The Feral

Reinder writes all of his stories almost off the cuff... we've discovered a lot about our different creation styles... he writes spontaneously and plans out his drawings carefully, down to measuring out gutters and making thumb nail sketches. Me? I write everything carefully, taking notes, writing novels, making up character sheets, delving into character psychoanalysis and personal motivations... then draw something off the top of my head, no planning.. barely any wire framing. Sometimes I don't even plan for text bubbles.. and it shows in my sloppy execution.

The Feral is a character I've bugged the crap out of Reinder about. She's just this character he came up with as a catalyst for the story, but there is something about her I really like. What is this woman wearing not more than a shift doing out in the woods alone with an expensive hurdy gurdy? Those things were not cheap back then (in fact, a 13th century one is shaped like a shoe box and isn't like the lute backed model shown). She never speaks.. is that because she is mute? or is it because she doesn't know the language. I love the mystery around her.. and so I drew her today off a whim.. what I envision her like.

Kel found one of her dresses.. and I'm guessing the Feral has several laying about the place. I drew her here in sideless surcoat with ties at the ribs clinching it tight over her coteharde (I accidentally wrote houpeland.. getting them mixed up this morning). I put a hem guard on her skirting and a band of braid. I imagined her at some point traveling to where she is now, a stranger on a strange road, carrying her things in a sailor's bag (there were Norse examples on the Osaberg burial ship) and a Danish open fire skillet, which is nothing more than a long handle attached to an iron disk. No woman of the day would be complete without a head covering, and I drew hair pins too.

It's one of the things I do miss about the SCA... all of the garb research. I used to be quite the garb junkie, making everything from linen and woolen tunics to late Renaissance gowns. I did very well in the arts and sciences competitions back then, one year making a copy of Eleanor Toledo's three color brocaded gown. Right now my sewing machine sits dormant.. and one of these days, maybe I'll get back to it.

-Aggie