I misunderstood the point of this ride

My ex asked me this weekend whether I'd finished my Yuletide story. No indeed, but it's moving along. (Though I will say - knowing that there's a relatively concrete neuropsychological reason why I struggle so much with time management does not magically solve the problem!)

This fall has been a lot. The hibernation urge is strong as we move into winter. That said, I haven't been entirely unproductive! femslashex reveals went up yesterday:


( Vulcan kisses and Fairy Tale AUs )

It was a fun exercise in drawing for fandoms I've been meaning to for ages, and never gotten around to. I should really do more TOS art (how were these my first??); the retro sci-fi costuming is so much fun! Also I've been loving all the canon Harley/Ivy comics I keep catching glimpses of on tumblr ... every once in awhile I feel so genuinely grateful for the way some segments of culture really have changed (or started to) from the norms of even a decade ago.

My own gift was this lovely little Sailor Moon S interlude, A Little More Time, by SugarFey - a depiction of Haruka and Michiru (with a little Setsuna) in between the two major arcs of that season. I've been having a lot of resurgent Sailor Moon feelings this year, and I was so delighted to get this gift. It's just the right mix of sweetness, hotness and angst!

It's very strange how thoroughly out of the habit of reading fanfic I am lately, even though I've participated in so many exchanges this year. I'm always excited to read my gifts, when I get fic, and writing now and then is a delightful and tantalizing challenge, but ... IDK. I do think Yuletide will be different (even though I never manage to read more than a fraction of the archive), because it's very much its own thing. So much variety! Such novelty! And reading the archive is just a favorite holiday tradition, of course.

The malaise is probably a combination of the fact that I don't have a "main" fandom, that the ones I'm most interested in lately are fairly rare, and that I mostly want to listen to audiobooks while I draw (or ride my bike, or do almost anything else). I should find myself some podfic. I'm sure there must be some for The Locked Tomb, at least?

I'm especially excited for multifandomdoodle. I would love to have more all-art exchanges; I crave ALL THE FANART even more than I used to. I go looking for some after almost every book I read lately (the genre ones, in any case). If I didn't hate running things like this, I would totally start a book fandoms fanart exchange.

So the other day I saw this post fancasting Rihanna as Crowley and Lupita Nyong'o as Aziraphale on my tumblr dash, and had to try and give it a shot. Could've done a better job with the shading, but it was super fun to do nonetheless! I should make a point of drawing more fancasts in the future.



Summer's ending, and with it, I'm supposed to be doing less fanart, but ... that doesn't really seem to be happening, does it? I'm currently signed up for fanartremixexchange, femslashex, and tw_fallharvest. All my assignments are super exciting! And of course, here I am producing completely random things.

( Scott McCall is a Magical Girl. )

Also, speaking of fanart, Teen Wolf, and Sailor Moon, I'm meant to be reccing the latter on fanart_recs this month (and I'm behind! I need to get another post up, stat). Here's a roundup of my ( Teen Wolf recs from last month! )

It occurs to me that I know nothing about any incoming new shows this fall. Anything you guys are excited about?

Another huge fanart roundup, courtesy of the summer where I only have the energy to manage job search stuff, draw fanart, and let my whole professional identity lie pretty much fallow. :D?

Okay, that sounded a little ... yeah. Actually, things are looking up in a big way! I have a pretty big deal second interview tomorrow, for a position I'm genuinely excited for which also pays better than I'd had any hope of, so. Fingers crossed. And I am having a ball with letting myself soak more or less exclusively in fannish material for a bit. :)

( America & Kmala's first date. <3 )

( A Teen Wolf collaboration with Ataratah! )

( Character death won't stop my shipping. )

( Revisiting six years ago. )

( Orphan Black & Sailor Moon doodles. )

This ... actually isn't quite everything, but I'll take a breath and save the rest for its own post. ;)

Oh hey, my first yuletart piece, a Revolutionary Girl Utena jazz age AU, went up on Friday! I had a wonderful time revisiting one of my favorite old anime fandoms, and doing a bit of costume research is always a good time. ALSO, check out my flipping gorgeous giftart from ataratah! A deeply evocative moment between Teen Wolf's leading ladies (while Stiles snoozes, oblivious). <3

Here's some quick processfest catchup!

