Henneth Annûn Story Archive

A parting nuzgul for the month. I freely admit to having borrowed the idea from an artist friend whose website has, alas, fallen prey to the "404 Error Site not found" monster, it seems...

We have a *lot* of artistically talented folks on HA/HASA. I'd like to see a Challenge that does something with those visual talents. This would be a two-step process, requiring:

1. Artists. Artists would volunteer a picture that they've drawn/created. This could be something already done, or it could be something new; preferably it'd be labeled as to characters in it, but not (quite) an illustration of a specific scene in any of the books. The idea is to draw something beyond what the books say happened. So maybe you do the last supper of Feanor and Co. in Valinor, just as an example (note: need not be da Vinci parody). There'd be a deadline for this, and the pic would have to be put in a publically accessible place so even non-members could eventually see it.

2. Writers. Could be the same people as the artists, but hopefully there'd be some expansion here. You pick a picture and write a story based on what you think is going on in the picture. In the final version of the story, you would include a hyperlink to the site where the picture was stored.

Admittedly, this could be tougher on the artists if no one chooses to write about their picture, but even so, I think it'd be more fun than hurt feelings.

Does this sound like it could be fun? Thoughts? Comments? Anyone interested in volunteering as either (or both) artist or writer? Klose has been volunteered to watch this one (thank you, Klose).

Ta, then!

 

Oooh! Oooh! (sez the woman who only a week ago swore she was not going to write, not in public, no way!)

Me! I want to play! I never feel like I have any plot, but I have got vignette/snapshots in my head. I could try this!

I am not an artist, but I play one on tv! I mean -- I can't draw for beans, but my husband is an artist, and many of my extended family are as well. And one of them is an amazing photographer who might have some ideas. It might take some browbeating, but I can probably get at least one of them to play – or see if they have something in their files.

Should I post links to places to see their art?

this sounds like fun!

gaudete
tay


umm- just askin'
I have not fallen for the HASA april fools joke, have I?

 

I have not fallen for the HASA april fools joke, have I?

No dear, you haven't. This is genuine.

I think the artists have to be members... must ask Dwim about that. But do post the links! We all love fanart here!

I am not an artist, but I play one on tv!

You're an actor?

 

Hi Tay,

Ooh... dilemmas. The idea is to get HASA/HA people to submit their artwork for this. Don't suppose your hubby would want to join for awhile...?

However, if there is sufficient demand for outside artists' work for this, then perhaps we could do this so long as the artist gave permission and was willing to post a pic on a public site.

Anyhow, back to Klose.

TTFN,

Dwim

 

Yup, what Dwim said.

So anyway, everybody, please post your suggestions or ideas in this thread... this is still a prospective challenge, and we'd like to know what you think.

Just some suggestions of mine:

We find out how many member artists are willing to contribute before we decide on a solid number of how many drawings.
Alternatively, we could have just three pictures first (from the Hobbit, LotR and the Silm) and then when the Challenge is over, and if it's successful, have another similar Challenge. Kind of like the Quarterly Quickies, actually.

What do you guys think?

 

--- oh... dilemmas. The idea is to get HASA/HA people to submit their artwork for this. Don't suppose your hubby would want to join for awhile...? ---


It would be easy to get Jim to join. He reads over my shoulder all the time anyway. And he will certainly be the easiest to browbeat - I mean, cajole - into artwork.

I have no idea if I am posting these links correctly -I looked all through the tutorial, but if it says there is a preferred way, I didn't find it!

Here is the Winter Solstice Art my husband and I do every year ( This years features a Boromir/Aragorn piece, though 1997 may still be my favorite) solstice


My family's art:
Lee Moyer
Annaliese Moyer
Robin Wood



gaudete

 

Alright, get your husband to join! We need artists!

The HTML for links would be: < a href="url" >website name< /a > (close up space between carrots)

Just a question, Tay: are you interested as a writer or an artist- or both?

Everybody else who is interested, sign up here.

 

Thanks for the help with the links - I think I did it right this time.


I have Jim seriously thinking the artist project about now.

He has already agreed to sign on to HASA - he likes to read good "gap-filler" stories, and we like to work together - we are used to writing together, but not fiction until recently. This artist/writer dynamic is very close to how we work on the solstice cards.

I think it will be more challenging for me not to pick the art he submits - but until the lists go up, I will reserve that judgement.

So I will say yes, as a writer - and hopefully I will get Jim to say yes as an artist.

gaudete!

 

I could draw one for this if you want...

Ariel

 

Yay! That's great Ariel, and thank you! I don't suppose you will also want to write, however?

