The meaning of sleeping positions - part 2

We are left analyzing the last two couples, for now... (for Pea and Pifo and Josh we'll have to wait a little longer). So let's finish this sleeping position study with Cat and Callista, and Lio and Foxy.

This is the Sweetheart position or the True love position... some sites refer to it as a position you get from older men with younger women and their will to protect them and literally keep them under their wing.

We have a twist here... Foxy's arm is loose and his body is completely loose and relaxed. He does that thing crossing his leg behind another, which is usually said to be done by insecure people.
To me this is still Lio dominating the game and wanting to be on top and pawning him down. She actually sleeps in the nude... but this drawing is going on the blog, on facebook and Deviant art and bla bla bla... so I sketched some lines around her so that she looks clothed and dropped some green in. Remove that and you have Lio.

Don't laugh... I know... he's got black underwear. He's emo, for God's sake, let him be! (I wanted to give him black bed sheet too but that would be too anachronistic LOL)

This is called an Excalibur position. It is said that people who likes to sleep in the oddest positions, when alone, will adapt and fit the other like a jigsaw puzzle the moment they get into a relationship. If the partner is like that as well you have the supreme Tetris champions of sleeping positions. No matter what: they'll find a way to grab each other with legs or arms and always be in contact and constant proximity.

In our case Cat is a "free faller" and Feetsie is probably between a "longer" and a "fetal". A Longer is very quiet and submissive and Fetal is very complex (it's shy at first but then turns out to be very friendly and easy going). A Free faller is outgoing but has issues with criticism (in our case, Cat is short and feels bad about it hahaha).
We also see who's dominant here and who is dependent... an Excalibur couple is there to proof the World they are meant for each other and they are a match made in Heaven.

Some of you recognized themselves in these, eh? I read many comments on DA and Facebook about: oooh I do that too!

It's a peculiar theme and I've always felt very curious about it. You have other curiosities let me know. Some people are asking very intimate questions... ha ha ha... I don't yet how to deal with the mature content but I will find a script somewhere so that we don't get penalized by google and other places with very strict rules. For our times, these girls would be minors... even though in their times they were not! ^^" How to bend plain logic? We go around it the pirate way, okay?

The meaning of sleeping positions - part 1

When I started drawing The Pirate Balthasar I was going through some rough times.
I had the story clear in mind but I did not think it was going to develop in something particularly detailed. I just wanted to tell the story.
As I started sketching the storyboards my relaxed mind abandoned me and "planning" took its place. Writing a story is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, everything must fit in perfectly.

At one point I started adding structure and themes and working by adjective and adverbs and using symbols and call back and all that stuff... and then, one morning, I woke up and realized I had shifted in my bed.

I had been sleeping in fetal position for more than 4 years... why did that change? I started looking into that and found out a couple of books about sleeping positions, one of which by Evany Thomas, even takes the time to analyze love relationships through the positions of the lovers in bed.

That's when I decided to sketch my couples in their favorite sleeping positions, I pinned those on the wall and went ahead writing the story keeping in mind, visually, the kind of relationship they had. I was quite surprised at the outcome but... you know, it's exactly like when you write a free flow and a character tells you something about themselves you would never imagine.

For instance: Kane and Castalia both hate potatoes. Me? I cannot live without potatoes.

The position Kane and Castalia revealed is called "The honeymooners". Usually this is a position that lovers take when they first start going out and feel like they want to merge in one being, almost. Supposedly, after a few years, you give each other space, switch to a more serene position and even sleep back against back and feet against feet. There are couples, though, who don't shift and still manage to sleep in a very small space, even though they have a big King size bed after many years. They sleep on top of each other or all tangled up. This is because they are very dependent of each other and cannot bear to be apart.

It's the kind of relationship Kane and Castalia develop, that is mirrored in this position... even though they fight a lot, they cannot stay mad at each other and there is something too familiar and comfortable about the other. I call them a symbiotic couple! Ha ha ha
To me this is more of a light sleep position, maybe they even whisper to each other and answer automatically with "mhhh" and "uh-uh". Kane is a heavy guy, Castalia's leg might hurt, his arm might go numb. Still I have a feeling that, because they are symbiotic, they might move around a lot during the deep sleep and turn to find a more comfortable position. They might end up with him prone on her supine... I doubt they separate though.
Is this a healthy relationship? I don't know... to me... it's dangerous to be so dependent or addicted to each other.
Keep this idea in the back of your minds.

Cassandra and Westley came out in a "Spoon position".
Apparently this position is shared by people between their first and fifth year of marriage and symbolize a supreme bond based on trust (if you think about it... it's about having genitals pressed against buttocks). Eventually one thing to consider is that one member of the couple is more dependent of the other: the one hugging. In short the one facing away is a person that likes to be pursued and chased after and the one hugging is the pursuer... the one who cannot let go. The pursuer is then trying to hold back the partner by holding her/him in his/her arms.
So does that mean that Westley loves more? Probably not... who knows what's in Cassandra's heart!
Sleeping in this position, people seldom shift during the night... although our girl might turn around, at one point, and snuggle against the guy because her subconscious takes over and in sleep she is very honest.

Pretty interesting, eh? More will come! :D

Illustrations - song and dance

In the past few days I have been uploading these sketches to DA and SmackJeeves (they are the extras to be added at the end of the chapters for volume 2).

These illustrations I called: song and dance.

In DA I attached the text of a song but, to be honest, I do listen to particular songs when I write the PB because they inspired a certain mood and ideas in the story.
Cat and Feetsie, at the moment, have a contemporary song called: you raise me up.

Originally, though, I had associated the couple with these songs:

Cat & Callista: Someone to watch over me.
Kane & Castalia: You are the top.
Westley & Cassandra: In the still of the night.
Foxy & Calliope: Let's do it

That makes one George Gershwin song and three Cole Porter songs.

Deda likes oldies? No, Deda has no knowledge whatsoever of music after 1940! I hear it on the radio and just does not stick into my head (some songs do, what people call "classics"... I know those) but if they do stick into my head, they don't stay very long.

I have some more Gershwin songs in mind and I think that Ira Gershwin (Georgie's brother) and Cole Porter have a fantastic way with words. How should we say... they have rhymes and reasons! Ha ha ha.
Anyways... if you have a song in mind (I know I have been suggested a few) let me know because they might inspire more drawings from me.

Actually I have received a commission for a Westley and Cassandra drawing which leads me to the next series of illustrations: Sleeping habits! :D

I am sorry for the Pifo and Pea fans. You'll have tons of Illustrations regarding their love life once their love story begins. Don't panic... Pifo in love turns into a beauty! He'll have very cute drawings and he deserves that.

Pea in love... is a lioness!

BTW Pifo's song is: S'wonderful
Josh's song is: At last
Pea's song is: The man I love

If you would like to actually listens to the tracks, let me know. I will look for them on the tube.