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I'll admit it: I am a fan, have been a fan almost as long as I can remember. I started as just a comic fan, then discovered SF, later on-line fandom for various media...
If you think it's weird to be this interested in comics, tv shows, or SF, all I can say is that I've realized a long time ago that it is (almost) always pointless to explain fandom, or the appeal of a fannish approach towards some media source material to people who are not either fans already, or about to become fans (though sometimes they might not know it yet). It's just one of those things which you either get or you don't. So you won't find any explanations for fandom on this page -- if you need one, there's a whole subsection of academics you can consult.
If you're just unfamiliar with some media fandom terms and concepts, I can recommend two good and very complete glossary sites: A Glossary Of Fanfic Terms and Ashera's glossary.
Recommendations
- Through the Looking Glass - Alternate Universe Recs
First, I like AUs, because, when done well, they offer unique ways to explore the source, and second, there should be more special interest rec pages for fanfic anyway, so I started this one for AUs. It has recs in several fandoms, for gen, het, and slash fic of all ratings, so don't go there if you're underage.
(Last updated: April 26, 2008) - Crossover Recs
I like crossovers almost as much as AUs, so I've started a second recs page. Like the AU recs page it has recs in several fandoms, for gen, het, and slash fic of all ratings, so don't go there if you're underage.
(Last updated: March 1, 2008)
Thematic lists
A thematic list tries to compile a list of all the fanfic stories fitting with a certain topic rather than reccing only favorites. I'll link gen stories as well as all kinds of pairings, but without help from others it will be biased towards what I've read myself, so please, if you want a story added, your own or others, please send me the title, author, pairings (if any), summary, a public link (i.e. no f-locked or community member locked LJ entries and the like), whether it's a WIP, and under which topic it'll fit, so that I can list it.
- SGA thematic list: alien cultures and new non-human aliens
This one is for SGA stories featuring (human) alien Pegasus cultures prominently, i.e. showing the aliens as having a culture in their own right. This excludes the "aliens made them do it" genre (for which specialized thematic lists already exist anyway) unless the focus is very much the culture and its reasons to require visitors to engage in sexual relations, rather than a "there was a random, irrational fertility ritual *hand-wave*, so John and Rodney have sex" kind. Also not listed are stories in which Pegasus aliens only make a token appearance. In a second part it lists stories with new non-human aliens, i.e. not stories featuring canonical non-humans like the Asgard, Ancients, or the Wraith, which I feel is a different theme.
(Last updated: March 12, 2008) - SGA thematic list: Wraith/Iratus bug transformations
This one is for SGA stories in which a human character is transformed into a Wraith or Iratus bug hybrid, or in reverse a Wraith is made human. It lists both temporary and permanent transformations, physical as well as mental changes, and canon compliant episode tags as well as AUs.
(Last updated: May 6, 2008) - SGA thematic list: John Sheppard as Ancient, Ori or Ascended
This one is for SGA stories in which John Sheppard is an Ancient, Ori or Ascended. John being an Ancient/Ori means that he's reincarnated, descended with amnesia, or hiding intentionally as human etc., but it does not include possession by an Ancient or Ori, or sharing consciousness or body with one, it has to be actually John who is the alien.
(Last updated: March 13, 2008)
Essays and Opinions
I enjoy talking about fanfic (and fandom), and sometimes I write longer pieces, which deserve a more permanent publication than just a mailing list or blog post, or at least I like to think so, YMMV of course.
- A
Sentinel Is Not a Television Set. A rant
about "dials" and other annoying sensory
shortcuts in Sentinel fanfiction.
(November 2000) - How to construct
Alternate Universes that work as fanfic.
Why I think some AUs work and others don't, and why I
think the simple model of AUs which claims that the
more you differ from canon, the less recognizable the
story will be as fanfic, is faulty.
(January 2001)
I also have a blog as well as an LJ where you can find more fannish thoughts, recs, and opinions in a less organized fashion.
Fan Art
I rarely draw fan art. The main reason for that -- besides my general slackerdom because of which currently I don't draw much at all -- is that I suck with accurate portraits. My few attempts at drawing for tv or movie fandoms so far resulted in nothing I would web-publish. And if you've looked at my artwork section you might have noticed that I show even stuff I did in elementary school, so it's not that my standards are unreasonably high. However I did an illustration featuring DC comic characters, and after that I started to play some more with superhero drawings, and other fanart that doesn't require (realistic) likeness to actors. I don't want to mix fan art in the sections with original artwork, so I put it here instead, even though most is comic related.
