[Valkahal Academy] Student Once More

by **Martini Elwood** on June 21st, 2017, 2:49 am

"Others." - "Common." - "Tukant."

Director's Office
40th of Summer, 517
10th Bell, 23rd Chime

The Valkalah Academy, a large building built with golden stone and little blemishes other than stand out minerals. It had a nice exterior, but Martini wondered if it was structurally sound seeing as it was built into a cliff. Of course it was. The Rivarians were craftsman of the highest degree and very competitive. They would not allow a single mistake in their arts, or in their lives.

Looking back on it, when Martini asked about extra schooling, she'd never expected the building to be so pretty. Apparently they had lessons for everyone from mind to core and arts to arcane. She knew in that moment that this Academy was what she needed. She would definitely apply for the arts hall and if she did she would most likely join core for history and math.

Though the mind hall was largely known, Martini didn't have any particular interest in it. She didn't bother ruminating on the arcane hall since it was pointless. Instead she walked slowly up to the wooden door, were the name of the academy was carved.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

With that done she pushed up an the wooden double doors a d was immediately met with the echoes of voices, Akalak and otherwise as they moved to classes or chatted while on break. She was immediately awed by the sheer amount of people, much more the layout. When she gained enough of her senses to look around, she noticed a desk with an older Akalak sitting behind it, fiddling with some sort of parchment.

The next thing Martini spotted was the torches that lit the halls and made shadows dance as children and adult alike made their way through the building. The torches hung on the walls like mounts.

"Is there anything I can assist you with, young miss?" The Akalak behind the desk cleared his throat as she approached to focus her attention on himself. This blue skinned man waited patiently for Martini to focus which she did soon after.

"Oh, yes. Sorry. I'm looking to enroll?" It came out as more of a question. Martini had always been listed for home instruction. Her lessons were taught by a private tutor who came to her home, so she had no idea what a actual school setting was like.

"I see. What were you hoping to study for? And while not necessary for enrollment, are you of Kuvan Status?" The Akalak picked up a loose piece of parchment and began to jot down notes as Martini spoke. Martini waited for the male to finish before she spoke.

"Yes, I'm looking for an artistry mentor. I've taken and passed the exam." Martini could still feel the happiness she felt when passing the exam when someone mentioned it. Martini raised a brown when she got a hum in return. She briefly wondered how much paperwork the man does a day.

"Hmm... I suppose Miss Lewis would be a good fit." The Akalak seemed to be talking to himself, so to the most part Martini stayed silent unless asked a question. When she finally got it all done, she was more than ready to draw. Martini was then showed directions to the library, where she would supposedly meet her instructor.

by **Martini Elwood** on June 25th, 2017, 9:32 pm

When stepping in to the library, the woman was met with the scent of paper that made the air thick and hard to breath in. Though it wasn't overpowering, it was still uncomfortable and lacked the comfort of her home. The academy had the library tucked out of sight, but it was breathtaking in its own way.

There were aisles were one could sit and read or tell a story. It had a large section dedicated to combat. Techniques, Weapon, Unarmed styles... almost everything - no - everything in her mind a person could think of. She scanned a few titles as she approached them before walking to the Librarians desk.

The ebony directed her gaze to a woman who looked not much older than her self with light brown hair. Martini walked over and sat across from her, but the woman continued to focus on her work. She was writing something. It looked like a commission sheet, but it had numbers and single letters by themselves.

"And who might you be?" Martini flinched, startled by the sudden voice. She looked up to find the woman still writing her work. So she had worth ethnic or didn't want to be bothered. Martini's brow unfurrowed as she spoke.

"Ah, Martini. It's nice to meet you. I'm Alice Lewis." Martini shook the hand extended to her as dark brown eyes pierced her own. The woman seemed to be sizing her up, judging her expression. She then asked if Martini needed something from her.

"Um, I was assigned to you as a student?" Alice smiled at this, pleased to hear she had another pupil to pass knowledge to. She nodded and closed the book she was writing in. Martini saw the word grade, and knew it was a report card or progress sheet for her other students. At least she assumed so.

"Well then Martini, we should arrange a place to meet. We could meet here, or somewhere else of your choosing. Then we'll arrange a time to meet every so often."

