I misunderstood the point of this ride

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.

Per usual, devoured by thesis to the point that I can barely manage the internet lately. (I have my first in-class crit session this week, meeeep.)

However, I've had to take a little time out of my workstudy day to drool over this Killjoys comic article, complete with fucking tantalizing pencil sketches & character designs by Becky Cloonan (marry meeeeee). (Also there is a peek at some preliminary inks here. Augh she makes me want to expand my media choices ... gotta get on ordering those kicky brushpens my adviser recommended ASAP.) I can't even begin to say how excited I am for this book, gah. And oh, Gerard, writing a book with a female lead and also lesbians (please do a good job with that). Free Comic Book Day (and the FOB album release!) are three days before my thesis is due. Going to be the best reward ever.

Ugh I want out of this office so I can be drawing my own comic right now, please.

Oh, also! I am always promising people comic recommendations. Well, O Human Star, one of my favorite online comics since it started last year, would probably appeal to many of you! It features queer characters and robots and family and difficult relationships and some (foreshadowed) interesting gender stuff and thus far it is pretty marvelous in general, both as a science fiction story and on a character-centric level. Well-deserved winner of one of last year's Prism Comics Queer Press Grants. Also it has a respectable couple chapters but the archive isn't enormous or anything; new readers are only a year behind, which isn't much in the scheme of most (web)comics. (TW for implied suicide/some blood, implied internalized homophobia and possibly internalized transphobia?)

Aw, dammit. So I have been trying not to buy Marvel or DC books, for the most part, for the last few years. (There are any number of reasons why I'm not wild about supporting either company, but learning more and more about the ways in which they've abused their creative talent since the beginning has been especially bothersome of late.) I mean, okay, I buy Batwoman, but I rather think that's a worthy enough cause. And then I added the new run of Young Avengers to my pull, because ... reasons. (The new Miss America, Billy & Teddy, tiny!Loki and the creative team from Phonogram. What can you do.) I figured, one book per horrible mainstream monolith.

But. But now. That's just playing dirty, okay, Marvel? An all-women X-book featuring all the beloved characters of my childhood, most especially Rachel Summers. On the same team as Kitty Pryde, no less. Waugh. And it's even being written by Brian Wood. FINE. But don't think this means we're making up.

(Sorry, apparently that hazelnut soy latte was a mistake. My rekindled, if occasional, coffee habit is going to be somebody's doom; probably mine.)

Oh jeez, I am having such a crazy morning, you guys. We have a huge deadline next week, so I've been pretty hunkered down, but there's this Halloween decoration painting party tonight, and I've just realized that I have to run it single-handedly. (My boss slipped a disc and my coworker's leaving early for a family wedding.) Ahahahaaa. Thank god I'm actually in really good shape for said deadline, and I managed to scrape a much-needed night out. (Complete with the most swoonworthy alum buying me a drink and kissing my hand. She was kidding around, but you know, nice.) I have a lot of energy right now.

Anyway hi! I haven't had much time to think about fandom lately, shocker. Although I keep right on listening to deeply fanon-y Teen Wolf podfic while I'm working. (I want all the pack dynamics, so that's good, but I really crave fic that shows us how they got there from the interpersonal mess they are in the show.) And lately a few things have been filtering through; I might have to try and celebrate my deadline with fanart!

I'm sure everyone in bandom has already seen this by now, but this interview with Gerard, Shaun Simon and Becky Cloonan from New York City Comicon last weekend fills me with glee. The Killjoys comic, finally. I'm not going to lie, I'm at least as excited for this as for the "new" music. Gerard and Becky are such a dream team, and I love the Killjoysverse so much; I'm absurdly excited to get more story.

Also, I've been marathoning Warehouse 13 all week, and wondering why on earth I didn't get to it sooner. It has some definite issues, but some fantastic characters (I love Claudia so much, especially), and um, hello, femslash. I have such a ridiculous crush on H.G. Wells, and I really hope there's fic ... although honestly, it's so blatant that I'm getting a little frustrated that they haven't just paired them up in canon. (Unless that happens in the current season, which I'm not caught up on yet.)

Well, I should stop babbling, finish my work shift, and try and offer some comfort to the twenty-year-old classmate who is moping around in my office about her first unrequited crush. (Alas.) How are you all? I miss you!

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.)

I meant to do a post-FOB exploration this weekend, but I mostly wound up getting stuck on Patrick. I've lost track of how many times I've listened to the Rolling Stones acoustic performance of "Love Selfish Love" since Friday night, and I want that album now. ("Hereby hangs a tale," much?) Need to give the Black Cards more than just a first listen, but I'm intrigued. (Oh Pete, what IS that outfit? I love that first shot, with Bebe looking completely gorgeous in the front, and then ... bear wolf.)

The other thing I couldn't stop watching all weekend was this Avatar vid to Vienna Teng's "Watershed," because JFC is it gorgeous and powerful.