[ DC Comics updated ] [ DC / Marvel ] [ DC / Muppets ] [ DC / Star Wars ] [ Dresden Files ] [ Harry Potter ] [ His Dark Materials / Stargate Atlantis ] [ Marvel ] [ Stargate Atlantis updated ] [ Stargate Atlantis / Watership Down ] [ Temeraire ]
DC Comics
Fandom: DC Comics (Green Arrow)
Characters/Pairings: Roy Harper (back when he was Speedy)
Media: Wacom tablet in GIMP
Notes: This took me a really long time, and I don't just mean that I first had the idea for this in 2006. I have no idea what I am doing wrong that digital coloring takes me so long, isn't it supposed to be efficient? I suppose it's one of the pitfalls of being self-taught. Anyway, it's Roy during the famous heroin addict story line. The finished image is ca. 116k.
Added: April 25, 2008
Fandom: DC Comics (Green Arrow)
Characters/Pairings: Connor Hawke (Green Arrow II)
Media: Pencil, inked and colored with a Wacom tablet in GIMP
Notes: It was kind of hard to decide how to draw him, because there doesn't seem to be any real consensus on how "non-European" he looks. The finished image is ca. 40k, the initial pencils ca. 60k.
Added: August 26, 2007
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Tim Drake (Robin III)/Stephanie Brown (Spoiler)
Media: Wacom tablet and GIMP
Notes: Just a doodle I've drawn for a DCU kissing meme, thus it's smaller/of a lower resolution than my regular fanart. The finished image is ca. 44k.
Added: July 11, 2007
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Tim Drake (Robin III)/Kon-El (Superboy), vaguely during their Young Justice era
Media: Wacom tablet and GIMP
Notes: I tried drawing completely with a tablet for the first time, which turned out to be much harder than expected, so for practice I started drawing with a photo as guide for posture and then added costumes, changing hair and faces a bit and such, rather than sketching directly without tracing anything. The underlying photo base I started from was this gay wallpaper.The finished image is ca. 76k.
Added: March 9, 2007
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Buddy Baker (as Animal Man) & Tofurky
Media: Pencil, inked, colored and combined with bits from an image of Tofurky packaging in GIMP
Notes: I intended to post this for Christmas, but I didn't finish in time. Before the holidays I was frustrated by the lack of convenient, pre-made veggie roasts in the stores here, which made me think of Tofurky and that Buddy Baker might earn some money from advertising in the DCU, what with him having worked in show biz, and that Tofurky as a brand certainly fits with his image. Which led me to combining the two. The finished image is ca. 157k, you can also look at the initial pencils (ca. 150k).
Added: December 28, 2006
Fandom: DC Comics (Batverse)
Characters/Pairings: Tim Drake (as Robin III)
Media: Pencil, inked and colored in GIMP
Notes: Te asked for "creaky, leathery, heavily-armored Robins" similar to Bermejo's art in the LJ community Illustrate Me. Unfortunately I can't draw well enough to emulate the style, but I did my best to make Robin's costume look heavy and armored rather than spray-painted on. If you are interested in the unfinished stages, you can also look at the initial pencils (ca. 73k), and the finished, but uncolored lineart (ca. 108k).
Added: September 7, 2006
Fandom: DC Comics (Batverse)
Characters/Pairings: Jim Gordon
Media: Pencil, inked and colored in GIMP
Notes: This is an illustration for Petra's story Squandered my resistance. It was done for the Comica Obscura exchange 2006. The recipient was Voleuse. It's kind of for the final scene. That scene didn't describe a setting, but I imagined the introspection happening when Jim Gordon is back in his office after meeting yet another Robin for the first time. The finished image is ca. 98k, the initial pencils ca. 83k.
Added: May 27, 2006
Fandom: DC Comics (Outsiders)
Characters/Pairings: Shift, Puppet!Nightwing, Puppet!Arsenal
Media: Pencil, GIMP
Notes: This is an illustration for Sister Wolf's Nightwing/Arsenal ficlet Show, inspired by this: "[...] Shift forms his hands into little puppet versions of Arsenal and Nightwing and mimes them beating up on each other like Punch and Judy."
The finished image is ca. 63K, the initial pencil drawing ca. 100K.
