Today’s fan art is for the “Mike and Tom Eat Snacks” (AKA “MATES”, listen here, or look for it on iTunes!) podcast with Micheal Ian Black and Tom Cavanagh. It might be a bit tough to appreciate out of context, the simplest explanation is that Tom is late, and Mike holds a grudge.
In the last year especially, I’ve been doing a LOT of fan art. I suppose one may begin to wonder – why so much of that topic?
In 2006, I had a horrible, horrible job. The work itself was great, the topics were mostly fine, but the people I worked with and for were extremely dubious and unprofessional at best. In the interest of supporting myself, I toughed it out, but it took an enormous toll on me emotionally, ideologically, physically… After that job, I did not want to pick up a pencil ever again. I couldn’t do much of anything creatively. The solution for still having an outlet for the ever present, life-long companion creative drive was this: Fan art – I can do whatever I want, I don’t have to answer to anyone, I have no deadlines, and I do not have to be responsible for it. Fan art has a very grey legal distinction. I can’t own the copyright, but neither can the actual intellectual property holders. I can give it away for free, and it has to STAY free, because the IP holders are responsible for it, they can chase down copyright infringement, I don’t have to. Rather than worry my art will end up being taken and used for profit without my consent, fan art freed me from worry. I could make fan art and nerd out with other fans of stuff I liked, responsibility free.
I’ve noticed in the last year or so, I’ve been doing almost exclusively fan art. I think that it has primarily been an escape. I’ve been dealing with constant medical demands, submitting myself to the will of Disability (the organization), and having to suffer through their inefficient, backward, secretive nonsense, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to keep surviving. I also can’t afford the kind of upgrades I’d need for various creative ideas, or tools like easels and seating so I can paint without such immense physical stress. Fan art is fun, I get a lot of positive feedback, and it gives me an outlet that again, has nobody making demands, no deadlines, no responsibility. I can do what I want in my own time as a relief to stress.
I know that there are a lot of things people are waiting for me to do, or things that people want from me, but right now, this is the space that I have to create. I hope this explains things and makes a bit more sense to folks who have been wondering.
The Marian Call concert was wonderful! You also know when it is srs bzns – the Jayne hat comes out!
She has such an awesome, passionate voice. If you haven’t listened to her, I have no idea what you are waiting for!
I was able to give her the w00tstock fan art that I’d done, and as a bonus, I also got to give a w00tstock fan art print to @stepto . YAY!
Buffy, Fringe, The Guild and Jonathan Frakes & Brent Spiner panels from the Emerald City Comiccon.
The guests and artists at the convention were awesome! I was able to give fan art to Wil Wheaton, Nicholas Brendon, Felicia Day, Amy Okuda, John Noble, and Jasika Nicole. They were all so nice! I almost died when John Noble called me a clever girl, and I almost died again a minute later when Jasika Nicole squeaked at her fan art. I gotta say though, I’m still pretty noobly and head-in-the-clouds about Felicia Day, too. The webcomic artists were also really great about doing cheap or free sketches depending on what people were getting, and I was so, so happy to see lines at so many independent artist booths. Great big YAY for that!
There was… an unfortunate experience for me on Saturday.
You know, for a long time there’s been a movement to get people at cons to keep after personal hygiene. I’ve noticed over the years that the situation is vastly, vastly improved. Sure, a couple people – likely for medical reasons – are a bit out of it, but I think the message is getting through. What I’d like to see next is some kind of encouragement for how to move around at a con. Tips like: Look down, there may be wheelchairs, people with canes, and little people around. Be aware of your space, and what you’re doing – backpacks will stick out at least a person length behind you, carry it in your hand if you can or be cautious with your movement (maybe consider an over-the-shoulder messenger bag you can wear in front). I’m not fond of taking bags to the face or chest even when I am far behind you – I am unable to move as quickly as you can. In the restrooms, tidy up after yourself, if you can’t or if you find a mess, tell the staff RIGHT AWAY. I’d like never again to see someone in a wheelchair unable to access at least half the stalls because people left messes behind, and puddled the handicapped stall so much it was entirely unusable.
For me, the worst was being assaulted between panels. When I stood up to let people out of my row between panels, people going in every direction were pushing and shoving trying to get seats up front. A guy about a foot taller than me and at least 100lbs. more thrust his belly into my back, knocking me into people ahead – repeatedly, I thrust back and showed my cane, and he shrugged and did it again. When I managed to dislodge myself from the crowd, I looked around and saw people handling other folks with canes and moving them out of the way so they could get ahead. I cannot even begin to tell you how NOT OK it is to handle, push and shove disabled people. This particular situation seemed very poorly planned for and handled. They didn’t even try to get crowds under control until about 2 hours into the panels. For this reason, I will not be going to any more “celebrity” guest panels at large cons. It is not worth being assaulted. Really. I’ll stick with YouTube from now on.
Or I guess I could shrug it off as my first ever mosh pit experience. *cough*
You can find a few more photos from recent events here .
Now to catch up on some sleep!
I am so excited for Felicia Day‘s new series based in Dragon Age. The trailer alone makes her look so badass!
