I misunderstood the point of this ride

I can't believe it's only Wednesday ... this week is seriously running roughshod over me. Putting K on a plane after only a week back was much harder than I anticipated, the winter doldrums are really starting to take a toll, and my dad's much-belated response to last week's email, well. It could have been so much worse. But I'm sad.

Basically, he said he was happy I was happy, and that a loving partnership is something he and mom have wanted for both me and my brother very much. So ... that part's good, that's a start. ( I'm going to cut this ramble here; sad/tricky family relationship things within. )

On a brighter note, I'm having so much fun working on this post about prompting for fanart! It's also kind of turning into a survey of different things fanart can do, a general sort of appreciation post. I'm planning to link to all sorts of examples from different artists/fandoms to illustrate my points.

I'm worried that it might get a bit out of hand, actually. Would anyone like to look it over for me when I have a draft?

I get my partner back two weeks from today (they've been in Europe since mid-December, so I haven't seen them since I came home from my holiday trip on New Years Eve - I haven't seen them yet this year, wah). I can make it. (I'd better be able to, this is going to keep being a thing. Dating professors with international research interests ... sigh.)

In other personal news, I'm (finally) doing an in-lab sleep study tomorrow night! I'm a little too excited about this, and will probably annoy the techs with all my questions about brainwaves and the like. (I really hope they let me look at mine. My sleep spindles, show me themmmm. And take pictures of the machinery, etc.) But really, I swear, I'm almost crossing my fingers for a sleep apnea diagnosis at this point. Is that weird? It's just that there's a pretty tried, true, and celebrated fix for that (even if the mask looks rather silly). The whole idea of actually feeling well-rested is taking on mythic qualities in my mind. I'm so tired of being tired.

But enough about me - chocolateboxcomm has pinch-hits up, and you should check them out! Write someone a super-short fic or draw them a little something! The archive opens next week, and I'm super excited.

Also, I'm thinking about writing up a post of suggested guidelines for prompting fanartists, aimed at challenges and exchanges like that one (which incorporate fic-and-or-art request options). I've noticed that when people request both, they often provide prompts that are mostly plot ideas without a lot of visual application. Which isn't the end of the world by any means--and I'm so glad fanart is being included in more exchanges--but I have a feeling it could come in handy for some people. Maybe? (Thoughts?)

I'm having a rotten day for no real reason, bah. (Just my brain being a jerk!) But things aren't all terrible; someone left cookies in the break room (good timing), and I have some processfest catch-up to do.

I'm not going to push myself on the ones I'm having trouble answering, though, so I'm skipping around a little!

Day 7: Luxury Desert Island. ( That's everything I want right now. )

Day 9: Tools. ( A tale of fifty billion pens. )

As I've been gaining momentum on my central project, recently, I've been thinking about getting some software to help organize all my notes and drafts and things; it's all getting a bit unwieldy. A friend recommended EndNote (I was specifically asking about freeware, because I'm a bit broke at present); would anyone out there have opinions/additional recommendations/input?

Hmm, I don't know how interesting any of that is going to be, but it was still kind of fun to write out. :)

Yesterday's processfest prompt was Multiple Projects, and how (or whether) to juggle them. This is especially relevant to where I am in my creative life right now!

( Too many balls in the air. Um. )

Oh jeez, I've gotten so bad at posting here. I have a whole backlog of things I keep meaning to talk about, Thor 2 and comics and Sleepy Hollow and goodness knows what else. For some reason I've taking to living on tumblr & twitter even though I really prefer DW. It's a mystery.

However. I wanted to let you guys know that the yuletart Weekly Challenges and Stocking Stuffer Claims have opened! Both are open to everyone, not just people who are signed up for the fest! You can wander in and cherry-pick a tasty prompt, or draw something for one of the challenges just because you feel like it. Yuletart is the best (I'm finishing up my first piece todaaaay)!

Also, processfest has opened with its first prompt: Where do you create? What does your work space look like? Everyone who makes things should totally get in on this one; it's bound to be fascinating.

Anyway yes. Maybe now that there's going to be this ongoing DW-centric thing this month, I'll get around to updating this thing a bit more! I have things to say, but ... well, I have a talent for overfilling my plate, let's just admit that. I can't wait to be posting new fanart soon, though!

Um, hey guys! Did not mean to disappear off the face of the earth quite so completely there. I have a lot of things I've been meaning to post about my life, and fan stuff, but ... apparently I have things to say about creator rights, pay for artists, and design contests, specifically regarding the Welcome To Night Vale t-shirt design contest.

I considered locking this post, and reposting it on my public, real-name tumblr, but ... I want to come at this not only from a professional artist standpoint (something that only kind of applies to me anyway), but also as a fan, someone who is always making creative work for the sheer joy of sharing my enthusiasm with other fans. (Maybe a little less often than I wish I could.) Over the last few years, I've increasingly found myself in the middle of a fan/creator divide on certain issues (this comes up a LOT with MCU fandom, sigh), and this seems like a good opportunity to address some of that!

So. This post came to my attention earlier today (via were_duck's twitter). The writer calls out the people of Commonplace Books (/Night Vale) for their design contest, which (they say) constitutes what is called "spec work:" design work undertaken for the possibility of future pay (where there is at least an equal possibility of putting in extensive labor for no compensation).