Added: March 27, 2006
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Tim Drake (as Avatar), Oracle (Barbara Gordon)
Media: Pencil, GIMP
Notes: This is an illustration of Tim Drake as Avatar for Te's Intimates series, a Batverse AU. The finished image is ca. 70K, the initial pencil drawing ca. 52K.
Added: January 5, 2006
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Nightwing/Arsenal (Dick Grayson/Roy Harper)
Media: Pencil, GIMP
Notes: This picture is Nightwing/Arsenal slash, it has some nudity but no graphic sex, just kissing, you don't see more of the characters than you might in the comics, and it's rather a lot fluffier than what you see between Roy and Grace for example. The finished image is ca. 52K, the initial pencil drawing ca. 32K.
Added: November 29, 2005
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Batman/Nightwing (Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson)
Media: Pencil, GIMP
Notes: This is an illustration for Lucy's fabulous Hanging Work AU (it's Bruce/Dick slash, my illustration is not explicit though). The finished image is ca. 48K, the initial pencil drawing ca. 56K.
Added: November 23, 2005
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Batman (Bruce Wayne), Nightwing (Dick Grayson) -- open to a slashy reading
Media: Pencil, Ink, GIMP
Notes: A rooftop scene with Batman and Nightwing. This is the first time I've tried computer coloring, also the first time I've inked with a brush in a very long time. The image is ca. 104K, the pencil drawing that preceeded the finished inked and colored version ca. 100K.
Added: April 11, 2003
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Batman/Nightwing (Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson)
Media: Pencil
Notes: While working on a more difficult drawing, I really needed a break and amused myself with a quick close-up sketch of a Batman/Nightwing kiss. It's not great, and it lacks expression somewhat, but it took only a little bit more than a half hour to draw with a tangible result. And as I mentioned above, my standards for publishing stuff on this website aren't that high. The drawing is ca. 20K.
Added: February 4, 2003
Fandom: DC Comics
Characters/Pairings: Nightwing/Superman (Dick Grayson/Clark Kent)
Media: Pencil
Notes: This is an illustration for Lucy's Nightwing/Superman story Secrets. The image file is ca. 74K.
Added: January 20, 2003
DC / Marvel
Fandom: DC / Marvel Comics
Characters/Pairings: Nightwing/Daredevil (Dick Grayson/Matt Murdock)
Media: Pencil, Ink, GIMP
Notes: Yet another rooftop scene, and 'rith wrote a drabble based on this picture. *squee!* The finished image is ca. 76K, the pencil drawing ca. 48K.
Added: November 1, 2003
DC / Muppets
Fandom: DC Comics / Muppets
Characters/Pairings: Gonzo (as Nightwing)
Media: Pencil sketch, some quick and sloppy coloring in GIMP
Notes: This is the fourth and last (so far) of my Muppets/DCU fusion doodles. In case you're wondering why I cast Gonzo as Dick Grayson/Nightwing, there are several ways they resonate with each other (at least in my strange brain): Gonzo's history as a daredevil performance artist (granted his colors aren't the same as the Flying Graysons', but still) and as stuntman, Gonzo's romance life, and that in a world withouth Kermit Gonzo would have been become "a depressed street performer that plays the guitar for a dancing brick", and considering I cast Kermit as Superman, I find the parallels fitting. (I don't know if Dick would have become a depressed circus artist instead of staying a superhero without Clark exactly, but he wouldn't have been Nightwing as we know him.)
Added: September 13, 2006
Fandom: DC Comics / Muppets
Characters/Pairings: Fozzie Bear (as Jimmy Olson)
Media: Pencil sketch, some quick and sloppy coloring in GIMP
Notes: This is the third of my Muppets/DCU fusion doodles. Again, it was inspired by Betty and Te.
Added: September 12, 2006
Fandom: DC Comics / Muppets
Characters/Pairings: Kermit the Frog (as Superman) and Miss Piggy (as Lois Lane)
Media: Pencil sketch, some quick and sloppy coloring in GIMP
Notes: Betty discussed a story that somehow featured Clark identifying with Kermit the Frog, and I read that post (not the story though) and chatted a bit with Te about DC/Muppets fusion possibilities in the comments, and as a result I had the image of Superman!Kermit and Lois!Piggy stuck in my head.
Added: September 12, 2006
DC / Star Wars
Fandom: DC Comics / Star Wars
Characters/Pairings: Tim Drake
Media: Pencil, GIMP
Notes: An illustration for Mary's Batverse/Star Wars fusion story Flamebird. The finished image is ca. ca. 86K, the initial pencil drawing ca. 48K.