Alice was all business then? That was good, perhaps they shared a work ethic. She couldn't tell if she would get along with the woman yet, but she would respect her all the same. She told Alice she was more comfortable at her home.

"Alright then, let me ask; what were you hoping to learn?"

"Art?"

"Yes, but what medium?" This gave Martini pause. She had tried drawing and she loved it, painting was difficult but also fun... what could she learn that might be fun too? When Martini took too long to answer Alice spoke up.

"What do you already know?"

"Oh! I know how to draw and paint, though I'm not the best at either." Martini responded thoughtfully. She wasn't putting herself down, no, not at all. She was simply stating the facts. She had room for improvement she knew, so she wouldn't say she was the greatest at either. Alice nodded.

"Then do you want to expand your current skills or learn new ones?" Martini would've immediately gone for new skills, but thinking it through, she could learn the new skills for as long as she attended classes in the art department. There were so many things she didn't know about her current skills though, and it might be more beneficial to her to improve what she had.

by **Martini Elwood** on April 5th, 2018, 12:49 am

"Would it be alright to improve my existing skills a bit and then move to something new? I'm a bit… rusty currently."

“Yes, that’s perfectly fine. Now that we’ve gotten all that settled I have a few ground rules I’d like to lay out,” Alice tone was serious when Martini met her gaze again. Her eyes had hardened and her mouth was set in a thin line, so Martini mentally prepped herself before inclining her head for the older of the duo to continue. “To start, just address me as Alice. Secondly, I require effort and hard work from you as a student.”

Martini perked at the mention of effort. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped. If only you knew me. She snorted softly at the thought of herself being lazy and explained herself as not to be rude. “I’m sorry it’s just the thought of me putting in anything but hard work and effort makes me laugh. I’m pretty sure most people who know me would call me a workaholic before anything.”

“Then we won’t have any issues. I’d like to work with you today so if you wouldn’t mind leading the way to your home. Unless you want to work here of course.”

*******

With the duo comfortably seated at her table in silence, Martini wondered if her home was being judged by Alice. Her first thought when she opened her door to the older woman was a realization that her floor was a mess. Paper everywhere on the floor, be it sheets or balled scraps. And her desk wasn’t any better. Drawers pulled out, papers everywhere… the only thing that looked slightly organized was the chair, and even it was crookedly placed from the desk itself.

Martini fiddled with her thumbs as she kept her gaze to the floor. She was clearly ashamed and embarrassed, bringing someone else but Kayli to her home had never occurred to her so she usually didn’t clean unless it looked outrageous. So having tossed drawings and painting s on her floor was normal for her, but ti was probably different fro Alice. Martini had just opened her mouth to speak when Alice started to laugh.

“You must excuse me, It’s just… You’re home reminds me of my room from my teenage years!” Alice seemed to calm as she spoke, genuinely amused it seemed. Her small smile didn’t look condescending, in fact it was far from it. Martini let out a breath she had been holding, relieving herself of the tension in her shoulders. Martini nodded with an abashed smile. She lifted her brow as if to ask really and Alice continued.

“Ah, but that’s not what we’re here for. I suppose,” Alice began, pushing back her chair to stand as she avoided stepping on paper and made her way to Martini’s desk. “This is where the magic happens?”

Martini inclined her head, cheeks flushing slightly at the comment. Alice examined the desk before continuing. “First step is to organize your workplace. If you get more stuff and you don’t properly organized, you end up distracting yourself by moving things out of the way and such. That can easily throw off your concentration and cause mistakes.”

Albeit slowly, Martini made her way to the desk. She did find it problematic at times, but she just pushed it way. Alice looked at her expectantly and Martini nodded. Her first task from Alice was to get the scraps of paper from the floor. Martini threw them into the fire place to burned later, before doing the same to the loose sheets on her desk.

She then followed Alice’s instructions to use the first drawer to put her inks in, the second for quills and charcoal sticks. Next she placed her sketchbook on top of the desk in the middle with a quill laid beside it and a plain black ink vial about few inches away as directed. After about thirty six chimes Alice had sat and watched Martini clean and organize the older woman deemed it satisfactory. Martini wasn’t sure if it would help, but she would have to maintain her home considering Alice would be coming so often. Once they were again seated at the table Alice skimmed her sketchbook.

