ART: For 'Gratitude' by steals_thyme

[etherati]

Two pieces drawn for steals_thyme  for their fic 'Gratitude' which is all kinds of freaking awesome and is located here: Click on me DO IT NOW

ART NUMBER ONE what is done with prismacolor markers and pencils, old skool style.

ART NUMBER TWO what is all-graphite and is gonna stay that way. D:

Trying to suck less. Hopefully succeeding at that at least.

Comments

[steals-thyme.livejournal.com]

I am completely insanely delighted as I'm sure you already gathered :D But I just have tell you again in public where the entire internets can see.

YOU'RE AMAZING <3

[etherati.livejournal.com]

I AM DELIGHTED THAT YOU ARE DELIGHTED.

Also: Icon. Freaking hilarious.

[22by7.livejournal.com]

Those are great, that first one is KILLER. Very poignant framing, and Rorschach's posture speaks volumes.

OMG finals indeed... I am obsessively rereading Watchfic instead of revising.

[etherati.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I am doing way too many things that I should not be doing with finals next week but gah I just can't help it. I was really happy with the framing for that first one, yeah, was trying to not overdo it and just hint at what he's seeing rather than just plaster it up there. Also trying to get back to my roots a little technique-wise because I didn't suck as much back then. D:

[22by7.livejournal.com]

Your technique looks pretty neat to me already.

Mine start next week, as well. I've been reading Rosemary Sutcliff novels and diligently copying Joe Kubert brushwork for practice. Also, it must be said, Watchmen fandom is ridiculously full of inspiring writers and artists. My fanbrain is constantly switched on, as a result.

[etherati.livejournal.com]

THAT IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM. There's too much inspiring stuff so you just want to keep making new things and it never. goes. away.

Heh my finals are mostly going to involve memorizing cell signaling mechanics and physics equations and maclaurin expansions. D: D: So. NOT IN A GREAT MOOD at least as far as school goes, though of course, the internets are always here to pick me up. :)

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

I can kind of see why always you think your drawings suck (though I completely disagree!), but I think all that you're missing really is training/practice in fancy stuff like anatomy, composition, etc. You've already got great attention to detail and the perseverance to shade/colour every bit of each picture, and an eye for showing exactly enough of the scene.

I really like your pics, they kind of remind me of JKR's scratchy illustrations for HP.

[etherati.livejournal.com]

That's the biggest problem I think; I've never had any training so I've just been sloooowly working through what works and what doesn't over the course of way too many years. :\ But I do think that I'm starting to get a slightly better grip on how to draw these two at least.

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

Yeah same, I used to draw when I was younger and my method was always just draw lots and lots of lines then erase the ones that are most wrong. But I'm too lazy / distracted by other things now to draw anymore. That's why I think your perseverance and meticulousness are such big points in your favour; you can build skill but effort and vision are always more important. You put in the effort, and your eye for detail is as good in pictures as it in writing.

[etherati.livejournal.com]

I would love to see you draw something :D Seriously.

And what you call meticulousness I would probably call mild OCD but heh whatever works. XD MUST REPOST ENTIRE STORY BECAUSE I NEED TO ADD A COMMA ON PAGE 27. AND THEN REMOVE IT AGAIN TEN MINUTES LATER.

also, web development

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

oh lots of people have OCD, we just each have our own ways of expressing it

It's not out of the question that I'd draw something (for Watchmen OBVIOUSLY), just got other things going atm

Re: also, web development

[etherati.livejournal.com]

Wow uhm. That is sort of OCD yes. XD But very, very useful. So much of the fic for Watchmen is just scattered everywhere, impossible to find.

Along those lines, I actually keep meaning to ask: does the fandom have an actual rec comm? Ie, not a place to post/index all fics but a place where people recommend fics they've liked (not their own obviously) so that people can be pointed to things that are high quality without having to navigate the labyrinthine network of fic sites, private LJs, comms, boards, etc on their own, reading everything until they find things that are good? XD I ask because another fandom I'm involved in(though not as much lately because WM has been eating my brain) has one and it's great to pop over to when you feel like reading something good and don't feel like engaging in an archeological dig to find it. If one exists, I need to find it. D:

Re: also, web development

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

Not that I know of, no. I've been memorying fics I like, and I know roachpatrol posts recs every now and then, but I'm pretty sure there's no comm. I think everyone's strategy is just to watch all the big fic comms, plus /coq/ and /pco/, and skim stuff as it's posted. Which is fine for now, not for posterity -_-

Re: also, web development

[etherati.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmm. Maybe I should remedy this. Though everyone would probably be all 'who the hell are you' and it'd never get used XD Though I dono, this is probably the most active and hands-on and enthusiastic fan community I've ever seen. What do you think? Worthwhile venture?

