Deleted]

On Allyria

I’m gonna be honest.

When I first saw Allyria, I thought they were a boy. I mean, they’re as flat as a board. Either way, Allyria is adorable. She’s not cheeky, like that fat little bastard scrambling for food on the forest floor, but there is something meek and skittish about the drow. I find it rather endearing.

I’m sure there is much to learn about Allyria, but I am glad we will be traveling together. Usually, other mortal beings are stupid, dull, boring, obnoxious, dirty, lazy, pathetic, tedious, annoying, bothersome, lousy, pesky, idiotic, moronic, I need more negative words… But anyways, Allyria seems at least tolerable – if not interesting.

I’m also excited to learn this “camping” thing. She seems to know more than I about it. OH! Hopefully we can also share our respective craftsman practices with one another! Allyria might be the most fascinating person I’ve met in a long time – which is great because we’ve only just met. Hopefully this is friendship at first sight and not being caught up in the moment!

[Deleted]

Floras 5, 200ATD

I found a puddle!

On the first day of traveling with Allyria, who is a very comfortable pillow despite being born like a board, I came across a puddle melting from a pile of snow. Luck is consistent – because I was once again lucky to find Allyria needing a rest from our long walk. While she took her break, I used the same method of combining base colors. Once my palate was complete, I set to work on replicating my eye.
After waking this morning, I found several feathers near our shaky shelter. They were big, probably belonging to some nosy bird that had flown to close to the fire, and I was able to tie them together with one of the strings from my bracelet.

By holding the pinch of the feathers and using the fluffy ends to sweep the colors across my journal’s page, I’m able to spread the ochre mixes and create an actual image – not just a small patch of color.

First, I lay down the red-brown ochre.
Second, I lightly brushed over the yellow-sienna brown highlights.
Third, I added the shadows using a charcoal brown.
Fourth, I brushed over the surface of everything while it was still wet with light white gauze.
Finally, I used a chalky white – which I had found in the remaining ashes of the fire – to fill in the white of my eye and highlight accents within the yellow-sienna brown highlights.

[Deleted]

On Allyria

So I woke up this morning. I slept pretty good and that is probably because of my new “friend”. So far, Allyria has been really useful. She made our camp all from scratch by lighting a fire and making some cheap looking shelter thing out of sticks – which I should learn because even though its really ugly, it blocked out some of the wind and kept us warm. Also, I “accidently” rolled onto Allyria in my sleep. So I’m not too sore from lying on the ground and there wasn’t any dirt sticking to me this morning. I’m sure that kept both of us warm too! So yay me for being so great.

Traveling with Allyria has been interesting. She is really pretty quiet and doesn’t say much unless I initiate the conversation. Though, much of what she says is insightful. I actually enjoy talking to her. She isn’t annoying or bossy, but rather wise. She listens to all of my complaints and even tolerates my singing – which I really need to work on because even I will admit I sound like a screeching bat.

I am really interested in asking Allyria to teach me how to craft certain things that she knows, but I suppose that’ll have to wait until we have some supplies. I would also like to go shopping with Allyria. Someone with such beautiful skin should adorn it with equally pretty clothing.

Sometimes, Allyria has this distant look in her eyes. I wonder what she’s been through. I want to ask her more about it – I feel odd holding back. She’s probably the first person I’ve ever met that I’ve actually wanted to try being friends with. So I feel a little nervous about asking her too much. Is it weird that I don’t want her to hate me?

[Deleted]

Floras 6, 200ATD

Well.
Well what?
Well I’ll just start off by mentioning how I am NOT in a good mood.
Apparently I just so happened to “accidently” be pushed off of my pillow Allyria last night. I guess it might not be entirely O.K. that I feigned sleep when rolling on her the first two nights, but I seriously thought I was helping the both of us stay at least warm! Even if it wasn’t the most comfortable thing for Allyria, she shouldn’t have pushed me off so suddenly! I nearly rolled into a rock. Not to mention, I took a mouthful of dust.

But it’s really hard to stay mad at her. She has those big dog eyes and perfect complexion. I couldn’t resist forgiving her almost immediately when she apologized in that sleepy slur.

So I just wrote myself out of my bad mood. Still!!! I am NOT going to paint Allyria today like I’d wanted to since the moment I met her. And yes, I am calling the portrait style work in my journal “painting” –even if its not up to par with my old master’s – because it does seem to be more than just a sampling of colors. This “painting” style is a mixture of those colors to create something akin to a glimpse at life.

