Artist Interview with Lizard
We are thrilled to present our first Artist Interview here at the snarry_reader. lizardspots is one of the most popular Snape/Harry artists in the fandom, loved for her extraordinary detail work and of course, Severus Snape's nose. I consider her a true fanperson's artist, drawing the characters and pairings we love the way we love to see them.

lizardspots draws in two fandoms now, including slash, gen and het. She also takes commissions when time allows. You can see all her work at her temporary art archive. She has drawn some marvelous demos for this interview - I hope you enjoy them.

Aubrem: Hello Lizard, thank you so much for agreeing to be my first artist interview. I'll confess up front that I am ignorant about art though I enjoy looking at it. And I should probably disclose to anyone reading this that I am a big fan of Lizard's and once commissioned from her a fantastic picture, "Potions Master." which is now framed and hanging on my wall.

So Lizard, when did you first start drawing?

Lizard: Thanks for interviewing me, I'm honoured to be the first artist around here! In terms of random drawing, I've always vaguely drawn since I was a child. Nothing serious. I actually began in the Harry Potter fandom as a writer since I had no idea of the existence of a fanart side of fandom. Back then (in about 2002)fanart was very much on the sidelines. I then stumbled across three wonderful artists at the same time - seviet, squirmy and glockgal in March 2003. And I thought 'Wow! I want to try that!', and consequently I never wrote again. :D After plodding along on Deviantart for a while, I met duckpuppy, who introduced me to lj and to lunulet, who introduced me to fiendling, and it's just been a rollercoaster of fanart and smut and squee since then. Hee.

Aubrem: Have you always considered yourself an artist?

Lizard:In an arbitrary sense, yes. I consider myself knowledgeable in art to know what I'm talking about, if you get what I mean. But professionally? No way. This is staying firmly as a hobby - I've thankfully been commissioned by some wonderful generous people on livejournal (*bows to you*) but beyond that, I don't intend to pursue a career in art. I intend to follow my dream, which is to become a doctor, hopefully a surgeon. :) Besides, calling oneself an 'artist' sounds terribly aristocratic, doesn't it? Hehe. If I were to call myself anything, it'd be 'fanartist', or 'illustrator' if I was feeling egotistical. The distinction is slight, but 'artist' just doesn't seem like me. *grins*

Aubrem: ah, forgive my ignorance but I've always wondered about this - how does being an illustrator differ from being an artist?

Lizard: Hahaha, that's entirely my perception of what an 'illustrator' and what an 'artist' is, so I'm probably completely biased. When I think 'artist', I think of someone who is very in touch with their emotions, is able to condense their creativity and imagination into a visual form. All very amazing and emotive and other such adjectives. Then there's the 'illustrator', who is just as creative and emotive of course, but is more geared towards representing a scene from the written word. Then there's the fanartists, who are part illustrator and part fangirls/fanboys *giggles*. Then there's me, who's just in it for the wonderful friends I've made and the breathtaking fic and art. ;)

Aubrem: I think of you as an illustrator because of the style of your work - the huge amount of detail and way you present a scene with the setting perhaps as being important as the characters. It reminds me of book illustrations. Some of your work even reminds me of woodcuts -very elaborate woodcuts. Is that a look you particularly strive for?

Lizard: Well, I definitely strive to stuff details into every corner of a drawing. I remember it was from seviet's FAQ on her website, where she gave advice for budding fanartists. "Learn to love your backgrounds", and that's exactly what I've learned to do. :D I guess I do strive for the woodcut look - the bold crosshatching and intricate lineart. Both aspects attract me, because they come easily to me, and just... I like the look! The only reason I draw as I do is because I like the result. I also much prefer drawing in black and white than colour. Ink = ♥ :D

Aubrem: Could you show us how you do some of that?

Lizard: Alrighty, here we go! *rolls up sleeves*

First, the rough sketch. :) In any picture, I try to create a non-symmetrical feel - symmetrical poses/background just look wrong to me, so I tend to avoid profile-to-profile pictures of people. If I do have a profile-to-profile shot (like in this Snarry picture) I tilt the faces and do something with their bodies, maybe have one with their arms thrown round the other etc. :D It's really important to have a sort of flow in the figures - an old friend once told me that the way I draw couples always has a diagonal slant. Like, one of the characters is always taller than the other and leaning forward, while the other leans back with their face looking up.

Then I start on the background. A background isn't just a flat backdrop - there's the foreground, midground (Snape and Harry), background, and far background (or distance). Depending on how much space is left around the figures, I might leave out the foreground/distance bit. I'm rather pedantic and want to fill in every bit of the canvas, hehehe. In this sketch, the foreground is the Slytherin hourglass, the midground is Snarry action, the background is the Gryffindor hourglass, and the distance is the random arched doorway and wooden floorboards.



Here's the sketch at full size.

