As a contrast to those I have already done of you.
[ Complimentary pieces were often done in Antiva- night and day, land and sea, sinner and devout. Dual portraiture was a booming business in lockets and small paintings meant to be carried to remind oneself of home. Complimentary or contradicting as they often were, Zevran found a great deal of joy in the idea. He had not quite set out framing any of his sketches as a proper portrait, to be certain, at least not many.
But those of Dorian? He took the extra time. Something in the man demanded it. As strange as the practice might be there is something to be said for Tevinter breeding. Their nobles were glorious.
He flips through to one such sketch in particular, Dorian lounging as he'd been in Nevarra, painted and languid on a chaise, and offers it to him. ]
[ Dorian takes the sketch to look at, head tipped, admiring immediately, his sense of surprise kept masked behind study. He hasn't had a portrait done of him since he was a much younger man than he is now, and immediately feels this has been a deplorable oversight of the wider art world. ]
You've a skilled hand at this. It can't hurt to have such handsome subject matter, of course.
[ There's a sincerity to his smile that belies his easy arrogance, handing the book back to Zevran. Please, at being shown the care taken to depict his likeness, and the desire to do so again now. ]
It helps to be good with faces, as an assassin- killing the wrong person can be embarrassing for everyone involved. It is also an easy enough way to render myself invisible. 'Oh, why is that elf here? Portraits for the Lady? Of course'- and occasionally? I earn a coin or two.
[ Even if it had started as a way to not kill the wrong target- he's enjoyed it. Honed it on his own- all the better for putting charcoal to paper and starting up the long curves that make up the shadows of Dorian's current posture. ]
An excuse to stand and admire you? What is not to like.
I'd offer a coin or two myself, but then, I shouldn't like to deprive you of my portrait.
[ He isn't exactly lounging on a chaise now, a sort of conscious twinge that maybe he ought to be posing, or something, but Zevran has already started. Well, he's at least in a sort of poise, book in hand and by the window, so he relaxes, and looks back down at what he was barely reading.
Given time, a proper canvas, and some of the minerals that keep mysteriously appearing in packages meant for me I might perhaps do these again in color.
[ His hand moves over the paper, unhurried, eye flicking up to Dorian to gauge the line of his shoulders, the bend of his torso- the broad strokes before he flitted to the finer details. Shadows would wait until he had the bulk of it sorted out. ]
There is an old tale told by Antivan fish-wives about souls and portraits, something of how a skilled artist twists the souls of those he paints and steals them for his own use. His paintings were so alive, so real that of course this had to be the case, yes? A fine fiction. And then you learn that no, roughly a century ago there was a melificar Crow that did more or less just that from one of the other Houses.
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no subject
[ Complimentary pieces were often done in Antiva- night and day, land and sea, sinner and devout. Dual portraiture was a booming business in lockets and small paintings meant to be carried to remind oneself of home. Complimentary or contradicting as they often were, Zevran found a great deal of joy in the idea. He had not quite set out framing any of his sketches as a proper portrait, to be certain, at least not many.
But those of Dorian? He took the extra time. Something in the man demanded it. As strange as the practice might be there is something to be said for Tevinter breeding. Their nobles were glorious.
He flips through to one such sketch in particular, Dorian lounging as he'd been in Nevarra, painted and languid on a chaise, and offers it to him. ]
To this. The North and the South, yes?
no subject
You've a skilled hand at this. It can't hurt to have such handsome subject matter, of course.
[ There's a sincerity to his smile that belies his easy arrogance, handing the book back to Zevran. Please, at being shown the care taken to depict his likeness, and the desire to do so again now. ]
If you like.
no subject
[ Even if it had started as a way to not kill the wrong target- he's enjoyed it. Honed it on his own- all the better for putting charcoal to paper and starting up the long curves that make up the shadows of Dorian's current posture. ]
An excuse to stand and admire you? What is not to like.
no subject
[ He isn't exactly lounging on a chaise now, a sort of conscious twinge that maybe he ought to be posing, or something, but Zevran has already started. Well, he's at least in a sort of poise, book in hand and by the window, so he relaxes, and looks back down at what he was barely reading.
He turns a page, backwards, momentarily lost. ]
But I'll take a picture in lieu of your soul.
no subject
[ His hand moves over the paper, unhurried, eye flicking up to Dorian to gauge the line of his shoulders, the bend of his torso- the broad strokes before he flitted to the finer details. Shadows would wait until he had the bulk of it sorted out. ]
There is an old tale told by Antivan fish-wives about souls and portraits, something of how a skilled artist twists the souls of those he paints and steals them for his own use. His paintings were so alive, so real that of course this had to be the case, yes? A fine fiction. And then you learn that no, roughly a century ago there was a melificar Crow that did more or less just that from one of the other Houses.