Things have been looking up in general. In spite of the dangerously icy condition of all the sidewalks in the city, I've really been enjoying this whole forty-degrees-and-sunny thing we have going. (It's an evil NE trick, I know that, but I might as well get what I can out of it.) I even ventured out of my cave apartment to attend a clothing swap on Saturday, which also involved some comics talk and a competitive game of Uno, because I know good sorts of people. :) Also I drew some things; there might be a locked announcement about minicomics and etsy in the next couple of weeks, if people don't mind a little plugging.

Speaking of things I've drawn: I am not entirely pleased with this one, but I like the concept enough that I've changed my mind about not posting it. I have too many ideas right now to try redrawing. /o\ ( Also, contains GRANT. )

People making comics, as subject matter, is apparently irresistible.

Thank fucking goodness it’s a three-day weekend. I may, at times, have wondered if I was blowing this time of year out of proportion a bit, but really, not so much. Once again, I’m grateful that the windows on my floor don’t open – defenestration of particularly uncooperative faculty members does get a bit tempting now and then. (Seven more months ... and only three more weeks of Admissions season. I'll just keep daydreaming about dyeing my hair outrageous colors the second I can do that again, and maybe other things too.)

It’s just as well that bandom has eaten my brain again, really; it’s a pretty great distraction. A few days ago, I randomly dreamed that Greta Salpeter asked me out on a date and we cuddled in the middle of a big, sunny field (there was some sort of festival setting up nearby). My subconscious isn’t usually so fluffy, but it was nice. Of course, it’s probably only a matter of time before all the Grant Morrison-related ephemera I’ve been consuming catches up to me. (I watched the Disinfo speech a few days ago. I don’t even know, nor am I sure I want to. I do want to finally get back to reading The Invisibles, though.)

Seriously, how did this even happen? Fandom in comics and comics in fandom … I’ve watched the Talking With Gods documentary twice in the last week, so I suppose fanart is only a matter of time, really. Particularly since I seem to have made illustrating jjtaylor my fannish occupation of late.

Speaking of which! It was her birthday yesterday, a fact which helped me decide which scene from “The Detective’s Secret” I’d play with next. (I have a longish list.) Hope you like it, bb; happy belated! ♥

( Not going into the pool. )

It occurred to me recently that I miss using this space for conversation, rather than just as a slightly talky gallery. I’ve seriously gotten out of the habit of commenting and communicating on DW/LJ, and I’m finding getting back into it something of a challenge. Definitely want to do better on that.

In a slightly more interactive vein (and to prove that I do in fact have other fandoms still): there’s an interest-gauging poll going on for trekreversebang right now! That’s the reverse Star Trek bigbang where ficcers sign up to write stories based on fanart; an awesome idea that I’d love to see spread around a bit more. You guys should check it out.

Before I go work on my actual minicomic for awhile, one more thing I have to share: the spectacle of Pete Wentz interviewing himself. I still love his stupid face.

So the school I work for is closely surrounded by a number of hospitals and (mostly medically-oriented) universities; it feels like a large, combined campus. This morning I stepped off the bus and was walking along one of the interior streets, about to turn onto the individual campus of "my" school ... when I stopped, turned, and looked at the turkey standing next to me.

Wild turkeys! There were several of them (I couldn't count exactly because some of them were foraging under the evergreen bushes), cool as you please, just hanging out in the plantings by a university building. They gradually drifted backwards as I continued to stare, but didn't seem unduly concerned with my presence (or that of other passersby).

I don't even know. It made me really happy. (I let the security guard in the building know, in case they were in any danger and might need to be safely moved, but!) I'm going camping in Maine with sweetvalleyslut's family in a week and a half; I just can't wait to get out of the city for a few days.

Speaking of things that make me happy, an official sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender has been announced, and it looks amazing. There isn't a lot of detail yet, but there's enough to make me excited (girl Avatar! Southern Water Tribe Avatar! non-Victorian steampunk city! international, multi-bender society! Aang's airbending son!) - and check out the tough-looking female protagonist! OMG, I cannot wait for next year. :DDDDDDD

I'm not feeling much of my past longing to attend SDCC, but if any more of the inevitable news deluge is half as awesome as that, it should be an exciting weekend.

Oh, I picked up the last volume of Scott Pilgrim on Tuesday - now that I've read it, I'll be passing it along to my brother as always. I like it okay; as with the rest of the series, I found it to be fun in a fluffy sort of way, but not really worth the hype. It did fix a few of the issues I was having with its female cast members, more or less, which was a pleasant surprise.

[ETA:] Check out this interview with Avatar creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko (via racebending)!

Mike and I, we love those characters too, and we’ve encountered countless fans who are male who really like those characters too. We just don’t subscribe to the conventional wisdom that you can’t have an action series led by a female character. It’s kinda nonsense to us.

