there ought to be a whole lot more

[reflectedeve]

Instead of just doing a holiday exchange roundup post, I'm doing one for my whole fannish year. 2007 wasn't terribly productive for me, but what the heck. (Also, this is almost entirely fanart, with just the one piece of fanfiction for yuletide.)

I was going to wait for the go_exchange reveal, but it's still not up and I'm impatient. Anyway, anyone who is the least bit familiar with my art would recognize my piece in a second.

My fannish year in review:

January
ART:
Not Her Colors Redux 1 & 2 (Kim Possible)
Kim/Shego preslash. Based on a scene from An Unacceptable Sitch, by Allaine. Not exactly my best work, though I'm pretty fond of Kim in the first one. I was burnt out.

February
I didn't produce anything fannish this month. I was feeling seriously burnt out on the Kim Possible fandom, which I'd been active in for over a year, and was beginning to think that I needed to seriously shift my focus to more original work.

March
ART:
Girl Detective (Nancy Drew)
Nancy Drew, George Fayne, and Bess Marvin; gen. Drawn for my mother's birthday card. I found out about the Nancy Drew movie and was very irritated, but it inspired me to draw Nancy as I know and love her from my own childhood. Based on the classic series. Has serious technical flaws, but I love it anyway, and I got Nancy exactly right (according to my own concept).

April
Nothing fannish this month either. I was busy inventing a new original comic project and had no inspiration to spare.

May
ART:
Wonder Mother (DCU - Wonder Woman)
Queen Hippolyta and Wonder Woman, gen. Drawn for a Mother's Day card. Absolutely not related to anything actually going on in the DCU this year. My mother introduced me to comics as a child, through her own collection of Silver Age books, and this was my latest expression of gratitude.

Kiss Hello (Marvel Comics - X-Men) Not worksafe.
Rachel Summers-Grey/Kitty Pryde; femslash; smut. Drawn for the alien_altars cliche challenge; supposedly for the "telepathy/soulbond" prompt, but really, that was cheating. Set right after Rachel's return at the end of X-Treme X-Men, and based on one of my favorite slashy exchanges between the two, from Excalibur #75. Pretty damn happy with the pose here, though dude, even porn could use some kind of background. Tsk.

A Little Sparkle (Marvel Comics - Runaways) Not worksafe.
Karolina Dean and Xavin, sort of femslash (but mostly just self-love). Also drawn for the alien_altars challenge, this was meant to be under the "voyeurism" prompt, but it mostly wound up being about Karolina's self-acceptance. She is so fun to color. She's like playing with My Little Ponies or something.

June
ART:
My Father's Daughter (Pride & Prejudice)
Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet; gen. I never scanned this, whoops! It was a Father's Day card for my dad, who is responsible for my love of literature and directly introduced me to Jane Austin. Black & white, much in the same vein as my Mother's Day card, and not based on any of the film versions. Maybe I can get it online later.

July/August
No fanworks for either of these months. I was variously very inspired for original art, or lethargic over being unemployed, during this period. Also I was going on trips and trying to be social, since most of my recently-graduated friends were gearing up to leave our hometown.

September
ART:
The Girl Wonder (DCU - Batman)
Stephanie Brown as Robin IV; gen. Drawn for one of dryponder's memes. I messed around with her costume design a tiny little bit, but mostly I was just having fun with the pose/expression of joy. I'm fond of this piece.

Spoiler Returns (DCU - Batman)
Stephanie Brown as the Spoiler; gen; Future. Also drawn for dryponder's meme. This one was all about the costume redesigning, and while I like elements of it, it's mostly pretty meh. Costume design is not my strength. Also, I think she stole those boots from Sailor Saturn.

Supercuddle (unfinished) (DCU - Batman)
Tim Drake/Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain; het; femslash; threesome. Started this for dryponder's meme as well, but never finished it. Of these three characters, Tim is actually the only one I'm well acquainted with, but I'd like to change that sometime. Their dynamic sounds awesome . . . and I come in after the fact, as always.

Klaus and Dorian (Eroica)
Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach and Earl Dorian Red Gloria; gen. I was just trying out how the From Eroica With Love pair might look in my style; I actually did the inks over the summer, but it took until fall to color them.

