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snarrymod (snarrymod) wrote in snarry_games,
@ 2008-10-25 21:24:00

Entry tags:

entry, pg, team dragon

TEAM DRAGON ENTRY: "What I Did on my Summer Vacation" By LittleBlackBow
Title: What I did on my Summer Vacation
Artist: littleblackbow/Chibitoaster (Rana)
Team: Dragon
Email: sblackdog (a) gmail
Genre(s): Post-War
Prompt(s): Message in a bottle, Vacation
Rating/Warnings/Kinks: PG; None
Artist's Notes/Thank you's:Dedicated to Ven, Djinnj, and Ria who have shown me more support than I ever thought I deserved. Thank you so much!
Media used: pencil, paper, music (see credits), animation
Archiving/Usage permission, including the Tribute Video (only after the polls have closed and medals have been awarded): with credit, absolutely!!

What I did on my Summer Vacation, by Littleblackbow

"What I did on my Summer Vacation"

*Will open in new window. High res Quicktime movie (30 mb), please let the animation load first!*

Or, watch it on Youtube:

MOD NOTE: POLL IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE SNARRY GAMES.

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(Post a new comment)

	dacro 2008-10-26 02:09 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, man! I cried so much, even before the ending! I don't knw why, but music and art have always been the emotional tag-team for me. You must have put so much work into this! I love it. THE EYES, and the children! (and amazing use of your prompts and genre) Oh, my little heart. loves (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:05 pm UTC

dacro, 2008-10-27 09:47 pm UTC

snapesnapesnape
2008-10-26 02:29 pm UTC (link)

Though I've seen all of the postings, this one was the first I *needed* to comment on.
Overall it was like an especially satisfying romantic fic: happy ending, seemingly IC, and interesting plot features. The art itself was really lovely, and needed no subtitles or extra descriptions.

Artistically, I'm really digging Snape with glasses and facial hair. I'd love to have him as an icon.
Harry with facial hair also makes a nice distinction between young Harry and mature Harry.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:12 pm UTC

snapesnapesnape, 2008-10-27 01:34 am UTC

	countess_hp 2008-10-26 02:40 pm UTC (link)
	So sweet! Gave me cavities. (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:14 pm UTC

	ellid 2008-10-26 02:47 pm UTC (link)
	This is absolutely lovely. (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:14 pm UTC

hogwartshoney
2008-10-26 03:11 pm UTC (link)

This is easily a thousand kinds of wonderful. I had to wait a while to dry my tears before watching it a second time, then I read the comments, wept s'more, watched it AGAIN, wept MORE..... it's just lovely and angsty and hopeful and cute and that SONG! and grown!Harry is manly yet tender and the END with the bottle and the note and *wails*

and I'm still weepy... and the tears will not stop..... but it's all good.......

(Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:16 pm UTC

hogwartshoney, 2008-10-26 10:28 pm UTC

	rinsbane 2008-10-26 03:25 pm UTC (link)
	This is utterly charming. It's the almost cuteness of the drawings - so skillfully done, a few lines transforming into sparking life - with the hope-sorrow of the story they tell, and it all combines to be utterly, utterly charming. perverse_idyll pushed me over here, and I'm delighted she did because this is beautiful work. (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:21 pm UTC

	lenny_r 2008-10-26 04:14 pm UTC (link)
	So beautiful story! Thanks a lot (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:23 pm UTC

	alliekatgal 2008-10-26 05:40 pm UTC (link)
	Beautiful. And the first song is so completely perfect. I especially loved Snape's son - and the flower on his shirt! (Reply to this) (Thread)

alliekatgal, 2008-10-26 05:51 pm UTC

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:34 pm UTC

Crying and smiling so hard I can hardly...

slashpine
2008-10-26 06:53 pm UTC (link)

I think I've watched this about 8 times, and I'm crying and smiling both, as much now as the first time.

This - this is the story as it should be, could be, and *ooh so delighted* will be told! I could read ten versions of this, but your little movie would be hard to beat in any mere words. Your choice of music is brilliant, not just the lyrics (lost in the wars, OMG yes, and doesn't that apply to the drive to finish the books, too?!) but the style, the sweet and winsome vocals.

Your kids are darling. Al with her deeply expressive personality, her courage and silent fears -- so like her Da. And young Jimmy so cute - in the first pics of him I was caught by the DanRad overtones in the chin and jawline, which I loved b/c that small but firm chin is so much a part of his Harry.

