new lands for the living

[reflectedeve]

Hey, kids. So I've been busy the last few days with family and traveling back north and stuff. I'm finding myself instantly inclined to curl up into a ball of sleeping and reading and not talking to anyone more than absolutely necessary, and I really want to nip that in the bud. I would like for the second half of my vacation to be social and productive! So here, I will do the first three days of the Fandom Snowflake Challenge at once, for a start. :)

Day One: Self-Recs.
In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Drop a link to your post in the comments.

We're All Mad Here. Bandom (FOB/Panic/Cobra).
I don't do a lot of fancomics, in part because comics are just such a time-consuming endeavor, and in part because fanfiction is hard. I have a lot of trouble putting together narratives with other peoples' characters, even though reading transformative work is one of my favorite things in the world! This piece also took me further out of my comfort zone in that it focused on characters that I hadn't done much with before ... and I'm not generally given to drawing animal-people! But I had a great deal of fun with wistfuljane's Sweet Charity request, and I'm proud of the result. I got to be completely silly with the setting and dialogue, which is always fun, and I'm generally really pleased with the panel blocking and flow. The level of detail is just right (by my standards), and the character designs came together well. Some of the body language doesn't hold up for me (since this is an older piece), but some of it (like Pete leaning on Ryan's head) really does. One of my odder fanworks (which is perhaps saying something), but I'm fond of it!

Illustrations for Only Going One Way, by jjtaylor and ataratah (for bandombigbang). Bandom/Due South.
Working on this set of images was kind of a revelatory fannish experience for me; it wasn't the first time I'd done several illustrations for a story, but it made me start thinking a lot more than I had before about fandom as a collaborative experience rather than a collective show-and-tell session, I guess. I had so much fun bringing visual life to these characters and scenarios, filling out the background details and giving their world shape. I've always been a pretty solitary creator, but starting with this project I've become more and more interested in working with others, lending different strengths to the same goal and shaping a story together. So, they're important pieces to me. Also, the "psychic vision" image is just plain one of my favorite pieces of my own art still, for the different levels and the (fudged, but still decent) perspective and balance of shading, and Frank's body language. And, I get the impression that these are perhaps the most recognizable fanworks I've done? So I suppose they define me as a creator, a bit. :)

"I'm on fire, aren't I?" (Illustration for The Detective's Secret and the Mystery of the Dancing Flowers, by jjtaylor). Bandom (MCR).
Considering my usual reading habits, I do a surprising amount of gen and humor-based fanart. Romantic body language is really difficult; capturing the right emotions, the right dynamic, is even harder. This is one of the only times I have ever completely scrapped a piece of fanart and drawn it over from scratch, but it was worth it. I credit the fantastic source material I had to work with ... but yeah, I'm proud of this. One of my more successful pieces. (Also, I have this odd fondness for the shading on the twigs sticking up out of the bonfire behind the characters, even though I'm not sure I captured the glowing effect I was going for.)

Day Two: Reccing others
In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Drop a link to your post in the comments. See if you can rec fanworks that are less likely to be praised: tiny fandoms, rare pairings, fanworks other than stories, lesser known kinks or tropes. Find fanworks that have few to no comments, or creators new to a particular fandom and maybe aren't well known or appreciated. Appreciate them.

So I wanted to fulfill this part of the challenge by reccing three different kinds of fanwork in three different fandoms. I chose these three for completely different and random reasons, but I love them a whole lot! (Also apparently I am in a gen mood today.)

Art: The Island, by zelempa. Slings and Arrows.
I think I may have recced this when it was originally posted, but I'm reccing it again, because it's amazing. zelempa makes really amazing fancomics, full of fabulous choices of shot and expression; sometimes she adapts them from fic, and ads whole new dimensions to the interactions. This one, however, is completely original and just. As usual, she has a really fantastic grasp of character, expression and body language; of Geoffrey's expansiveness and Darren's primness. There's a lovely progression of emotion, and the punchline of Oliver's intrusion is beautiful and perfectly true to the source. And most of all, I love the Shakespearean story structure, the way the characters step away from their lives into a literal carnival (emphasized visually by a switch to color)! Seriously fantastic work.

Fic: Just A Lease From God (Queen of Clubs Remix), by violacea. Bandom (Black Cards/FOB/MCR/Killjoys).
A lot of my reading (and artistic output) in bandom is the very opposite of obscure, but this story, which I love to death, is Bebe-centric gen set in the Killjoysverse, with a Battery City/Better Living elite perspective (of sorts). It's amazing. I am always looking for more stories about the women in this (and every) fandom, and Bebe is fantastic. She's smart and competent, takes chances, makes compromises, and cares fiercely about her friends (mostly, Pete). I love the dimensions this ads to the whole concept of this universe and kind of desperately wish that it were the start of an epic, even though it's very tight and complete on its own. I'm also a sucker for Pete/Mikey, so the little bit of that in the background doesn't hurt.

Podfic: Graduate Vulcan for Fun and Profit, read by templemarker (written by lazulisong). Star Trek: AOS.
I probably listen to this fic about once every month in a half; it is probably my number one comfort fanwork. It's mostly a story about James Kirk's time at the Academy, family (biological and chosen), legacy, and you know, living. (With a side helping of love for academics and Portland, OR.) Like most of my favorite AOS fic, it also mixes in a little TOS canon. I loved the story when I read it, but templemarker just brings it to life for me ... I get completely lost in the characters, listening to this. Her sense of humorous timing and inflection is incredible, and the characters all have a distinct and expanded life of their own. (She does a particularly fantastic, growly McCoy.) Her reading and lazulisong's writing combine to make this a story of my heart, with a wry, snarky Kirk who enjoys wreaking havoc on occasion, but also cares a whole lot about the people around him and the work that he does. I could go on, but I ... need to figure out a few things about how best to rec podfic, because I'm not entirely sure how to elaborate on tone of voice and the shades of emotion conveyed. But while I'm not well-practiced at discussing it, I do have a strong sense of what I love about podfic, and this is one of my favorite examples.


Day Three:
Comment to someone you haven't ever interacted with before. Afterwards, leave a comment in this post with the equivalent of "I did it!"

It doesn't have to be anything complex - it can be feedback for a fanwork or discussing something you might have in common or even simply admiring their icon. The point is to reach out to someone you normally wouldn't and connect with them, even if it's only for the briefest moment.

I ... have been meaning, as a general rule, to try and spend part of my time this month actually leaving people comments and feedback for the various fanworks I've been enjoying lately. So I made a start on that, of sorts? I am very awkward, but considering how intensely reclusive I'm feeling today, I'm glad I did.

This is really kind of a neat challenge, you guys; I like the idea of kicking off the new year by showing some appreciation for my community.

Comments

[turlough]

I love all the three things you self-recced SO MUCH!