to write the unwriteable wrong

Head on over to laurie_ky's journal to bid on her Moonridge offer, a Due South story with art by me!

ds_c6d_bigbang revealed today on AO3. I did five drawings for tres_mechante's Elements of Life.

There's a little more commentary on each one (and of course the reference photos!) on my reference photo/art tumblr, in between photos of Ian McKellan.

I signed up to do art for C6D Big Bang because I'm good at making commitments for Future Zelempa! As an exercise, ria_oaks is hosting a "mini reverse bang" where artists can post quick drawings and writers can respond, if they are so moved, with drabbles or whatever. I just posted a nerdy little drawing.

DS Seekrit Santa has issued an open call for betas and cheerleaders. As a participant, it's probably a bad idea for me to volunteer, but if you're not participating and you want to offer your services to DS writers and artists, go! go and comment there!

If you want to beta or cheerlead for ME, uh, comment here! :D

I just finished my last assignment to turn in to my final comic book inking class tomorrow, and instead of sleeping, here is a round-up post of all of my Due South-related work from this class.

( All of the art )

ETA: Before I forget: now that class is over and I won't be getting any more critiques, should I want to continue any of these projects (or something similar), would anybody be willing and able to be an art beta? Basically, you would look at my pencilled versions of the comics and tell me, "Too many close-ups, I don't remember where in space they ARE" or "Too rushed--put fewer words in each panel," or "That doesn't look like Ray," or "That doesn't look like a human hand," or "I don't understand what's happening right here," or anything else that you think can be fixed, before I commit anything to ink. Let me know!

[xpost: ds_noticeboard]

I keep cutting it closer and closer! Here is my homework due tomorrow, using pen nibs (closest to the Pilot pen method I've used traditionally). It's a moment adapted from You Just Have to Leap by alex51324. It's not really a direct illustration so much as me turning Alex's joke into a one-page comic (there are other characters, for example, in this scene, whom I totally left out.)



Again, I'm a little disappointed with how this one turned out -- it feels chaotic and rushed, largely because that's an accurate assessment. I was away all weekend, so I didn't have as much time as I usually set aside. (I even took a sick day, but I spent most of it convincing myself that my mild headache meant I didn't have to do any work!)

We're about to start work on our final project, a three-page comic in whatever style or combination of styles that we choose. I'm undecided and directionless, so it's poll time!

My next homework assignment was to do straight-up black brushwork, no diluted ink to make shades of gray. (Variations in the level of black on the image are due to my bad scanner.) This is a scene from the wonderful American Way by resonant8.



I thought that the black blacks would be easier than the grays, but in fact it's a lot harder to be confident about placing shadows when you can't experiment with lighter shades before you commit to dark, and I think the stickiness of undiluted ink makes it more obvious that I can't control my brush.

Dialogue changes were due largely to making this a self-contained page that anyone can follow without knowing the context (you should read the story if you haven't, but I was thinking about my classmates). I also wanted to set up Fraser and Ray's usual body language before I twisted it, but this may have been a mistake.

I'm doing an edited version for homework this week (I'll probably post tomorrow), which is better in composition I think, but possibly slightly worse in execution.

Still! Valuable learning experience, and it's one of my favorite scenes, so I was happy to work with it.

Ink wash version of the HCL pic from last time. Some things I like more, some things I like less.



My homework for this week was to pencil a page which I'm then going to have to ink (still in ink wash).

So, the deal with this class is that we have to do comic pages for each of the styles we learn (ink wash, spot black with brush, precise b&w with pen linework a la manga, etc.) So, the pages we do won't add up to a cohesive whole, except perhaps a few multimedia pages at the end. I'm thinking of doing one- to three-page excerpts from several different fics, since it would look weird to keep switching styles in the same comic. The sad part is that I can't commit to working on a nice, long, finished project. Of course, it also frees me up to do teasers from longer fics than I might normally attempt. :)

Fun game: Identify the source material I'm using for this first assignment! Hint: I am now totally, officially this author's creepy internet stalker.



I know a couple of authors who have already indicated to me that I'm free to use their work for comic-ing. If I stray into other authors, though, it would be polite to seek permission before I fan-art their work, right? Or at least before I post it?

Because I'm kinda between things, some recaps!

DS 3x3: I Coulda Been A Defendant Ray and Fraser briefly watch them embrace through the one-way glass, but Fraser says, "They have a right to their privacy," probably hoping that anybody else would do him the same courtesy should they happen upon him getting cozy with another another man in the interrogation room.

DS 3x5: Seeing Is Believing "Oh!" says Thatcher. "Just because she's a woman, she can't be the killer, she can only be the motive!" "It's good to be the motive," Ray insists. "It's very good to be the motive." Aw, Ray. Do you kinda wish you were the motive?

I've also done some light editing on some of the other DS recaps. I think I've been erring too much on the side of not quoting extensive portions of dialogue because I didn't want it to be like, the annotated transcripts. Then I thought, why not? It's just, I've never recapped something where I actually liked huge bunches of the dialogue before. (Sorry, TS.)

I've also tried include a little more analysis and, occasionally, mentions of fics and episode metas which influenced my thinking, although I haven't read nearly as widely as most people in fandom, so please do let me know if you have your own favorite episode-related fics or metas (for these or other episodes) which you think I would enjoy!

akamine_chan pointed out over on ds noticeboard that today is World Turtle Day, an excellent time to make a donation in honor of Ray's mysterious turtle. I am totally on board as I am all about saving the world for the most trivial, geeky, fannish reasons.

There are many turtle-related charities, it turns out, including the classic World Wildlife Fund which has an "adoption" program for various endangered species where you get a plushie and an adoption certificate (too cutesy for me, but probably good for a kid), and this Baja California based group which lets you NAME a turtle for $150. This is a very exciting opportunity which proved to be too much pressure for me. (Also a little more than I had budgeted for random turtle donations?)

In the end, I donated to the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, so, please don't tell me they're horrible. Or do. Or don't. I don't know. They weren't on Charity Navigator, but they were recommended by Earth Island which is four stars. Do we even trust Charity Navigator? People are always complaining that the CEO's make way too much even on the four-star charities. How do you research your donations?

ETA: As long as it's still WTD, here are a few others:

Oceana - $35 donation gets you a food network sea turtle cookie cutter, for all your sea turtle party needs

Adopt a giant tortoise from the Galapagos! Also works if you are a fan of Dr. Stephen Maturin

Marine Conservation Society - UK based (amounts are in pounds), also have a specific "adopt a turtle" program which I stumbled on NOT EVEN LOOKING FOR TURTLE STUFF ANYMORE.