Some art and a question

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

erynn999 was hoping for some naked Bertie & Jeeves, so here they are. *cue burlesque music*





I did a gradient on the background, and didn't notice the stripy effect till it was too late to fix. Grrrr...


Have some golfing Bertie. I did this when I was trying out my different inks.



***

I've been keeping an eye out online for photos of men who look as close as possible to my mental image of Bertie, so that I could point to one and say "There, that's what I see him looking like in real life". I've collected many pictures of men who look similar to him in one way or another, but it wasn't till yesterday that I found a near perfect match. I did a bit of manipping, adding a suit & hair (the man was bald)...and it turned out he bore an unsettling resemblance to one of my cousins, who is not someone I want to be reminded of in porny situations). All this is to say that my mental image of Bertie is currently undergoing a slight shift, for that reason among others. It seems my mental real-life Bertie just doesn't look as close as I thought to my drawn Bertie. He'll probably be undergoing some subtle alterations in my art now.

So, this whole thing got me wondering: what does your mental Bertie look like? Is your image influenced by fic? The tv show? For me, the consistent features are a lean face, prominent nose, slightly receding chin, large blue eyes, sunny smile, hair anywhere from golden blond to sandy brown, nice looking but not in a head-turning way. The details keep shifting, though, which is very frustrating.

Comments

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

heee! I am squeeful and delighted! Jeeves is a shy little bugger, isn't he? I'm sure that large bowler is absolutely necessary to preserve his modesty, though. :D

I shall give some thought to my actual head-canon Bertie and Jeeves. They do shift a bit, depending on how I'm writing them, to be honest. Aside from Stephen Fry's crooked nose, my Jeeves doesn't really resemble him that much. My Bertie doesn't really resemble Hugh Laurie at all.

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love these! No surprise there :) Golfing Bertie is just charming. For me, Stephen and Hugh did such a good job that they are pretty much my mental image, but your Bertie and Jeeves are very close, handsome, dapper chaps that they are.

[gini-baggins.livejournal.com]

I adore Jeeves physique, and that Bertie is significantly leaner. They are so gorgeous.

My mental image of Bertie and Jeeves are pretty much Hugh and Stephen, though the details might shift depending on the fics I read. I've seen your art develop from Hugh's and Stephen's Bertie and Jeeves to your own mental image of Bertie and Jeeves and they both appeal to me very much.

[charie-caphine.livejournal.com]

***This keeps showing up as 'screened'. Why?? What am I doing wrong?!? Somebody, help! [/panic] Sorry if you got this repeted, like, five times.***

Gorgeous art, yes, as always, the nu is too much information for me, love the non-digital looks of the golfing Bertie and the socks especially arrest attention for some reason, moving on.

I don't have a solid visual idea for the boys, either. Something along the lines of some of your own stuff, and much of muuskanuikkunen's, too.

As for live-action versions, I haven't stumbled upon my Jeeves look-alike (who theoretically must appear: not too tall, strong but lean, dark-eyed, and have a sort of very correct facial features), but when I first came across young Bing Crosby photos my immediate impression was: this is Bertie. Or startlingly similar, anyway. Not to hotlink, here's why: author's photo (http://fusedfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/00aa-ss-bing-crosby.jpg) on Bertie's novels (nevermind the text), suave and in the mood (http://blueopossum.homestead.com/files/crosby-bing.jpg), Bertie watching a music show (http://www.a-1video.com/Bing%20young%20C.U..JPG), just look at these eyes (http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Crosby,%20Bing/Annex/Annex%20-%20Crosby,%20Bing_04.jpg) (!!!), got top-hat (http://warchild13.com/images/2009/07/BingCrosby.jpg), need I say more. And, he sings! =)

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Elaborating on this, my Bertie isn't blond so much as a very fair brunet. Dark blond, maybe? I think of him as tall and slender (I think his self-description of "willowy" is accurate), with slightly wavy hair, a thin face and nose with that aristocratic feel that you're going for, but I tend to think he has a little stronger chin. I tend to see him as only about an inch or so shorter than Jeeves, so not much but enough that he has to look up slightly to see eye to eye with him. I think both of them are tall, regardless. His eyes are light, bright blue. I suspect part of the reason Jeeves didn't like a mustache on Bertie is that he's one of those guys who can't grow one to save his life -- it just looks like a darkish stain under his nose, no matter what he does.

