Sketches Upon the Childhood of Sherlock Holmes
by Heavenly Awkward
Disclaimer: Sherlock Holmes and all related characters are the sole creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Writing this, I feel like it's really a series of sketches, a study on a subject, rather than a story, or even a report. Sketches, to me, are rough recordings of something that is already there. If I sketch a flower, I am preserving it in the roughest skeleton of its true existence--much as I always felt Sir A. Conan Doyle did with Sherlock Holmes. He and I see the whole being, but only preserve the skeleton, the bare outlines. But in doing so, be manage to capture, in this unfinished spirit, not the whole rest of its existence, but the hints of it, the promise that it is there, somewhere, waiting to display its full glory for those who only with to find it. That, I think, is why so many Sherlockians play "The Game", pretending that Holmes's world is real--they can't resist looking for answers to what else, exactly, there is.
When I sketch, I do it from life, so they all have a fresh feel. Whether it's a cat or a tree or a flower, whether it's a realistic recording of how someone looks or a simplified representation of their personality, all I sketch--and in fact, I only sketch, I never do finished drawings as a rule--seems to have a full life and a history. I feel the life in whatever I draw, even if it isn't technically alive. That's probably why, in this series of sketches, I find myself thinking of Holmes as a real person, with a past, with feelings, with people around him who care about him--and a few who, frankly, don't. I imagined him as a man who had a childhood much like mine, though with a few differences, because I can never help but notice how alike the two of us are. He's become a strong, eccentric, and very real person to me, even more so than the other characters I've conceived or adopted. Why? Beats me. But I can hardly ignore it, can I?
It's the life that I love, even though it's not always a joyous life. Sometimes it is sad--often, in fact. Sometimes it's angry, or unfair, or happy. But if, reading this, you sympathize with the ups and the downs, cry, love, and laugh with the two of us--and yet always feel that life, then I've done my job well. That's the magic I try to work here.
Heavenly Awkward