Got my Bering and Wells giftee assignment whoo š
So Iām now busy ripping every Bering and Wells episode to my HD in case I want to make gifs. I mean itās not wasted no matter what as gifs are a given at some point. In fact knowing me I might do some AU crossover ones at some point just for fun (HG Wells really should meet Helen Magnus, Iām just saying) but I digress.
To be honest I havenāt decided what medium I want to do. I think itāll depend on what my giftee has in mind. When I did this exchange last year I didnāt really get any direction so I drew a Pirates!AU. But if thereās a more specific prompt then Iāll have to see in what direction Iām inspired.
It really is a beautiful day to remember how much I love Bering and Wells hehe.
Just checked the news and the headline is āWonder Woman sequel flopped at the box officeā and Iām offended.
Like seriously what did they expect releasing it during a pandemic?
Cynical part of me wonders if the powers that be were trying to kill it. I mean Wonder Woman (and Aquaman) were the strongest DC properties, which led to Justice League rewrites/reshoots if I remember correctly, to give them more of a role. Having the āfemaleā movie totally outperform Batman probably shouldnāt be allowed (can you hear my eyes rolling?).
I just think itās a shameful way to treat what I suspect is a good movie. If 2020 was a regular year I would have bought a cinema ticket. But itās not a normal year and comparing itās returns to the first movie is just ridiculous.
So yeah offended. Please donāt call it a flop. Thatās just not fair. Wonder Woman deserves better.
As itās now over halfway through December (so decidedly not NaNo) I figured I should change my icon.
Fitting John, James and Helen on it would have been difficult and choosing between them? Ehhh I couldnāt. So I made them my on-dashboard header instead. Which meant for the icon I could go with Nikola Tesla instead. Single-handedly redeeming vampires since 2008.
This show man. Sometimes I wonder how I went from starting season one a bit dubiously, as I wasnāt positive Iād like it, to being this damn obsessed.
About this time last year I did a post – Drawing 0: Pirates – because it was my intention to draw every month in 2020. Alas like almost everything that plan went down the drain. To be honest my 2021 goals are basically “same as 2020 but I really, really mean it this time!”
This was an illustration of a christmas flashback scene in my Sanctuary fanfic Our Darkest Hour. John/James/Helen ship obviously. Now there’s quite a few things that I’m not happy with. For a start I still need to work on likeness, and skin shading and facial expression. Lighting sources/appropriate shading for the lighting very much too.
BUT
This is my “art timeline” over the past few years. I know it’s hard to see small but for the most part there has been an improvement. I’ve definitely got better at doing hair! In some of the older drawings I can pick out things that I think I did better. I’m particularly pleased with the belt sash thing Myka’s wearing in the pirates drawing for example, and I think I did the clothing on Jedi!Belle pretty well.
Now likeness is a tricky one because yes the two Bering and Wells drawings look a lot more like Bering and Wells, than the above Sanctuary drawing does of John, James and Helen. BUT that likeness was achieved by finding and copying an exact reference which meant I was limited on pose. The biggest leap forward with this Sanctuary drawing was in developing the pose.
The 2016 and first 2017 drawing were straight tracings over a reference I found on google. The other two 2017 drawings, the 2018 drawings and the first 2019 drawing were straight referenced from 3D modelling poses. I think I used 3 different programs in that time. The two Bering and Wells drawings were just done from photo references. Again very specific, no deviation. I could only do what I managed to find.
With this Sanctuary drawing I had a picture in my head that I wanted to bring to life. I tried to do a 3D model reference and gave up pretty quickly. Instead I found some references that were close (a starting point), and then I found more references and I even took some selfie photos of myself for arm positioning and stuff. It was all very hacked together. I’m pretty pleased with it to be honest.
With the last drawing I did (the Pirates one) my primary criticism was the lack of narrative. It was basically just a portrait, there was no action, which I think added to the lifeless/emotionless feel of the piece. That isn’t a problem with the Sanctuary drawing, it’s a much truer illustration. However, the trade-off with drawing more from my imagination, is I don’t have such specific references – which has hurt capturing the likeness. Same with clothing folds and the like but I very much believe though that it’s a step forward.
I have January’s project in mind already – an illustration of John and James dancing at the club from the fic I’m currently writing. Cross fingers that by this time next year I’ll have at least 12 new drawings for an art timeline, and hopefully showing considerable improvement over the course of the year. That’s the goal!
I was feeling very bummed about my drawing. Everytime I looked at it I could just see everything that was wrong with it and I thought it was the most shit thing EVER. I decided that today had to be the last day I fiddled with it as I want to post on Tuesday and I have plans tomorrow.
Well I called it done and was feeling as I said bummed ā¦ and then I moved the folder into my drawing folder. I decided to organise the folder a bit better and oh merlin. Iām actually embarrassed I shared some of those older drawings on the internet – I subjected you guys to them and they are BAAAAD.