Jeeves is tall and heavier-set than Bertie, with broad shoulders and a body that narrows nicely toward the hips, and thick, straight black hair that -- if he didn't slick it back -- would fall over his eyes in the way you see some of those 20s photos. Or maybe some of the emo kids today, I don't know. ;) I think he would muss up quite gloriously, actually; I'm sure Bertie thinks so, too. He's got very dark blue or maybe dark blue-grey eyes, large hands, and that crooked nose. He's just generally darker than Bertie in hair, skin, and eyes, in that classic "tall, dark and handsome" cliché we all see. I suspect he's got more body hair than Bertie, but not in an unpleasant way. I don't see Jeeves being one of those guys who has to mow his back. No hair would ever dare do such a thing to him.

He and Bertie are both in pretty good shape physically, though in very different ways. Bertie, after all, plays tennis and squash and golf and bicycles and has talked about running fast for distance to escape chaps with hunting crops and whatnot. Jeeves has got more upper-body stuff going for him; he could probably be a bouncer somewhere without working up a sweat, given that he likely does a good bit of manual labor for Bertie. I think Bertie could beat him on the sprint, but Jeeves has more endurance. I don't see Jeeves being that much older than Bertie. Less than ten years, definitely, and probably closer to only five or six. I think life-experience and observational skill have more to do with his maturity than years. Bertie would be a lot sharper if he'd just pay attention, but he's never really had to. Jeeves, on the other hand, depends on his wits to get by.

Generally, I tend to think Jeeves is probably better looking that Bertie in an objective sense. He probably carries himself with a lot more dignity. I suspect that if you put the two of them in identical clothing, people would think Jeeves was the one with "better breeding," in terms of how he presents himself and his apparent love of the status quo.

[cicerothewriter.livejournal.com]

I love your description because it really does match my own. I was, however, toying with the idea that Jeeves was one of those people who seem taller than they really are. Does that make sense? I'm beginning to picture him as being shorter than Bertie. Not short, just shorter. This is a bit of a problem because I always picture Bertie looking up at him. I'm not sure if shorter!Jeeves is my mental image or not, but I think it's an interesting idea.

[cicerothewriter.livejournal.com]

I really love these, especially the golfing picture! It's so difficult to draw a human, much less a human twisted into a slightly awkward position.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

I read the books years before the TV show even existed, but after seeing the TV show I automatically see the characters as Hugh and Stephen, although I love the fanart in this community and some of it doesn't look anything like Hugh or Stephen, and BTW, your fanart is quite gorgeous. (nice butt on Bertie!)

[jameta4all.livejournal.com]

Your pictures are pretty much how I picture them in my head, though I'd prefer Jeeves to be chunkier. Not corpulent... merely rotund.

[coffee-n-retcon.livejournal.com]

Very wonderful pictures (as always!) Are you planning on colouring the golfing Bertie?

As to mental image, as I saw the television series first, it would seem that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie will always be my mental image. In fact, as I'm currently still working my way through the books if any description does not exactly fit Stephen or Hugh it causes be a bit of a pause.

[saylee.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous pictures!

As far as mental images, hmmmm. I see Bertie fairly similarly to the way you've drawn him here. Your written description sounds spot-on to my mental image. My mental Jeeves is harder to pin down. Dark hair and eyes, tan-ish skin, tall. I see his build as being slightly bigger than Bertie's - certainly not fat, and not built like an ox the way some fic paints him, but solid and in good shape. I'm willing to take Bertie's word for it that his features are finely chiselled, but I haven't worked out in my head exactly what they look like. I also see him as youngish, usually 8 years older than Bertie at the outside, more likely 4-5. But he's got the whole tall, dark and handsome thing going on.

Neither my mental Bertie or my mental Jeeves look much like Hugh and Stephen, except for the height, and certain facial expressions. My mental Jeeves shares some of his eyebrow lifts and self-satisfied looks with Stephen, and my mental Bertie shares that moony-eyed look that Hugh does so well.

[sookail.livejournal.com]

Beautiful pics!

