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Dinner Ritual
Published: 2004-08-29 03:44:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 8353; Favourites: 137; Downloads: 1181
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Description
Every night, things become incredibly awkward at the dinner table when the Beast asks Beauty to marry him. Every night she refuses and takes her leave of him. She wishes that he would stop asking; he wishes that he could.Did I say that I was over my Beauty and the Beast mania? Sorry, I must have meant to type not over it. Silly me.
I did this in Laurentien coloured pencils, which was an experience. Colour is, like, a million times harder than black and white. I could've done this in a third of the time using pencils. Still, I'll never learn if I don't keep trying! I messed up a lot of stuff, but it's still better than I expected, so I'm proud.
When I decided to colour this, I scanned in the pencil rough. It's up in Scraps if anyone wants to see it.
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Comments: 86
I totally understand what you are saying about color vs. black and white. But I want color in my drawings too! And hence, we try and try and try some more.
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Excellent composition! I like how your central character is so prominent that when you finally take your eyes off her your amazed that the Beast was there the whole time. A very nice use of grounds.
I hope you don't mind but I featured this piece in my journal. [link]
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One word: BLOODY FRICKEN AWESOME!
... okay, three words...
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this is just so wonderful! My favourite part is the window in the bg!
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Yay, I'm so happy you got a DD on this! Your art so deserves recognition and admiration
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Thank you so much! You're very kind.
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have you read Robin McKinleys Retelling of Beauty and the Beast?
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I have - both of them - and I enjoyed them. They probably fueled my Beauty and the Beast mania and made me more eager to search up older and alternative versions of the story. The one I used here for inspiration is Mme Leprince de Beaumont's, because it's easy to find, relatively well-known, and no longer under copyright.
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did you read Deer Skin? also by McKinley.
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I did read Deer Skin. I believe those three books are all of hers that I've read, though.
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Colored pencils may be hard, but digi-coloring is twice the pain. I'll take the pencil colors any day. You mixed them very well by the way. I think you did pretty well. Beauty does look a little too thin to me, though.
By chance, are you speaking of Robin McKinley's book? I remember that being a part of the story.
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(apologies for the late reply - I only just realized there was another page of comments)
coloured pencils and digital colouring are probably too different to properly compare - I'd take coloured pencils any day, just like you, but as far as I can tell, they're very different processes.
Beauty's thinness is accidentally intentional. I noticed she was coming out on the thin side as I drew, and decided to make that part of my version of her, but at the same time, in this picture, she is too thin. I was over-eager when it came to showing the white-light shading and ended up with a torso several inches thinner and more visible than it should have been. I tried to compensate with the other side, but it didn't really work.
And while I have read and enjoyed Robin McKinley's renditions of Beauty and the Beast, and they may have served as inspiration, this picture is not intended to illustrate them. The repeated marriage proposals are a constant in most renditions of the story that haven't been dumbed down for kids, including Villaneuve's original story. I always find the thought of it to be touchingly awkward.
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Someday, they will make decently eraseable colored pencils, so such things will not happen.
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Someday, yes. And the world will rejoice.
As far as Beauty and the Beast goes, I recommend "Beauties, Beasts, and Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales" by Jack Zipes, which has both the original story by Villaneuve (it's pretty odd, since it goes on well after the traditional ending and explains how everything was manipulated by fairies) and de Beaumont's shorter, better known adaption. Apparently it's out of print, though, but I did manage to get a copy out of the library here. At any rate, you can find a copy of Mme Leprince de Beaumont's story online: [link] .
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Well, we dorky little drawers will rejoice.
Hey, thanks! :makes note and adds of 'list of stuff to read after you finish finals, projects, and Christmas shopping':
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Oh, I know this Beauty and the Beast version! I liked the version of the Persian Beast and French Beauty better though. But this art is amazing.
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This is absolutely beautiful. I love fairytales too. I've just recently 'completed' an interactive fairytale on the 'Rapunzel' story. Quite a different style from yours. But I reckon it's quite a dark tale. I say 'completed' bacause thats's what I submitted for universuty assesment but I'll probably keep working at it. I've posted up a few scenes on my account. But anyway, I just wanted to say this is very remisicent of the older styles. It's absolutely fantasitic and your lightning is great.
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Thank you. It's always nice to find new people who love fairytales, especially ones who draw from them! Rapunzel is, I think, a much darker tale than Beatuy and the Beast - there's all sorts of unpleasant business that B&B never comes close to touching upon. Your Rapunzel illustrations are really cool - they'd look great all together in a book. You must keep working on it until you're satisfied, because it would be a shame to leave it before you considered it 'finished'.
Thanks very much for the comment, and the comparison to older styles, of which I am very fond. And thanks doubly for the fav!
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This is wonderful, my boyfriend is going to be in the play and it's funny that now that i'm thinking about it I can find Beauty and the Beast stuff everywhere, when I had never seen any before. Anyway, just wanted to comment saying how great this is!
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It's funny how that works, isn't it? As soon as you have reason to notice something, it's everywhere you look. Good luck to your boyfriend, and thanks for the comment!