“Hmm… You have a decent grasp on human anatomy it seems. I’m guessing you haven’t drawn animals often?” A nod from Martini beckoned her to continue. “Then let’s start with this. I’m going to teach you how to do drawing studies.”

“Drawing studies?” Martini’s brow rose as the term was unfamiliar to her. She waited for Alice to explain. She guessed it was studying a drawing but she didn’t know how.

“Yes, I believe it’s better to learn with visual examples and voiced commentary than with just one. Studying as you hopefully know is act of acquiring knowledge through repetitive actions on a subject. Usual when you think of studying schooling comes to mind, textbooks and hours staring at pages. Well, Drawing studies is the same but I want you to add referencing. What’s your favorite animal? Or one you find fascinating?”

“Well, I’ve always thought deer were pretty.” Martini made it sound like a question, confused by Alice’s sudden inquiry. Maybe she had answered to fast but she gave an honest answer. She didn’t ask what referencing was because she figured Alice would explain it.

“Good, something we can work with. Now, referencing is when you take a subject and recreate it based on what you see. The drawing study I want you to complete is going to be on a female deer. I want you to draw a good replica of it’s head. I will create some some for you to study. I want you to first try without a reference. You have two days. No references, just purely from imagination.”

“Wait, you expect me to draw something new in two days? And without prior experience with it?”

“Are you saying you can’t do it?”

“N-no of course not but-”

“No buts. I want to see this done. I will be back around the same time in two days and I look forward to it. Now, write this down because these are my expectations.” Martini found no room for argument or change in Alice’s tone, so she simply went to retrieve her journal and began to write the details given to her.

*

Client: Alice Lewis
Deadline: 42nd of Summer, 517
Purpose: Drawing study
Project Taken on: 40th of Summer, 517
Approximate Time Elapsed: 2 days
Colors: Black

Details: Need to do a deer study drawing? Has to be in black, shading optional. Should be done repeatedly on each sheet. Charcoal is a must for this. No books allowed and no referencing, purely from imagination. At least two drawings per minimum of two sheets of paper. If I feel particularly inspired she said to scrap no drawing. Otherwise she wants me to keep going even if it looks bad.

by **Martini Elwood** on April 5th, 2018, 3:17 am

Martini’s Home
41ST of summer
10th bell, 8th chime

As Martini rose from the comfort of her bed her first thought was work. She had gone to bed a soon as Alice had left in the hopes of having more energy to expend the second day. As it were she had a restful nights sleep. The days she could say that were few and far between but assuming that she had actually done some walking and interacting had made her able to relax into sleep.

Now that she was awake and minimally attentive she walked over to her wash basin and proceeded to prepare for the day. All dressed and scrubbed clean, Martini sat at her desk before realizing she lacked charcoal. A requirement she had already forgotten in her rush to start, Martini slid out of her chair and locked her apartment before leaving.

One trip later Martini was staring at the blank page. She didn’t know where to start. Alice had given her the least amount of information possible as to gauge her competency and skill, but Martini wasn’t accustomed to not being able to ask questions and find out what people wanted through those questions.

When she finally picked up a stick of charcoal it came to her. I’m too tense. Of course she wanted to impress Alice by delivering exceptional results that would blow her away. She wanted to make something stunningly perfect that the gods would admire. However, it would remain out of her grasp until she let loose and sketched quickly and lightly. Loosen up, that’s what she needed to do.

How? There’s only so much that would relieve the tension built in her and the fear of disappointing Alice. She closed her eyes and focused on breathing. Inhale, hold, exhale. And again two more times until she had soft grip on the charcoal stick. She began to scribble lines and nonsense at first. Circles, triangle, anything to loosen her grip and her perfectionist mindset.

A few ticks later the charcoal covered the parchment and Martini could feel the small bit of release. The parchment was a mess of squiggly lines and shapes, but nothing legible. Satisfied she turns the page, ready to begin the sketch process.

Martini begins with a large circle as neatly as she can. The lines could use work as they wobble here and there, but a steady hand would come in time. Very light and quick strokes of the charcoal on the paper make her lines overlap at places but it can be improved.

