la_belle_laide

Just for those who might not know: A few years ago I wrote these huge fanfictions that were fairly popular. I liked some of the characters so much that I decided to quit that particular fanfiction and write original fiction using some of those characters and their stories. One of my favorites was the criminal anti-hero Sahrek, whose main power was one of suggestion; like a really strong hypnotist he could make you see what he wanted you to see, to the point where he could change what he looked like. Anyway, I always described him as having dark hair and blue eyes and that people found him attractive ... when he wanted them to. Blah blah blah, one scene I wrote had him getting captured and then using the chains on his wrists as a weapon to hit people with in order to escape. I was always partial to that scene.

I always imagined Sahrek like a kind of Nicholas Lea (X Files's Alex Krycek) and, briefly, Jonathan Rhys Meyers (before deciding that he was too pretty to be Sahrek.) Mostly he was always very Krycek-looking to me and that never really changed too much. But you can imagine my surprise and almost alarm when I saw this picture:

Holy crap.

I had to do this:

Now, don't panic; I didn't suddenly get talent or anything. That's a photomanip, badly done at that. Really the only things in there that are mine are the grass, the stupid tree, a bunch of chain links, longer hair and the crappy buttons on his coat. I really just painted over the rest, keeping within the lines (most of the time. Well, some of the time.) I didn't want to change too much of that pic; the position was exactly, but exactly the way I'd always pictured a moment in that one scene, and I had to have that face: Paranoia with a tinge of petulance. I only changed it the tiniest bit, just shapes and shadows, but I tried really hard to keep that expression.

Yeah, I stole it and made it crappy. Get over it. :P