And older Harry and Snape are unparalleled. So realistic; Harry the sexiest young Dad OMG OMG OMG, and Snape still strong, but so battered. I drool over your YoungDad!Harry, but your Survivor!Snape I wanna know ~~hug~~ console. This is definitely Al's story, her POV or at least I'm drawn to hers, b/c while Harry is clearly lonely (the memories around his neck! OMG, what a statement!), Snape is so very much both more, and less, than he was. He's still strong, has to be stronger yet to have survived, and raise his daughter, and so well, too. Yet he's damaged, too, physically of course, and by the premature aging from what he endured, from much of his life enmeshed in horror or simply gone. (Is it worse that so many of his memories are vague or missing? Or worse yet to be living with so many memories of things that can't be taken back or changed; and a world he helped save but then had to leave?) Yet his beautiful daughter, his work writing (Older Snape at his desk, I totally want that frame!), show that he's never regretted the heavy price he paid for Harry's preservation, despite its costs.

His illness and their responses actually put me very much in mind of the fic - I think it was from the last Snarry games - in which Snape had lost his mind and thought he was Harry's father, and now confused him with Albus Severus. Harry took him home and then to Shell Cottage and worked it out with Ginny (and I feel bad that I can't think whose fic this was; it was emotionally so powerful, like your vid).

The ending is so sweet. The reunion. *sniffles* I am wiping away a *lot* more tears than Harry! I can't even express how *right* this feels for both fans and characters who seemed abandoned - discarded - by the haste and artificiality of the ending of DH. What you've done in this work is the opposite of putting those hopes in a bottle or a couple of quick chapters, never to be set free or fittingly resolved. Instead, you put all that battered history and bereft feeling into rich expression, acknowledge them, and bring sweet healing.

This story is beautiful, and so very beautifully told. The B/W drawings and seaside setting give it the powerful purity of a legend. It is the kind of tale that speaks so truthfully to universal human needs and sorrows, further decoration would simply distract and detract. The children's innocent and happy encounter while enjoying their summer vacation heightens the poignancy of their fathers' loneliness. The visits of each child to the other's cottage, and their dads' surprise, are then echoed and resolved by Harry's visit to Severus's sickbed -- returning the memories he was given in that other shack, a decade before -- and then Severus coming (in his swirling cloak! Yesss!) to be with Harry, at last. Their are so many other beautifully placed, evocative elements -- their glasses, the old clippings, the two potions-like bottles each pleading for healing and restoration. They give this a beautiful structure that has both internal richness, and a host of complex cross-ties to canon and fanon.

Sorry to be tl;dr but I can't type in my happy smile and sniffles and admiration except by trying to articulate some of the ways this connected with me so powerfully!

Kudos on both your story and the outstanding choice of media and technique.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Crying and smiling so hard I can hardly post right o_O -

slashpine, 2008-10-26 06:55 pm UTC

Re: Crying and smiling so hard I can hardly... -

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:43 pm UTC

Re: Crying and smiling so hard I can hardly... -

bluestocking, 2008-10-27 08:01 pm UTC

Thanks, that *is* the story this reminded me of -

slashpine, 2008-10-27 10:25 pm UTC

	aldendetradia 2008-10-26 09:00 pm UTC (link)
	ZOMG RANA!!!! <3 IT WAS AMAZINGLY DRAWN. UMM GOOD JOB TO THE OTHER ARTIST TOO!!! (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 05:53 am UTC

	lampblack 2008-10-26 10:02 pm UTC (link)
	So perfect and touching! You made me cry, so beautiful! (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:44 pm UTC

	dementordelta 2008-10-26 10:21 pm UTC (link)
	happy sigh I think you know how much I love and adore this and have been waiting to see it posted. Er, in that "I'm totally surprised" kind of way, of course! I can't wait to see the fic you write from it... flutters eyelashes innocently (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-26 10:46 pm UTC

	iulia_linnea 2008-10-26 10:49 pm UTC (link)
	This makes me cry because I'm sad and happy; it's just lovely, and the story couldn't be clearer. (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 05:09 am UTC

	dracofiend 2008-10-26 11:02 pm UTC (link)
	Wow, really creative! I love how Harry's cloak rippled in the wind in that one scene, and great music selection! :) Sweet ending scene too. ♥ (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 05:10 am UTC

	shadowess 2008-10-27 12:10 am UTC (link)
	It took me a second watch to get it, but it's very beautiful. I love when Severus appears at the cottage and he and Harry embrace. There is so much naked need and emotion in that moment. Especially with the kids standing there. lovely work! (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 05:12 am UTC

	calico_sky 2008-10-27 12:37 am UTC (link)
	This is gorgeous, moving, heart-warming and simply wonderful. The music you picked was absolutely perfect, as well. Magnificent piece of work! :D (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 05:13 am UTC

akuma_river
2008-10-27 01:45 am UTC (link)

I'm sitting here staring at the cursor wondering how I can actively convey how watching this story has moved me.