♥♥♥

Mmm, that was a pretty nice long weekend, all things considered. I mostly took a break from the internet, cleaned up my room/part of my apartment in preparation for the new bookcases I'm getting next weekend (finally, my books will have a home), hung out and sung along to 1776 with a lot of wonderful people at omnia_mutantur's, perched on some MIT stairs with my roommate to watch Boston's best fireworks display in years, cooked some tasty things, and was grateful (if mildly guilty) for my apartment's AC. Also I didn't draw much, tsk. I need to try and be productive more steadily and less in bursts. I did get my comics anthology submission all wrapped up and submitted Friday night, though, so there's that - now I'm back at the point I was supposed to be at right after college. \o/ /o\

I have one last The Last Airbender-related link to share (for now), which I think is rather important: The Last Airbender: who is to blame? by glockgal at racebending. It's about the danger of scapegoating M. Night Shyamalan rather than focusing on the institutionalized racism that is really at the root of the TLA debacle, and even comes with handy visual aid. (Sure, Shyamalan has been showing his ass quite enthusiastically throughout, but he's not behind the decades of systematic whitewashing in American cinema, and his likely disgrace won't prevent more of the same in the future.)

I haven't found the energy to write about Wonder Woman and why the "reboot" bothers me so much ... probably because I find Wonder Woman so difficult to talk about in general? I've stayed away from past discussions of her because they tend to focus around how some people find her boring or unrelatable, whereas I have this lingering childhood hero-worship that makes their perspective very difficult to comprehend. Also, I find that it's hard to take off the lifelong comics-reader goggles to a certain extent; I've realized that Diana's previous lack of pants didn't bother me, depending entirely on how she was drawn/characterized in her individual appearances. I've had a lot of feminist anger about the portrayal of female characters in superhero comics since the age of eleven or so, but the star-spangled bathing suit doesn't entirely fit into that for me. Relatedly, I still haven't found the words to defend her importance to me as an icon, in spite of the fact that nostalgia for "classic" superheros has been an enormous issue with DC recently (and I've fallen squarely on the side of irritation with that attitude - would have even if I could put aside the rampant racefail that's been involved, which I can't).

It's much easier to explain my anger about the deaths of her mother and culture, and possibly my longtime irritation at most "grim and gritty" superhero revamping, but ... yeah, my thoughts are just not together on this. /o\ I love that I can write a huge paragraph about how I don't know how to write about this issue, too, sheesh. For now, though? Gloria Steinem sums it up. (Still behind on the coverage, too, but that caught my eye.)

Also, I'm starting to catch up on the current Vividcon warnings/ablism/etc discussion, though I feel like the posts I've read have been too scattered to give me a comprehensive picture yet. However, I generally tend to come down on the side of making fannish spaces as safe and comfortable for everyone as possible (except as regards being called out for fail), and against jumping on marginalized people (at all, but specifically) when they ask for what they need. This is one of those uncomfortable instances of fannish fail where some of the faily things are being said by people I've liked and respected over the years, which is always extra-fun.

Whew. I don't think it's necessarily that fandom is more full of fail than usual lately; I think it's getting more attention than it used to (at least, in my "corner" of fandom). The sheer volume is getting a bit hard to follow, with the increasing IRL/art obligations, but I want to keep up as much as possible. (It helps that I've developed an interest in an older fandom where the fic mostly doesn't mesh with my stylistic tastes! My life is clearly the hardest, pfft.)

Oh hey! I keep meaning to write a post and then not doing it, so this might be a little ridiculous.

IDK, real life has been ... not totally nutty, but work's been pretty tiring and busy (there was an accepted student open house, and my boss was out a whole lot). Also, there was even more rain (record amounts and lots of flooding, whee), and before that, there were beekeepers nosing around in my ceiling! Who did not actually find any bees (apparently the hive up and moved sometime in February/early March? there weren't even that many dead ones left), but we did find about 120 pounds of honey. (Eventually, this will make a good comic.) Also, I turned 26.

I've been trying to focus on my original comic work (as usual), with less than desired success, but I haven't been very consistently fannish either. A little while back there was this Gerard Way video, which provoked the usual WHAT IS HIS FACE reaction from me (it had been awhile, too!), and also Mikeyway was adorable. I miss them, but I'm trying not to dwell on MCR too much until we actually have a release date for that album. Whateverthefuck it's going to be, now.

Recently, I've found myself reading lots of DC comics; mostly Bat-books. (I find the current lack of Bruce Wayne weirdly approachable, or something?) While my comic reading habits are often pretty separate from my online fannish pursuits, I checked out Close To Home by iesika (which I really enjoyed), and now I find myself right back in a Tim/Kon sort of place. (Not that I wasn't already feeling it.) Does anyone happen to have some favorite recs to throw at me? They can totally be old; I was really haphazard about reading in the fandom when I was doing that actively, a few years back.

On the other hand, just as I was getting comfortable, there comes this news. Goddammit, Rucka. ;_; I was looking forward to more of your Batwoman SO MUCH. I really hope she gets picked up by someone who can write and who really gets her, but . . . well, it's DC. IDEK. :(((((

In happier news, I watched the new Doctor Who episode last night, and I pretty much enjoyed it! ( Spoilers here. )

I should wrap this ridiculous post up, but! On Friday oliviacirce posted Wordsworth's daffodil poem. While I've never really spent any time on the Romantics, that inevitably winds up reminding me of Philip "deprivation is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth" Larkin, so I promised I'd post something of his.

( A serious house on serious earth it is )

That was a lot more talking than I meant to do! I should try to post more often, so I don't post quite so much. Oh, and I did manage to miss it, but I hope everyone who observes had a lovely Passover or Easter, while I'm on the topic. ♥