And secondly, lineart! This is always the most tedious part of any CG drawing I do. :\ But, onward! I trace over the rough sketch neatly, including some fine cross-hatching along the way. Then I get rid of the rough sketch and cross-hatch. I love cross-hatching! It's a very quick way of adding depth and shadows to a picture without it looking fussy. Far easier than colour, anyway, and still looking just as detailed (or almost as detailed, at the very least). Plus I think that black & white suits Snarry very well, don't you? :)

Shadows have to be all in one direction, and I've chosen the shadows to be on the left here (note Harry's arm and the twists in the hourglass frames). I try to keep consistent with this, but for things like Snape's robes, it's difficult to have the shadows in a specific direction without the whole thing looking like a blackened scratchy mess. So I ignore the shadow rule for a few things, but usually people don't notice. ^_^



Ta dah! All done. :D Here's the lineart before cross-hatching, if anyone wants to see.

Aubrem: Wow! Gorgeous work - fascinating!

I am a huge fan of your backgrounds - the detail work is so amazing but really, I think you are most loved for your Snape. I remember the first time I ran across you was when I kept seeing icons made from "The Many Faces of Severus Snape, Deatheater." The smirk! The nose! Did it take you a while to develop the way you draw Snape or were you inspired from the beginning?

Lizard: Haha, oh gosh that Many Faces picture is so old! It was one of the first pieces of fanart I ever drew, inspired by Grindylowe's fic Deatheaters At The Malfoy Estate. It didn't really take me long to develop the way I draw Snape - before I attempted to draw him, I'd come across art by ebilsoki, whose Snarry art is just divine! A lot of her work is photorealistic, but she also has art in her own style. That's where I got ideas on how to draw Snape, particularly his nose. ;) It's all about the bump at the bridge near the eyes, the slightly hooked nose end, and the frown line between his eyebrows. What did take me a while was Snape's hair. I went through phases, giving him dead-straight hair a la Avril Lavigne *snicker* to giving him slightly wavy hair, which looked like he was sporting the "wet look". Currently, I've got his hair straight again, but quite messy, so there are wisps everywhere hanging in his face, over his ears, resting on his shoulders. I like the current look. :)

Aubrem: Could you give us a little demonstration?

Lizard: Snape demonstration, coming up.



I think that was pretty self-explanatory, no? I will add that I always start drawing Snape's face with his nose. Always. *grins* Here's the finished non-moving Snape portrait.

Aubrem: He's amazing! The nose - no one draws it like you do. Adding in Harry though, what is it about Snape and Harry together than you enjoy?

Lizard: Gah, I'm not nearly eloquent enough to explain what I love about Snarry in general, but I'll try. I've always liked enemy-slash, where the author slowly develops the characters' relationship to a point where they are on the opposite side of the emotional spectrum from where they started. I love that, I love reading about the progression from hate to obsession to respect to dependence, and possibly to love. Snape has always been my favourite character in the HP series, starting from book 1 - he was just so openly horrible, there had to be more to his character. A good Snarry story always has to have a very solid Snape characterisation. I wouldn't know where to begin describing his character, but I love an author who can really get stuck into his mindset, leaving the reader fascinated by this complex man.

Strangely enough, I used to hate Snarry, absolutely hate it. It squicked me terribly - I wasn't very fond of Harry, and Snape in my mind was far too intelligent for the likes of a teenaged boy. Plus the teacher/student idea made me uncomfortable. (this was when I'd begun tentatively stepping into fandom in early 2003). I just couldn't see it in the books (I know, I must have been blind!). So along came Nym with her series "Shattered" which was being rec'ed like nobody's business all over LJ, and I thought "Eek, ok, I'll give it a shot." ...And that was that. Totally fell in love with the ship, scrounged around for all the 'classic' fics, went hunting for Snarry moments in the books and was shocked at myself for finding the pairing so squicky beforehand. I think it was the age gap that put me off - I'm only 19 (17 when I first delved into HP fandom) and having a relationship with someone 20 years my senior just did not compute in my head.

Now of course, I love older/younger pairings, Snarry being my favourite. My tastes have changed from my 17 year old self, and I've fallen in love with teh Snarry even more. Canon Harry is still rather annoying, but I have to keep reminding myself that he's only a 15 year old boy, and will be prone to idiotic actions now and then. *grins* I love reading older Harry fics - there's so much room for exploration with adult Harry. His characterisation varies a lot from fic to fic, and I love reading them all. As long as he's not too defiant and whiny. ;)

And when it comes to drawing them... it's all about the intensity. They're both dark haired, which makes for some very nice black and white pictures, and the contrast between Harry's lithe youthful body and Snape's more masculine larger one is great fun to draw. Larger person/smaller person slash always looks more pleasing to my eye, and Snarry is no exception - it's all about that diagonal slant I mentioned earlier. I'm also very fond of drawing manly Snape *cough*chest hair*cough* with his chiselled jawline and long fingered hands. Many people draw Snape as slightly effeminate, but that really doesn't work for me, not for grown-up Snape. Teenager!Snape, yes, but not Snape-the-Potions-Master.

Aubrem: Although we focus on the Snape/Harry here you do draw many other slash pairings, gen, and even het. In fact you recently did a fabulous Snape/Hermione collaboration with switchknife, "The Secret-Keeper." I love these sorts of collaborations. Was it fun? Do you plan more? Any Snarry fic/art collaborations?