The line art for this took a few days. Part of it had to do with the slowness of doing it digitally, part of it had to do with using the tiny screen of my laptop while I was waiting for my desktop computer to be fixed (and it isn’t yet, they can’t figure out why it keeps hanging. Probably it is a software issue of some kind…). I also wasn’t sure about the color (Laptop screen is too shifty!), and I also couldn’t do much after a certain point because it got beyond what the laptop’s memory could handle. I finally got my system back yesterday, and polished the background art a bit.
Ramble ramble. ANYWAY… moving on.
I wanted to illustrate the kerfuffle from the recent interview Marc Maron had with Gallagher. Gallagher is… he’s like every old man on the bus who wants desperately to drop some knowledge, but is nearly incoherent and also very, very angry at everyone ELSE for, well, everything. You know, just like me in about 10 years *ba-dum-tch*. Except I probably still wouldn’t be willing to make racist, sexist, offensive jokes for money. Yes, Marc Maron absolutely did get angry and accusatory and became a rude host, but I can completely understand it. I wouldn’t want to be patronized and yelled at for a half hour either. I know it was a rough episode to listen to, but like pretty much all of Maron’s podcasts, there is so much to be learned not just about comedy, but about people and human interaction. Even when it doesn’t go quite as planned, I often feel better and more positive after listening.
Sometimes I feel like Hollywood missed an opportunity by not casting Nicholas Brendon as Superman ever. He can do sweet, and guileless so well. Obviously I’ll always have a soft spot for Xander, but I also enjoyed the character of Seth on Kitchen Confidential. I wish that series had gotten at least a full season. (And at least I can get my John Francis Daley fix on Bones.) I’m looking forward to his panel at ECCC this year!
A little fan art of “The Guild”, featuring Amy Okuda, Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton (hey, he got 2 fan arts this week!). I call this one “Stiff Breeze”. *cough*
I participated in Hourly Comics Day yesterday! This was my effort last year. I spent a little more time polishing it this year, which is why you didn’t get it until today.
Also, to be fair, there was also arguing on the internet, but I thought it might be boring to draw it again. *cough*
I’ve been enjoying Scott Thompson’s new podcast. After listening to it, I have a whole new respect and admiration for Bellini as well. (I should also note if you’re not familiar with his comedy, Scott is generally NSFW.)
UPDATE: Please check out Episode 12! They discuss my fan art, but they also are having a little art contest that sounds like great fun!
Update #2: Bellini featured the art in an article for Fab Magazine!
Enchanted Doll is having a contest to win a doll. This was my entry. I doubt I even have the slightest chance, but it was a fun challenge!
Inspired by The Long Winters’ “The Commander Thinks Aloud”, it is an awesome, awesome song and I love it. I especially LOVE this version of John Roderick performing it on the JoCo cruise. I missed some of the details the first few times, so I suggest min. ~3-8 of this angle as well.
I should also note I’ve been making little tweaks to the site here and there and updating the site some. I took down the ads because they have never generated a single cent to help cover the cost of keeping the site up. I also feel like the traffic they generated was not so useful, and people probably came here looking for the wrong thing. Oh well. Moving on!
These are Valentine cards with Nerdy, Geeky themes that are free for you to print out and give to your intended.
Featuring a Star Wars themed card with Han Solo and Chewbacca, a Torchwood themes card with John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, a video game themed card with a Legend of Zelda influences, and a Firefly themed card with Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb.
During Hollywood Babble On‘s New Year’s Eve episode, there was a brief mention of Kevin and Ralph in dresses. If you know me, you know that I don’t need much prompting to imagine boys in dresses ::grin:: Ralph has a tendency to make somewhat out-of-date references to pop culture, so it seemed only natural to draw them as Mary Ann and Ginger from Gilligan’s Island.
I have trouble not declaring my love for Mike Phirman daily. I have never been disappointed with anything I’ve seen of him. After the JoCo Cruise, he was called “The Human Smile”, possibly by Kevin Murphy. It is hard to disagree with that assessment! It was also his birthday recently, this was to celebrate it.
Greg Proops has a new podcast called The Smartest Man in the World. It is delightful!
In a not-podcast related bit of art… Dolce and Gabbana’s Spring/Summer line is GORGEOUS, and I wish they had plus sized versions (not that I could ever afford it, but I love the line).
In other news: I will be attending ECCC, I’d love to hear if anyone else is going! I don’t know if I’ll be up to a meet-up or not (dunno yet programming schedule or how long it’ll take to plot of the help I’ll be getting with disabled access), but who knows!
Fan of the Kevin Pollak Chat Show? If not, you should be! Charming interviews with awesome people, what is not to love? I first drew Kevin and Jaime Fox, then tried to go for the crew as well, but I was suffering from Google Fail, and wasn’t sure if I had the right people, and I know I’m missing some. Anywho… Since they seem to fan of both The Simpsons and Mad Men over at the Chat Show, I decided to mash-up the themes.
Kevin Smith is doing a Podcast with his lovely wife called “Plus One“, and they’re really pretty adorable.
In Paul and Storm‘s 103rd the question was asked – what the heck is a Bumbergiff? I couldn’t find the answer, aside from Bumber meaning Umbrella… So naturally I imagined an umbrella being used as a boat and old timey Paul (with his new beard!) and Storm.
That’s all for now! Happy New Year!
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