Charcoal and Ink

[Ixzo]

55th of Autumn, 515AV
8th Bell, Morning
Wind Skins

"Hello." The warm words greeting Ixzo as she entered the tent. Morning. Injal signed, but then looked at her for a second. "I can't believe I didn't get your name yesterday?" He said suddenly. Setting his things down to walk up to her.

"Ixzo." She breathed, watching her breathe come out in a shallow white mist. Hesitantly, the lioness looked around the room, something was different. It took her only half a tick to whirl on her feet, turning away from Injal to meet the steely blue eyes of a woman. Her immediate reaction was the protect herself, but Ixzo refrained. The unwavering eye contact confused her, she wanted to growl in defiance, unwilling to submit to such an obvious show of power. Yet she also knew that humans were different. Eye contact was not always a threat to them.

"Hello." She said, her voice even. But she did not sign a word for greeting. The signs of Pavi were honest, and she wasn't feeling particularly truthful at the moment. Yet the woman didn't reply, a small knowing smile illuminated her lips and Ixzo ground her teeth.

Wild. She signed, looking at Injal instead of her now. Ixzo bristled, but decided to turn back to the man she had met, not particularly fond of the woman already. Injal winked at her, seeing her reaction to the sign. But could she really claim any different? She had killed an animal two nights ago, and slept without shelter for over five. As a lion, the lack of shelter was an easy fix in the form of a high tree or a shallow cavern, yet in Endrykas it was not so easy to hide in her human form.

[Ixzo]

"Ixzo, let's get you to work, I haven't a clue where to start you." Injal grinned at her, a gentle hand rested on her shoulder and Ixzo stared at it, not knowing quite what to make of the gesture. He paused too, clearly not understanding why she didn't understand. But the man shook his head, dropping the guiding hand and stepping in front of her. Following him, he sat her at a small desk on the floor. The long smooth expanse of wood was smoothly polished. A vial of black ink and quill rested in the corner, as well as a few sticks of charcoal and a glumpy wad of sap, which she knew would pick up charcoal bits. A fresh, and expensive looking, stack of paper was in the center of the table and a cushion for her to sit on. Injal pulled a book out of a shelf and placed it on the low desk next to the paper.

Draw, copy. He instructed, and Ixzo sat down, looking at the various utensils. "Copy what you can, and we'll see how well you do." Ixzo nodded but didn't move as he waiting. After a few silent ticks, the Kelvic plopped down the contents of the bag on her back shaking with the movements. Injal seemed content with that and turned on his heels, just in time to greet someone entering the tent. Ixzo exhaled, grabbing the worn book and brining it closer.

After a few chimes of genuinely enjoying the interested drawing, trying to understand the meanings attached to them, Ixzo settled on a simplistic looking face. As simplistic as a face could be. The drawing had no shading of any sort, which would make it easier on her, and was all one color. The issue rose with the utter symmetry and neatness of the careful ink drawn out on the paper. Sighing, she slid the book a little further away, still able to see it in the sunlight, but so that she could have room on the paper.

Hesitant about wasting such an expensive material, Ixzo selected a single sheet, sliding the others under the book so she wouldn't accidently mess them up. The Kelvic picked up a sharpened stick of charcoal, and looked down at the blank paper. And up at the picture, and back down at the blank paper. It looked easy, but Ixzo, who never really had interest in arts back home, assumed it was far harder than she would think.

Gently, Ixzo placed the charcoal down on the paper, pressing a little weight into it, and dragging the stick in a circle on the paper. Immediately she realized her mistake. The line, which was supposed to be a large curve, was incredibly wobbly. It was only saved by the fact that she broke the tip off of the charcoal only an inch into the drawing. Too hard. She told herself. Scooping the glop of sap from its container, she patted the charcoal. The sap picked up most of the black, but there was still evidence of where she pressed to hard and the breaking of the charcoal.