She starts with the deer's snout, drawing a light rectangle that would hopefully be covered later with details. Gently she places circles where she believes the eyes would rest on the head, and basic construction lines to guide her placement of the ears. As a side view there wasn’t much to see so Martini made an outline for a frontal view as well.

Once she had the basic shapes in place Martini exhaled heavily. Three bells and her only accomplishment was shape guidelines? She needed to put in more effort. As of that moment though, the ebony knew she needed to take a break. Her eyes tingled as she blinked, having her gaze constantly fixed on the paper in front of her. She blinked a couple times before pawing at her eyes and getting back to work.

The first of four looked crooked, and was much to angular for her tastes as she drew it up. But as per request she kept going in an attempt to make it salvageable. The head shape was a least a bit accurate she hopped, but the snout was much to point as were the ears. The eyes looked the worst in her opinion. As she was drawing she thought it looked okay, but once she paused to examine her work she found that the eyes of the deer were simply a circle within a circle.

Groaning, She realized it also looked like it was hairless. Perhaps she could add rivets or stray lines to make it look more like like? Using the charcoal, she began to shade certain areas of the head. Such as under the ears and nose.

The next sketch did turned out a bit better. There were less sharp angles and more of a smooth transition from line to line. Albeit not great, it was definitely a start. As the ebony worked, ideas came more naturally, and her creativity flared to life. Her hands steady, she began to work on the deer from the ears down. She tried her best to round off the ear tips and smooth the lines to blend with shading where the ears connected to the head.

Soon she finds herself with a smiling deer, and though awkward, it was an idea that stuck with her. She couldn’t exactly draw the teeth correctly, but she tried her best to mimic human teeth with a sharper outline. Moving on to the eyes, she minimized the space between the outer circle and the inner, transforming the other into an oval shape instead.

“Mm, this looks okay…” Mumbling to herself was a habit that she didn’t think much of. She placed the second sketch to the side in an attempt to categorize them. The first drawing was parallel to the second. The first being a trash pile and the first being an okay pile.

23rd bell, 34th chime

Loot n Ledger :

by **Martini Elwood** on April 5th, 2018, 4:06 am

42nd of Summer, 517AV
20th bell, 9th chime

About seven sketches later. Martini had her top four picked out. All she had to do was redraw them two on one sheet of paper. If she made a mistake she’d at least have the originals, but Alice had said two per sheet, so that’s what Martini would try and deliver. Looking up as she completed the last sketches redraw, she noticed how dark it had gotten and decided to call it a night. Pushing her things back into their places she made her way into bed.

“Well, you’ve certainly been working hard!” Alice’s amusement was clear as Martini brought over her sketches. While Alice analyzed her work, Martini sat in silent anticipation. When she spoke again, Martini couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “These are pretty decent for no references. I see you have a very angular style here, maybe try to round off better depending on what the mood of the drawing is?”

“Mood? Oh, you mean the atmosphere of the drawing! Yes the second sketch I tried was much more fluid and easier to work with.” A simple nod and Alice scanned through the next page.

“From what I can see you’ve done pretty well. I’m sure you understand you have much room for improvement, but I look forward to bettering you. I want to go over these sheets with you and have you make corrections.” Alice wore a pleasant smile and she seemed to be proud. What Martini lacked in skill she made up with effort and hard work. Alice could feel the potential the younger had.

“I tried to position them properly but, the eyes still seem off…” Martini had to admit she felt a great sense of relief knowing she had done something right. Her interactions with Alice had been pleasant so far, maybe even comforting at times. When Alice spoke, she listened intently. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

“That’s why I’m here Martini. To identify your blocks and get you past them with even more skill. So, here are the sketches I had told you about.” After looking through the portfolio like sketchbook, Martini frowns. There was no way she’d be able to go into such detail anytime soon. Before she could voice this Alice spoke again. “So, I’ll give you a while to study these and then I want you to draw from what you remember from them.”

“When do we start?” Martini asked, smug and expectant of Alice’s immediate answer. She knew little but would grow too, and that’s all that mattered. Alice was going to assist her to the top, but only her effort would be able to get her there. Martini couldn’t help the grin that split her face after Alice spoke. And then she knew she made the right choice.

“That’s what I like to hear. We’ll begin by correcting these sketches here, I’d like to see more shading. Also your lighting is off, try…”