POMx2

Japanese / Bartimaeus (OTP:BartNat) I use DeepL translation. X If you use my artworks, you don't need to credit me if you're a follower of mine, otherwise please credit me.

[pompomnium]

I was asked about the design of each character in Bartimaeus fanart, so I came up with my own. I really enjoy thinking about each of them, about their lives, their personalities, their quirks, and the fashions they prefer.

[pompomnium]

English version added. The translation was difficult and there are a few mistakes, maybe. They are all all my headcanons!! I would like to hear about your commitment to the character design of Bartimaeus. By the way, I don't know if this is universal, but in Japan the gem language of Indicolite is 'artistic sense' and the gem language of turquoise is 'successful journey'. I have seen some theories that Egyptian-style necklaces were used for the burial of the dead, so I have incorporated elements of this. And this below is an illustration correlation published by a Japanese publisher at the time of publication of Bartimaeus. Because I saw this as a child, the image of Ptolemy in my mind is of shaggy hair.

If you've read this far, thank you!

[pompomnium]

I’ve been reading through it little by little. I’d love to put much more detail into this sketch series, but there just isn’t enough time...

And while rereading it, I realized something: even though Bart says he would do anything for Kitty, the first time around he actually refused her request. After all, with just Kitty and Bart, they had zero chance of winning. However, once Staff and Nathaniel entered the picture, he ultimately agreed to cooperate. In other words, it means he believed that with Nathaniel and Staff, they might actually be able to win or at least that it wouldn’t end in a meaningless death. Realizing that again made me appreciate it even more. These are the thoughts of a BertNat shipper, hehe.

[pompomnium]

I saw your old post about the ending of Scarlett and Albert and I recently completed the last book like yesterday and I’m pretty sad about the ending. Mainly because I wished there were more moments with the characters and I quite liked Mallory and wished he would’ve been more developed. Also the part where they say “need some company” “always” is actually a reference to lockwood and co! Anywyas have a good day!

Thank you for your message! You finished reading SaB! As a fan, I’m really happy to see more people becoming readers of SaB. Honestly, I feel like this series could have continued beyond just three books. Like you said, I really wanted to see more interactions between the characters, and I also think it’s a shame that such a fascinating world wasn’t explored in greater depth. I didn’t know the final exchange was a reference to Lockwood & Co.! I’m looking forward to noticing it myself someday when I read Lockwood.

[pompomnium]

Will u draw the trio Scarlett and Albert and Mallory again maybe when u are less busy!

Of course! It’s just that I haven’t been able to make enough time lately, but I still love SaB just as much as ever. Once things settle down, I’d love to draw a lot more again. (The image attached is one I drew a year ago)

[pompomnium]

Hello how are you? I just wanna say ur arts gorgeous I really really really like ur scarlet and Albert ones they’re so cute I hope u make more it’s such a fortune to have soemone draw these characters. Will u ever read Lockwood and co one day maybe? Have a good weekkk

Thank you for your message! I'm so glad you like my artworks! Lately, I’ve been quite busy, so I've only been able to draw the bare minimum to meet my personal goals. However, once things settle down, I really want to draw Scarlett and Browne again! As for Lockwood & Co., since only the first two volumes have been translated into Japanese, I'll need to read them in English. Once I finish the English version of Bartimaeus series I'm currently reading, I'd love to give Lockwood a try!

[pompomnium]

To be honest, I’m starting to feel a bit jaded about drawing this sketch series, but reading the original books is still a great deal of fun, so now that I’ve got this far, I’d like to see it through to the end.

Whilst Kitty shows sympathetic understanding towards Bartimaeus, she also encourages Nathanael to use spirits. And she even sympathises with his desire to punish that cheeky imp. It might seem a bit contradictory, but personally, I like this scene because it makes me feel as though Kitty has become Nathaniel’s accomplice.

[pompomnium]

Good afternoon/night/evening/morning, I apologize for any mistakes in this message, as I am writing through a translator.