Dearie, I have no idea why you think you don't have talent. Others may be able to sell well, but you, you are are so much more than just an artist being able to sell something. Your art conveys so much emotion. It is not just something to look at and say it's pretty, it's something to look at and think about it makes you feel to look at. You are an artist in the way that Emily Dickson was Poetess; unconventional, unknown to the masses, underwritten and struggling in your art, but in your element you are able to blow away the competition as if they never even mattered.

Every single time I watch this I cry.

There are so many little details that makes the story hit home. I absolutely love how the music meshes with the art and how it seems as if the song was made for the story.

Like how when the lyrics were saying, "we lost we lost you" and it focuses on Snape seeing Jimmy and checking to see if Jimmy has the scar (and is somehow Harry) and it hits, "welcome back." I love how dejected Snape is when he realizes that Jimmy isn't Harry. He knew it wouldn't be but he was still hoping that it was that Harry came back to him, even if it was as a ghost or some other form.

I love how Snape is just subtly touching the picture of Harry and yet it invokes the image of a grief-stricken man pining for someone.

And can I tell how I love how the lyrics, "a secret nobody knows," hits just as Ally is being brought to Harry's house. Oh how "we thought we lost you" hits again just as Harry is 'recognizing' Ally as Snape. Oh and how "It will all come back" hits right as Harry is holding the bottle of Snape's memories. Touching it so gently and holding it so close while his face evokes the image of grief and suffering, as if it is a memento of a lost love.

I love how consumed Snape is in the memories of Harry and all he did for him is shown by him sitting in that chair all day(s?) just staring at that picture of Harry and barely recognizing when Ally comes back home.

As for the sudden sickness. I think Snape just let himself go for too long and a cold hit. People who are depressed like that, when they let themselves wallow in their grief for so long, they tend to just slip away. They lose the will to continue on. It's how a lot of couples who have been together for decades, that if one passes the other follows very shortly after, they can't go on without the other. Snape it seems has been suffering for a very long time, with his guilt, his anger, his memories, his loss, and then there is Harry. Slowly with time he has been able to push it to the back of his mind but with Jimmy, it just brought everything rushing back to the forefront and it takes its toll on him causing him to succumb to a minor illness for a while. Or it could be a delayed effect of Nagini's venom roaring through his immune system and with the stress it brings on an attack or side effect of it.

I love how just the zooming in on their eyes is able to convey their shock, sorrow, happiness, and sorts of other emotions by seeing Harry (Jimmy), Snape (Ally), and when Harry finally sees Snape. It's incredible how something so simple causes me to tear up.

I love Snape's look at the bottle, it is as if a weight has been taken off his shoulders and he knows that the boy he saw is Harry's son and that Harry has come to him, and that it is now in his pocket to decide what to do next.

I absolutely love how Harry looks as he opens the door. He looks more healthy than he did when he first saw Ally. He looks as if just seeing Snape alive healed him of some of his suffering and pain.

I love how, even though, Snape looks tired and bedraggled there is a bit of hope of happiness in his eyes. He's wary, unsure what will happen next, but he is willing to put himself out there. Which in Snape's book is as close to a confession of undying love as a person can get.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

akuma_river, 2008-10-27 01:46 am UTC

emmessann, 2008-10-27 02:28 am UTC

akuma_river, 2008-10-27 02:47 am UTC

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 05:45 am UTC

akuma_river, 2008-10-27 02:55 pm UTC

emmessann
2008-10-27 02:13 am UTC (link)

Reading all your comments -- all the little tidbits of explanation are wonderful, I see so much more now -- I see that you seem really surprised by the reaction you've gotten. I hope you don't mind if I try to break down why I think this is so successful and resonant to so many people.

