I misunderstood the point of this ride

Hi there! This is the best exchange; I’m so excited. Thank you for drawing for me!

I had a wonderful time with the first iteration of MFD; the low-pressure, mutually enthusiastic and encouraging feeling of the whole thing was a breath of fresh air and a source of inspiration to me. Let’s keep that going! I’m so glad you’re here; please know that whatever your skill level or experience is (and these things are SUPER relative, srsly), whatever your style(s)/medium(s) of choice, I can’t wait to see what you make. Making stuff! It’s the best!

I happen to really love prompts, likes, and that sort of thing to play with, so I’m going to try and provide a bunch below, but they are entirely take-them-or-leave-them as far as I’m concerned. I’d appreciate you taking my DNWs into account, but apart from that, please have fun with whichever character, group, ship, setting, etc I’ve requested that catches your fancy. However you like. (On the subject of likes: note that the "Thematic Likes" and "Art Likes" links under the cut will open a separate post, in a new tab. I've kept my DNWs in this post because they're a bit more MFD-specific.)

Treats are very welcome and appreciated tremendously.

Eeee. ( Okay, here we go! )

Hi there! Thank you for creating for me; I hope you have a great time! I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. <3

I'm trying something new with this exchange, I have a separate General Likes and DNWs post, in case you find that helpful. Under the cut, I'll share some more specific prompts for my requested pairings, which you're welcome to use, adapt or ignore in favor of other ideas - whatever works best for you.

( Prompts under here. )

I haven’t done an all-fanart exchange in ages and I’m psyched about this! It’s supposed to be low-pressure and I want to honor that. Whatever your skill level or experience is (and these things are super relative anyway), whatever your style(s)/medium(s) of choice, I’m looking forward to seeing what you make! Let’s make stuff!

I want you to draw whatever you want based on any of the characters, groups and/or ships I’ve requested (taking DNWs into account, please). But given that I, personally, really love to have prompts and likes to play with, I’m providing some below! Feel free to use them as much or little as you feel like, yeah?

General Likes | DNWs | Sailor Moon | The Locked Tomb | The Snow Queen
DCU | Marvel 616 | The Wicked + The Divine | Labyrinth | Farscape

( In here! )

Well, I finally got to one of those female-character-centric fanart prompts from a couple weeks ago ... were_duck wanted Allison/Lydia. Not a thing that takes much convincing, although for some reason it came out intensely fluffy. I guess I was just in the mood?

( Full image behind here! )

I'll definitely do more of those! Probably spaced out in between other projects. I always want to do more female character-centric fanart ... you could pretty much prompt me for it anytime.

Also, I was toying with the idea of going to see Man of Steel, but now I'm not, because I want THIS movie and it doesn't exist. (There is awesome fanart, though!) I have a lot of feelings about Superman, okay. And possibly even more about Lois Lane. Everything (canon) DC-related is making me want to stick my fingers in my ears and go LA LA LA, lately.

Appropos of nothing whatsoever, I stopped watching the fourth season of Community after the second episode. Should I give it another try? I mean, I'm going to want to watch the fifth season now that Harmon's coming back.

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'm really kind of grateful that MCR has gone and recorded an album I can get away with playing part of at work. It's hardly one of the main reasons I love Danger Days, but I really appreciate it.

Every once in awhile I find myself trying to explain why I love this band so much (not an uncommon experience, I think), and it's just impossible to do that in a totally unsentimental way. I mean, yes, fantastic fucking guitars and Gerard's snotty little voice and sweeping theatrical concepts and ray guns - and this album in particular is directly connected to the medium of my heart - but really? Music is alchemy to me, and first and foremost, My Chemical Romance always manages to remind me of who I am (and who I want to be). That's all the explanation needed, really. (And anyone who thinks The Black Parade is about despair can suck it, frankly.)

Of course, that doesn't come from them, not entirely. It's something that happens halfway between the instruments and my ears; it's an interaction. I think that's my favorite part. When I was younger and first trying to be an artist, I didn't really appreciate the real importance of having an audience for the things you create: it's more than just craving attention, and understanding that is kind of essential.

Er, okay, enough of that. Drive-by yuletart rec: I'm a completely biased beta, but this Slings & Arrows comic is amazing, and anyone who likes that show should read it yesterday.

I'm also really grateful for my own adorable gift. It's so understated and evocative and right. I want so much fic about Kate and Renee ... it doesn't even have to get them back together, I just want to explore the complexity of their past and the way their current identities and all their individual layers of influence interact. (Of course, I also want that in canon. Are you listening, J.H.W.?)

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. ♥