Sketchbook

Sketchbooks are special roleplay items that allow a character to "create" a portrait of another character or GMNPC, a landscape of one's surroundings, or a drawing of an NPC (not GM run), a building, or a creature. There are a limited amount of these items in the lands and are only available through raffles or other special distribution methods. They are attuned to the winner and cannot be transferred to other accounts or characters.

Analyze

You analyze your leather sketchbook and sense that the item is largely free from merchant alteration restrictions.

Verb Traps

VERB	FIRST	THIRD
WAVE	You study the area around you as you prepare to sketch.	XXX studies the area as she prepares to sketch.
WAVE PC target	You study XXX as you prepare to sketch.	XXX studies you as she prepares to sketch.
WAVE Non-PC target	You study the Wehnimer's Museum as you prepare to sketch.	XXX studies the Wehnimer's Museum as she prepares to sketch.
DRAW No subject	You haven't indicated what you intend to sketch.	N/A
DRAW With art subject	You retrieve a piece of charcoal from a pocket on the cover of your leather sketchbook and begin working on your Lady XXX drawing.	XXX draws in her leather sketchbook.
DRAW Continue drawing after stopping	You retrieve a piece of charcoal from a pocket on the cover of your leather sketchbook and pick up where you left off in the XXX drawing.	XXX draws in her leather sketchbook.
DRAW Already drawing	You are already working on the Lhainel in your leather sketchbook. Pluck it out if you want to draw something else.	N/A
APPRAISE Unfinished drawing	Your XXX drawing looks like it needs more work.	N/A
	Your XXX drawing hasn't changed at all since it was last assessed; it still needs more work.	N/A
APPRAISE Completed drawing	You're pleased with the XXX sketch and consider it a finished drawing.	N/A
PULL Unfinished drawing	You remove an unfinished Lady XXX drawing from your leather sketchbook and discard it.	XXX removes a drawing from her leather sketchbook and discards it.
PULL Finished drawing	You remove the XXX drawing from your leather sketchbook.	XXX removes a drawing from her leather sketchbook.

Ambient Messaging

This messaging automatically occurs during the process of portrait creation with no additional effort on the part of the artist.

Portrait

The posture of the figure in your portrait of XXX seems too stiff, so you deftly correct a couple of angles with deeper shadowing.

The rendering of one area of your portrait looks too stiff, so you run some small shadows just in the lee of a curve, and nod to yourself when you see it looks better.

You fill in some shading next to XXX's cheek in your portrait, accenting the contrast between the flesh tone and the darker background.

Adding some lines around the back of the head in your portrait, you blend them with a smudge of your finger.

You rub the charcoal across the page, enjoying the texture of the paper as you rough in your sketch of XXX.

The line of the lips in your portrait of XXX seems a little stiff, so you soften it with a bit of shading and a heavier edge where the corner of the lips fold into the curve of a smile.

You rough in an indication of forms in the background, careful not to make them so specific they would upstage the image of XXX.

The paper's texture gives purchase to your charcoal, accepting the deep tones you add in select places, not too much shadow yet enough to give the drawing drama and life.

The charcoal sitting in your hand feels like part of your anatomy.   You draw, reveling in the act of exercising an occupation you love so much.

You rough in a few lines and a light overall tone to the hands in your portrait of XXX, giving them the supple yet difficult to capture look of reality.

Landscape

You deftly add some detail into a wide rendition of billowing clouds, their contours as free and joyous as you've ever felt in your life.  Shading a few more contours, you then sit back and regard the sketch, remembering a special afternoon when you observed those clouds reclining on a windswept hillside.

You quickly lay in an area of tone, indicating the foreground with its key features.

A feature in the foreground needs some attention.  You study it for a moment, then delicately sketch in the detail with the attendant shadows.

You add in a light texture, enjoying the action of drawing in loose strokes of charcoal that will convey more information than they actually possess, allowing the eye of the viewer to fill in what is not actually drawn.

Using the side of your charcoal, you rough in a broad area of tone and add some detail to break the predictable symmetry of the horizontal line.

You render a sloped plane of the Hearthstone with a quick stroke of the charcoal, adding small lines and shadows with a practiced hand.

Deciding that one of the features of the landscape is out of scale, you make adjustments by blurring the charcoal outlines with your thumb, then redrawing a truer line.

You stop and lean back from the sketch, squinting your eyes until the details blur so that you only see the main compositional elements.  It appears balanced.  With a nod to yourself, you tighten up a contour here and there.

Turning the charcoal on its side, you rough in an area of deep shadow, beginning lightly, then building slowly to get the rich tonal quality you seek.

Creature/NPC

You draw in the outline of a haughty black cat, enjoying its curves and contours, and the challenge presented by imbuing life into a 2-dimensional representation.

Using the charcoal on its side, you add the tones that will define your subject's form, paying special attention to the stance in an effort to capture a life-like attitude in your rendition.

You work the charcoal around a particularly interesting feature of the haughty black cat, enjoying the challenge of finely rendering the important details.

You work a ground of strong tone around the figure of the haughty black cat, then balance that with an another area of grey in the background.

You sketch in a surrounding setting for the portrait of a haughty black cat, adding in landscape details that will make a proper setting for it.

You draw, feeling as though the charcoal is a part of your hand, feeling as though you could put the lines down on the paper with your eyes closed, simply by feeling the intimate message the paper sends back to you as you explore its surface.

You gaze at the rendering of a haughty black cat with your eyes narrowed studying its areas of light and dark, analyzing its composition. You finally nod to yourself, and add in a few more shadows.

Shading in an area of shadow around the form of the haughty black cat, you blend in the juncture with a few light passes with your thumb, enjoying the feel of the charcoal layered on the texture of the heavy drawing paper in the sketchbook.

You draw in the details of the haughty black cat, adding small strokes and shadows that will bring vitality to the rendering.

Allowing yourself to linger over an especially fascinating detail you let the tooth of the paper work with the stroke of your charcoal in bringing out the life of the haughty black cat.