Отже, я хотів би запитати вас: чи можу я залишити посилання на ваш Tumblr у TikTok, коли озвучуватиму одну з ваших міні-манґ? Я переклав текст з англійської на українську та хотів поділитися ним з інтернетом, але подумав, що було б неправильно не запитати вашого дозволу. (Я ОБОЖНЮЮ ваше мистецтво, воно неймовірне: гарне, якісно зроблене та, на мою думку, має свій особливий стиль, який тішить око). Ще раз перепрошую, якщо моє запитання здається дивним.

Thank you for your message!

Just to confirm, does this mean you will be uploading a translated version of my comic(manga) to TikTok? If so, that is totally fine.

My work does sometimes get used without permission, and I don’t personally mind as long as it’s being used in a way that helps bring out the appeal of Stroud’s works. So credit isn’t strictly required.

However, I would really appreciate it if you could include a link back to me if possible! Thank you so much for asking!

[pompomnium]

i love your art so so much !! thank you for drawing the bartimaeus characters, i adore your designs for all of them <3 i really love the sun and moon belt for bartimaeus "the sun represents ptolemy and the moon represents nat" it's really too good.... i'll think about it forever...

Thank you so much for taking a look! I’m really happy to receive your message!

My character designs are based purely on my personal preferences, but I’d be truly delighted if you like them. Ptolemy and Nat always remind me of the sun and the moon, as well as dusk and dawn. Since Ptolemy is the sun, when he’s gone, a long dark night arrives. But Nat is the moon, so as he left the stage, he was able to bring an end to Bart’s long dark night. haha.

[pompomnium]

It’s taking longer than before, but I’m managing to keep reading. I drew 14 pages for AoS and 15 for GE, but it looks like PG will end up being more than that.

[pompomnium]

I am continuing to read PG. My private life has been a little busy, so I am progressing at quite a slow pace. I like the Mandrake team, so this part is enjoyable to read. As for the Mandrake team in particular, I truly wish I could have seen more of their activities.

As a side note, I often color Bart and Nat’s eyes yellow(gold) or blue, but in reality their eye color is dark. This is a kind of stylized expression, so the characters in the story recognize each other’s eyes as dark. In other words, Nat does not perceive Bart’s eyes as yellow or gold, and Bart does not describe Nat’s eyes as blue. I am simply representing black with yellow(gold) and blue. Especially in Bart’s case, I consistently use yellow(gold) for him in any form, and I try to keep Faquarl consistently purple. By the way, Queezle has light blue and pink pupils. Since the spirits do not have fixed forms, it is something like a stylized identity device that allows viewers to immediately recognize who is who when they look at my fanart, no matter what form they take. I am not sure if I explained it well, but that is the idea.

From next time as well, I will keep up the energy and continue battling with English.

[pompomnium]

Your comic with Nathaniel, Ptolemy, and Kitty in it was very very cute. I really appreciate the lack of jealousy or insecurity, they were just happy to befriend their favorite spirit's other favorite humans. And Bartimaeus is pleased his favorite humans get along.

Thank you so much! I’m really happy to read that.

This AU was inspired by the idea that it would have been fascinating if Ptolemy and Nathaniel had met in a peaceful environment. As for BartNat, that pairing is simply my personal taste, hehe.

Ptolemy is shown in the canon to have many friends, so I imagine he would quickly get along with Nathaniel and Kitty as well.

Nathaniel may be rather difficult and guarded by nature, but he tends to open his heart quite easily to people who are genuinely kind to him.

Nathaniel is also the kind of person who is easily influenced by those around him, so I thought that under Ptolemy’s influence he might grow into a gentler, softer character than in the original story. In that case, I believe that Kitty and Nathaniel, who were opposed to each other in canon, would be able to become close much earlier as well. After all, they are quite similar at their core, and if they were in the same position, there would be no real reason for them to be in conflict.

I’m glad you enjoyed it! These are characters I love dearly and find endlessly compelling, and even now I still strongly wish we could have seen many more conversations between them.

And there’s one more message I haven’t replied to yet, but I have seen it. I’ll get back to it eventually, so I’d really appreciate it if you could wait patiently.

