#john questus

Someone once told me that I should create some sort of visual representation of my characters when writing, to which I responded, “I suck at drawing, and everything would come out as a monstrosity and a crime against humanity.”

The truth is, I don’t really imagine my characters much when I write (which is, perhaps, why I am so bad at drawing). I have a list of physical traits in my head, of course... but no, I don’t really have any ideas for physical appearance besides that.

I have since been informed that some people, unlike me, actually have brilliant physical imaginations. This is for you, then... and also to see if my subconscious has somehow conjured more exact descriptions of the characters than I think it has. I've used Artbreeder, which fortunately requires no drawing.

We shall begin with Hope Lupin, Remus’ mother. I actually like how this turned out, for the most part. I didn’t have an idea for what her face looked like, but this seems okay. I like the half-smile—if you’ve read my fics, you know that my version of the Lupin family tends to joke through their pain, and I think this expression seems to capture that nicely. I don’t mind the hair. I never really thought about the exact style of her hair, but I think maybe I imagined it up in a low-effort low-twisty-bun thing. The hair color is pretty spot-on, I think. And I’m glad the eyes came out as blue, because that was a big thing in Chapter 2 of Marauders and Monsters! 

I will say that I never expected her to wear so much makeup. Hope Lupin is a remarkably stressed woman who hardly ever leaves the house. When we meet her in Marauders and Monsters, she’s basically homebound, caring for her ill son all hours of the day. I don’t think she’d wear any makeup most of the time, and I think that, if she wore earrings, they would be simple stud earrings that she never removes except to clean every once in a while.

I do like how it turned out. My main criticism, overall, is that she is too pretty!

I tried my best with Lyall Lupin, but it was hard to get it right. I’m imagining his stubble as a little more unkempt with a bit more grey, less neat hair, and hazel-brown eyes. I like the smile, though. He’d be wearing robes, not a collared shirt, and I always imagined wire glasses for reading and studying. He too would be less attractive, but... yeah, this turned out okay. This guy definitely looks like a dad, at least.

Introducing Mr. James Potter, Quidditch player extraordinaire, lover of chaos... or something like him, at least. I don’t know much about James, but I do know that his hair would be a lot less neat. I always imagined his face a bit thinner, too, but I guess he’s young here. I like the glasses shape, and the hair color is good. He looks so young, though I suppose an eleven-year-old looks a lot younger than I’m thinking... haven’t met one of those in a while.

Peter Pettigrew came out very mouse-like, though I suppose that’s not entirely inaccurate! I like the large front teeth, actually. Peter is probably one of the characters that I imagine the least, since he’s very quiet. In my fic, Peter is a presence more than anything else. He’s Remus’ best friend and an integral part of the Marauders, but he can’t quite keep up with James and Sirius’ banter like Remus can, so he mostly just observes. Dunno why, but I always imagined him with a closed-mouth smile, actually. I don’t think he does big toothy smiles very often. Too bold.

This isn’t too bad. Sirius is the attractive one of the bunch (the books say it constantly), so I don’t have problems with Sirius being “too attractive” like I do with most of these Artbreeder characters. The eyes would be lighter, I guess. I do like his expression. He really does have the “school bully” look, and I think that’s accurate. I feel like there’s something off, but I don’t know what it is.

I know a lot of people imagine Sirius with longer hair, but I actually don’t. I think he grew it out after Azkaban (Dementors probably don’t give great haircuts). My reasoning for this is mainly Moody’s comment in the series when showing Harry the photo of the original OOTP (”Sirius, when he still had short hair”). I also see long hair as a style for distinguished male wizards (like Lucius Malfoy in the films), so I think Sirius would choose to keep his short as an act of rebellion.

And Remus Lupin! Honestly? I quite like this one. I like the smirk a lot, and I don’t mind the hairstyle at all. His fringe would’ve been longer while he was at Hogwarts, but before that and during the summer, Hope would’ve kept it manageable. I imagine him as a little paler, maybe a bit thinner, even (though he looks pretty thin in this picture), but this is pretty good. I would point out that I think he looks a lot more like his father than this picture implies, though. This picture makes him look more like his mother, I think.

Professor ******* Pensley, if anyone’s read Meditation and Revelations (the asterisks represent the Name of the Day). And... THIS ONE IS PRETTY MUCH PERFECT. This is precisely how I imagined that meditation-loving, beautifully infuriating goofball. Yeah, I’d make her hair a little wispier (that’s kinda her thing), but other than that? No complaints here. Right down to the expression, the thin and pointy face, and the blush on her nose. Thank you for blessing me with this, Artbreeder.

THIS is Professor John Questus, truth-teller and former-Auror extraordinaire. Don’t know why his pupils disappeared, or why the formatting is so different, and it’s kinda scary. But, for the most part? Pretty accurate. I like the shadow on the side of his face for both aesthetic and metaphorical purposes (take that as you will), and I adore the scowl. That’s spot-on. I like the beard. I don’t like how ridiculously large his left ear is, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Again, he’s too attractive and well-kempt (I imagine all my characters as very average people), but the idea is the same.

And that is all I have for you today. All in all, this was a pretty successful experiment. I ended up learning that I imagine my characters a lot more than I think I do—I suppose it’s just my subconscious conjuring images that I hadn’t even noticed it conjuring. I apologize once again to my readers for my constant lack of description in my fics. Hopefully, this helps those of you who are more visual!