Carl Ended Up Looking Exasperated. By Himself Or Mona/Rachel? Only Time Will Tell.

Already in love with them ❤️

Drawn in Procreate using Liliyth Enchanting Girls brushes and the Netflix Department Q Trailer for references.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59334226

(Sucker for a slowburn ❤️🔥).

Dear Funko Pop,

Please will you make us a Lazaar figure (Abigail 2024) for Halloween? Here’s a mockup using Seamus Finnigan #65. Go on… it would be fun!

Thank you 🙏 🎃,

A big fan

X

PS I have no idea how you actually spell his name so you’ll have to work that out. 🤨

⬆️ (my bedside table/nightstand goals) 📷 original edit from @asgoodeasgold 📷

If vampire cuddles were real… 🖤

Been practising drawing on Procreate today. Here’s Joey and Lazaar again because I’m still daydreaming about that sequel, having watched Abigail again this weekend.

Here’s also the mood board of beautiful images I used as a reference and the first sketch. Ended up with 30 layers. Probably a bit excessive but I’m still working it all out.

Have added a chapter 4 to The Visitor on AO3 too. Don’t seem to be getting over this ship any time soon! 🧛❤️🖤🩶

Quick tonal study of MG (tried very hard to stick to 2.5hr time limit over two days). He’s such an obliging subject with all those beautiful lines and angles 😍 and perfect for practising with 🩶🖤🤍 I love the expression in the reference photo and the fact it’s in profile. I tried to capture his understated-but-OMG-smile and butterfly-inducing vibe, whilst trying very hard not to envy the person he’s looking at like that.

In terms of my learning journey, I started by trying to identify the different values in the reference (pop art style), played with some filters, then had a whale of a time with the smudging tool and then, for the detail, I tried to use techniques I’d read about in Laura H. Rubin’s brilliant book ‘Of Strokes and Shades’, as well as experimented with some of her texture brushes. Tried hard not to overfaff with it, as that way madness lies… but it’s difficult to walk away when there are lots of bits that need work. Ah well, perfect excuse to find my next piece of inspiration!

📷 Original edit I used as a reference is posted above (which I found on the feed of the legendary @pleasereadmeok - I think?! if I can add further details, please let me know as now I can’t find the original link and can’t read the print in my screenshot - sorry). 📷

Photo collage/edit (see previous post)

“He drew her towards him, holding her so tightly not even a blade of grass could get in between. She really was exceptionally gorgeous, fragrant and appetising almost beyond belief.”

~ Jussi Adler-Olsen, Guilt (Department Q Book 4, translated by Martin Aitkin)

These are actual words in the book about the Carl and Mona/Rachel dance. And it’s not the only time Carl thinks about how good she smells. Just saying. For anyone who needed to know. 😂

“Definitely NOT daydreaming about being Joey.”

Drawn in procreate using a screenshot from ADOW for reference (see above) to go with chapter 21 - 23 of The Visitor on AO3.

He does-but-he-doesn’t want to be there. Yes, perfect, perfect song 👌 Listening to it now.

Carl’s trying (and failing) to enjoy a cup of tea in a greasy spoon on the beachfront. Who’s sitting opposite him, I wonder… 🤔

📷 Photo faffing (imperfect and just for DQ fun) - original photo of MG by Uli Weber for Style Italia and of the greasy spoon from whynow.co.uk blog 📷

⬆️ Photo-collage-fan-faffery / the wanderings of my mind as I read the Department Q books

Windswept scenario - Department Q

Above is another (imaginary) candid snap of ‘The Carl and Rachel dance’. It’s early on in the dance - book 2 ish - at the point when the screenwriters have forced them together on the beach (somehow?!) and there’s such a vibe: he’s definitely interested but she still needs a lot of convincing. It’s a bright day but breezy and stickily, saltily damp; the sea spray is everywhere and the fresh air is electric between them. They’re asked to pose for a photo (who knows why?!) and Carl leaps at the opportunity to put his arm around her. It’s a touch - a contact - that’s not happened before. The warmth of him makes her stomach churn deliciously and she dips her gaze and smiles at the realisation. The camera catches the moment. Then the contact is broken. They look coyly - sideways and both suppressing smirks - at each other before continuing along the beach with the rest of the group.

[Cut to some dark, harrowing kidnap scenes - this is a thriller after all].

—

In the books, Adler-Olsen gives only the most tantalising glimpses of ‘The Dance’ between these two. Hence my ramblings 😂 I wonder how the dynamic will pan out in the show. Towards the end of Department Q Book 1 in Carl’s internal monologue, he confesses to being ‘crazy’ about her, despite her wearing a wedding ring (which is later removed). Adler-Olsen leaves us to guess what changes her mind eventually. But if Carl Mørck looks like Matthew Goode it’s not that much of a mystery, is it? 😂🫠

📷 Original pics from @asgoodeasgold (I’m so envious that these are actually your pictures I could cry) and Wikipedia; faffed around with, inexpertly, by me 📷

The world may be in shambles but at least I’m getting letters from my good friend Jonathan Harker

Lazaar ✍️

Still a work in progress but this is what I’ve managed so far today. Drawn using various brushes on Procreate - mainly from the amazing Laura H Rubin.

Also updated The Visitor on AO3 🧛❤️