[Ixzo]

Lighter this time, Ixzo barely let the charcoal touch the paper, bringing her hand full circle. Again, it looked more like an oval than a circle, so Ixzo patted the lopsided bits with the sap, filling them in. It took a bit of dabbing and refilling in before she got what looked like an appropriate sized almost circle. To make the inner circle, she took advise from her previous mistakes, using light movements and multiple strokes until there was a smaller circle inside the first with about the same shape. Filling in the details would be harder.

Ixzo decided to start from the outside and work in, thinking to draw the mane first. It seemed easier, since it was mostly squares, but Ixzo quickly realized the light feathery drawing would apply in these shapes as well. When she was done, the mane looked utterly crooked. Like teeth that got smashed in. Groaning Ixzo pressed her forehead to the sheet. The paper was too expensive to start over, but it was already apparent her drawing skills did not improve with age.

After a few moments of frustration, Ixzo raised her head once more, which took the paper with it. She pulled the sheet off her forehead, smoothing it back on the desk to find that she had smudged it. The kelvic almost growled, peaking around at the last moment to see the blue eyed woman was not far away. At her peaking, the Drykas' blue eyes found her and Ixzo was quick to avert her own, lookingback at the paper.

Choosing to ignore the smudges, she quickly filled in the lines that were faded and moved on, trying to look at how the shaped within the face, which made up the eyes, nose and mouth where proportioned to her. The drawing looked simplistic, but because of the various shapes within the circle, it looked hard to fill in. Shrugging, Ixzo picked up the charcoal once more.

[Ixzo]

This time, she already knew to use a light touch with the sharp point at the top of the face. At first, when she didn't get the right shape, she patted it with the sap, picking up the charcoal and tried again. Eventually, Ixzo settled for the almost-shape and moved onto the eyes, which were somehow connected to the nose. The drawing, which looked like mostly outlines, didn't have parallel lines which confused her. But all the same she managed to get the curve of the eyes, which mad the nose appear much longer as she tried to squeeze that detail between the two eyes, which she had obviously made to big.

Less than satisfied, she made the cheeks, which was a little easier because she could follow the two circles she had originally made. Yet when she connected the weird looking bout, which seemed to curve up and down at the same time, there was more evidence of her utterly disproportionate figure. Once more, Ixzo sighed, trying her best not to slam her head on the counter once more.

Once the inside of the face was done, she moved to the spikes along the bottom of the figure. Trying to match the count, the spikes were wide and had plenty of room on the left, but by the time she reached the eight spikes of the chin, they were smushed, barely able to fit in.

[Ixzo]

Growing more frustrated, Ixzo loosely scribbled in the second layer of spikes, not bothering to count them. To her surprise, once she was done, the bottom spikes looked more proportionate that the top ones. Interested, she realized she had put eight spikes on the second layer, instead of ten, but the spikes looked more natural than the ones above it.

Trying to copy the loose technique from before, Ixzo drew in the third layer of spikes. This time, she couldn't help herself from counting to make sure she had the right amount. The third layer of spikes did the same time that the firs layer did. Not caring about it, she moved back over her drawing, starting with the middle to press a little harder down on the outlines with her charcoal, making it more visible to herself for when she applied the ink. At least she assumed that would looked more professional, all the other drawings were in ink, so why shouldn't hers be?

Once she had darkened all the outlines, Ixzo carefully placed the charcoal stick back among the others, leaning her head down to blow the dust away from the sheet. Wiping her now black fingers on her leather pants, Ixzo picked up the ink vial, uncapping the cork. Moving it closer to her, she picked up the quick, dipping it in the ink. Tapping the end on the side so that there would be no drip, she moved it back over to her drawing.

[Ixzo]

First, Ixzo outlined with the ink. Darkening the shapes and thickening them even more. She had to dip and draw multiple times in order to simply outline. After a few chimes of that, and Ixzo had to pause to let the sheet dry. Deciding to take a break, she capped the ink and stood, stepping back from the table. Injal was in the main area of the tent, with one of his assistance. Careful not to bother him, Ixzo tip-toed forward, so that she could stand near them and watch.