Re: also, web development

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

AMG YES OF COURSE

Here's how it will be challenging:
- Who gets to post recs? Everyone? What if a stupid person wants to post a stupid rec (not kidding, not everyone agrees on the quality of art right?)
- How strict will you be about the format of the recs? Are posts like "lol i lieked this" ok?
- How will you ensure the comm is actually populated by enough recs to capture the best of the fandom? Maybe everyone's too busy/lazy/distracted to write up recs for all their favourites (I would try to do my own memories, though!)

"who the hell are you" isn't a problem at all (has nothing to do with the above point), I promise. Not only because what you know and what you can do are so much more important, but also because I'm sure I'm not the only one who considers you a big name author. So "who the hell" is not only an irrelevant question, but it's one you'd have a satisfactory answer to even if it were relevant ;)

Re: also, web development

[etherati.livejournal.com]

Well, as far as formatting I would say it's best to have certain fields that HAVE to be included, like rating and genre and so on, and a 'reason' where you explain why you're reccing it, and a selected snippet from it? I'm basing that off of the one I was involved with because as formats go it worked well and made sure that people got across why a particular thing was being recced so that people would actually click on it. XD

I would say probably just have it be moderated, and as long as the fic being recced meets some basic standards of grammar and quality it goes through buuuuut moderation gets hairy sometimes. Some comms like this have an application to become a reccer and those selected people can post whatever they like. I'm not sure which would be the best way to do it.

It would be more of a realtime thing I think; ie, the intent isn't to fill it archivally immediately but have recs coming in at a regular rate so that people can always pull it up to find something new to read. So rather than dump ten in at once, people would ideally post stuff as they find it, after the initial bit where we all cram stuff in heh. I think the other site has an actual schedule where their selected people post a set number of recs per day or whatever but they're also working with a *trememdous* centralized archive and I don't think it needs to be/could be that formal in this case.

It seems worth a shot, though.

go for it ;)

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

Your solutions make good sense; I think you are set, honestly. As long as you are up for approving all those moderated posts.

I like "basic standards of grammar and quality" in a poster's reason for reccing as the determiner for whether or not a post is approved. Reccer applications could be very good and fruitful too, but also could be much more of a headache. Turning people down isn't easy, right? And then the alternative is just to be nice and let everyone in, in which case the whole process is meaningless.

Re: go for it ;)

[etherati.livejournal.com]

Yeah no completely public and open would defeat the purpose. XD

Now I just have to figure out what to call it. And possibly beg bribe convince someone to help with the look because I'm completely useless with that sort of thing.

Names, names, names...

Re: go for it ;)

[tuff-ghost.livejournal.com]

watchfic_recs, to match mine :P

You know I'll do the layout for you as soon as I can get my own ridiculous project sorted (weeks, not months, I hope). Just pick one of the defaults that's functional to start out with.

btw, does your layout appear a wretched hospital green to you? I was talking to you from work earlier today and my monitor/gfx card/everything there is kind of ghetto...looked horrid, not cool.

Re: go for it ;)

[etherati.livejournal.com]

Haha well I was trying to see if I could come up with something clever but that'll likely be it. Gonna go paw through the GN later and see if anything jumps out at me.

The layout has a *super* faint, desaturated greenish tinge to it, but I mean... really really faint. Certainly not 'hospital green'. It was probably just the gpu or possibly a monitor calibration issue. And I was not trying to snag you into doing the layout haha, just thinking out loud mostly. If you want to that'd be awesome, but no pressure.

Anyway it won't be able to happen until after finals anyway. After that I'll be home for the summer so plenty of time to get it off the ground and approve posts. :D I'm excited though!