As for mental images, thinking of Hugh and Stephen quite automatically (like many others :P). They were just so perfect doing this :P

[dogwoodblossom.livejournal.com]

Your version of Bertie always reminds me a bit of Roger from 101 Dalmations.

In my head Bertie and Jeeves are two guys who bear a vague passing resemblance to Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Of course that is further influenced by whether or not the author of a particular fic references Stephen Fry's bent nose.

[gini-baggins.livejournal.com]

I love your detailed description and they really kind of match my own. My Bertie has light-brown to dark-blondish hair with perhaps a few blond highlights in summer. Oh and I like the image of Jeeves unslicked hair. Personally I find Jeeves more attractive than Bertie, but that's just because I tend to fall for tall, broad men with blue eyes and dark hair... Bertie has a very good taste indeed ;)

I agree with Bertie probably winning on the sprint but Jeeves having more ednurance. And I certainly don't dislike a bit of chest hair.

I'm always wondering about the size of their feet, but I think I will keep to Stephen and Hugh's feet-size as a reference (12.5 and 13 UK). And no that's not because we can tell other things by the size of feet ;)

[wotwotleigh.livejournal.com]

My own mental images are still shifting. I developed a strong image of Bertie pretty early on, and a more vague one for Jeeves, based on the books. Since watching the show, my image of Jeeves has been almost completely supplanted by Stephen Fry. Although I adore Hugh Laurie and think he played the role of Bertie to perfection, my old mental image of Bertie is still basically in place.

One thing that's both frustrating and wonderful about Wodehouse's writing is how vague he is with the descriptions of his protagonists. He's generally more specific with secondary characters.

All Wodehouse says about Bertie is that he is slender and elegant. I have a vague memory of a mention of blue eyes somewhere, but I haven't come across it during my recent re-reading. I always got the sense that he was reasonably good looking. I picture one of those boyishly handsome fellows with the big eyes and round chins that were so in vogue in the 1920s, sort of a Buddy Rogers (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iNLtcc6dW9Q/TH2nZAwKQaI/AAAAAAAAFKM/C04gIiVHeXk/s1600/Buddy+Rogers+042832.jpg) type (although not quite that pretty, and not that dark-haired).

Back before I saw the show, I always pictured Jeeves being considerably older than Bertie. Having re-read most of the books and a handful of the short stories in the past few months, I really don't see any evidence for a great age difference, although Bertie does sometimes compare Jeeves to a "father" or some other quasi-parental figure. I still picture Jeeves being a bit older, maybe by 10 years or a little more. He's described as "dark" (I assume that refers to dark hair and eyes, but maybe he had a swarthy complexion as well), with "finely chiseled features", so I do get the impression of a man who is fairly handsome, or at least distinguished-looking. There's no hint of him being as big as Stephen Fry, but I kind of like that -- Stephen Fry's Jeeves gives you the sense that he could beat the crap out of anyone who tried to cross him (although he would only do so as a last resort).

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Oh, Bertie would be nearly blond in summer if he's been outside a lot, I'm sure of it. (I suspect Jeeves likes this, although he worries about Bertie getting sunburnt.)

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

very much like Hugh, actually. Crossed a little bit with a young Ben Daniels and Jonny Lee Miller and the bloke from all the shirt ads from the 20s and 30s that someone put up a while back - the one that was the boyfriend of the artist? I grew up on the various watercolour images of the Penguin editions, and none of them ever looked anything like my mental image of Bertie. For a start, most of them were distinctly chubby. Then I saw the images of Hugh-as-Bertie and went 'Yes! thankyou!'

OTOH, mental Jeeves looks very little like Stephen Fry except from a few expressions.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

I would never go with Jeeves built like an ox. I think he's well-built, but in that early 20th century pre-steroids way that a working guy would be built if he cared about what he looked like. And you know Jeeves does. ;)

I see him as sort of built like this but without quite the muscle definition (or trying nearly so hard to preen) as some of these guys http://www.ipernity.com/doc/57114/5186112 -- so yeah, broader than Bertie but not necessarily "beefy" per se. I definitely agree with Bertie about the "finely chiseled" bit.

Hey, one can hope, eh?