Added: November 20, 2005
Dresden Files
Fandom: Dresden Files bookverse
Characters/Pairings: Bob
Media: pencil drawing, then inked, colored and various digital effects/textures added with Wacom tablet and GIMP
Notes: I based it on a description from chapter six of Proven Guilty: "Other books, notebooks, envelopes, paper bags, pencils, and apparently random objects of many kinds crowd each other for space on the shelves--all except for one plain, homemade wooden shelf, which held only candles at either end, four romance novels, a Victoria's Secret catalog, and a bleached human skull." I used an actual Victoria's Secret catalog cover to base my drawing of that catalog on and referenced bits from a couple of other photos via a google image search but only the catalog cover is directly traced as a whole, though the skull is close to this skull image. Oh and the Harlequin romance titles are real too, though I can't actually remember whether I matched the right authors with their titles as I created the book spines. The finished image is ca. 168k, and can also look at it in the original size I created it, a very large high resolution picture, i.e. 300dpi at DIN A4 size version, 1325kb. I've also written some commentary on drawing this picture.
Added: April 30, 2007
Harry Potter
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairings: Severus Snape/Kingsley Shacklebolt
Media: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint, a tiny bit of white conté chalk
Notes: This is an illustration of Beth's Snape/Kingsley story In From the Cold. I've already illustrated the epilogue of this story a while back, but always wanted to draw this Snape/Shacklebolt scene in the alley. Now, with barely two years delay, I got around to it. The finished image is ca. 320k, the initial pencil drawing ca. 308k.
Added: February 21, 2008
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairings: Ginny Weasley
Media: Pencil drawing, colored in GIMP
Notes: When I asked for character/emotion prompts to practice expressions, Dragovianknight asked for "Ginny Weasley, shocked." The irises aren't quite equal in size, which obviously looks weird, but by the time I actually noticed that, I was at a stage in the coloring already where I would have had to redo a lot of stuff *headdesk*, so considering that this is more a sketch than an elaborate drawing I decided to be lazy and just live with it. Also, I've never drawn Ginny, but I still hope it looks both like her and shocked. You can also look at the initial pencils (ca. 40k).
Added: June 6, 2006
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairings: Severus Snape
Media: Pencil, GIMP
Notes: This is an illustration for the epilogue of Beth's Snape/Kingsley story In From the Cold. Belatedly I noticed that I actually misread the sentence and it was Kingsley wearing that parrot shirt... *facepalm* Well, I really like the idea of Snape in that outfit anyway. Also I'm aware both shadows and perspective don't hold up if you check them for their proper technical construction, I just hope it's not too cringeworthy for the casual viewer. The finished image is ca. 175K, the initial pencil drawing ca. 144K.
Added: February 8, 2006
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairings: Harry (in platypus form), Voldemort
Media: Pencil, GIMP
Notes: Another one for Nimori's Animagus Challenge, this time Platypus!Harry fighting Voldemort. The scenario I imagined for this one was something along the lines that Harry got captured, lost his wand and now makes a desperate attempt to escape by surprising Voldie with his animagus form and tries to incapacitate him with the venom to get away, that's why he's trying to kick him... The finished image is ca. 77K, the initial pencil drawing ca. 106K.
Added: January 18, 2006
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairings: Harry (in platypus form)
Media: Pencil, GIMP
Notes: This is art for Nimori's Animagus Challenge, for which I claimed Harry as a platypus animagus. The finished image is ca. 116K, the initial pencil drawing ca. 84K.
Added: January 18, 2006
His Dark Materials / Stargate Atlantis
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis / His Dark Materials Fusion
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, the team's dæmons Nioke, Keho, Tykallita, and Imara
Media: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint, a little bit colored pencils
Notes: This is an illustration for Trinityofone's SGA/HDM story Dæmonology. The faint, yet still annoying line in the middle where the colors don't quite match is there because the paper of the original is of a larger format than my scanner, so I had to scan it in two parts, and didn't manage to make them fit perfectly. Astrid helped me fix some perspective and relative size and positioning problems in an earlier pencils sketch of this. The illustration is much better for it. Any remaining problems however are my fault. The finished image is ca. 256k.
Added: March 25, 2008
Marvel
Fandom: Marvel
Characters/Pairings: Peter Parker (Spider-Man)/Matt Murdock (Daredevil)
Media: Wacom tablet and GIMP
Notes: Just a doodle I've drawn for a Marvel universe kissing meme, thus it's smaller/of a lower resolution than my regular fanart. The finished image is ca. 20k.