Either way, I’m not doing any of that. NOPE.
Because despite having forgiven her and la-de-da-da, I actually don’t have the exact color scheme for her unique physique to actually do any of that… That’s actually the real reason I’m angry, but I won’t tell Allyria because it’s really cute to see her nervously finding ways to repay me.

Instead of painting a portrait, I’ll continue to collect more color samples by experimenting with nature. Crushing up raw materials can create a multitude of hue variations on their own. By mixing those variations, between themselves and/or my base tests, I can create even more colors. Most of them are really nice for skin tones, but not just your average pale wimp to tanned hotty. I’ve created more tones that can be interpreted by lighting and shadow effects. This will make creating a portrait or landscape much more interesting, as I can portray a dynamic density within an otherwise flat piece.

Oh! And after all of my color tests, I think I perhaps created two different variations to practice painting Allyria. For an Allyria at night, I would use the Raw Sienna –found in certain types of dirt - and Ultramarine Blue –found in certain types of bark – combination to create an almost blackish brown. I would mix those with white to create the lighter shades following from the darkest points of that color. For Allyria in the day, I would use Burnt Sienna – also found in certain types of dirt – and Cerulean Blue – crushed from petals – to create this dark brown. Now, to an unstudied eye, these two blackish browns may seem similar. However, the first has a warm tint while the second has a rather cool tint. I would use one at night – when it is regularly cooler – and one in the day – when it is regularly warmer – to contrast the drakagr from her setting. If she were any regular, boringly mundane person, sure I’d make her blend in. But Allyria is none of that. She is interesting and stands out among the crowd.

So anyways! I plan to make one more of these sample pages tomorrow before starting my portrait study and actually applying these colors to a “painting”.

[Deleted]

Floras 7, 200ATD

Haha! Today is a great day!
Even if its not actually a great day, I’ll act like it is. Isn’t it better to have fun and pretend than to acknowledge bad things? I feel like it is.
Though, last night I had a pretty startling dream. It was a familiar nightmare; one I’m accustomed to getting when I sleep alone.

I was worried Allyrai would finally leave me if I used her as a body pillow again. I’m not an idiot. I know my habits can be obnoxious a bit unaccustomed to others. So I slept alone. I already have a hard enough time falling asleep in the dark. Sometimes, my eyes won’t shut and the mass of black beyond the shadows dances. My mind plays tricks on me – at least I hope that’s true. But what happens behind my eyelids is worse. When I close my eyes, a scene from my memories replays. I can see my master’s head being cut from his body. The way his body, still hanging on for dear life, spasms as it hits the ground. The bloody mess soaks the tapestry rug as shadows stand over his body. Those same dancing shadows beyond our little camp. His spins, eyes catching mine with each rotation as they turn in his skull. They’re accusing me. They’re telling me to run. They’re calling for me.

I don’t know what they want!

Anyways. My dream – always coming after the struggle of sleep – is often the same. Shadows; from the corners of rooms or beyond light of our fire – extend. They pull me under and make me relive the worst experiences – sins I’ve had to commit in order to survive. It’s disgusting. These nightmares make me hate myself.

Sleeping alone is scary.

It’s alright though! Today is a wonderful day! Allyria is cute as every. Her little antics are very distracting. I’ve also mixed more colors! Tomorrow, I think I’ll be able to actually apply these colors to a work I’ve been sketching – Yeah it’s an Allyria portrait. I am really excited! Wonderful Wonderful Wonderful~ everything is Wonderful~ Lalala – That’s a song I’m working on. I thought it would be fun to distract some of my thoughts with singing!

[Azuloth]

-Fabre has discovered hidden knowledge-
Art I

Gains: +1 stat point.

[Deleted]

Floras 8, 200ATD

Today I woke with motivation to set all of my previous studies to a test. While resting from another long walk, I selected one of the many color schemes to apply in a piece of art. I used the Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, and White combination to mix into a picture of Allyria. She was sitting only a few feet away from me as I did this, reading her book. I don’t think I fooled her by faking look anywhere else but her when she would look at me. Her glances became more suspicious of my actions as I continued to brush her likeness onto the page.

Quite liking the feather brush effect that I had used in a previous entry, I coated a simple enough dark background to start, then I filled in everywhere that Allyria’s face would be with the second lightest hue. I added the warm skin tone colors with the near darkest shade and went down from their, blending lightest and darkest until I began to map out the plains of Allyria’s face. I then added the mass of her hair and clothing before going in to add details of highlights. Once finished, I lined parts of her face with the darkest color to make her features more prominent.

If my memory serves, I believe Papa’s paintings to have been in a different stylization than my own, but I quite like the idea of developing my own art form.