This drawing that was bumming me out? Mega leap forward in comparison. Like yeah it still sucks but it doesnāt suck anywhere near as bad as those older ones!
I guess we always only see how far we still have to go.
Ok having thoroughly spoiled myself for the Mandalorian Iām going to go watch it.
Not going to lie, present feeling is a bit sad that it wasnāt Ezra Bridger.
I just want my Rebels family back.
I will ramble later with actual impressions once Iāve seen it.
Bloody hell.
Gifs did not do that justice. I was thoroughly spoiled and damn that was still intense. The tension with the pacing and the music was incredible. Huge kudos to the production team.
Seriously that segment with Luke Skywalker taking out the Dark Troopers was AMAZING. Like pure Jedi badassary very cool.
I wish he had introduced himself though as it didnāt look like Cara recognised him offhand, but I bet sheād know the name of the Red Pilot that blew up the Death Star!
Grogu looked so afraid when the Dark Troopers came back and Mando swore to get him to safety, like he knew they were all going to die. Then he perked right up when Luke got there. The two of them about broke my heart though with Groguās little hand reaching for Mandoās face and Mando taking his helmet off and tearing up a bit and promising to see him again.
It was right that Grogu went and he wanted to go but itās still heart rending.
What the hell was that teaser at the end with Boba and Fennec taking over Jabbaās old palace? Like are they being the new crime lords of Tattooine now? It was cool but weird. Wasnāt expecting it. But I guess theyād teased as much as they wanted about season 3 with the ? about Mando having the dark saber and Bo-Katan needing to earn it back.
I still kinda wish it had been Ezra because we still donāt know what happened to him, also it wouldnāt have required any kind of CGI as it would have been a new actor. Having it be Luke was hella cool for the general audience though who wouldnāt necessarily otherwise have known who Ezra was.
Iām hoping if they are doing more of Mandalore in season 3 we might get Sabine Wren. Please, pretty please.
I had to pick out clothes for John and James to wear to the club in my fic. Now John was easy, I went with what he wore for a hot minute after he got out of the infirmary in Hollow Men I think it was.
For James I had to resort to google for ideas. I picked out a ācasual suitā for him and now I have this urge to draw him wearing it. But seriously self I havenāt finished my last drawing yet (it always takes me a ridiculously long time).
Maybe I will though. Could be Januaryās project.
Iāve reached the point in my Sanctuary obsession where Iām actively trying to give myself ideas.
I was working on my third fic today. Itās a oneshot, will be maybe 10k when itās done, not sure. Iāll hopefully finish it in the next few days.
Thereās an event on 4thewords and so I was thinking to myself āI need a project to make me write everyday so I can complete the questsā and so then I went looking through fanfic AUās and tropes trying to spark something /facepalm.
You see the problem I have is that 1/3rd of my ship dies at the end of season one. So I canāt easily branch off after that in terms of canon-divergence. – My first fic (the long one) I branched off from that episode (yay fix-it hehe). – the second fic (little fluffy oneshot) branched a long time before the show started, during the backstory (in 1888). – the one Iām writing now probably is set in the same verse as my long fic (a year after it ends).
Which leaves pure AU which I donāt like because the canon is so much part of it for me, with the source blood and the sanctuary, that I donāt feel any inspiration for writing a story without it.
BUT! My browsing today gave me an idea for a potential AU that would still work with canon. In canon they met at Oxford. They took classes together, bonded over science, became friends and then more. However, what if they met differently? Iām thinking something using the arranged marriage trope.
I have been screaming about Mando picking up his damn jet pack. Like seriously! Itās driving me mad. He could have flown to get the Child so I guess thatās why he didnāt have it. But seriously did he pick it up afterwards? Itās driving me mad.
Also Fennec is so badass and Boba. Like I particularly like how badass Boba was because he started life as a clone. I like the feeling that Cody and Rex and the rest of the 501st and other clone troopers would have made mince meat of the stormtroopers. I know technically clones were the first stormtroopers but training and armour got a lot worse over time. I remember Rex complaining in Rebels about it when he stole stormtrooper armour for a mission.
Also hilarious that Mando tried to force his way through the force field 3x. Like you got thrown back twice, why did you think that would work? Such a supportive dad though, wanting to find his sonās people who will take good care of him.
Iāve just finished putting together all the pictures and quotes for Calendar 2021. It is Sanctuary (sorry Bering and Wells š)
What just struck me though is anyone unfamiliar with the show would be forgiven for thinking the main characters are: Helen, John, James and Nikola as there is barely a mention of anyone else (a couple of quotes to Will and Henry, and I think Henry is in one group shot).
When in actual fact Nikola was in about a third of the episodes, John as himself perhaps about the same (Iāve not counted) and James was only in four.
What can I say. When you donāt have much, you make it count. Screen time might have been limited but impact was huge. Gotta love The Five š