Lizard: Oh collaborations are always fun! I generally don't plan collaborations very much in advance - the couple of times I've done that, I end up losing interest in the subject matter, and without that driving spark, the collab just becomes a chore. :\ The Snape/Hermione project with switchknife was done over a very short period of time - I read over the fic in one day, letting my ideas mull around in my head. Then I drew all five illustrations over the following two days. Very intense. I'm not usually so fast, but you know, with that driving spark, it all works! And that's what collab art is all about - it's meant to be fun, spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment stuff, when a fic inspires you so much that you couldn't bare to be away from your pencil and paper.

I haven't got any collabs planned at the moment - like I said, I tend not to plan these things well in advance - but I would like to collab more when I have the time, particularly on a Snarry. Why, is anyone offering? ;)

Aubrem:I certainly hope so - because I'd love to see some Snarry fic/art projects. : )

I've been shy to ask you this next question because it reveals both my art and tech ignorance but can you explain how computer art works and how it differs from natural materials? Is it more convenient? Can you get the same effects as with natural? Different effects? I know artists know all of this but the rest of us are very curious.

Lizard: Wow, ok, I'll try to answer this as well as I can. Most of the artists online (that I know of) do one of three things:

- use natural materials for all their work, and scan/photograph their finished piece to post.
- draw the lineart of a picture in natural media (pencil, ink) and colour it on the computer.
- draw and colour completely on the computer.

I can't really say which media is more convenient - every artist has their own preferred method - so I guess I'll talk about what materials I use and what I find easier/difficult.

A lot of my work (maybe around half of it) has been drawn, or at least started, on the computer. I use a Wacom tablet to draw, which is a pressure sensitive pad you hook up to the computer. It comes with a mouse pen which you use to draw on the pad, and the image appears on the computer screen. It can take some getting used to, because the drawing isn't under the pen, it's appearing on the screen - some people love it and some people hate it.

There are a bunch of graphics programs people use to draw with, the most popular of which are Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, Jasc Paint Shop Pro and Open Canvas. Each program differs slightly in layout, sensitivity to the mouse pen, number of features/special filters, and texture of the colour laid down with each stroke, so each artist has their own preference of program. I use Open Canvas mostly, with a few tweakings in Photoshop. :)

Many artists who don't use tablets for drawing will use computer programs for colouring over lineart they've drawn on paper and scanned in. I used to do this, when I didn't have a tablet. I used the mouse to colour in, and argh it was murder on the wrists, I'm telling ya. It was also painstakingly tedious, but hey, anything for art, right? Besides, I had neither the skills nor the materials to colour in my work with traditional media, so this was the only option.

This picture called Impromptu is an example of a picture I drew in pencil and coloured on the computer with a mouse. And this picture called Tresspassing was drawn in pencil with a few highlights added on the computer. Both are explicit Snarry arts, NC-17, NOT WORKSAFE.

The huge huge huge advantage with drawing on the computer is that you can undo/erase what you've done if you've made a big mistake. There's no mess, and generally it leaves the picture completely unspoiled. The other huge advantage is the nifty features in the graphics programs, like layers and filters. With layers, you can draw different sections of a drawing separately, and can erase and alter one section without it interfering with the others. With filters, you can add all sorts of special effects to your drawing, adding glowy bits, brightening the colours, adding a sepia tint, all sorts!

This picture called Addicted was drawn completely on the computer. NC-17, NOT WORKSAFE, again. Heh.

Lastly, there's the natural media stuff. I've noticed that people are more impressed by natural media art than computer art, mainly because computer art has become so mainstream in HP fandom. There's also this belief that natural media art is more difficult to use and therefore deserves more praise, which is definitely not true. Both have their pros and cons. The advantage for me with natural materials is control. It will always be easier to have more control over your pencil than your tablet mouse pen. When the picture is there beneath the nib of your ink pen, you can add the most minute of details, the finest additions to thickness of line.

I've got a number of Snarry pictures in ink or pencil, these are some of my favourites (and incidentally, all commissions) - The Spring Ball, Something Beautiful and Vengeance and Truth.

The disadvantage, of course, is that if you make a big mistake, chances are you won't be able to clean it up. I do know that those fanartists who are adept at natural media have all sorts of materials to erase what they've done, like white pastels or scratching off the paint if using board, but unfortunately I don't have those things. That's probably why most of my fanart is computer drawn, and I only draw with natural materials when I have to (e.g. for a commission).

I hope I haven't made everyone fall asleep - I could go on for pages and pages about natural versus computer media... but I won't. :)

Aubrem: No, this is exactly the kind of thing us laypeople find interesting. Thank you so much and thank you for this interview. It's been a real pleasure. : )

Lizard: Thanks for interviewing me, this was fun! At the very least it got me drawing another Snarry, and there can never be enough Snarry art around, can there? :)

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Lizard is a Medical student from London, and when she isn't studying, she can invariably be found at her computer, drinking coffee and reading a fic or drawing something. The time inbetween is filled with sleep, generally accompanied with naughty Harry Potter dreams which she then uses for art inspiration.