Day Four: Challenges. ( Head, meet wall. )

Day Five: Collaboration. ( If there's an umlaut, we flip a coin. )

Okay, I feel like that's plenty for one day; I'll try and get to today's prompt tomorrow, I think. I'm ready to go write now. Is the work day over yet?

Semester's over, and suddenly I only have one left in grad school. That's ... a little terrifying, honestly. I can't really say it's moved fast, exactly, though. It's been too full for that to feel accurate.

I am psyched for messing around with fandom funtimes, although as always I suddenly seem to have way more things to draw than I'll ever have time for. I've watched a whole lot of new TV over the last few months (Elementary, all of Warehouse 13 and Eureka, this really adorable anime series called Princess Jellyfish ...) and Teen Wolf still mostly has control of my brain. Also, Star Trek. IDK! But there's definitely going to be a Becky/Lindsey project, thanks to two all too tempting fanwriters who always seem to have me stumbling across my lines ... so welcome back to bandom, me, I guess? (Well, bandom/comics RPF, anyway.)

I can sketch from photos so much faster these days. Huh!

On a less chipper note ... one of the scariest things, I'm finding, about being on antidepressants and actually doing much better? Is how freaked out I get every time I feel a little crummy. Like I'm about to go off the precipice. All part of the process, I guess, but ugh.

Time to go make gingerbread houses (my school and its traditions) ... home in two days. Much as I love these people I am very ready to be away from them for awhile, tbh. Meanwhile, good luck to everyone who is Yuletiding today! <3

So, um, hey guys? I realized the other day that I have clearly slipped into full-on hibernation mode without even realizing it. It often happens this time of year, even when I'm not in grad school ... I just lose energy for most things that aren't an immediate part of my everyday life. I kind of hate it, but at least it should be turning around soon?

School's pretty awesome right now (I'm working on a much longer, more self-directed project that'll take me up to the end of the year, and I'm very excited about it), and the White Collar finale made me tear up, and life is generally good (apart from a serving of financial stress here, a bit of seasonal glumness there).

Also, I was going to put together a bunch of little pieces of fic illustration from various stories and then post them together, but it looks like I might not manage to finish most of them for awhile, so here's one to share!

This is a scene from theopteryx's amazing little post-apocalyptic no_tags fic, Fog, Sheets, and Thunder. I recommend it highly; the worldbuilding is extensive and engaging, and it's full of tiny intimate moments and painful hope and yes. Check it out. I had to try responding to it on paper as well as with words, though I don't feel as though I really did it justice.



Be well, bbs. <3

Yesterday, I was sitting in a cafe drawing with ataratah when some excited tweets led to us looking at Brendon Urie in a thong ... which I only just now realize, I did nothing to shield the establishment's other patrons from. Um. I've missed fandom? Hi! I've been pretty busy visiting with old friends and dancing at the wedding of my former epic adolescent infatuation, but I need a little more internet time.

Speaking of NSFW imagery ... I have been working on something to share with you guys! Way back in March, glitteryv won a two-page fancomic, which I have finally completed. The following is a scene from her Due South/Down With Love fusion, DONE With Love:

( 'Fraser,' Ray interrupted, 'Sorry. I won't be able to make it. I'm all tied up.' (NSFW) )

Thanks again to glitteryv for your generous bid on help_japan!

I feel like my juices are finally flowing again after a good month of art slump (all that transition just doesn't do anything for me creatively). I am ready to make ALL THE COMICS ... very very soon. :D

Now I need to go try and get things set up with my electrical company from a state away, since my new roommate is moving into the apartment a week ahead of me.