"How is it going, Ixzo?" He asked, speaking only. She watched as a practiced handmade sawing motions with the handle of the tool. She watched as he pierced the skin, pulling up the comb and then, barely lifting the comb from the skin, moved the tool forward to put more ink into the skin. After a few strokes, he would set the tool down and the assistant would wipe the area clear of the ink, and small amounts of blood, while handing him a freshly dipped tool. The, quickly, they returned to holding the skin taut for him to continue his work.

"Good." Ixzo answered simply. It looked like he was tattooing over an old tattoo. "Two tattoos?" She asked, and Injal seemed to easily understand her limited sentence.

"Sometimes people scar their tattoos, it interrupted the lines and so they come back once the scar heals so we can adjust it. Keeps the ink looking nice." He explained, it took Ixzo a moment to process all his words, but she though she understood. Ixzo nodded but didn't answer. That much she knew, although she had only scarred one tattoo, and she never went back to get it adjusted.

"Hard to ink: Scars." She explained, and Injal nodded, seeming to understand.

"Very." He paused. Again the apprentice wiped the area clean, dipped his old comb, recycling it to be his new one and returned to holding the skin taut. "Are you done?"

"Almost." Ixzo said, standing once more and returning to the small desk in the corner.

[Ixzo]

Wanting to be done quickly, Ixzo uncapped the ink and quickly dipped the tip of the quill in. Carefully, she shook the quill with the tip inside the vial, but did not tap it. Instead she pressed the tip of the quill into the paper, letting ti bleed in large splotches inside her outlines, where it was possible. Covering as much area as she could as quickly as she could. Some splotches spilled a little outside their lines. Trying to correct them she darkened the outline a little more so the bump wasn't so apperant.

Once that was done, she filled in the rest of the shapes slowly with ink. After a few chimes, she capped the ink, set down the quill and sat back to let her drawing dry. She didn't really want to compare the piece of shyke she had made to the beautiful depiction in the book, but Ixzo couldn't help herself. Leaning forward once more, she sighed. The basic idea of the drawing was there but the copy was poor. It looked similar, but so disproportionate, it wouldn't be impossible to think it different. A glob with lines of ink, rather than the maned face that shone from the page in the book.

Once the paper had dried, Ixzo sighed, picking it up as she stood. When she returned to the main room, the person who was getting their tattoo fixed was just leaving, dropping coin with the blue eyed lady, and saying his goodbyes. Ixzo waited until Injal had the time before stepping up to him and offering his drawing. The man raised an eyebrow at the inked page, but ultimately grinned.

"You could have picked an easier drawing." He handed the sheet back to her, and the corner of Ixzo's mouth turned up. He was a kind man, but it was so clearly the worst drawing he had seen.

"Was easy." I thought. She shrugged, looking down at her sandal strapped feet.

"You have to test these things, but I think you'll get it down eventually." Learn, quick. He signed along something else she didn't register. "In the meantime, have Chell show you how to clean the comes." He waved her towards the apprentice that was picking up the tools from the spot on the floor where the adjustment had been taken place. When she heard her name, she looked up, smiling when she saw Ixzo's eyes on her.

Ixzo grinned, not because she was excited to clean, she simply didn't mind that. But Ixzo grinned because Injal spoke as if he had already made up his mind about hiring her.

[Tribal]

G R A D E S

Ixzo

Experience

• Observation: 3
• Drawing: 5
• Logic: 1
• Socialisation: 2
• Stealth: 1

Lore

• Humans: Reasons for eye contact
• Injal: Run off his feet
• Drawing: Working with ink
• Drawing: Working with charcoal
• Tattooing: Basic Drykas designs
• Drawing: Copying
• Drawing: Sketching
• Drawing: Lines
• Drawing: Shading techniques
• Charcoal breaks easily
• Drawing: Shapes
• Charcoal: Work from one side of the page to the other
• Charcoal: Smudges easily
• Drawing: Composition
• Tattooing: Holding the skin taut for the artist
• Tattooing over scars
• Drawing: Ink needs time to dry

Notes

Very well done.