I don't know if I've come across your work before, but it's REALLY effective in telling a story as you're doing here. The pictures of Old Harry and Old Snape are gorgeous by themselves, but in the context of a story I read things into them that I wouldn't do if they were just posted individually. The picture of James bringing Ali home is brilliant in context, because it says so much about James and Harry's relationship and how utterly confident James is in Harry's love. Ali and Snape also seem very connected, even if Ali shows it physically a bit more than Snape.

It's a different kind of technical proficiency (or intuitive skill) than high-gloss photorealism, but the skill level is just as high. The storytelling expressiveness seriously reminds me a lot of my favorite older-school children's book illustrators -- Mercer Mayer, Rosemary Wells, and Maurice Sendak -- especially when they draw humans. All three of them are well able to tell an effective story with no words at all, and so did you.

The other reason it's resonating so well, IMO, is that the story you created is so damn good. Ali was the perfect viewpoint character, because she's the one with a real mini-Hero's Journey. She has a problem at the start, and when the problem gets worse, it's her action (going for Harry) that fixes things. And there's also an incredible resonance with canon, because Snape fans on the whole were so upset that he was never rewarded for his devotion, and Harry obviously finished canon still longing for closure. So to see that resolved here is eminently satisfying.

I cannot WAIT to see Femme's verbalized take on this (Snape can't talk?!? OMG, that takes me down so many paths about what his and Ali's relationship must be like, especially if Mom has been out of the picture for a long time.) But the thing is, the story you created was super-strong, and your illustrations are so good that they're all that's needed to get it across.

okay, that's enough blather from me. But I can't wait to see what else you may do...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 06:16 am UTC

	centaury_squill 2008-10-27 04:04 am UTC (link)
	Absolutely brilliant! I know I'll be watching it again (and again). I'd love to know - who was Al's mum? (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 06:21 am UTC

ciraarana
2008-10-27 05:16 am UTC (link)

*points to

perverse_idyll's comment*

What more can I say? I second every word (and third it, too!). I keep rewatching the video - instead of being productive - and I have to blink tears away every single time. And just when I finally manage to pull myself together and go back to work, I've got this song stuck in my head.

We thought we lost you. We thought we lost you. We thought we lost you. Welcome back.

Ah. Now I'm crying even without the video playing. *sniff*

Most definitely the most beautiful, moving work of art (and I include fiction in that!) I've come across in a long time.

*goes off to rewatch again*

(Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 06:32 am UTC

ciraarana, 2008-10-27 07:05 am UTC

	tgin 2008-10-27 06:50 am UTC (link)
	Wow, I'm speechless. Simply amazing! (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 11:49 am UTC

bluestocking79
2008-10-27 09:08 am UTC (link)

You've heard this a million times by now, I'm sure, but it deserves saying again: this is magnificent.

It's just the perfect blend of storytelling, art and music, so brilliantly combined that it packs an emotional wallop every time I watch it. (And yes, like everybody else, I can't help watching it again and again!) The story is so moving and the emotion is genuine: the love, the grief, the worry and regret and longing. I adore older Snape and Harry, and the way you realized the kids--excellent on all counts. Little Al and James are so clearly like their fathers, yet they're their own characters as well. (I admit that I'm especially entranced by Al, who's so much like her Dad, sort of suggesting the way Snape might/could have been had he been raised by a parent as loving as he's proved to be.)

The simple but expressive style and the use of black and white draw attention to the characters, the story and the emotions, and I'm sure that I could watch this all day and still not have listed all the excellent, thoughtful details that made me gasp--but instead of blathering on, I'll just say that I loved this to bits and can't wait to show it to as many people as possible.

BTW, I'm flying the Crack Broom for Snarry next month--do you mind if I use this as one of my art recs? It's so excellent that I'd really like to see it shared with as wide an audience as possible.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 09:18 am UTC

bluestocking79, 2008-10-27 12:32 pm UTC

	stupid_drawings 2008-10-27 09:20 am UTC (link)
	Bravo! Good show! clap clap clap (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 11:54 am UTC

	kallia 2008-10-27 11:05 am UTC (link)
	I was touched and moved to tears with the story and the music, and even now I'm sniffing and trying to get a hold of myself... Gorgeous. Amazing. I simply wish I wasn't so out of it from becoming all emotional so that I could describe how wonderful it is better. runs off to grab some tissues (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 11:56 am UTC

	yellowhorde 2008-10-27 11:45 am UTC (link)
	That was simply wonderful! Moved me to tears. (Reply to this) (Thread)

littleblackbow, 2008-10-27 11:57 am UTC

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