"Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and burst into a hearty fit of laughter..."

I have recently finished watching, for the first time, the complete film collection of the Russian adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, starring the illustrious Vasili Livanov, OBE. Although I named one of the members of the Baker Street Irregulars after him, my references were relied on only articles, essays, interviews, and clips at the time. Now, I have been properly feed with this breathtaking series and Vasili Livanov is, hands down, one of the greatest Holmeses in history! His Holmes is larger-than-life who would sit as still as a statue and suddenly contrasts by bursting out in both humour and hyperactivity. His Holmes is a refined, intelligent, witty, charismatic, approachable, and sensitive image, with just the right balance of quirkiness and vulnerability. He is perhaps the most believable Holmes I have seen — and I have fallen for him completely!

One of the wonderful things I love about Vasili Livanov's Holmes is his laughter, which is booming, zany, and extremely contagious. His Holmes literally cackles to the point where he loses his balance and has to lean over things or other people to support himself. And he covers his face with his hand every time. It's hilarious! Therefore, as a homage, I drew the BSI Livanov laughing his little heart out. For those whom are unfamiliar with the BSI:

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The Baker Street Irregulars is a group of young street Arabs recruited by Basil of Baker Street to assist him in many specific cases, performing various missions, ferreting London for clues, and acquiring access to places where the detective could not go himself for "they can go everywhere, see everything, overhear everyone..."

His farming village was caught in the middle of political conflicts that was originally meant to "save the people" of Russia. His village had yet to recover from the nasty tear-away between the tyrannical landlords and their feudalist power over the impoverished serfs, which were effected by the emancipation, giving land and limited freedom to the peasantry, but they would not find peace anytime soon. The dangerously radical Narodniks were unable to influence its Marxist intelligentsia in the cities and moved to the villages in an attempt to teach their "moral" imperative to revolt against the monarchy. The Tsarists, however, found such ideals unwelcoming and had the villages crushed by the Okhranka Secret Police. Livanov fled with his family, as refugees, escaping his once-peaceful country for the smog-ridden streets of London and lost his way; he is the lone survivor of his family, but found another one with the Irregulars. As the wise, little philosopher of the group, he can quip a maxim for every task and an axiom for every answer. Bashful, benevolent, sympathetic, complaisant, and self-conscious, he is the pacifist and peacemaker, detesting all quarrels and hostilities of any kind; he separates, appeases, and compromises. He often has to be guided by the others since he is still adjusting to English ways, language, and technology the likes he never seen before.

(The word hohotat' translates to "to laugh loudly for a lengthy period" in Russian; it is the phonetic equivalent of "hahaha!")

Models - Vasili Livanov – each member of the Baker Street Irregulars is modelled and named after a memorable Holmes actor.

Medium - HB mechanical pencil.

BSI Livanov © Diane N. Tran.
Baker Street Irregulars © Diane N. Tran.