I am having a super-lurkery week! Just one of those times when I generally feel like I'm stuck on a "taking things in" setting, reading and reading and not interacting very much. (I don't just mean on the internet, either.) I have no idea if that makes any sense, but. Hi. o_____o

One thing I should really, really read less of is all the DC Comics news. I spent a fair chunk of yesterday going through this massive roundup of reaction links to the de-Oracle-ing of Barbara Gordon, a move which dismays me for a whole variety of reasons (from the representation issue down to finding it reductive on a storytelling/character development level). Also, pleased as I am that Batwoman's going ahead as planned (and Jaime Reyes gets his book back!), I'm still sitting here twitching and wondering when we're going to hear something about Cass, Steph, Helena, and Renee. Ugh, superhero comics, why.

On a related note, stories like this about the marginalization of actual women by the comics mainstream (from a retail perspective, in this case) fill me with rage. Women and the medium both deserve better.

Some happier fannish things! The bandombigbang fic I drew for this year is up: the9thdoctor's Angels From The Neon! It's a nifty take on the Killjoysverse, rather distinct from some of the other stories I've read! You can find my illustration over here; an image that I couldn't get out of my head until I got it down on paper. It was a fun challenge, and definitely took me out of my comfort zone.

Also, tuesdaysgone has posted Bulletproof Heart, the second part of her epic Killjoys trilogy, which does a fantastic job of knitting together and fleshing out the universe we see in the videos. The worldbuilding and character interaction are to die for, seriously; it's the kind of story I just want to crawl inside for awhile. *____* Check it out, and don't forget theopteryx's kickass accompanying artwork.

Oh man, look at me being all scattered! I need to get out of the office and breathe a bit. I have a cilghal coming to stay with me this weekend, which is awesome, and my very last Boston Pride (at least, as a local resident) is tomorrow. So hopefully I can get a little relaxing, enjoying, and re-focusing in!

In honor of Pride, have some (canon) lesbian artwork! There's a lot of Sailor Moon nostalgia going around, and seeing as that was both my first fandom and a massive artistic catalyst for me, I couldn't resist noodling around with a couple of the characters a few weeks back. I totally forgot to post it then, so have it now: ( Michiru and her Haruka. )

Okay, this post is a pretty accurate reflection of my state of mind right now, so I think I'll stop subjecting you all to it. Have a great weekend, bbs! ♥ I should have more art for you sometime soon, and possibly hilarious stories about me learning to drive. (I kind of hope they're not too hilarious.)

So last night's MCR show was ... fucking amazing, one of the best concert experiences I have ever had. I may actually try and write up some kind of concert report later, but I need to go put myself back together a bit more first, and figure out if I expect to actually accomplish anything today. (If I put off going to the RMV until tomorrow, I am probably going to regret it, huh?)

However, I can't resist post thing the two quick pieces of art I finished to give people at the show ...

Here's an entirely goofy Killjoys/thegaystarfish fusion-y thing:


Also, for tuesdaysgone, a little illustration from her amazing Killjoys prequel, The Kids From Yesterday: ( At the first lick of guitars, he started grinning. )

All right, now food.

So a few weeks ago, when jjtaylor posted Nothing To Confess, I knew I was going to have to do some more art. The story was everything I wanted when I imagined a BLI!Patrick; seriously creepy and hot.


So uh, what I'm trying to say with this is basically ... unf. Maybe it's good to be getting this version out of my system before I go see the real Patrick in a few weeks.

( One more in color. )

Apart from that, this week I've been re-watching the second season of Angel (Gunn and Wesley are precious; I'd almost forgotten) and finishing up the first season of Castle, which I kind of adore. The dynamic between Beckett and Castle is kind of fabulous, particularly because I think it manages to do justice to both characters, rather than having either of them show the other up too consistently. Also, I would seem to be a sucker for father/daughter dynamics lately. Netflix can't send me the second season fast enough.

Oh hey, and if you liked the art above? Just a reminder that I'm up for auction at help_japan. :D I'll illustrate your fic (or just draw you something), or even make you a comic! All as a bonus for sending some aid and comfort where it's desperately needed.