[pompomnium]

I redrew some of my old school parody BartNat and Ptol/Nat comics from around 2021. At the same time, I made English translations for them. They include a BartNat kiss scene↓

Some of them are the kind of stories I probably wouldn’t draw nowadays, so they feel a bit nostalgic. There are about 30 more in the same setting, but they were published in a doujinshi.

Thank you for looking! And here’s the school parody novel↓ it’s all in Japanese, so if you're interested, feel free to try translating it!

#バーティミアス #バナサ After the Gate - トシキくんの小説 - pixiv

時間、というのはつまり変化を測る尺度のことだ。 なにをもって「時間が存在している」とするかは難しいところだが、たとえば永遠に変化のない不動の世界においては時間の存在を証明するのは難しいだろう。なにひとつ変化がない以上、測りようがないからだ。 そういう意味でいえば絶えず変化し続ける

Also, separately, I recently uploaded a collection of newer BartNat works on pixiv.

#バーティミアス バナサまとめログ06 - トシキくんのイラスト - pixiv

新年あけましておめでとうございます。トレスネタ絵ばかりであんまりまともな絵もないので上げ渋っていたけどしばらく溜まりそうもないので一区切りで上げておきます。今年は新規バナサ作品が見られる日が来るのでし

[pompomnium]

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Bart & Nat. I've finally finished the New Year's artwork I'd been drawing whenever I had a spare moment. I may not be able to draw for a while again. Thank you for last year! I'd be delighted if you'd take a look at my work this year too!

[pompomnium]

Happy New Year!
Things have been pretty hectic in my personal life, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to draw anything again for a while.

I often ask questions on Tumblr and rely on the knowledge of people who know more than I do, and this is one of those cases.

I’m currently reading PG, and in Chapter 18 the season is explicitly stated to be October:

“Mr. Button gazed out of the grimy window at the blank October sky.”

I’ve heard (apparently from something Stroud said) that Nathaniel’s date of death is November 30, and I’ve personally believed that for a long time. But does anyone know the original source of Stroud’s statement?

If the October reference in the text is correct, then it clearly contradicts the idea that Nathaniel died on November 30. Kitty reunites with Nathaniel immediately after this scene, and Nathaniel dies without ever seeing the next morning. It also conflicts with Nathaniel’s birthday and age. That said, it’s entirely possible that magicians don’t age strictly according to their actual birthdays, so that particular issue might be something we can set aside.

Should I simply assume the October reference in the text is an error and prioritize Stroud’s later statement instead?

This has been bothering me a little, so I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s familiar with the details. Thank you for reading!

[pompomnium]

The information I have obtained is limited, but it does not appear that November 30 as Nathaniel’s date of death comes from a statement by Stroud. Rather, it seems that November 30 was assigned to align with the date of the Crystal Palace collapse in real-world history.

As you know, Bartimaeus series is a work that broadly follows real history while diverging greatly from its finer details. William Gladstone’s birthday, for instance, is said to be in December in real history, but in the story it is set in June. More fundamentally, by 2005 Britain is at war with the United States, and spirits—life forms that do not exist in reality—have been interacting with humanity since ancient times. Given this, it hardly needs restating that this world resembles real history while being fundamentally different from it. (Thanks to spirits, the speed of information transmission in that world would be extremely fast, which would lead to differences in many areas. At the same time, because spirits are too convenient, scientific progress would likely be slower.)

Therefore, regardless of the Crystal Palace collapse date, it seems reasonable to conclude that Nathaniel’s date of death falls sometime in October. At the same time, if he was 17 years old at that point and ages on his birthday, then his year of birth would presumably be 1987, wouldn’t it?

The facts that the setting of PG is 2005, that a year 0 exists, and that Nathaniel’s birthday is November 26 are all explicitly stated in official sources. If my calculations are incorrect, please point that out.

However, this would make it impossible to determine Nathaniel’s exact date of death. Given that, I think it is perfectly acceptable in its own way to mourn his death by associating it with the date on which the Crystal Palace disappeared in real-world history.

That clears things up! Thank you so much for your help!

If there appears to be any further information from official statements, I would appreciate it if you could let me know. I will continue looking into it myself as well.

