Today, I Worked On My Most Disturbing Writing Project That, If Illustrated, Should Look Like This:

He's here, the Woolly Phantom of the opera.

He looks proper annoyed.

L-R: Cherik-style mask, fake nose, angry skull.

Boots appreciation:

See my other Woolly Monster, Krissy the Nosferatu, here!

Fictional love interests, we have beef!

Guess what suckers, my application to be the lady lead in a novel has been rejected again. Maybe because I tormented the gentleman lead for wearing a dark t-shirt and jeans.

What do you mean the best I could hope for is an Armani suit?

Villain arc it is, then.

(In all seriousness, I have nothing against people who dress like this. What gets on my nerves is that there is only one type of "attractive" on the fiction market. It's true, "don't like don't read," but I'm having a hard time finding writing I do like because they're all copycats of each other - yet they all try to frame those leads as "special," "The One," "the Exception," "he's not just A Guy" - actual phrasing I've seen in an actual publication - and it just gets tiring and puts me in a sarcastic mood.)

You'll tell them, Pierce. Show them those, um, ballet flats.

HISTORICAL REFERENCE IN A CHRISTINE DESIGN AAHHHH -

I'm treating this rationally. I am. Honest.

(Original meme by @blackforrestpunk )

@forever-and-whats-left ,a Christine Daaé for you. I hope she fits the bill. I gave her an earring and some hair accessories based on some pictures of Christine Nilsson, widely believed to have been an inspiration for Gaston Leroux.

Making a Nosferatu bag. Paused and went, "Oh no, it's Bitsy!"

Do you see it? Yes?

Yes.

Vampire Bitsy:

Cowboy of the Opera

He uses a lasso, how could I not? When I found out that Ramin Karimloo's Phantom has a fancy hat, it settled the matter.

I recently found out Love Never Dies exists and will be spending the rest of my life pretending it doesn't. This is what I believe Erik would do if he went to America. He'll be fine, lots of train tracks to blow up.

More Phantom cats here, human Phantom drawing here.

C'est le 💅🏻Fantôme💅🏻

I’m reading the Le Fantôme de L'Ôpéra. Here are some highlights of my Kindle highlights:

The correct translation is actually something like 'she was reading a book with gold edging,' tranche meaning both 'edge (of a book)' and 'rasher (of bacon.)'

(As a walking, talking dictionary, I am morally obliged to mention that the translation is actually ‘dandies’ not 'gentlemen.')

You can probably guess that the last word means ‘unmask.’ And we all know how well that goes down with Erik.

Poor Persian, though.

This segment was cut out of De Mattos's English translation, so I don't have an explanation for this. (See replies for Vlad's traslation!)

Being a Goth has really improved my French. First I kept writing French captions for my Interview with the Vampurr comics (examples here and here), and now I'm reading a French classic despite only understanding around 1 word in 5.

Phantoms of the Opera + Laplace's Angel

@sonntagskind Voilà, request received. To everyone else should did not ask for Phantom pain, je suis désolée.

Phantoms in order of appearence: ALW Phantom, Leroux Erik, Kay Erik, 1925 Erik, 1990 Erik, 2004 Phantom, Kay Erik, ALW Phantom, 1990 Erik, Kay Erik, Leroux Erik (and the Daroga)

More Phantom: The Persian (cat), POTO adaptation review/rambles, Send me an Angel (of music)

I was reading POTO in French and remembered that this existed, and everything seems a little less bleak. Thank goodness for art.

I sometimes wonder if I'm selfish for spending my time and life on something so immaterial as art. I forget that it's what keeps me sane.

It's not escapism; it's a fight to understand. Immaterial is not the same as useless. It's easy to forget these things.

(I intended this reblog to be a joke about how I've forgotten Erik is French - I imagine him having an RP accent after watching the musical - but I got punched in the face by a dose of Doom and Gloom so here we are. Apologies.)

Local Sad French Man

Two very different vampires

Very nice, Pierce, but maybe don't flash your, ah, ankles. Dear Aurik is by @vladimirsangel

Originally, I only planned a doodle of smol Pierce next to Aurik because a midnight conversation turned from the division of chores in the Dracula household to vampire height difference. But it's been a weird week, and I kept adding to the sketches to unwind. I hope my 'stress art' makes some people happy, too.

On vamp fashion: Pierce's dressing gown is based on Klimt's The Kiss, reference to the Klimt-inspired robe in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Aurik is NOT a brat; he probably borrowed the t-shirt from Vlad. His outfit is a combination of this Goth one and his Ugg boots.

Oh look who caught me on camera

Ignore Von McFangs in the corner, this isn't about him (who am I kidding, everything with him in it is about him)

Want to see his charming visage in colour? Look here