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Very interesting..definitely not the typical Beauty & the Beast...more like a dark side of them. I like this. 
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While there is a slight anatomical issue with her upper torso, the texturing, the shading, especially on her face, is nothing short of amazing. Pencils are HARD to work with, so props to you for this successful piece.
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Oh! And I forgot to mention: I absolutely adore your icon. It's wonderful.
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Thanks much! That's very flattering, coming from an artist such as yourself. ^___^
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Oh my! I didn't realize there was a third page of comments on here.
You're absolutely right regarding the torso issue. Even though I wanted her to be thin, I didn't intend her to be *that* thin, and I ended up having to compensate on the other side of her chest. I'm glad that you like the picture, though. Thank you for the comment!
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I like the way you have drawn the light in this picture although the directions the light is coming from and the characters are facing doesn't seem to suggest a happy ending (I don't know the story I just assumed there would be a happy ending because there is a Disney film of it)
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Well, yeah, it's understandable that you think that, but being a person who's read the original versions of some of Disney's movies, they do "cheer them up" a bit ^-^;; Best example I can think of is Cinderella. Remember the part where the two stepsisters were trying to force the slipper onto their own feet? Well, when the first one tried, and failed, the stepmother prompted her to cut off part of her toe, on account that she "wouldn't have to walk again when she was queen" And when the second stepsister tried to put the slipper on and failed, the stepmother told her to cut off part of her heel. And as you probably remember, this wasn't shown in the Disney version ^_^;;
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so do beauty and the beast fall in love in the end?
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Sorry, I've been terribly remiss in replying to comments, but yes, they do. What happens is that Beauty gets to miss her home, and begs the Beast to let her go back to visit. He agrees, but gives her a time limit (which varies with the version - I can't remember the original. Say a couple of weeks.) At any rate, her two sisters, who are jealous of her apparent success and happiness, conspire to keep her home (by begging her to stay just one more day, just one more day), and Beauty stays past the two weeks until she has a dream of the dying Beast. At that point she returns to the castle through magical means set up by the Beast before she left, moons around a bit hoping to find him, and eventually finds him apparently dead in the garden. Through her tears and confessions of love, the spell is broken, he turns back into a prince, and they get married (not necessarily in that order). The very original, by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, goes on for several more pages after that, describing the characters' parentage and the situations that got them cursed, but that all got cut out in the more popular rendition by Mme Leprince de Beaumont.
Which is probably more information than you were looking for. But the short answer is yes, it does end happily.
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I don't know, I made that comment simply to tip you off that it could well have a much darker ending in the original than it can in the Disney version ^_^;;
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You did wonderfully. Colored pencils are very difficult.
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Beautiful... It inspires me to make more attempts with coloured pencil.
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This is beautiful. i love that you're illustrating the original story, not some Disney version.
The colors are wonderful- very vibrant. I love that Beauty looks like a real person. Congratulations on the DD.
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Apologies for taking so long to respond - I must have missed this. Strictly speaking, I am not illustrating the original, which, in its description of the beast mentions, I believe, both a horrendous trunk and scales. This is the Mme Leprince de Beaumont version, which is nearly the original, and is more or less the same as the popular (non-Disney) story.
Thanks for your kind words.
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Well, you know. When I say original, what I mean is the real story, instead of the dumbed-down Disney version.
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Wow. You are truely amazing with coloured pencils. 
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i like how the dress is folded and wrinkled...maybe a bit overdone, but it shows how she is uncomfortable eating, and doesn't get as much sustenance as she would hope to get. It seems to be affecting her weight, making it oh so much more realistic...maybe a bit overdone, but it's still daily deviation worthy
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congratulations for the Daily Deviation - out of a lot of pieces on dA, you can see why this was chosen... I am amazed that you dont have more recognition! I love all the qualities of this piece, the texture on the dress, the shading in the background, the detail in the stained glass... I particularly like the way the hair has been drawn, and the reflection on the table - all elements have been thought of... did you use any sort of referance at all? (obviously not for the beasst, but for the reflections and shading and so on) The only thing I would say about this (and this may have been intentional - if so, I apologise) is that the beasts nose seems slightly flat. Amazing work though, this callibre of picture which doesnt come around often (and YAY for beauty and the beast anyway. You draw them well) very lovely work, well done
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Oddly enough, I did sort of use a reference for the Beast - I looked at my cat (the real thing, photos and sketches) and worked from there. I also ended up taking a picture of myself wearing a thin-material shirt to work out what wrinkles would be where. However, the shading and reflections were all made up, with much agonizing (let me tell you, it's a lot easier to make things up in black and white).
The Beast's nose is a bit flatter than I want, I think, though it was meant to be flat to a degree (it's a feline nose). I didn't notice until you pointed it out, though, so thanks. And thanks for the comment!
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you colour so beautifully, and the emotions portrayed in the picture are wonderful
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I love your depictment of Beauty and the Beast here. It's so beautiful. The colors are gorgeous.
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i'll never get over my beauty and the beast mania. ^.^ and your drawing is very beautifuly done.
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Wow I love this, the cross shading of different colours has worked really well here. very nice, you have also set the mood in the picture very well
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