HP website graphics (Harry Potter)
Various Harry Potter characters; gen. Inspired by Deathly Hallows, images for the current layout at The Cheese Wears Me.

Faster, Potter! (Harry Potter)
Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy; gen. Harry and Draco flee the flaming Room of Requirement. I was experimenting with a different style of coloring here, and I think it looks pretty snazzy overall. Plus, I'm generally happy with how the characters look. I used to draw these two constantly, but it had been ages.

October
ART(?):
V O'Lantern (V for Vendetta)
V; gen. This year's geeky jack'o'lantern. Not much to say, really . . . this design didn't require much creativity on my part. ^^;

November
ART:
To The Rescue: page 1 page 2 (Eroica)
Klaus/Dorian; preslash; humor. Drawn to illustrate this ficlet by mosellegreen; part of her Fabulousman AU series, in which Dorian gains superpowers. It was such delicious crack--how could I resist? Again, costume design is not my strength, but this was very very fun to do.

December
ART:
Holiday Cheer: page 1 page 2 (Good Omens)
Crowley/Aziraphale; slash; humor. My contribution to this year's go_exchange, for lemonfruitpie. I drew this one fairly quickly, but it was extremely fun to do, and I'm quite proud of it. There are one or two problem panels, but I'm quite happy with the character designs, the overall layout, the shading . . . and the characterizations. ;) One of my favorite pieces of the year, whether fanart or original.

Winter in New York (Runaways)
Victor/Nico; het/gen. Drawn for the first annual yuletart multifandom holiday art exchange, as a gift for eatfun. I seriously admire and am intimidated by her awesome costume designs, so of course all I could think of was a picture based on pretty clothing! ^^; Fortunately I'm quite happy with how it came out. Not my favorite pairing, but don't they look picturesque together? :) A simple piece, but I'm pleased with it.

FIC:
A Case of You (Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys)
Nancy Drew/Frank Hardy; het; Futurefic. My contribution to yuletide, written for medie. I was knocked a little for a loop by this request! I am what you'd call an oldschool Nancy Drew fan; I've loved the books since I was tiny, but I never read any that were written later than 1975. (I had my mother's old collection, which was enormous.) medie, on the other hand, grew up on the 90's books, and was particularly fond of the Supermysteries (crossover novels with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys). I'd only ever read one Hardy Boys novel in my life--also one of the "classic" books--and I honestly can't remember anything about it.

So! There was a lot of scrambling for research. Fortunately the Western MA interlibrary system is excellent, and I managed to get my hands on six Supermysteries. My plan was to age the characters up a bit. I was going to put them in college, and then show the natural growing-apart between Nancy and Ned (who I never liked in the least), and her realization that she and Frank had a great deal more in common (of course). However, I sat down and the story whisked me off into a further future in which Nancy was a full adult and a little bit bitter, as well as recently single. (Boring sidekick romances!) I went with it, and this is what I wound up with. As for the title . . . I make no excuses. It's cheesy as all hell. I was listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell at the time, you see, and I had no title ideas. The melancholy tone of "A Case of You" fit Nancy's attitude at the beginning of my story very well (even though the lyrics really don't match up) . . . and then there's the double meaning. I'm sorry! The Supermysteries kind of have cheesy titles, it kind of fits in?

While I wouldn't call this my most nuanced story ever--and it's a bit rushed--I was pretty proud of myself. I've never written a fandom and pairing from scratch like this before, being totally unfamiliar with them until receiving my request.

Well, that's that. Although, the holiday exchanges aren't over quite yet: yuletart just started posting today, and new fanart will be going up all month! Check it out, it's sure to be fantastic. I'm already the recipient of a rather lovely gift, and I can't wait to see what else the challenge has in store.

As for this year, I want to do more fanart. (For one thing, I must draw something Avatar-related! Gah!) Unfortunately, I won't have anything new for a bit (maybe a month or so), as I'd like to earn a few paychecks before purchasing a new copy of Photoshop (thank goodness for my dad's academic discount, also).

I'm having a bit of a fresh start this year, what with a new job in a new city. Maybe I'll add to that by making this the first year I write for the New Year's Resolution challenge as well. ;)