( An attempt to further explain spec work. )

Now, I think the Night Vale contest is different, ( because it's a fan contest. )

THAT SAID, ( here's why this still matters. )

There is one point made in that above tumblr post that is really important even in this specific situation, this fan/professional grey area (because I do think that doing the work for an official context starts to move across that boundary!): ( who owns the rights? )

Whew, I know that was long, sorry. Maybe I can try and make it a little more concise, later ... I'm behind on my project schedule for the day! Also, I mean, I'm not claiming to be the ultimate authority on any of this: I'm not an experienced working artist or designer. I've done very little paid work (mostly because I don't want my livelihood to depend on navigating this kind of landscape, tbh). I do, however, belong to a sprawling community of creators who base various percentages of their living on work for hire, and the faculty I've just been learning from all have decades of experience with these issues, which they worked hard to pass on to us. I welcome other perspectives, though! These are things I'd like to see discussed on the fannish side sometimes!

Also, for more on the kind of atmosphere that leads artists to be frustrated and wary of these kinds of situations, here's a twitter account dedicated to actual quotations from people trying to hire artists (mostly comic artists) to work for free. Ranges from funny to rage-inducing.

Ugh, am I awake? I have royally messed with my own sleep schedule this weekend. Mainly because I made the mistake of reading prozacpark's old rec post for Pretty Little Liars, started watching it while coloring one of my kink_bingo pieces, and wound up binging. I had to forcibly remove myself from the computer yesterday afternoon in order to get in the script revisions I had planned. It's all very ... dramatic and somewhat overblown, in terms of the plot, but it's certainly entertaining. The real draw, however, is absolutely the female-dominated cast, and the marvelous set of nuanced female friendships that the show develops. It's something I miss from the majority of my media, and it's so damn refreshing.

(I have to say, it's also really trippy to be watching Bianca Lawson play an adorable high school lesbian when I've just been watching her as a morally ambiguous high school guidance counselor!)

So maybe there'll be some fanart at some point ...

Meanwhile, speaking of the kink_bingo art I posted a couple days ago (here and here - simulated gore in the former, nudity & sexual situations involving tentacles in the latter), I've been trying some new process stuff and I thought it might be neat to ( talk about it a little. )

I should get going; I have more comic script revisions and job search stuff ahead of me. And then Teen Wolf ... which, in spite of its flaws, continues to inspire large amounts of sheer fannish giddiness. But I leave you with this question: what even IS Gerard Way? He certainly makes me feel a bit better about myself (I feel like someone's been telling me that I look at least five years younger than I am every other week lately). Ugh, come do a signing near me, bb. (I really can't wait 'til I have time to get down to my hometown comic shop and grab some Killjoys already!)

So hey! I have a comics goal I really want to meet by Sunday, but I'm hitting a small lull in motivation. Want to help me out? Give me PROMPTS for fanart I can draw as a reward when it's met! :D?

I'm looking for female character centric prompts, please (bonus for slash, but it's definitely not required), from the following fandoms: Teen Wolf, Elementary, the Avengers movies, Star Trek: AOS, Warehouse 13, and Young Avengers (but I'm only up to issue 4). Humor and sexiness are both always encouraged (although please keep it R-rated and above).

I'll take prompts up through whenever I'm ready to draw, pick one or two to play with, and probably keep the others back for potential use later! Prompt as much as you want, as many times as you want! Thanks in advance, guys. <333

I clearly stayed home a little too long this time, because being back in Vermont is deeply surreal right now. It's so empty here (more than usual, with most of my classmates away). However, I have the apartment to myself (time for ALL THE CLEANING) and two more weeks without classes to keep mixing fannish things with my work schedule.

So hey, snowflake_challenge Day 6: [i]n your own space, pimp three comms or challenges and explain why you love them.

( Three fabulous comms plus reverse bang love! )

Ugh, I love fandom. I am never leaving, at least not for good.

On another note, can I just say that the locked poll I posted yesterday has really not been going the way I more or less expected? (Honestly, any outcome would have made me love my circle, but ... yeah. <3) I'm still waffling a little, though, so feel free to pop over and try to sway me if you haven't yet (ahem).

My train is running late and I'm bored, so maybe I will try posting from my phone! Hmm, clearly that's a great idea.

So I have decided to sign up for kink_bingo this round, and I'm kind of stupidly excited about it. It's not even that I've been doing a lot of, hmmm, sexier work lately (although that's cool). It's just ... I've been really missing doing more fanart, on the one hand, and also I have a hankering to be a bit more multifannish again! I'd be tempted to ask for prompts, but I'm so busy ... and I never finish everyone's requests even when I'm not. kink_bingo's much less of a commitment, and really challenging in a whole bunch of ways.

Last year when I thought about signing up, I was like eek, no, there are too many things on this list that I couldn't handle! But IDK ... I kind of think I could find a way to pull off just about any square. (I just thought of a way of framing a kink that normally really squicks me--no naming names--and now I really hope I get it on my card. Hmmm.) Whee, I can't wait to try.

I guess I might take some Avengers prompts at some point, also. Maybe. We'll see how much I can bite off, here.