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Some people do just have a great deal of presence, and it can overwhelm other perceptions of them. I suspect Jeeves might even be able to loom silently if he's slightly shorter than Bertie, though it does kind of clash with my perception of him.

An odd example from a musical performance I went to in late 1979 or early 1980 -- I went to a concert by Little River Band when I was living in Hawai'i. The lead singer was a tiny guy but he took up the entire damned stage when he was performing. You'd never really have thought he was several inches shorter than everyone else. Doing that while you're silent and supposed to be invisible (like a good valet) would be a hell of a lot harder, though.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you approve! Jeeves may be a bit modest now, but I'm sure he'll feel bolder soon enough and whip that bowler off. ;D Might have to get him liquored up first, though.

[saylee.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. Those guys in the photo do have more muscle definition than I see Jeeves having (not to mention, some very silly expressions on some of them). I've also got some half-formulated thoughts about Jeeves's working man side (as opposed to the polished valet side), and what it might ay about the fandom that a lot of us like to play with it and fetishize it a bit. Er, make of that what you will.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

In front of anyone other than Bertie? Oh, you bet he'd have to be liquored up. *chortle* Bertie, however, will be utterly chuffed.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

I think it's entirely possible for Jeeves to be both "working man" and "polished valet," considering how much stuff he has to do for Bertie, and how Bertie describes him as hauling shrimp nets and dancing and so forth. I like to play with it, but I wouldn't really say I fetishize it, given how "working class" or even "lower class" is kind of my background. Being poor and having to do manual labor for a living pretty much sucks.

My grandfather was a dirt farmer who ran a trapline in the winter, my dad drove a truck (after being Navy enlisted, which is a dirt-poor occupation anyway), my next-door neighbors were dairy farmers (and I helped out with milking cows and slinging 60 pound hay bales as a kid so their kids could have some time after their chores to play), and my brother has spent a lot of the last 20+ years doing heavy construction (crane operation and such) in the Air Force. He's not buff by any means, but he's also finally at the middle-management level where he can spend some of his time behind a desk, when they're actually employing him.

I suspect Bertie would probably fetishize it somewhat, given that he's never had to work a day in his life and, if he was lucky, probably never did. It's very easy to fetishize something you've never been forced to do to put food on the table. That said, I think that even if Bertie ever did have to do manual labor, he'd be one of those guys who was still rail-thin and never really bulked up much. He'd be more greyhound or whippet to Jeeves's german shepherd or something similar.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts in such detail! It's so interesting to see how others envision the characters. Your descriptions sound pretty similar to mine.

I kind of lean toward dark blond for Bertie, too. Definitely not a really light blond, anyway. I also see him as having slightly wavy hair, but sometimes my mind gives him curls. It's hard to decide. He's tall and lean, because that's frequently mentioned in the stories. Blue eyes but I'm not set on the particular shade/darkness. In good shape, like you say. I think he has a lightly muscled frame. He's cute, but not "pretty". A bit on the plain side, even. I agree that Jeeves is the more classically handsome one. I was just looking through Getty Images last night, and came across this guy here (http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/98574873/Johner-Images-Royalty-Free) who looks facially very much like my mental Bertie (except Bertie has a somewhat lower hair line, darker brows, and lacks the big fro).

I didn't mention how my Jeeves looks because I don't have as much trouble with him. I draw him with his hair swept to the side, but that's mainly because it's easier to draw. In my head he wears it slicked back. But yes, straight and black like yours and it'd fall over his eyes if it weren't slicked back. Very slightly taller than Bertie, but not towering like Stephen Fry. He's also fit, but he only goes shrimping once a year, and I'm not sure how much muscle you can build ironing shirts and polishing silver. A slightly aquiline nose (because I have a major fetish for aquiline noses). I've noticed nearly everyone writes him with blue eyes, but I see him with green, or greeny hazel. Olive skin - I think he may have some Celtic blood in him. He's got a build kind of like this (http://kenabismo.tumblr.com/post/4553882747/ask-me-anything-submit-or-join-my-social-network) (NWS). I tend to see him as around 7 years older than Bertie.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :) Perhaps I should do more golfing Bertie? (Or maybe playing tennis, since he's canonically good at it...)