[pompomnium]

Happy New Year!
Things have been pretty hectic in my personal life, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to draw anything again for a while.

I often ask questions on Tumblr and rely on the knowledge of people who know more than I do, and this is one of those cases.

I’m currently reading PG, and in Chapter 18 the season is explicitly stated to be October:

“Mr. Button gazed out of the grimy window at the blank October sky.”

I’ve heard (apparently from something Stroud said) that Nathaniel’s date of death is November 30, and I’ve personally believed that for a long time. But does anyone know the original source of Stroud’s statement?

If the October reference in the text is correct, then it clearly contradicts the idea that Nathaniel died on November 30. Kitty reunites with Nathaniel immediately after this scene, and Nathaniel dies without ever seeing the next morning. It also conflicts with Nathaniel’s birthday and age. That said, it’s entirely possible that magicians don’t age strictly according to their actual birthdays, so that particular issue might be something we can set aside.

Should I simply assume the October reference in the text is an error and prioritize Stroud’s later statement instead?

This has been bothering me a little, so I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s familiar with the details. Thank you for reading!

[pompomnium]

I bought the complete Lockwood & Co. edition! Since Lockwood&Co. has only been translated up to volume two, and the TV series also only goes that far, I still don’t know story after that yet... But once I finish reading the original Bartimaeus books, I’d really like to give Lockwood a try.

And this is something I drew quite a while ago after getting a request↓

Back when I still didn’t fully understand the Lockwood characters, someone asked me to draw the three of them with a DJ turntable. Kind of a strange request, haha.

[pompomnium]

My personal life has been a bit busy lately, so I’m progressing through the original PG book quite slowly. I think I’ve finally reached the halfway point. It’s really tough to read in so many ways. I’ve been pondering the exchange between PG: “Because I promised myself, I'm showing him how he was. Before he changed.” and “But I thought he never grew up.” At first glance, it seems natural to interpret “before he changed” as referring to how he was before he went to the Other Place. However, the weight of the phrase “I promised myself,” and Kitty’s line “But I thought he never grew up,” didn’t quite sit right with me. So I’ve come to an interpretation that makes sense to me, considering the following:Ptolemy’s early death was completely unexpected. Bartimaeus had intended to stay with him until he grew up. Because there was no precedent, Bartimaeus couldn’t have known how much Ptolemy’s form would be altered by going to Other Place (and thus hadn’t consciously resolved to remember what he looked like before). From this, I interpret it as: “If grown-up Ptolemy were ever to lose his way, I promised myself I would show him the noble self he once was.” But he died before reaching adulthood. That role (of guiding someone back to the right path if they ever strayed) was instead fulfilled with Nathaniel—when Bartimaeus didn’t let go of his true name. I like to think of it that way. It’s something I’ve illustrated in a past comic as well.

Post by @pompomnium · 14 images

💬 2  🔁 55  ❤️ 132 · Part 1 · To be continued. Part 2 💬 0  🔁 0  ❤️ 1 · Part 2 · To be continued. Part 1 💬 2  🔁 20  ❤️ 50 · To be continue

Lutyens’ line from AoS, “I'm sure that when you have grown up you will make many telling sacrifice, Nathaniel,” also comes to mind. She was clearly worried that Nathaniel would be consumed by power, and in the end, her fears came true. From my perspective, she felt resignation and disappointment that she couldn’t truly save Nathaniel. From her point of view, it’s understandable that she would react that way when a former student suddenly reappears brandishing power. But knowing how close Nathaniel was to his mental breaking point makes reading that scene all the more painful. It really drives home how alone he was—how the only person he could turn to in his lowest moment was a former tutor whose face he could barely recall. And it happens right after discovering Bart’s betrayal, no less (However, at the time of GE, Bart did confess everything that had happened to Nat honestly. If I remember correctly, he didn’t say that Kitty was alive, but I don’t think he explicitly said she was dead either. It was Nat who chose not to believe Bart’s words. As a result, Bart seemed to give up on telling the truth and instead went along with Nat’s assumptions—for Kitty’s sake as well).By the way, I’d completely forgotten that Nathaniel wore a silver ring. What a cute detail.