Added: July 11, 2007
Fandom: Marvel (X-Men)
Characters/Pairings: Ororo Munroe (Storm)
Media: Pencil drawing, colored in GIMP
Notes: When I asked for prompts to practice drawing emotions, Catmoran suggested "Storm, happily surprised." This is the first time I tried drawing Storm, and I noticed that I have no clue what Ororo's natural eye color is when they're not all glowy white while she controls weather. Since it is much harder to convey emotions in eyes without pupils I wanted to draw her with regular eyes and decided on green without bothering with further research (I know, bad comic fan, no cookie), since I figured that those fit better with freaky witch-like superpowers than plain brown eyes. Anyway, I hope this nevertheless looks vaguely like Storm, and like happy surprise. You can also look at the initial pencils (ca. 56k).
Added: May 28, 2006
Stargate Atlantis
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard & Steampunk!Puddlejumper
Media: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint
Notes: I did this for the prompt "Victorian steampunk AU" for the SGA fanart fest Painted Spires. Admittedly mechanical pterodactyls aren't the most efficient way for a flying machine, Steampunk or otherwise, and not a very likely or even possible path technology would take from an SF standpoint, but this way was much cooler visually than merely changing the puddlejumpers with pipes or gauges or whatever. I mean, they more or less look like flying lunch boxes. Not really realistic technology, but this is Stargate after all, and I'm pretty sure John would think that mechanical, flying dinosaurs were cool. The original is 30x40cm, so unfortunately I had to scan it in two parts, and you can see a slight line where I merged, because I fail at digital manipulation and didn't know how to make the two parts fit completely seamless. The image is ca. 244k.
Added: May 9, 2008
Stargate Atlantis / Watership Down
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis / Watership Down
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay (well kind of, they're rabbits...)
Media: Pencil, inked, colored and merged with a SGA background photo in GIMP
Notes: Jenn was talking about SGA as well as about her (apparently quite vicious) rabbits, and I commented that I was wondering when her interests would merge and there'd be a Watership Down/SGA fusion kind of fic with exploring rabbits, who are also appropriately (and realistically) vicious and rack up a huge body count... Somehow the image of the SGA guys as rabbits hasn't left me, besides I think the two would fit remarkably well together. The image is ca. 164K.
Added: April 11, 2006
Temeraire
Fandom: Temeraire Series
Characters/Pairings: Iskierka
Media: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint, a bit of white conté chalk
Notes: This illustrates Iskierka's hatching. I hope she looks enough like a baby while still fitting the description that they look just like smaller versions of the big ones. But making the head long and lean like I normally do for dragons to make them look ferocious didn't work for me for a baby dragon. The coloring didn't turn out quite like I intended, and for some reason my scanner not only produced a weird stripe artifact that I couldn't get rid of (it is not that intrusive, but still), it also reproduced the colors less bright than in the actual picture. The finished image is ca. 172k. I've also written some commentary on drawing this picture with scans and photos of the inbetween stages.
Added: February 8, 2008
Fandom: Temeraire Series
Characters/Pairings: Temeraire
Media: pencil drawing, inked and colored with a Wacom tablet in GIMP
Notes: This was done for the Yuletart gift exchange for Tylercat. I'd also like to thank Brown Betty for helping me to come up with a motif, when my initial idea didn't work out, and for taking a look at the half-finished stages, spotting problems with the rocks and such. The finished image is ca. 140k. Please do not reuse this image as this was gift art for Tylercat.
Added: February 4, 2008
Disclaimer: Superman, Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Oracle, Spoiler, Jim Gordon, Superboy, Shift, Green Arrow and Arsenal are owned by DC Comics. Daredevil, Spider-Man and Storm are owned by Marvel. The Jedi and Star Wars belong to Lucasfilm Ltd., Stargate Atlantis, its characters and universe to MGM Television Entertainment. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. and AOL/Time Warner, Inc., The Dresden Files to Jim Butcher, Temeraire to Naomi Novik, Watership Down to Richard Adams, the Muppets to The Jim Henson Company. These drawings are not in any way connected to or endorsed by DC Comics, Marvel, Lucasfilm Ltd, MGM, Richard Adams, Jim Butcher, the Jim Henson Company, Naomi Novik, or J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended, no profit is made with this.
