Fanartist Focus: Celestialsoda
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Fanartist Focus #8 - Celestialsoda |
| Interviewer: | MrsRittenrotten for Twinspiration |
| Interviewee: | Celestialsoda |
| Date(s): | 28 August 2007 |
| Medium: | Online |
| Fandom(s): | Harry Potter |
| External Links: | Fanartist Focus #8 - Celestialsoda!, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Celestialsoda was interviewed in 2007 for the eighth in the Fanartist Focus interview series at Twinspiration, a Harry Potter LiveJournal community for James/Oliver and Fred/George twincest.
Introduction
This month we are going decidedly and uncharacteristically wholesome, and featuring the whimsical twin studies of celestialsoda. Her work was first called to my attention by one of our fanartist heroines featured earlier in this series, the wonderful hill_, who is a huge fan of Soda's work. I was immediately captivated by her interpretation of the Weasley twins as handsome-yet-wicked, grinning, devious pranksters. Her interpretation of the Weasley twins evokes a canon sense of mischief while at the same time exuding a very NON-canon sense of playful eroticism. Of course, I am always LOOKING for that element in any twin fanart, so I might not exactly be the most objective viewer! I'll let all you readers of twinspiration judge for yourself!Incidentally, once again we are lucky enough to be the recipient of Weasley twin GIFT ART, from celestialsoda, drawn specifically for this interview! Last month's featured fanartist, ponderosa121 seems to have raised the bar in that respect, and we are all immensely lucky and grateful for it! So without further ado, here is the lovely Weasley gift art that celestialsoda created solely for members of twinspiration, to accompany her interview for this month! Twinfans, petquality [mrsrittenrotten] proudly presents celestialsoda!
Excerpts
How did you first get interested in doing fanart in general and slash/twincest art specifically?Oh boy...well, I'd resisted the Harry Potter phenomenon for as long as I could, then got wind of the truly insane rate at which fundamentalists were alternately banning and burning the books, so of course I then read all 5 of them (that's how many were published at the time) in a week. After that, fatal curiousity drove me online, where I found the likes of Glockgal, Fiendling, Duckpuppy and many more! I immediately wanted to join their ranks and put to paper all the cracktastic art bunnies I had breeding in my head as well!
How do you approach your composition? Where do you prefer to get image reference material? (photos, live models, etc)? What is the average amount of time you spend on a piece?I must admit that I don't plan much when it comes to my fanart, I save that for my real work ;) Fanart is a fun, easy excuse to experiment with different media and a unique impetus to just keep drawing. My selection of references is as slapdash and higgledy-piggledy as my media application--everything from pornographic ukiyo-e to Flemish painting. I don't use Google Images much because I don't like to be staring at a screen for too long. As for the the average time spent on a piece, it ranges from 5-minute sketches to 5-month paintings. People seem to respond to my rapidly-executed stuff more, which is both encouraging and disturbing, as I've developed a tendency to work slow. Gotta nip that in the bud!
Who are your favorite fanartists, favorite websites for fanart?Heavens, there are too many to name! For the sake of saving space I'll just name the ones who have more or less left, lovely lunatics I miss dearly: Lunulet and Duckpuppy and Nebulaean and Lyrakristine and Nassima and and Ildi_bp and Reinii... If I had to pick my favorite twins!artist though, I'd have to say Reallycorking. Her warmth and sheer energy fit the twins to a T!
Fred and George have so many appealing facets to their personalities, do you think it's really possible to portray them all artistically? Can their wit, playfulness, bravery and mischievousness come across at the same time as their innate love for each other? In erotic or explicit scenes, such as twincest, does that have to be forfeited for the sake of the smut to come across?[...] Art-wise, I think it would be very difficult to "forfeit" F&G's intimacy if only because they're literal mirror images of each other and thus always connected, visually at least. Of course this doesn't hold true in reality, but the general assumption is that if two things look alike, then they must BE alike (I think JKR is often prone to this and treats the twins interchangeably). It's worthwhile to try to separate the twins a bit, imbue them with something that is exclusive to each one. As illustrators we have to think up ways to distinguish between Fred and George while still depicting their twin-ship. Quite a challenge! I like Glockgal's approach, where Fred is the straight one and George is the pretty one :)
Is there anything you'd like to say about fanart of others or your own in this forum, relating to the twins or any other HP characters?Cripes. I don't even know what to say here in light of the recent fact that us artists are being kicked out and cowed down by corporate has-beens and fundamentalist vigilantes... who can say what the future holds for fandom? I just know that it means more to me precisely because of aforementioned has-beens and fundies! Shout out to all the offbeat, "deviant" folks who create without seeking approval or the petty trappings of what's cool/normal. Big up to JKR as well, a very nice lady who gifted us with all these colorful characters to draw and play with without getting her proverbial knickers in a twist.