Tell us about yourself!

You can call me Maria (she/her, heteroromantic gray-asexual, more specifically autochorissexual/aegosexual). I am 21 years old and I'm Eastern European currently living in Massachusetts, US.
I'm very obsessed with Harry Potter, very weak for Dramione and Drarry, very trashy, very weird, very introverted (and ISFJ), very awkward and anxious, very Hufflepuff (and Horned Serpent) :>
I like doing many creative activities, thought it's time to add digital art to the list so here we are!

Can I use your art for ___ ?

You can use my art for whatever you want (icons, headers, edits, writings, reposts, projects, personal use, wallpapers, etc.). No need to ask me–just go ahead and use my art for whatever you want as long as you're not making money off of it :) My only requirement is: CREDIT ME. You can either mention my blog or you can tag me (@upthehillart both on Tumblr and Instagram).
However, NO Tumblr reposts. I don't like being reposted on Tumblr because you can just reblog here, so if anyone sees my art reposted (with or withour credit), let me know! But other media platforms are fine :)

Why is your Harry dark-skinned?

I portray my Potters as brown-skinned (can be seen as South Asian (desi) or, more specifically, Indian, but not necessarily) as a response to the lack of people-of-color protagonists in media. I am aware that the Potters most likely are an old pureblood British family, that reading them as canonically Indian is a bit of a stretch, and that the change of their color does ignore certain symbolic values represented in the books (e.g., the Potters being the only positive representation of an old rich pureblood family, a counterpart for the Malfoys and Blacks).
However, their skin color was never actually identified in the books, and because "skin color never mentioned" in media very often means "white" because of white normativity, I made a choice to break this tendency and change the ethnicity of the Potters, yet keep it transparent as I imagine a world where one's skin color doesn't affect the rest of the story whatsoever. I am tired of white supremacy and normativity in media, so, through my art and by bending certain canon information, I created myself a place where a dark-skinned protagonist is completely normal (because how can it not be?), and ethnicity is not a definition or a circumstance, but a description only.

What tools do you use to create your art? Do you draw everything digitally?

I use my Wacom Intuos Art (small) graphic tablet, I draw on Paint Tool SAI and I edit colors and add textures on GIMP. And yes, I draw everything digitally–no traditional art is involved.

How did you begin drawing?

I always liked to draw since I was little, but I never really took art seriously, it was always just a hobby (drawing traditionally with pencils mainly) and it still remains that way. The only reason why I began drawing more intensely is because I finally read the Harry Potter books in 2015 and became crazy about it. :D I discovered the fandom and fanart, and it really inspired me to draw something of my own (a lack of good Dramione art was my primary incentive). I bought my graphic tablet in December, 2015, and have been drawing since then! Fanart is the only thing I draw and Harry Potter is the source of my inspiration! :)

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Dance with me?

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Trans!Draco & Harry

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"Manners, Weasel! Oh, hang on... you've never learned what those are, have you?"
Genderbent Slytherin and Gryffindor trios!

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Obsessed

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oh what style oh what grace

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couldn't decide which one i liked better

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Sometimes I LOVE Hinny and sometimes I'm not feeling it at all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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sweet nothings or dirty talk?

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Stargazing *:･ﾟ✧
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"But—but they won't understand, they don't—"
"Look at me."
"Harry..."
"We don't need them. Do you hear me? I won't let you leave."

Inspired by anon suggestion (which I thank for, I enjoyed drawing this a lot because I realized I love the feeling of my heart shattering into tiny gay pieces)

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This is probably sometime after 2002 after HP and the Chamber of Secrets video game was out. God I loved those first games so much when I was a kid! tbh I'd still play them if they worked on my laptop (and I actually did, the PoA game worked and I finished the whole thing in two days and it was the time of my life pls don't judge me).

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"Stand back. Line up against the back wall. Don't try anything, or I'll kill you!" [Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]

A bit of a Drarry-ish (but not necessarily) glance at the little scene of Draco coming to manor's cellar for Griphook.
As far as I remember, Harry's still supposed to have his face swollen from the Stinging hex, but uhh... I wanted to draw a normal-looking Harry with slightly longer hair and a stubble, and I also wanted to draw more angsty Drarry, so I bent a rule and just killed two birds with one stone

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Draco and Harry with their scars and tattoos (and looking all pumped and shit 'cause it's typical upthehillart)

Heavily inspired by @sadfishkid, also @coldcigarettes and some other random posts on tattoos that are drifting somewhere within the ocean of internet x)

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