UPDATE - All the Arting!!

[dancing_adrift]

Hello! I figured, with so many exciting things happening in my fanart life right now, I should perhaps post a little update!

FIRST: I did end up claiming another fic for quicky_bang! I have made much wonderful progress already making art for the short fic "Agora" by excoyote. It's an adorable story about collegeboy!Jensen discovering this tucked-away bookstore run by agoraphobic!Jared. Its super sweet - you should go give it a read, and know there is schmoopy art soon to be posted for it, right here, by me! :D (And, thanks to the magic of layers, though the story is only rated Mature, I'll have a little NSFW bonus art to share, too ;) So you can look forward to that as well!)

SECOND: The entire reason I really joined LiveJournal - - - spn_j2_bigbang ART CLAIMS HAVE HAPPENED! AND PRETTY MUCH ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS THAT POSSIBLY COULD HAVE COME TRUE DID! I had the incredible luck of snagging one of my absolute favorite authors and lovely friend akintay's fic, "The Dizzy Heights of This Dreamed of World." I read it the day she sent it to me, and believe you me when I say, "If you like J2 fics, you're gonna love it!" I'm biased, of course, but it really is a wonderful fantasy J2 AU, with tons of visual appeal for an over-eager artist like me. I'm really going to be making so much art for it (I can't help it, it's what I was inspired to do) - that you all are going to think me a brown-nosing jerk. I swear, that's not my intention, I just got really excited about the idea I had, and it just so happened to require me making lots of art. So it's keeping me very, very busy, and I'm having a blast, not only in the shear amount of time spent arting, but also in collaborating with such a great author and friend. I'm so very lucky to have snagged her, especially as a BB!virgin!! XP

On the note of BB art, I've been working primarily in Corel Painter Essentials 5 (the software that came with my drawing tablet, without which none of this would be anywhere near as easy), when before I had stuck pretty close to GIMP. Today, thanks to my friend gluedwithgold practically forcing me to look at some tutorials, I *finally* figured out layers in Corel, and it's pretty much changed my entire life. It is a whole world of difference, and it's going to make many of my future projects SO much easier. I made some awesome progress tonight, and I'm really, really happy with how it's all coming along.

So yeah! That's my "quick" update for y'all. Jury is still out as to whether or not I'll participate in spn_heatwave; the desire is still there, but I might be too wiped after QB (should be posted by Tuesday, May 17), and BB (posting schedule starts June 8th!). We will have to see! Anyhoo, lots of art coming from me on this journal in the next month, and I'm really excited about it, and I hope you are too. My next post will probably be the start of it! I'll see you then! <3

Comments

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Sign up for the Heatwave! It's about as sunny and low-pressure as they come. :D

[dancing-adrift.livejournal.com]

You make a compelling argument ;) I suppose by the time sign-ups end, I *might* be looking for something new to art for... We'll see. I've got time yet. I probably will, but I'm a bit of a procrastinator, so... XP <3

[chomaisky.livejournal.com]

Congrats on figuring out the layers in PT! Layers are one of the most important tools in digital painting.

[dancing-adrift.livejournal.com]

Omg, right? Thank you! Seriously, my whole life is so much easier now. I was *this* close to weeping when I figured it out!

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

So many challenges!!! I'm looking forward to seeing all the art.

[dancing-adrift.livejournal.com]

And there will be plenty of it! It makes me happy that you're looking forward to it ^_^

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Congrats on figuring out layers, online tutorials are so handy, I hope you have even more fun playing in Corel Painter now (with your fancy new tablet;)

Very curious to see your next quicky_bang art (I just moved out of the sketching stage on mine...)
Yay for grabbing a BigBang and having a cool author on top of an inspirational story!

It may be fun to join in the spn_heatwave since that's a art only, which is a nice change from a collaboration challenge, just a thought:)

Looks like you have plenty to do the next months, but a while ago you asked about other fandom events and I meant to tell you about spn_cinema. Its main challenge usually takes place in the autumn. You get to claim a film of your own choosing for either art or fic. You can sign up as a collaboration or do it as a solo project, which means two people could pick the same film and do a different interpretation. Here is last year's information post (http://spn-cinema.livejournal.com/84786.html) - if you're interested just keep an eye on the community to see when they'll start a new round.

[dancing-adrift.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm very very tempted by spn_heatwave... I'm also a bit intimidated still because I don't feel like a very... sophisticated artist? I kind of feel like I'm still pretending/finding my footing? Lol. Just stupid insecurities and absolutely not a good reason for me not to participate, especially since it *does* sound very chill :) My other issue is that I have to find inspiration inside my own brain instead of from fic, lol, and I'm afraid I'm not very original. But we'll see! It certainly wouldn't hurt me to try it out.

The spn_cinema looks really cool - like crossover heaven! I LOVE crossovers, of both the art and the fic variety, so I'll definitely keep an eye on the comm. Thanks for the rec, it looks like a ton of fun! :D

[gluedwithgold.livejournal.com]

Hey now... I forced nothing!

[dancing-adrift.livejournal.com]

hahaha, I said 'practically'! XP Gently encouraged? Highly suggested? Persuasively recommended? XP

[gluedwithgold.livejournal.com]

yeah, yeah...

:-P