Artists: 2
Writers: 3

Still need four more, each. Anyone else interested?

Please specify if you want to write or contribute an artwork, or both.

 

LOL... I am a heck of a lot better artist than author - or at least that is what I am told. Probably best I stick to where my talents lie... but thanks for the kind word.

Ariel

 

Hello all.


I need more info, but I am HERE! HERE! HERE!


First, are there restrictions about drifting from cannon? In other words could you draw a picture of characters together doing something that was never eluded to in the book? (slashy behavior? Eating dinner? Hunting together? Doing group blazon emroidery when those characters are not known to sew particularly well....) *snerk*


Or do we have to stay to something that is more along the lines of a scene that was referred to, like Finduilas' death, but never described by Tolkien. Something that we know is cannon but not sculpted out in writing....


I would like to formally offer myself forward as both an author and an artist on this one.


But I need to know where my boundries lie.


E.W.

 

Something that we know is cannon but not sculpted out in writing....

Yep, this is perfectly fine.

could you draw a picture of characters together doing something that was never eluded to in the book

It should be alright so as long as it isn't *too* crazy, a la Melkor playing tennis with Maedhros. Then again, it really would be a challenge to write something based on that... but yeah, scenes like those you mentioned are perfectly fine. The more dramatic/mysterious/intriguing, the better. It will certainly make for more brain racking!


Artists: 3 (Ariel, E.W., Dagmar, possibly Tay's husband and Isabeau)
Writers: 3 (Jillian, E.W., Tay, possibly Isabeau)

 

I have nothing ready, but some ideas are already filtering through my brain... would like to have the deadline not too close, because I am about to go on Eastern holidays for two weeks soon.

 

Right... I will have to talk to Dwim about this, but it should be alright.

Confirmed Artists: Ariel, Dagmar, E.W.
Confirmed Writers: E.W., Jillian, Tay

I might just enter, myself... but is there anyone else out there who is interested?

 

Jim is waiting for his HA message with password to sign on here. He says he will do this, so that is another artist.

Actually, he got quite excited at the idea.

gaudete

 

That's great! Can't wait to meet him.

Confirmed Artists: Ariel, Dagmar, E.W., Jim. (4)
Confirmed Writers: E.W., Jillian, Tay (3)

We just need another artist and two more writers, now...

 

This is a great idea! I'm very much interested in it, but don't know whether as an artist or writer. Let me see if I get things straight, at the beginning of the thread Dwim mentioned that the artist could aim for something that is not necessary mentioned or implied in the books? For instance, could I have Boromir and Faramir playing together as children, or perhaps Eomer taming a horse, or stuff like that? Is that it? Or, would you all much rather go for moments that are mentioned in the book, but not necesarily described in detail?

hmmm.... this is terribly appealing....

Starlight
(goes in search of a sketch pad)

 

the artist could aim for something that is not necessary mentioned or implied in the books?
Or, would you all much rather go for moments that are mentioned in the book, but not necesarily described in detail?

Nope, either way is fine. See my reply to E.W. for more clarfication.

So can I count you in as an artist, at least, Starlight?

 

This caught my attention right from the start, but I hesitated to commit because of time constraints. May I be put down as a possible writer? I really like this idea.

~Nessime

 

So can I count you in as an artist, at least, Starlight?
Well, I am actually working on something, but it's very rough still. However, I will desperately try to get it ready. When is the deadline for this, btw?

I've never actually painted anything too realistic with a Tolkienesque subject, and besides a few cartoons Barrow Downs I've never submitted my work to the public, only for my college classes, but I love this chance! So, I guess that's a yea... (and I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best!)

Starlight

 

I can't draw anything but I'd be willing to do this as an author, if i have the time, I'm already waay over my head in fics to be written, and that's not counting school! Do we pick a picture from another site, or use one that has been entered in the contest?

~Moriel

 

Re: the deadline for pictures. Dwim hasn't told me anything yet, but I will get back to you anout it.

Do we pick a picture from another site, or use one that has been entered in the contest?

We use one that has been entered in the contest. Moriel, don't worry too much about the time constraints. We still need to wait for the artists, and after that, we'll probably give you a month at the very least to write your stuff!


Artists: Ariel, Dagmar, E.W., Jim, Starlight (We have 5! Yes!)
Writers: E.W., Jillian, Moriel, Tay.


We just need one more writer to get this Challenge going...

 

Correction! I had not seen Nessime's post!
We now have five artists and five writers! Yeah!

