I misunderstood the point of this ride

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. ;)

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!)

Jeez, you guys. I just came out of a two-hour lecture/panel discussion (the third in two days) that basically turned into a debate about print and digital media and tools for artists, audience interaction, the internet, and so on. I feel exhausted and exhilarated. I can't decide if I want to have a thousand meta discussions about creator/audience interaction, fandom, crowdsourcing, the Veronica Mars kickstarter, Homestuck (which I should mention, I still haven't read) ... or just go lock myself in a room and draw until my fingers ache. I kind of have to do the latter (after a five-hour office shift), but you know.

Speaking of internet audiences and such, ( could I ask your opinion on something web/comics related? )

Anyway, apart from the meta thoughts I haven't had time for much of fannish anything, although I have been following Gerard's twitter posts religiously. (Nice popcorn tree, dude. God, how are you so charming?) And I still haven't watched The Phoenix video, but I'm finally listening to it. Repeatedly. (Young Volcanoes is great too! But um. Unf.)

I am dithering about buying a ticket to see Fall Out Boy in Lowell or Brooklyn this fall ... I'm broke and I don't know what I'll be doing then. Are people going? Ever since MJ I've been missing being around fans so intensely.

Okay, so in 2015? I am going to muskratjamboree, okay. I had such an amazing time just staying in the hotel and hanging out with so many wonderful fans, but ... I want to go to that dance party next time. ;) And some panels.

I'm following a bunch of the lovely people I met on DW, LJ and/or twitter, and I'm going to post my information over in this post! So if you are new to me ( here is some quick stuff to please read? )

Also ... yes, so, on Saturday my favorite band broke up, in the middle of the convention. ( Cutting for being more or less positive, in case you're not ready for that. )

Anyway, I'm on a bus north, and I think I'm gonna lie back and listen to podfic for a bit. But if intensityboat still has any fans out there (of course we do) ... there may be something for you quite soon. :)

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

Ugh, it's so good to be home. I've been back in the Happy Valley for a couple days, on a brief visit to family (biological and chosen). It's nice to spend some time in a place which, while familiar, contains plenty of new faces. I can go whole hours without encountering someone I've spoken to before, if I'm careful. Also I got to pick up my comics subscriptions from the last few months (Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples's Saga is pretty nifty, by the way ... and new Castle Waiting is the best thing of ALL), and go shopping for such things as used music, sex toys and sun dresses, none of which I can do easily back north. (Although dress shopping, it turns out, just isn't happening. MY BREASTS ARE DRESS PROOF. :( I did find a lovely new tie, though, and I got to try on a gorgeous tail coat.)

After all that shopping yesterday, my friend was telling me about this little company in Maine that makes handcrafted dildos shaped like tentacles and unicorn horns (among other things). I thought some of you might appreciate that? ;)

Anyway, enough rambling about random real life stuff ... while I was off doing un-internet things, the fabulous bandombigbang fic I illustrated for was posted! And I Will Be Your Goal (Frank/Gerard/Grant) is a lovely story about relationships and revolution simultaneously gaining momentum in a vaguely steampunk European setting, written by tuesdaysgone and fleurdeliser! Check it out! You can find my illustrations here or on LJ. I had a blast with the Regency-era costuming in particular!

I also have to put in a quick plug for The Only Hope For Me Is You, the final part of tuesdaysgone's Killjoys trilogy, which I cannot WAIT to read. Those stories have basically been my chosen Killjoys canon thus far, and I'm so thrilled to finally get the conclusion!

I hope you guys are generally having a great weekend! I should go tear myself off the internet before I accidentally spoil myself for the Legend of Korra finale on tumblr.

Oof, hello, internet. God, I've had an intense couple of weeks. My grad school likes to start off its second semester by diving immediately into a super-concentrated group project with a ridiculous deadline! Crit was this morning, and it is so nice to be able to think about other things at last (although tbh, the main thing I'm thinking about at this moment is sleep).

Now that we're past that hurdle, however, it looks like a much more pleasantly balanced semester is doable! :D I have some plans (and have signed up for bandombigbang, eeee), but in the meantime, I want to share what I spent my vacation on ...


So Victoria thought this was just another one of "those" modelling gigs. Not safe for work. Contains naked ladies, stockings, and flogging.

See, I've been thinking a lot about learning to draw erotica this last year! I've seen a couple of potential opportunities to draw porn comics pop up, and it's definitely something that interests me, but I know I don't really have the chops to pull it off in a professional way just yet. Drawing porn is hard (aheh); everything from the sheer physical mechanics of bodies interacting to trying to capture some sense of mood. So! were_duck asked me if I'd be interested in teaming up on some kind of joint project, and after I posted this kinky vintage picspam (also NSFW) for her over the holidays, we decided to try a 1920s Greta/Victoria erotic photoshoot AU.

We weren't really sure what form the project would take; at the moment there's just a series of backgroundless pin-up images I drew over a period of a couple of weeks. Eventually there will be artistic contributions by were_duck as well (oh man, the stuff she's working on is fabulous, seriously, just you wait), and ... maybe some kind of story? We have a loose narrative in mind, but I really needed to focus on visuals for a bit; to just start drawing and see where it led me. I have .... a lot of thoughts for where I might go next (whether it's in fanart or original work). There are lots of things I need to work on, though. Like different body types! (I meant to emphasize this a bit more and didn't manage to pull it off; too focused on getting the posing down, I think.) And general anatomy in some places. Hmmm.

Okay, I need to think about relaxing now; I still have a little bit of that deadline tension buzzing under my skin. Be seeing you a bit more of you all soon. ♥

RAY TORO YOUR FACE.

I just. That was everything I needed today. I mean, the pineapple upside-down martini was nice too, and the intense conversations about Buffy and queer representation in late-nineties media and the value of poetry as an artform (I really love that one classmate a lot, he is great). But then I came home and got to see MCR playing Yo Gabba Gabba in the most bizarre little leg-baring parka costumes (except for ... blue long-eared abominable snowman Dewees?). Gerard is so absurdly earnest and Frank is gleeful and Mikey has his little smile ... but I can't stop staring at Ray Motherfucking Toro, who looks about as happy as I have ever seen anyone look. Ever.

I know I'm flailing incoherently right now ... I am still working on this final project sleep deficit, here, and not at my most articulate. But yeah. I love them. Also you guys. Hi. ♥

Hey, I need to post publicly again at some point! I really want to talk about this week's Castle, which was obviously quite relevant to my interests (although it induced a fair amount of eyerolling as well). About the only fannish thing I've done recently is watch TV, but there's been quite a lot of that.

I'm supposed to be going to a party in half an hour, though (we'll see if I can stay awake for it). However, have you guys heard this yet?

Um. Not going to lie; that's kind of awesome. (And I definitely prefer it to "I know this world is killing you.") Now, Patrick, can we please get another east coast tour?

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.)