Artists: Ariel, Dagmar, E.W., Jim, Starlight
Writers: E.W., Jillian, Moriel, Nessime, Tay


A parting shot, to clear up doubts:
The type of artwork is flexible (any medium, so on so forth). With regards to content:

1. Incidents *straight* from canon are alright (though I personally would not advise it, if Tolkien had written the scene already, it would be hard for the writers to write something!)
2. Incidents implied in canon, but Tolkien did not expand on then, such as the death of Finduilas, the giving of the Rings of Power, etc.
3. Incidents that had to have happened and does not even need Tolkien to mention them, such as Feanor and his family having dinner.
4. Incidents that *could* have happened in canon, and there's nothing refuting the possibility, such as Boromir teaching Faramir how to swim. (just an example)


I'll go email Dwim now.

 

Hello all!

Just got Klose's e-mail, so here're some things to consider now that we've got this up and going:

I can't set two formal deadlines, so what I will do is this:

I can manually set deadlines now, so it's no longer the 1, 3, 6, 9, or 12 month divisions. If I can get an estimate from the artists as to how much time they think they would need to create something they're happy with, I will take the most conservative estimate, then add three months to it for the writers to write stories.

That will be the official deadline for the entire challenge, and in the text description, I'll put the semi-official artists' deadline. By "semi-official," I mean "it'd be highly encouraged for you to have something done by this time for the sake of the writers, but no one will kill and eat you if you put something up a week or two past that." :-)

Of course, artists can post pics as soon as they are ready to do so, and of course, authors are more than welcome (and are encouraged) to begin writing the instant they see a picture that interests them. Which leads us to the next consideration...

Storing the pictures

I would say that initially at least, we should probably store the pics in a special folder at HA that is labeled "Snapshot Challenge entries." Later on, however, we will want to move them to (or duplicate them on) a publicly accessible site so that non-member readers of these fics will be able to see the pictures without having to join HA to get at them.

Whether the artists want to store their pics on their own individual websites or set them up on a communal one, I don't know. I leave it up to you. It's not hard to create a jointly accessible angelfire site, for example, though I don't know whether bandwidth limitations might be an issue. We just want to make sure that in the end, the writers have a URL to paste into their stories that anyone could access.

Hmm... Klose's suggested interpretations of what sorts of pics seem good to me. Consider them adopted, if no one has any massive objections.

You guys rock! This is going to be fun...

 

This is going to be so fun!


I will want a month to do my artwork, if that is alright with everyone. My only problem is question really....


Am I restricted to just one picture or can I do several for the authors to choose from?


As for storage, since we have a set of specific authors who have taken up the challenge, I say that until the contest is over, we set the art up on a HASA FTP file. Then we give out ID's and passwords to the artists for download and the writers so they can paruse the possible illustrations. We could wait until the challenge is over to post the art someplace public, and that would give Dwim plenty of time to find a permanent home for the artwork. I would eventually like to see each illustration posted on HASA in the Challenges section along with its corresponding story.


I am in the process of building a website archive for my Tolkien Fan Art egroup and I would even be willing to eventually store the art there, though I would prefer it be shown on HASA since the stories will be there.


E.W.

 

If you want to draw more than one pic for this, feel free. The more, the merrier, and the more likely we are to suck others in. That goes for all of you who want to contribute artwork.

Re: storage of images on HASA, this would be an Ang issue, since Ang is the person who is trying to keep things running both smoothly *and* quickly.

For the time being, the FTP thing... not sure how that works, exactly. If you can explain how it works, cool. If not, I still say just set up an HA folder. That'll also make it easy to entice people into taking a look at the pics. Hopefully, one of them will inspire them to write.

So far, we have a request for one month for artwork. What say you others? Too short a time? Just right?

 

Content of artwork: Include AU, please!

Deadline for artists: I would prefer two months. I will probably post something before the deadline, but would like to have the time to do more.

 

I'm so excited about this challenge! I think it'll be just great. I think setting up a folder at HA to store the pictures will be just fine, and it will also be a chance for the members to look at and see if something inspires them to write a story.

About the deadline, I would very much like to have two months... please? Although most likely I will have something ready before then, but knowing that I have more time makes things somehow less... stressful.

Oh, this is going to be much fun!

 

Jim is now successfully a member - under the screen name shunt

I thought he would poke around a little and go away to draw, but he seems to be quite happy across the office at his mac, checking out the available stories.

This rocks!!

 

Well done, Tay! Hi Jim!

"Snapshot" is officially live. Please continue discussion here.

 

Hi Jim!

Oh, and Dagmar: What do you mean by AU?

 

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